Driven to drink by marijuana laws?
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Bernd Debusmann is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own)
Tough marijuana laws are driving millions of Americans to a more dangerous mood-altering substance, alcohol. The unintended consequence: violence and thousands of unnecessary deaths. It’s time, therefore, for a serious public debate of the case for marijuana versus alcohol.
That’s the message groups advocating the legalization of marijuana are beginning to press, against a background of shifting attitudes which have already prompted 13 states to relax draconian laws dating back to the 1930s, when the government ended alcohol prohibition and began a determined but futile effort to stamp out marijuana.
How dismally that effort has failed is not in doubt. Marijuana is so easily available that around 100 million Americans have tried it at least once and some 15 million use it regularly, according to government estimates. The U.S. marijuana industry, in terms of annual retail sales, has been estimated to be almost as big as the alcohol industry — $113 billion and $130 billion respectively. On a global scale, marijuana is the world’s most widely used illicit drug.
Since the United States, and much of the rest of the world, plunged into a recession last year, the most frequently used argument in favour of legalizing marijuana has been economic: if it were taxed, the revenue would help stimulate economic recovery just as a gusher of dollars in fresh tax revenue from alcohol helped the United States pull out of the Great Depression after the 1933 repeal of prohibition.
That idea enrages some leading drug warriors, including the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa. In the preface to the U.N.’s 2009 World Drug Report, he asks whether proponents of legalization and taxation also favour legalizing and taxing human trafficking and modern-day slavery “to rescue failed banks.”
Never mind that drug abusers hurt themselves and human traffickers hurt others. It’s the kind of topsy-turvy logic which has made sober discussion of national and international drug policies (largely driven by the United States) so difficult for so long.
The case for adding a compare-and-contrast dimension to the debate is laid out in a statistics-laden book to be published next month entitled “Marijuana is Safer, So why are we driving people to drink?” The authors are prominent legalization advocates – Steve Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Mason Tvert, co-founder of SAFER (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation).
“The plain and simple truth is that alcohol fuels violent behaviour and marijuana does not,” Norm Stamper, a former Seattle police chief, writes in the foreword of the book. “Alcohol … contributes to literally millions of acts of violence in the United States each year. It is a major contributing factor to crimes like domestic violence, sexual assault and homicide. Marijuana use … is absent in that regard from both crime reports and the scientific literature. There is simply no causal link to be found.”
LACK OF COMMON SENSE
Violence committed by belligerent drunks apart, there is the question of which drug — marijuana or alcohol — is more harmful to your health. The authors cite government statistics and a long string of academic studies that show marijuana is less harmful.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, around 35,000 Americans die of alcohol-related diseases every year. That’s almost 100 a day. Add to this another 16,000 people killed in road accidents involving drunk drivers. There are no equivalent statistics for deaths linked to marijuana use.
Yet alcohol is legal, marijuana is not. The monumental lack of common sense in the attitudes of successive U.S. administrations towards marijuana is one of the explanations for a steady shift in public attitudes as reflected by opinion polls. In May, a Zogby poll found 52 percent support for treating marijuana as a legal, taxed and regulated substance.
Opposition to legalization, polls show, has been weakening over the past few years. Before 2005, no national poll showed support for legalization above 36 percent.
But surveys also show that there is a persistent perception that alcohol and marijuana are equally harmful and that legalization would merely add another vice.
“This perception is wrong,” says Tvert, “and it can’t be corrected overnight. What we aim for is legislation that would give adults the choice between alcohol and a less harmful alternative. Current laws steer people towards alcohol because they fear the consequences of being caught using marijuana. But I think we are nearing a tipping point.”
Perhaps. One of the biggest obstacles on the road to policy changes is a sprawling bureaucracy of drug warriors who have an obvious interest in keeping things as they are and have long practice in shrugging aside data and evidence. During the eight years of the Bush administration, they were led by a staunch, ideologically-driven proponent of prohibition at any cost, drug czar John Walters.
The man President Barack Obama chose as his top drug policy official, Gil Kerlikowske, is likely to be more open to rational argument. Kerlikowske succeeded Norm Stamper as Seattle police chief and during his tenure, possession of marijuana by an adult ranked as the city’s lowest law enforcement priority. Lower than running a red light.
(You can contact the author at Debusmann@Reuters.com)
(Editing by Kieran Murray)
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It is foolishness not to legalize it. Smoking marijuana is relaxing, instead of fighting there is laughter and I have never met anyone that gets mean on it or even has ever faught.
I would most streneously press the fact that the age should be above the age of 21. As marijuana will and does effect the young peoples ability to function in the school envirnment.
I am in full support of legalization. But what then will be the cost once our theives in congress get a hold of that?
JEEEZE! 5 grand a day! That is insane, just think about how much money that is a year! 5000*365= 1,825,000. And that’s just that form of enforcement. What about the money to house the people locked up because of MARIJUANA related issues….. Training dogs, people. Getting more high-tech $h!t survailence….. Everything court, money to pay people to enforce…..
What is wrong with the people running our country, that they can’t realize their wasting our money? Tax-payers dollars too no doubt.
I have ailing family members, and friends that could benifit from it’s medical purposes. I don’t necessarily believe that it should overall be legal, I say it should be just like any other script out there…oxy, vicodin, perks……. If there is a medicine out there that can help people who suffer from dehabilitating problems, then why isn’t it availble to them?
Yes, I am a user, but not medically, not yet anyways; I’m waiting till it’s legal in WI, but I am not really trying to be persuasive. I have stopped using, then only used when I had pain, or a sick stomach, headache…. And I didn’t get Anihalted, I took maybe 3-5 small drags, then stopped and let it work. It does do the job…. The facts need to be laid out infront of everyone, then once all of the hard evidence, testimonies and such, NOT HEARSAY, are put forth, and only then should they make their decision. If they still dont see the Medicinal properties, then so be it.
