Are People Actually Catching On?

“If A Measured, Rational Debate Over America’s Extremist Drug Policies Can Take Place In Time Magazine, Then It Can Take Place Anywhere.”

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:53:26  By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

 

Just weeks after Time’s Joe Klein declared “legalizing marijuana makes sense,” the magazine is once again extolling the virtues of liberalizing cannabis prohibition.

Writing in the Sunday edition of Time.com, author (and frequent media critic) Maia Szalavitz asks, “Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?”

Citing statistics from researcher (and frequent Salon.com blogger) Glenn Greenwald, Szalavitz reports that Portugal abolished all criminal penalties regarding the use and possession of cannabis (and other drugs) earlier this decade — opting instead to treat drug use strictly as a health problem. So what happened?

“Judging by every metric, decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success,” says Glenn Greenwald. … “It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country does.” (NORML Note: You can listen to audio comments from Greenwald on the NORML Daily Audio Stash here.)

Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal’s drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana.

Writing on his own blog, Greenwald comments on the significance of his findings, as well as the fact that they are finally being recognized by the mainstream media.

Few political orthodoxies have more of a destructive impact than our approach to drug policy. Our harsh criminalization framework results in the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of American citizens, breaks up families, burns tens of billions of dollars every year, erodes civil liberties, turns our police forces into para-military units, and spawns massive levels of violence and criminality — all while exacerbating the very harms it seeks to address. If a measured, rational debate over America’s extremist drug policies can take place in Time Magazine, then it can take place anywhere.“

Of course, to those who reflexively demand that we maintain pot prohibition, the very suggestion that eliminating (or softening) criminal penalties will not lead to an exponential explosion in use (much less be associated with a potential decline in drug use) is an anathema. Writing in the drug prevention and treatment newsletter Join Together, Jim Gogek offers the same tired allegations: facts be damned!

Legal marijuana would mean more access to marijuana. The number of marijuana users would spike, including teens.Problems related to marijuana use would spike. … Right now, there are 127 million alcohol users and 14 million marijuana users in this country – because one is legal and the other isn’t. But, most alcohol users don’t get intoxicated. … With marijuana, you get intoxicated every time you use it. That’s the whole point. … It severely hurts your ability to perform at school and work. It saps initiative and drive. It increases confusion. In other words, it makes you stupid. … Marijuana is the loser drug: That’s the big problem with it.

To their credit, the editors at Join Together have allowed me the opportunity to rebut Mr. Gogek’s claims, which I do here. Feel free to join the discussion.

California Aims to Legalize Marijuana, and Rightly So

26 FEBRUARY 2009 2 COMMENTS

Author: Kellie Bartoli

Hippies (and Michael Phelps) – rejoice! On Feb. 23, the California legislature introduced AB390, a bill to legalize marijuana. And, if I do say so myself, it’s about time.

The measure is said to “remove all penalties in California law on cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession or use of marijuana…or paraphernalia for persons over the age 21.”

Oh yeah, and bring in roughly $1 billion annually. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, the bill’s sponsor, mandates “establishing a fee on the sale of marijuana at a rate of $50 per ounce.” That’s certainly one way to chip away at the state’s $42 billion deficit.

There couldn’t be a better time for such a proposal, especially when you consider the World Health Organization’s estimate that 42 percent of American adults have tried marijuana (not just the hippies anymore…my apologies). A recent study says 40 percent of Americans believe the drug should be legalized.

While that percentage wasn’t broken down by state, I can imagine that many California residents might be even more likely to support legalization. Since 2006, California has accounted for almost one-third of pot production, and marijuana has been more valuable to its growers than wheat and corn – combined. 

California is often viewed as the leader in creating policy changes that will eventually take over the country. The indoor smoking ban? California’s was enacted in 1994 and strengthened in 1998, years before the rest of the country caught on. Perhaps if the bill passes in California, other states may soon follow suit. The economy couldn’t ask for more.

According to a 2005 report by Professor Jeffrey A. Miron, “marijuana legalization – replacing prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation – would save $7.7 billion per year in state and federal expenditures on prohibition enforcement and produce tax revenues of at least $2.4 billion annually if marijuana were taxed like most consumer goods.”

The report goes on to explain that if marijuana were taxed like alcohol or tobacco (and it’s safe to assume it would), up to $6.2 billion could be generate each year.

And the economic windfall doesn’t stop there. With the decriminalization of marijuana, the government would be able to save the money it spends fighting against the drug and put it to better use. How much difference can that really make? It’s estimated that every state annually spends around $19.2 billion to fight the war on drugs, and at least 20 percent of that amount goes toward marijuana. That’s an extra $3.8 million that could be saved.

The “War on Drugs” sounds so very Nancy Reagan, though, right? When I hear the term, I imagine undercover FBI agents taking down an underworld drug cartel. But alas, my vivid imagination has gone too far.  Instead, the government focuses its efforts on arresting people for smoking marijuana – in the last decade alone, 6.5 million citizens have been arrested with marijuana violations.  Just in case you were wondering, that’s a higher number than the populations of Alaska, Delaware, Washington D.C., Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming put together.

