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Posts Tagged ‘Law’
Deaths in America
July 24th, 2009 | 
Author: 
ANNUAL AMERICAN DEATHS CAUSED BY DRUGS TOBACCO ........................ 400,000 ALCOHOL ........................ 100,000 ALL LEGAL DRUGS .............20,000 ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS ..........15,000 CAFFEINE .........................2,000 ASPIRIN ...........................500 MARIJUANA ...................... 0 ---------------------------------------- Source: United States government... National Institute on Drug Abuse, Bureau of Mortality Statistics
Posted in Weird Stuff | 
Tags: Law, Marijuana, marijuana history, medicine, prohibition | 
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New York Times’ Blog: If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise?
July 20th, 2009 By: Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director
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[Editor's Note: This interesting and informative exchange of ideas, provided by experts on cannabis regarding the future of America's cannabis policy, was originally published July 19 on the 'Open for Debate' blog found at the New York Times' webpage.]
If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise?
By The Editors
July 19, 2009, 7:00 pm
A New York Times article on Sunday discussed the debate over whether more and more potent types of cannabis affect the levels of addiction to the drug. This particular issue has become part of the larger debate over whether marijuana should be legalized or decriminalized.
Antidrug activists say that if the drug is legalized, more people will use it and addiction levels, made worse by the increased potency, will rise too. Legalization advocates note that pot addiction is not nearly as destructive as, say, abuse of alcohol. What would be the effect of legalization or decriminalization on marijuana abuse and addiction?
*Roger Roffman, professor of social work
*Wayne Hall, professor of public health policy
*Mark A.R. Kleiman, professor of public policy and author
*Peter Reuter, University of Maryland professor
*Norm Stamper, former Seattle police chief
————— Continue reading “New York Times’ Blog: If Marijuana Is Legal, Will Addiction Rise?” »
Barney Frank’s Plan to Legalize Marijuana
He’s Not High: Inside Barney Frank’s Plan to Legalize Marijuana
While
Congress debates health care, handles the economic downturn, and the
quagmire in Afghanistan, Congressman Barney Frank is eyeing America’s
draconian pot policies. Read our exclusive interview.
By: John H. Richardson
To my shame, I started my interview with Congressman Barney
Frank about the legalization of marijuana by apologizing to my subject.
“I know you guys have a lot on your plate these days, so I’m sorry to
be calling you about something kind of trivial…”
Then I did a rapid midcourse correction. “But it’s not trivial, because people go to jail over it.”
“That’s exactly right,” Frank said.
We were talking about the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009,
Frank’s latest attempt to bring sanity to the federal marijuana laws.
Currently, pot is classified as a Schedule I Controlled Dangerous
Substance under federal law, which makes it worse than morphine,
cocaine, amphetamine, and PCP. Possession of a single joint carries a
penalty of $1,000 and a year in prison – a charge faced by about 800,000 American citizens every year. This is the government whose judgment on war and economics we are supposed to respect.
So I started the interview over.
ESQUIRE: Could you tell me why you’re doing it at this time? Everybody says you guys have got so much to handle right now.
BARNEY FRANK: Announcing that the government should mind its
own business on marijuana is really not that hard. There’s not a lot of
complexity here. We should stop treating people as criminals because
they smoke marijuana. The problem is the political will. Continue reading “Barney Frank’s Plan to Legalize Marijuana” »
Want To Know Why Marijuana Is Illegal?
Want To Know Why Marijuana Is Illegal? Ask Governor John Lynch (Or Ask Your Own Governor)
In May I blogged under the headline “Want To Know Why Pot Is Illegal? Ask Your Governor” in response to Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty’s decision to veto legislation that would have granted terminally ill patients the legal option to possess and use (but not grow) medicinal cannabis. It wasn’t the first time I’d written such a post and it won’t be last.
Earlier this week I criticized Hawaii Republican Governor Linda Lingle for her refusal to approve legislation that merely sought to study “issues relating to medical cannabis patients and current medical cannabis laws.” Today we can add New Hampshire Democrat (just in case any of you out there are under the illusion that marijuana intolerance is not bipartisan) Gov. John Lynch to the list of public officials who single-handedly stand in the way of cannabis law reform. Continue reading “Want To Know Why Marijuana Is Illegal?” »