But no one should make a decision if they don’t have all the evidence, that’s equal to locking someone innocent up for murder.
well it seems like this is quite the topic lately. As I review some of the comments, it seems like most are for the legalization of marijuana. 151 comments this morning already! Personally, I have enjoyed the smell, taste, and feel of a nicely rolled joint…and still do to this day (actually last night after my workout), just as a person may come home, or stop at a bar and then drive home, to a fine single malt scotch or a glass of pinot noir.
Point of the matter is…people need stress relievers. its up to the individual as to how to relieve their stress, sometimes dr’s need to be involved. Personally, i suffer from panic attacks. When I dont have marijuana, they are more intense and cause severe chest pain and asthma attacks. When I have weed, no panic attacks.
Now for the driving issue…Is it always safe to drive on marijuana? Hell no, it depends how “high” you are. Just like its not safe to drive on alchohol or other legal narcotics.
There are users and abusers of everything (booze, buds, powders and pills), but it is up to the individual how they choose to use.
Personally, everyone inlcuding legalization advocates, needs to quit b’tching and start doing something about it. Unfortunately there are more important issues this country is facing right now. Maybe now is the time for a NORML lobbyist to push hard in the hope to “slip one by” legislation during these tough times.
Also, for those of you who dont use marijuana and criticize others for doing so….mind your own damn business. We are all individuals that lead different lives and encounter different experiences that mold our thoughts and actions. If I have had a stressful day at work, or had a great day at work and want to celebrate in the comfort of my own home with a joint, how am I affecting you????
is it 420 yet?
Beware of lumping together drugs that have distinctly different modes of action. Until we have worked out the biochemistry, there is always going to be a drug war and highly opinionated dicussions about the safety of mind altering drugs. Given the freedom and resources, we can build safe drugs of pleasure, and we can find out why somepeople are highly sensitive ot marijuana, and others can’t get stoned if they were in the middle of a burning pot field.
to FrankMcUK who said, “Good luck to all you libertarians out there working for this goal of common sense. When you have achieved your noble aim, I hope you don’t mind if I choose not to indulge”
Here we go…actually Frank, I am sure we have a few republicans out of the 151 comments. I myself am a right wing conservative. No I am not lower class, black, hispanic or any other label you are stereotyping. I am a professional in my field, well educated, tax paying american. I am sure there are more on this post too.
Your attitude is whats wrong with the world. So closed minded and quick to judge on issues that you have no comprehension of.
Good luck in life.
Every time I hear someone refer to marijuana addiction I just want to shake my head and laugh at their ignorance. I am a heavy pot smoker. I have smoked pot for over 30 years.
I travel for a living and am not about to try and take anything with me through the airport. I miss my weed, but there are no physical side affects from having abruptly quit smoking. I am totally fine all week while giving my lungs a break.
For those of you who think you cannot be a useful member of society and smoke marijuana, you obviously have not had any personal experience. I am an Engineer. I travel all over the world working for companies like NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX at events such as the Olympic Games, Super Bowl, US Open.
I discovered marijuana in college. I found that I could write software when I was stoned. I did some of my best work one handed, while holding a pipe in the other. You can smoke and still produce valuable work.
I keep hearing people calling for studies and hard facts. Do they really believe the studies have not already been done? Richard Nixon ordered a study of his own, he just didn’t like the findings. See http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/libr ary/studies/nc/ncmenu.htm if you have any doubt.
July 24th, 2009 9:24 am GMT – Posted by Darren Duffy
“however marijuana is not risk free, and has a high correlation with mental health issues”
I’d like to see the research supporting that claim…and also point out that having sex COULD be correlated to mental health issues, as could drinking alcohol, and going to work…”high correlation with mental health issues” is basically no more substantial that “Based on a True Story” in the movies. Give a psychologist 5 min with somebody, betcha they come up with a laundry list of things that are causing them mental health issues. Being relaxed and content for a half hour to an hour is the LAST thing contributing to people’s mental health issues. Now, the DEPRESSION we’re in….
Where as I no longer drink alcohol or smoke pot, I am not a temperance lunatic. People should have the right to drink, smoke pot, smoke cigarettes and overeat – it should be their choice. While I struggle daily (if not hourly) to live alcohol free and maintain my sobriety, I have no such problems (physical, emotional or psychological) abstaining from marijuana. I drank for 30 years, smoked daily for 26. I quit smoking before I quit drinking. The physical withdrawals of alcohol (delirium tremens) I wish upon no one. I had no such problems when I stopped smoking. I counsel alcoholics. I believe that addictions are choice. Psychological and physical dependency may occur, yet it is still an individual’s choice.
Government and law enforcement serve a community best by ensuring civility, not by controlling what the populous can eat, drink or smoke. Prohibitions only helps create highly profitable black-market industries.
Regardless of which side of the legalization argument you take, it is nice to read the very well thought out posts here.
A way forward might be to allow production of marijuana on an interim license period, of say 5 years, making it legal for producers and users during that period.
The period could then be used to gather the data required to either revoke or extend the license terms.
I hate being suckered into this stupid age-old DEBATE/SPEECH 101 topic, but the “Driven to drink by marijuana laws?” headline got me.
After reading this article and 2-3 pages of comments I can’t find “the overwhelming public outcry to ban inhaled cannabis” that’s for sure. All I can say is wow, America is run by a bunch of potheads, I never knew. So, yeah, I’m really wondering, “what’s up”, why does the government always hold firm on this issue. I propose that maybe illegal marijuana is more profitable to the US government, through the various legal systems as it is today i.e. DEA, city/county/state police, prosecutors/judges/clerical staff, etc. I’ve smoked marijuana, a lot more in my youth (3-4 times a day), than today (6-8 times a year). I also abused alcohol in my youth and eventually suffered some consequences, today I can say that I haven’t drank any alcohol in over a decade due mostly to the lack of control over my reactions, I could just be allergic. I can say today that there is no harm, in moderation, of marijuana use, not that I have any letters behind my name.
