Reefer Madness
Full Disclosure: I don't use marijuana, alcohol or any other recreational drug.
I was driving through Massachusetts recently and saw a roadside billboard that pictured a prison wall, barbed wire fence and guard tower. The sign read: "5.2 million marijuana arrests cost you 5.4 billion. Is it really worth it? www.changetheclimate.org " I checked the site and found that the person who runs it isn't a doper, either. He's just a guy who sees indefensible expense, irrationality and unfairness in laws surrounding marijuana use.
I just read that high schools in my area are using drug-sniffing dogs to find illegal drugs in school. Police and high school administrators were surveyed and the only thing dogs had found were a few pills prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a girl's locker. The same kind that dozens of other kids report to the nurse to take. No self-respecting school administrators would want to appear "soft on drugs," so they tolerate cultivation of a police state climate of fear and intimidation in their schools, even though there seems to be little justification for this degree of heavy-handedness.
So I don't work knee-jerk Bushies into a defensive lather on this issue, keep in mind that Bill Clinton has an administrative record at least equally shameful to Bush's on this issue. In 1997, the Libertarian Party wrote: " 641,642 people were arrested on marijuana charges in 1996 -- of which 85.2% were for mere possession." This more than doubled the number of arrests per year under Bush I. Additionally, over 50,000 people go to jail each year over marijuana offenses. Here's the link: http://www.lp.org/press/archive.php?function=view&record=308
Partisan experts can forever debate pharmacological dangers or lack thereof in marijuana. And for my two cents, I'll add that I don't think adolescence, a time when young people begin learning to cope with the vicissitudes of life, is a good time for using any substance that short-circuits this process. Adult use may continue to pose problems for many. Having said this, I am certain of one thing: whatever deleterious effects marijuana use may pose, the response by the criminal justice system to users is far more harmful, dangerous and expensive than the drug itself. Arresting, jailing, fining, proclaiming users in the news media (the modern stocks) to be criminals has not reduced marijuana use and is certainly not therapeutic.
Americans tend to look upon Saudi Arabia's prohibition of alcohol with dread and incredulity. We would be better served by soul searching and facing our own draconian treatment of marijuana users.
I was driving through Massachusetts recently and saw a roadside billboard that pictured a prison wall, barbed wire fence and guard tower. The sign read: "5.2 million marijuana arrests cost you 5.4 billion. Is it really worth it? www.changetheclimate.org " I checked the site and found that the person who runs it isn't a doper, either. He's just a guy who sees indefensible expense, irrationality and unfairness in laws surrounding marijuana use.
I just read that high schools in my area are using drug-sniffing dogs to find illegal drugs in school. Police and high school administrators were surveyed and the only thing dogs had found were a few pills prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a girl's locker. The same kind that dozens of other kids report to the nurse to take. No self-respecting school administrators would want to appear "soft on drugs," so they tolerate cultivation of a police state climate of fear and intimidation in their schools, even though there seems to be little justification for this degree of heavy-handedness.
So I don't work knee-jerk Bushies into a defensive lather on this issue, keep in mind that Bill Clinton has an administrative record at least equally shameful to Bush's on this issue. In 1997, the Libertarian Party wrote: " 641,642 people were arrested on marijuana charges in 1996 -- of which 85.2% were for mere possession." This more than doubled the number of arrests per year under Bush I. Additionally, over 50,000 people go to jail each year over marijuana offenses. Here's the link: http://www.lp.org/press/archive.php?function=view&record=308
Partisan experts can forever debate pharmacological dangers or lack thereof in marijuana. And for my two cents, I'll add that I don't think adolescence, a time when young people begin learning to cope with the vicissitudes of life, is a good time for using any substance that short-circuits this process. Adult use may continue to pose problems for many. Having said this, I am certain of one thing: whatever deleterious effects marijuana use may pose, the response by the criminal justice system to users is far more harmful, dangerous and expensive than the drug itself. Arresting, jailing, fining, proclaiming users in the news media (the modern stocks) to be criminals has not reduced marijuana use and is certainly not therapeutic.
Americans tend to look upon Saudi Arabia's prohibition of alcohol with dread and incredulity. We would be better served by soul searching and facing our own draconian treatment of marijuana users.
posted by Man of Ages at 12:00 PM
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