• Yearly marijuana arrests have almost tripled since the early 1990s, accounting for the highest number recorded by the FBI.
• In 2006, 89 percent of the Americans arrested (738,915) were charged with simple possession.
• The amount of marijuana-related arrests in 2006 greatly exceeded the combined arrests for murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

That’s right – more Americans were locked up for smoking pot than committing violent crimes.

While some states may not be as forward thinking as California, they are willing to give marijuana a second chance, at least medically speaking.

In 2007, Massachusetts introduced HB2247 to legalize medical marijuana. While the bill didn’t make is past the Committee, voters took the issue into their own hands this November. After securing 65 percent of the vote, Massachusetts decriminalized pot possession of one ounce or less, making it a $100-fine offense.

On Feb. 23, the New Jersey Senate passed S119  22-16, making the state one step closer to providing some aid to the suffering.

For many, traditional medicines are simply not strong enough. However a significant number of patients could get some much-needed relief thanks to medical marijuana.

Some of the most common medical uses for marijuana:

• Relieve mild to moderate nausea brought on by chemotherapy.
• Help reduce nausea and weight loss in people with AIDS and suffering from anorexia.
• Reduce tremors, muscle spasms and the pain brought on by multiple sclerosis.
• Relieves pressure from the eye and pain from glaucoma.
• Lessen the extreme pain caused by cancer, AIDS, arthritis and others.

After all, “Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.” Or so said DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis Young. 

While marijuana isn’t harmless, there are much more dangerous drugs readily available – and legal. Alcohol? Tobacco? Countless studies have proven fatal consequences from the two. Yet there are no documented deaths from marijuana.  A UCLA study found no link between smoking pot and lung cancer. So who made marijuana the bad guy?

Legalizing California's Cash Crop Would Put State in the Green

A new bill sanctioning wholesale and usage of marijuana could earn $1.3 billion in annual tax revenu

By Andrew Kim

Contributing Writer

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Published: Monday, March 2, 2009

Updated: Monday, March 2, 2009

STATE NEWS - Call it good timing, or just sheer opportunism: Last Monday, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill seeking to legalize marijuana use for individuals over age 21. 

The Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act (AB 390) would tap into an estimated $14 billion industry - leading to a potential $1.3 billion increase in annual tax revenue for the state of California and an additional $50-per-ounce levy on retail sales. Although controversial, the bill is a practical solution to California's budget crisis.

In the aftermath of massive budget cuts and tax hikes, Ammiano's bill would establish a wholesale market for marijuana, authorizing its sale by licensed retailers. Past efforts to decriminalize the popular drug, such as 1996's Proposition 215, which authorized medical use, pale in comparison to Ammiano's bold proposal. If passed, his bill would make California the first state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana use. 

It's no secret that cannabis is California's unofficial cash crop - a covert, though common, Californian pastime. While the possession, sale and consumption of marijuana for nonprescribed use is illegal, statistics show that restrictions outlined by the law don't stop users. 

According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, marijuana is by far the most frequently used illicit drug in the United States, with around 3.3 million users in California alone. Moreover, a 2006 U.S. Justice Department survey reported that 16.3 percent of college-age respondents said they had used the drug within the last week that they were surveyed, most likely an underestimated count of the true user population. 

The cost of enforcement, however, is more alarming than the drug's usage rates. The government spent about $41.8 million on law enforcement for over 800,000 marijuana arrests in 2007, according to FBI Uniform Crime Reports. The exorbitant cost only represents one branch of the ongoing federal war on drugs, which costs tens of billions of dollars every year in tax revenue. Although a moratorium on drug enforcement altogether isn't feasible, it's time to reconsider the costs and benefits of focusing efforts on such a commonly used substance in the wake of economic disaster.

But where supporters of AB 390 see a lucrative opportunity, opponents see Pandora's box. 

Longtime opponents of marijuana legalization argue the substance is a gateway drug leading to heavier substance abuse. However, many studies, including one conducted by the American Psychiatric Association in 2006, have shown that early marijuana use does not correlate with the use of hard drugs among adults. 

Another concern is that legalizing marijuana would increase its usage. However, legalized recreational drug use in the Netherlands debunks this logic. A 2004 study conducted at UC Santa Cruz comparing the usage of marijuana in the United States to that of the Netherlands examined trends in Amsterdam and San Francisco, where recreational use is generally tolerated, and concluded that legal provisions and sanctions had little relevance in promoting or preventing its use. 

Statistics demonstrated similarities in the average age of marijuana smokers at both the onset and height of their usage, and also revealed that a majority of respondents from both cities had not used the drug in the past week or even the past year before being surveyed, suggesting its legal status didn't influence usage patterns in any significant way. The similarity in trends between two countries with vastly different drug policies definitely shows governmental drug regulation doesn't change the number of pot smokers. 