I can understand the government’s stance, they would profit more efficiently the way things are now, legalizing marijuana would only allow me to grow in my backyard like an orange tree, tomatos, etc. Although, I went to a “tobacco shop” about 6 months ago and there was a line of about 20-25 kids, I thought they were there to buy t-shirts, body jewelry, rolling papers, paraphernalia, etc. No, they were all there to buy $30-$60 purchases of the new legal manufactured alternative blend of spices. If this alternative to marijuana is legal and there is an obvious demand, with paying consumers, legalization of marijuana may work out for the government, after all. But, if marijuana were taxed outrageously, such as tobacco is today, I would assume everyone would take my personal approach of home gardening. But, on the argument of driving me to drinking the answer is no, I’ll not be a victim. Marijuana is a “drug” where the availability & need can be patiently waited on rather than taking the alcohol path, which is immediately and always readily available. I also think that the government legalizing alcohol created more revenue and jobs, mostly centralized around the government (legislative, executive, judicial) as stated above than prohibition did. The more access to legal alcohol could only mean more drunken incidents, meaning bigger & stronger governments from the patrol cars, to the courthouses, to the prisons.
The two are not comparable in any way, whatsoever. The only time I put the two in the same category is when I define substance abuse.
Darren Duffy,
“If society sought the sane and proper solution, and was concerned with the well being and health of future generations then, alcohol and marijuana, along with cigarrettes would be made illegal.”
No, no, no. People would CHOOSE to not use drugs. Making something illegal DOES NOT correlate to people not doing it. It correlates to prison over-crowding and black market development. So many more people die due to the trafficking of drugs than the use, and ultimately each user is responsible for their own actions. Besides, eating fast food and being obese is likely to be more of a serious health risk to most people than drug use, so we should outlaw unhealthy foods and tax fat people right?
Marijuana will be legal eventually and then we can reflect on how our society has victimized drug users by removing them from their homes and stealing their time locking them away to “reform” them.
I know a medical professional who is in his late 40′s and is very intelligent, extremely responsible, and exceptionally caring and personable. The man I’m speaking of is happily married to a woman who also happens to be an accomplished university professor, and the two of them have three lovely children ranging between the ages of eight and fifteen. The children are socially well-adjusted and have excelled both academically and in extra-curricular activities, including sports, music, and community service such as volunteering at church, etc. In short, the family I’m speaking of represents what I consider to be normal, contributing members of our society.
In terms of what some might call hedonist behavior such as substance abuse, the wife drinks an occasional glass of wine (perhaps 2-4 glasses per week), and the husband probably drinks about one case of beer per year — yes, approximately 24, 12oz. servings of beer every year, or two beers a month.
The husband has been mildly nervous, or “situationally” anxious, his entire life and discovered several years ago that smoking marijuana in the evening about an hour before going to sleep has had a profoundly positive effect on his overall health and pysche by simply calming his nerves, allowing his body and mind to relax. Marijuana also helps settle an occasional bout of intermittent and mild, yet chronic irritable bowel syndrome. He smokes approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of a single marijuana cigarette, or joint, per evening.
By my estimation, considering the aforementioned rate of marijuana consumption and, 1) a single joint weighs about 1-1.5 grams, and 2) there are 28gms in an ounce, I estimate that one ounce of good pot can last my friend anywhere between 2-4 months. Although my friend tells me he has occasionally paid as much as $400 per ounce for “good” pot, typically he reports buying pot for $220/oz, so it is fair to say that he goes through about 3ozs of marijuana/yr, spending approximately $800.
Considering that I have known this family for many years, including time before my friend started smoking marijuana on a regular basis, I can personally attest to the fact that he could be the poster child for both, “The Personal and Societally Responsible Marijuana Consumer”, and “The Recipient of the Ubiquitous Physiological and Psychological Benefits of Marijuana Use Consumer”, organizations — were such organizations to exist.
There are many rational, logical, and perfectly valid arguments within and outside of this posting for the legalization of marijuana. For the sake of my good friend, I am looking forward to the day that responsible American citizens who happen to enjoy a nightly smoke of marijuana can do so legally by purchasing high-quality pot at some kind of a pot-store, and/or by growing a reasonable amount of pot on their own property for their private consumption.
Although it will never be time for all Americans to get over their pot-phobia, which I state without cynicism because simply because there are people who believe marijuana is not safe, etc., which is not just a “stance” or “God given right”, as much as it is the truth as those individuals have every right to hold. Indeed, anti-marijuana convictions to some people are very real and must be respected.
However, it is at least reasonable to ask anyone who drinks alcohol while opposing the legalization of marijuana to take a long, careful look in the mirror and think about how prejudicial and at times, hypocritical, their thoughts, actions, and beliefs may be concerning the legalization of marijuana.
For the sake of my friend — an honest, bright, creative, a basically wonderful man who has essentially been forced to feel, and at times act, like a criminal — let’s legalize marijuana once and for all. My friend and countless other good American citizens who selflessly contribute so much to society and their families have been forced to burden shameful labels such as “pot head”, “stoner”, and “drug addict”, to name just a few, and it’s just time to move on and spend our time, money, and energy on more real problems.
To support just one of the many just and fair arguments for legalizing the responsible acquisition and use of marijuana, I feel we waste tremendous amounts of time, money, and human resources making, then combating, a problem out of something that should not even be considered a problem in the first place.
This entire stream of comments and the article should be emailed to every Congressman/woman state and national. That might sink home the fact that the people are tired of these outrageous laws. The last time I wrote to my Congresswoman about this topic she brought up the “gateway” effect and the need to protect our children. Obviously I stopped writing her since she is an idiot. Totally ignorant of the facts but her lips are still flapping. Well, I won’t be voting for her next time.
Without a huge push I see this stalling. Copy this stuff and send it. All of you! Maybe we can get their attention.
Pot is the greatest natural plant that is on planet earth, so relax people, it gives people that choose to smoke marijuana get a perfectly natural high!!
Due to asthma I am unable to smoke weed, so my comments are in no way tainted by my desire to legalize something I love.
That being said, I have had several friends killed by drunk drivers. Not only have I not had an friends killed by weed smoking drivers, I have never even heard of that happening. You do the math.
Mother Nature never produced illegal plants, Man has produced a chemical drink that is harmful when it involves the mighty $$dollar. Alcohol is a deadly substance that is legal to buy..I do believe as well as have expierenced cutting sugar (another deadly chemical, no good to the human body) and yeast out of my diet I do not hear alcohol call my name anymore…I try not to be upset that the packaged food (that is safe to eat, HAHA) we eat today has caused so many problems, for so many people because we believed in our Goverment. They wouldn’t let companies sell products that would be very harmful to the human body, Of Course NOT, HAHA again .. Mother Nature provided everything a human needs..Man provides for fellow man only what he can make money off of…I for one think Alcohol is deadly to the human body….but this is only my opinion…..
Reply to Rhoops
“I’d guesstimate a 100,000 pints/shots/glasses of alcohol are had each weekend here in London, how many joint? Perhaps a 1000 at the most. So thats 100:1 people favouring alcohol.”
If you think there are less than a 1000 people smoking pot in London each night, you are so clueless.
I’ve never smoked weed once in my life, and I’m 100% for the legalization of marijuana in all it’s forms.
Most of the people who want it to remain illegal are the people who claim to be pro-small gov’t yet have no issue with us having spent trillions on the drug war and have the power to tell you what plants you can grow on your property. It’s amazing.
One thing I haven’t seen brought up are how these crazed neocons connect religion with being against drug use. I’m happy to say I’m an anti-theist but I went to a catholic school for 5 years and church for 16 years and never saw anything in the Bible about doing any drug as being a sin (I could be wrong, but that’s as far as I know).
B.Free has a good point. If everyone of the 168 people who posted comments on this board were to contact their congressmen/women, state senators, mayors, and even the White House, with your opinions about this issue, and make sure to tell them that you are a registered voter (if you’re not, then you should be) and that you’ll be voting only for people who support ending prohibition, then perhaps they’ll get the idea.
We MUST keep pushing this issue to the forefront and letting the slow-to-accept-the-truth politicians who still believe in prohibition know that it is truly TIME FOR CHANGE.
The absolute last thing you should throw at a fiscally-irresponsible government — such as we have now in the US federally under President Obama — is MORE tax money. If you believe otherwise, you’ve been smoking way too much dope!
Legalize mary jane to reap saving-grace tax money from it? No way. Local, state, and PARTICULARLY the federal government would waste the pot tax money, use it to further enhance their quid pro quo power base, and actually use the availability of future pot tax revenue to run even more current debt. As an example — beyond the Fed printing new money and selling treasuries — look at how California wants to somehow tap future lottery sales to pay for it’s current fiscal mess. And instead of having a treasury secretary from Goldman Sachs, we could end up with a future treas secretary from Pot Inc.
Yeah, I’m always happy to see Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong find work nowadays — but not as the next treasury secretary — or Washington lobbyist.
The only possible, valid, real-world tax-money argument for legalizing pot in the US is if the local, state, and federal tax collected from pot sales COMPLETELY REPLACED the local, state, AND federal individual income tax. Then you’d have something there worth considering — the substitution of indirect taxation, which is intrinsically self-limiting, for direct taxation.
Secondly beyond the bogus tax benefit of legalizing pot, you run the risk of dramatically increasing food prices. Whether legal or illegal, pot will always have a far-greater ROI per acre. So arable land use could follow the economics of the crops — fewer acres of corn, wheat, rice, potatoes, pasturing, etc. Then after polishing off a fat one and getting the munchies, you could end up reaching for a $12 bag of nacho cheese doritos (the ‘big’ 11-oz bag).
From a land-use perspective the only valid argument would be to make pot cultivation and possession legal only on a non-commercial, individual, grow-your-own basis, with an annual limit — as with how much beer or wine you can make at home. But you would keep sale AND barter of it ILLEGAL. You don’t even need land or planters on a balcony to grow it, they sell indoor incubators for the stuff, and grow lights, etc.
I’ve got no personal problem with anyone who wants to smoke pot, WHILE OFF-DUTY — every now and then, or every fifteen minutes — so long as they put at least six hours in between their last toke and the beginning of their work shift. But I do have a MAJOR problem with facetious BS arguments advanced as reasons for legalizing marihuana.
Just think of how much of a non-argument potential tax revenue would be for pot legalization if we had a fiscally-responsible and prudent federal government.
July 23rd, 2009 4:08 pm GMT – Posted by Dan
The biggest obstacles to legalization are the alcohol producers and the pharmaceutical companies.
They both stand to lose a lot of customers. They’re going to spend a lot of money lobbying against legalization. They do not want this to happen. Bastards.
—I hate to disagree with you but I do: Alcohol producers have been around for a few thousands of years while pharmaceutical companies make money off a variety of medications and other products. There will never be a shortage of people in need of what either of them sell. Why didn’t the pharmaceutical companies obliterate the comsumption of alcohol when it became big game in the 20th century?
Why and How would legalization of marijuana and all other illegal substances curb the abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs?
Answer: It won’t. But you should have it all legalized so you can take them all till you drop dead. The population at large is only good for working and squeezing money out of, anyway.
Seems like it’s your addiction speaking for you when you play the blame-everybody-else game for your gluttony and write apologetics for your drug of choice, like the author, and most of the commentators here. Again, you will have ALL you ask for. If legal drugs is all you want, it’s easy enough to oblige.
Anything else, however, will be denied.
I’m not so sure marijuana users are entirely nonviolent. Have you ever been around when a group of regular users is running low on supply, and they can’t find more? I guarantee, it’s a tense setting! Beware the ISO!
have ya ever seen the show intervention? ya ever noticed there is 0 episodes of marijuana addiction and maaaaany episodes of alcoholism?
It’s absolutly true and it’s killing my wife! You see I’m a medical cannabis user. My work doesn’t check my pee but they do randoms at her place of employment. She never use to drink until she got fired from the very place for having metabolites present. So, she “cleaned” up and started drinking. It’s really bad now and I fear it will kill her and she won’t listen to anyone. I’m sure this isn’t an isolated story either.
Well I’m sure happy drug testing and insurance companies got their wish. Thanks for killing my wife you scumbags.
One thing that I am noticing when reading through these comments, is that the pro-legalization posters tend to be more conscious than the others. Perhaps this is a judgement on my part, and has no merit, but perhaps there is also a correlation between Marijuana consumers and cosciousness. Regardless of that, Marijuana should be legalized. It has been used since the beginning of time, and only in the past 80 years has been condemened by man. It is far safer than alcohol, feels far better (laying in a puddle of your own puke does not happen when smoking marijuana), and does not cause the violence and destruction alcohol causes to other people and livers.
It is time my friends, we all need to stand together, and give half of the piece sign to our government, and smoke right in front of them. If we all do it together, who is going to put us all into an iron cage?
To: Duffy… you say “The article is flawed; because society is flawed. To measure one bad substance against another is flawed thinking.”
Ah, you are incorrect. The “bad” needs to be removed as your resoning is flawed. There are only bad people. How can a substance be bad?
Sorry to say it, but our new drug czar Gil Kerlikowske AKA “John Walters the second” is as close minded as his predecessor. He recently commented that the federal government will not support or allow legalization to take place in any shape or form. “Legalization is not in the president’s vocabulary, and it’s not in mine,” “Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit.”
That’s an outright lie, just like something Walters would say. He’s pathetic, him and the president can’t even get on the same page about medical marijuana. Seems awful like corruption is going on somewhere. So in other words, don’t expect him to try and help the problem whatsoever. In fact, it seems like we’re just in for another 4-8 years of the same bull ****.
What can I say that hasn’t already been covered? Not much I guess…. Regardless:
The gateway theory is false; there is nothing inherent in cannabis that makes someone want to smoke crack; that’s ridiculous. If anything prohibition is the largest cause of any soft to hard drug progression by forcing consumers of soft drugs to interact with dealers/users of hard drugs.
Kids have more access to marijuana than they do to alcohol and that will never change under the current system of prohibition. Do you know why it’s so much easier to get marijuana vs. alcohol when you’re underage? It’s because *news flash* drug dealers don’t check for I.D
I feel like we’re just beating a dead horse here. Anyone with half a brain knows that prohibition does not work. Legalize it.
Marijuana should be legal not only for medical patients but for adults who choose it as a healthier alternative to alcohol. Americans should not be arrested for making healthier choices about their own bodies.
No matter how many people we arrest, it’s still easier for high school students to buy pot than beer. Keeping marijuana illegal does not benefit our children. It benefits special interest groups: the alcoholic beverage industry, the prison industry, police departments and their suppliers, government bureaucrats, and drug cartels.
Tell your legislators in Sacramento to legalize marijuana. Visit yes390.org
I am sick and tired of alcohol. 99% of the time I drink, I’m fine. But that one big party or that one wedding I go to a year, where I overdo it, tells me that it’s time to grow my own cannabis and stick to that primarily. Can I live a sober life if I wanted to? Sure. But I don’t want to be sober ALL the time, so I’m going to research a small 4 plant grow operation for my personal consumption, and be the happiest father in suburbia. You should all do the same. If you have a basement or closet, that’s all you need. Screw Miller, Jack, and Jose. Just give me my ‘Bud!”
Its a cultural thing – rednecks vs. hippies – even though there are now just as many rednecks who smoke as hippies – certainly if you count the friends and family of rednecks – it doesnt make any sense any more – even most younger authoritarians agree we ought to legalize it – there just isnt any cultural warfare value in it anymore – but apparently being straight makes alot of people into morons.
So true I mean just in the last couple months when I moved for a summer job and had no one that could supply me with some herb I turned to drinking more than normal and even fought a couple guys at the bar where as in the months prior to this move and couldn’t even remember the last time I was in a fight because I primarily smoked.
Its total Hypocrisy, Marijuana leads to harder drugs, what crap. I never knew anyone who drinks liquor who didn’t have beer first! So should we make booze a schedule 1 substance?
I have never heard of anyone harming themselves or others using cannabis who act responsibly, anywhere, ever.
Alcohol is a very addictive substance that you can die from ingesting to much, as well as any medication sold over the counter in pharmacy’s, or medicines sold on the shelves in any grocery store or market. Its time to reschedule marijuana, and stop the death at the border.
I still cannot believe that marijuana is so greatly stigmatized in America, and frankly it disgusts me. It infuriates me to no end when my friends go out and drink themselves into a near coma several nights a week, then criticize me and even look down on me for smoking marijuana. It makes so little sense that it’s mind-boggling.
i cant believe how hypocritical our politicians are and how anyone can think that it is ok to drink alcohol but so terrible to smoke pot ita bull everyone needs a way to unwind pot is so much less harmful. MY GOD LEGALIZE POT AND QUIT making pot heads criminals. if employers alcohal tested people for jobs like they do for pot no one would be working , ihave worked with people on pot and people hung over guess what the smoker is much safer to work with
You don’t need expensive grow lamps that use up a lot of electricity, just 2 or 3 4′ florescent lamps standing upright next to the plants.
God gave us pot. Why are so many faux Christians committing blasphemy by trying to eradicate such a wonderful gift???
Seriously, people, it needs to be legal. I’m not a smoker, but my husband is. He use to drink and found himself in jail every couple of months from DUI to beating someone half to death. We found out that he is bipolar 1 with fast recycling and he was just trying to feel better. He stopped drinking 7 years ago and started smoking. He hasn’t been in jail or in a bit of trouble since. His moods are normal and I have the husband I always wanted. I buy it for him and will continue to do so, legal or not.
When I don’t agree with some thing that is said or written, I like to research the topic to see the other sides perspective. Before I read this article, I will have to admit I don’t really have a positive view on cannabis. I have been taught that it’s a drug that will make you insane, crave harder drugs, become violent and act like a buffoon can’t stop laughing. I never really thought about it any deeper then that because what else was there to learn? Today I stumbled across this article and thought, “Oh great, another excuse story by a druggie.” After reading the first sentence of the story, I began to think about every thing I was taught. How can this be less dangerous then alcohol? Alcohol is legal, advertised and socially acceptable while cannabis is a drug. As I read the rest of the article I felt as if I had just woke up. How is it possible that our government could do this to us? So I started researching cannabis to try and figure out what or where I went wrong. After reading several articles regarding scare tactics used, I thought about how racist this law was. Little things like:
“In 1937, Harry Anslinger told Congress that there were between 50,000 to 100,000 marijuana smokers in the U.S., mostly “Negroes and Mexicans, and entertainers,” and their music, jazz and swing, was an outgrowth of this marijuana use. He insisted this “satanic” music and the use of marijuana caused white women to “seek sexual relations with Negroes!”
“Harry J. Anslinger warned the nation in an openly racist fashion that Jazz and marijuana had blacks and whites sitting down as equals and even “dancing together in teahouses.”
I just can’t see a nation like ours condoning such statements. I have just read about them, I wonder how many other people haven’t because they didn’t take the time like I (and many others I’m sure) have, it only took 20 minutes to find out some very interesting information. I also was reading the transcript from Harry J. Anslinger’s address to the congress to get the Marihuana Tax Act passed in 1937. In the address he states there is no connection to people moving onto harder drugs.
After reading several newspaper articles from archives online I came to the conclusion that this Law has a racist founding. But that was just how they thought back then, granted it was very wrong and inhumane. I read comments of people stating that this was an extended form of slavery, as most of the inmates were forced into work programs. I didn’t like what I found, but surely it has remained illegal not because of its racist nature, there had to be truth behind the fact it made you stupid or insane. To me it made no sense for it to remain illegal unless people were at serious risk to themselves or others. So I started to look at why people used cannabis and how it made them feel and act.
People claim to use cannabis to reduce stress or inspire creativity. Anything that reduces stress is good in my book. They say they feel an euphoric sensation that lasts between 1-3 hours. The fact I found the most interesting was that there are no reported deaths from overdose. The negative studies I read claimed that it lowers testosterone, sperm count, it raises violence in violent prone people (whatever that means??) and causes cancer. I won’t even try to go into the benefits, as they are beyond numerous, but they have an answer for the above listed arguments and then some. Something I thought was weird, how could something lower the testosterone while raising violent tendencies? That just didn’t fit. As far as the cancer causing argument, Polonium 210 is found in almost every plant grown in soil with Uranium 238 in it. Polonium 210 is not found in the resin on cannabis, the part that contains the THC and what not. Consumers that have been smoking most often prefer to smoke hashish, pure resin “heads”, if everyone was able to smoke hashish wouldn’t that make a safer product? In fact, I came across a few studies that said pure THC injected into brain tumours in mice caused the cancer cell to feed on themselves while leaving the healthy cells undisturbed. I found that to be incredible, even though it wasn’t a for sure study, the fact that it was done is amazing! The fact that the United States Drug Czar said the other day, “Medical cannabis has no medical value. Legalisation is not in my vocabulary or the President’s.”, yet: “US Patent 6630507 – Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants; issued October 7, 2003.” Actually there are ~30 patents pertaining to this. How can he say that while holding medical rights to it? When you look at the health risks of cannabis, they are hard to compare with health effects of alcohol, so I won’t go into that.
If it doesn’t make you go crazy or violent, have major health concerns or seem to worse then any other legal substance available, in fact seems like a safer alternative. So what on earth could be so bad about cannabis?? Our kids are getting it from Cartels and gangs, saying it’s easier to get then the all to available alcohol sitting on supermarket shelves. The cartels and drug dealers don’t care how old a person is, only how much money a person can make them. They want return customers for an income that is untouched by taxes or regulation.
That leads me to this point, I did not care much for cannabis before I read this article. After doing research that took me less then a half hour to perform, my opinion was changed. No matter how many studies I read conducted by the government appointed research centers, I just couldn’t see the truth behind it. Especially when this plant can do so much for us right now with global emissions, auto mobile fuel, replacing almost every petrol based product… The list can go on for quite some time. I have changed my perspective on cannabis and currently trying to obtain some to try. I hope that honesty and openness helps other see what they call a hideous monster drug, is in fact a precious flower.
Do some reading, look into the subject a little more. Also, there is more then one way to consume cannabis, you don’t have to smoke it and can actually lessen the negative effects. There is allot of information out there now a days, I hope and pray that people will read at least one or two articles stating the benefits of cannabis, if not for the sake of being open minded. We should tax this product, stop passing the taxes onto the hard working Americans who can hardly afford next months rent. We should regulate, educate and tax it. Thank you for your time for reading my comment.
Thank you, Bernd, for acknowledging some of the most hypocritical points of this War on Some Drugs. It is mind-boggling to me that people fall for the propaganda spilling from anti-cannabis legislators and organizations. They say cannabis is illegal because it’s “dangerous,” “addictive,” and can make an individual “lazy” or “stupid,” when we consume vast amounts of toxic, physically addictive substances on a daily basis, like ALCOHOL and PRESCRIPTION DRUGS and CAFFEINE and TOBACCO PRODUCTS. Come on people.
There has never been a drug free society and there never will be. Once we accept that fact, we need to accept a few other FACTS: cannabis is medicinally valuable, it’s impossible to overdose, and it’s impossible to become physically addictive (psychologically with heavy use in a small amount of individuals, yes, but that doesn’t stop anyone from drinking coffee or popping Zoloft, which causes SUICIDAL thoughts/actions in a small amount of individuals).
I know this because I know how to use Google and how to use my local library. Anyone can find dozens, if not hundreds, of independent peer-reviewed studies to back these statements up.
I am so TIRED of the misinformation, scare tactics, and downright bullying Drug War proponents smear all over our political and social landscape. I am appalled that many legislators and organizations, including the Partnership for a Drug-Free America (funded by tobacco companies by the way) and the ONDCP themselves, look right into cameras and LIE to the citizens they are supposed to be SERVING. It is insulting in the worst way. They don’t care about our health, otherwise alcohol, caffeine, tobacco products, and the majority of prescription drugs would be illegal and health care would be considered a human right. They don’t care about the children, otherwise they would rail at the failure of No Child Left Behind and the gutting of social services that many families depend on.
Most importantly, if they cared about the children in this country they would take cannabis out of the hands of drug dealers who do not check ID and who are often selling more than just cannabis. Leaving a product unregulated makes it EASIER for ANYONE to acquire, especially our children. Alcohol is far more difficult for minors in this country to acquire than cannabis, because alcohol is REGULATED. Of course kids still drink, but a six-pack is harder to get than a dime bag. You can Google that statement too people, because I read it in an independent study. And I know from personal experience – I was a teenager not that long ago (I am twenty-two years old), and a dime bag was always much easier to acquire for me or any of my peers. And that should not have been the case because I was a minor.
I am just so sick of the propaganda and the hypocrisy. I am beyond insulted every time I think about it.
It’s a no-brainer, the penalties are designed to target Americans who indulge. It is NOT a war on drugs. It is a war on the American people. 800,000 a year are arrested. Do we want our kids on it? No, of course not. Do we want our kids to have a criminal record because of it? NO!!!!
Should we be allowed to use it for medicine? YES. Should there be controls? Of course. Are there any controls now other than jail? No, it is easier to get than any other drug, including alcohol, right now.
Marijuana prohibition and the irrational fear of all things cannabis that our government has created and promoted has been the main factor in my distrust of our leadership. How can we know if anything told to us by politicians and government bureauocracies is true when real-life experience with cannabis proves them to be completely, absurdly wrong? How can we trust leaders who deny clear evidence and deny the basic human right to responsibly live as we please?
thank you for this article. i freaking drink all the time b/c pot is so criminalized. it brings me down that the public is so closed to having an actual dialogue on the issue. More journalists NEED to bring the matter to light and use factual information to silence the nonsense propaganda. again, thank you
I fully agree that the current laws prohibiting marijuana use increases peoples consuption of alcohol. I’ve been smoking regularly for five years. I’ve had to quit off and on throughout life when something important was coming up ie. college(i went to a hospital and they drug screen their applicants), obtaining a job, etc. Last summer some friends & I went camping & were arrested for smoking marijuana. My medical license went up for review and I almost lost my livelyhood which I had worked so hard to achieve. Of course my place of employment found out and sent me for random drug screens while on probation. During each and every period of not being able to smoke so I could better my future I can attest that I consumed more alcohol. I’ll admit my weed use is strictly recreational, but if I had my choice on which one to have legalized I would vote for bud! I believe marijuana should be legalized for RESPOSNIBLE adults. I go to work every day playing a productive role in society and think I should be able to come home from work and smoke a joint to help relax from a hard days work without worrying over whether or not I’m going to be sent for a random drug screen within the next week or so. It upsets me that while I work hard every day & have to worry about being drug tested and possibly losing my job people who get their government checks @ the beginning of the month are not expected to be tested randomly. I believe that if you pay your dues to society and aren’t harming others smoking weed should be a personal choice not one made for you by the government. If we as marijuana smokers are going to change the views of society we are going to have to take more of a stance in mainstream media. There are plenty of proponents against marijuana in the media while not as many for its use. I recently found the NORML website and check it regularly for updates. If I hadn’t found it I would be behind the times on the news regarding the ending of marijuana prohibition b/c mainstream media doesn’t air the info very often. With our current energy crisis I vote conserve energy GO GREEN!
There’s an astute commentary on drug prohibition in the May/June issue of Foreign Policy magazine. Its editor, Moises Naim, notes “some signs that the blind support for prohibition is beginning to wane among key Washington elites” and says the problem is an “American prohibition on thinking smart in the drug war.” He says there is an addiction to failed policy which has been fuelled “by the self-interest of a relatively small community — and enabled by the distraction of the American public.”
In other words, the millions of people who are aware of the folly of these policies allowed their leaders to get away with it. Once congressmen start losing elections because of their support for prohibition, things will change.
The commentary is at
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.p hp?story_id=4861
I think the posting by Elvira hits some nails on the head. With the recent expenses scandal in the UK, articles about investors leaving brokers as a consequence of the financial world gyrations (I could go on but I’ll just go) etc etc there are probably lots of things the “Washington elites” and other “leaders” probably can’t keep getting away their with. As for the pot v alcohol debate they should probably both be legal or illegal, they both distort your reality, but I’ve never seen someone completely passed out with vomit all over the place if they’ve been just smoking pot.
Here is an article from The Royal College of Psychiatrists, claiming a causal link between mental health and marijuana from 2009.
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinf o/problems/alcoholanddrugs/marijuana.asp x
You will appreciate that the world has moved on considerably since Richard Nixons Report in 1972, so forgive me if I didn’t take the findings as definitive proof that marijuana should be legalised.
A very good friend of mine once said to me in earnest “giving up smoking is easy, I have done it loads of times.”
It came to mind when I read with a wry smile, your comment saying marijuana is not addictive, and yet you have smoked it for 30 years, and gone the odd week without it.
One wonders what your definition of addiction is precisely?
People who drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, and marijuana want to cling on to their vices under the premise of free choice, and I understand that view fully. It is comparable with a depressed person defending their right to jump off a bridge.
Freedom of choice should not necessarily be respected, because poor choice comes at a cost to society as a whole. An example of this is food; where choice is completely free, and yet projections for the cost of treating obesity are rising at an alarming rate.
Imagine the “Great debate” is not about you and the risk you are prepared to carry; as an already impaired adult, but about the risk you are prepared to pass on to a young child.
Would you allow your 10 year old child to eat marijuana on a daily basis?
After all in your opinion, they can function normally, be productive, not suffer any long term effects, not be stressed and not be addicted. Thumbs up all round if you are right! or a grave error playing with your childs life if you are wrong!
There is not so much as a warning label on a bottle of alcohol sold for human consumption that is highly addictive and can be lethal after only one overdose. There is even a warning label on the plastic bag I pick up my dry cleaning in. The phrase “drugs and alcohol” is a lie as it infers alcohol is not a drug. Alcohol is a drug. Marijuana is commonly referred to as a drug, but it is not. It is a plant. If it is common sense, why don’t more people have it? What ever happened to God’s will for people to live in freedom with liberty as acknowledged and cited in the Constitution of the United States?
The rationalization habits of a marijuana user:
1. They will refuse to accept that there are links between marijuana and addiction, health problems and mental illness. This is simply a case of denial, which they use to pretend that their actions have no consequences.
eg: “It’s perfectly harmless”
2. They equate it to alcohol, even though they know that marijuana has additional effects which set it apart from alcohol and other legal drugs. This is an attempt to equate themselves with drinkers, in a way to try and create the impression that any attack on their habit is hypocrisy.
eg: “Well you drink beer. Drugs are no different”
3. They focus on the self-centered perspective, refusing to consider the detrimental effect they may have on their family, friends, victims of crime and society as a whole. This allows them to exist in a ‘closed circuit’ reality where they can ignore the fact that their choices have consequences for other people.
eg: “It’s my choice. Nobody else gets hurt”
4. They claim to have used the substance over a long term period, yet deny that they could ever be addicted to the substance. This gives them the feeling that they are in power and control over their use of the drugs, even when the reality may be that they are firmly gripped by a mental and physical dependence.
eg: “I can give it up whenever I like.”
5. They claim that they should have the liberty to do as they please. It is common for people being punished for incorrect behaviour to seek to portray themselves as victims of oppression. By cultivating a perception of being repressed, they can use this perceived “moral highground” to justify their breaking of the law.
eg: “It’s not fair! I should be able to do what I like! Daddy can’t tell me what to do! I don’t want to sit in the corner. Waa. Waa.”
I’ve been smoking for almost 30 years and I have never had a problem stopping for jobs, or just stopping because I wanted to. Ask an alcoholic if they can “just stop?”. I continue to smoke because it makes the quality of my life so much better! I don’t hack every morning and the only side effect I have ever suffered from is called “The Munchies”!!!!!! LOL. I’m 43 I have been a mechanical designer for over 10 years. Never once have I ever regretted smoking pot unlike the morning after an evening drinking and ending up with a hangover!!! The so-called drug war is nothing more than a money making scam for law enforcement and the Industrial Prison Complex that has taken over our country! Harry Anzlinger was evil and a megalomaniac and this lunacy must end!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with adults consuming marijuana provided they do so in a responsible manner. It’s the fact that enforcement of the idiotic anti-marijuana laws in the US is a bumper cash crop for the courts, prisons, and certain special interests in certain jurisdictions that keeps it illegal. It’s the fact that pharmaceutical mega-companies lobby to keep it illegal because they don’t want you using an effective medicine that you can grow at home that keeps it illegal
Those of you that have posted denigrating marijuana users, you’re speaking from a position of, to say the least, attempted control and lack of life experience. It’s patently none of your business what I put in my body or consume in my own home. As a marijuana smoker for approximately 40 years, and having smoked some of the best in the world, I can tell you from personal experience that some of your concerns are ridiculous and are just about control, not anything else.
So choose to smoke marijuana instead of drinking alcohol, and fight it out in the courts. At least in the US, what are you going to do, fill the jails and prisons with marijuana smokers, while tobacco and alcohol are legal? That makes not a bit of sense. Demand a jury trial every time. Don’t allow the grammatic fallacy of the system saying you are consuming a drug. It’s not a drug, it’s a non-processed natural plant, period, and everything defining it otherwise is fantasy.
All that said, not everybody can consume marijuana and maintain, just as it is with alcohol. Marijuana isn’t for everybody, but that isn’t the decision that I can be made by somebody other than yourself. It’s your body, you have the natural right to abuse it or not as you choose.
Those that don’t like marijuana, that’s fine, but in the meantime, mind your own business and live your own lives…
Al – Front Range NORML Volunteer