Controlling and taxing marijuana would go a long way in uprooting its black-market trade and promote safe, legitimate entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the current version of Ammiano's proposed bill calls for a portion of tax revenue to fund drug-education programs. 

By limiting the sale of marijuana to licensed retailers, consumers would likely purchase the drug legally and forgo the risk of illegal transactions, gradually putting small-time drug dealers and gangs out of business.

As an extra boost to legalization efforts, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder hinted Feb. 25 that the Obama administration would stop federal raids on legal cannabis clubs in California, reversing a trend in marijuana regulation that peaked with the Bush administration's ban on university-sponsored medical marijuana research. 

Pres. Barack Obama, who admitted to drug use as a teenager, seeks to lessen federal involvement in regulating drug use and instead delegate the responsibility to individual states, making marijuana usage a health issue, rather than a criminal one. Ammiano's recent bill rightfully follows this trend, promoting the importance of individual responsibility.

Ignoring the funds California might collect from increased tourism, the projected marijuana tax would earn over $1 billion alone - a sum roughly equal to the spending cuts for both of California's university systems. 

Why not require a percentage of this revenue to go toward education? Investment in our college system should be of infinitely higher priority than tampering with a relatively innocuous and private pastime. 

Should California take the lead and approve this bill, it is possible that other states would eventually follow suit and bring us closer to the end of a costly and ineffective war both drugs and personal liberties.

Ammiano's proposal is a step in the right direction and comes when the antiquated moral debate over marijuana isn't nearly as relevant as the positive fiscal impact it would have on California's failing economy. 

Readers can contact Andrew Kim at ajk017@ucsd.edu.

Its About Time!!

Legalize It: Ammiano to Introduce Legislation Monday to Allow Pot -- and Tax It

By Joe Eskenazi in Breaking News,Government

Sunday, Feb. 22 2009 @ 5:00PM

UPDATE: Coverage of Ammiano's press conference here. 

The story SF Weekly broke on Friday is true: Assemblyman Tom Ammiano will announce legislation on Monday to legalize marijuana and earn perhaps $1 billion annually by taxing it. 

Quintin Mecke, Ammiano's press secretary, confirmed to SF Weeklythat the assemblyman's 10 a.m. Monday press conference regarding "new legislation related to the state's fiscal crisis" will broach the subject of reaping untold -- and much-needed -- wealth from the state's No. 1 cash crop. 

Mecke said Ammiano's proposed bill "would remove all penalties in California law on cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession, or use of marijuana, natural THC, or paraphernalia for persons over the age of 21." 

The bill would additionally prohibit state and local law officials from enforcing federal marijuana laws. As for Step Two -- profit -- Ammiano's bill calls for "establishing a fee on the sale of marijuana at a rate of $50 per ounce." Mecke said that would bring in roughly $1 billion for the state, according to estimates made by marijuana advocacy organizations. 

Is this how they really want to portray YOU?

Fox News: If You Support Taxing And Regulating Pot You Must Be An “Internet Troll!”
Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:38:01  By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

On three separate occasions, the White House has asked the public to provide them with feedback on the top public policy questions facing the nation. And on three separate occasions, the leading question for the new administration — as chosen on and voted by the American public — pertained to the legalization of marijuana.
One might examine these results and conclude that marijuana law reform is an issue that is becoming increasingly popular with America’s voters. Of course if you’re Fox News, you interpret these results another way.
Obama’s Effort at Online Transparency Stymied by Internet Trolls
via Fox News
“Three and a half million people participated in the event, but the ‘trolls’ had their way: Following a coordinated campaign by marijuana advocates to vote their topic to the top of the list, questions on the future of the U.S. dollar and the rising unemployment rate were superseded by questions about legalizing pot as an economic remedy.”
Got to hand it to the folks at Fox. National polls show that the public’s support for legalization has never been greater. Leading political and media pundits are now demanding that we end the criminal prohibition of pot. Yet despite all evidence to the contrary, the old guard at Fox News cynically clings to the notion that nobody supports taxing and regulating marijuana aside from a handful of “Internet trolls.” We report, you decide, huh?
Of course, Fox News didn’t come up with this spin on their own. After all, it was White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs — yes, the same Robert Gibbs who couldn’t come up with one valid reason to oppose regulating pot besides “uh” — who initially tried to downplay the popularity of marijuana law reform, telling the New York Times that “advocates for legalizing marijuana, … includ[ing] NORML, had mounted a drive to rack up votes for the question.”
So let’s set the record straight shall we. On the afternoon of March 25, with only a few hours left for voting in the White House’s poll, I posted the following blog to NORML’s homepage: “Obama ‘Open For Questions’ About The Economy — Ask Him To Support Taxing And Regulating Marijuana.”Here’s what I wrote in my post:
The topic of this week’s forum is the national economy, and not surprisingly, many of you have already put forward questions to the President regarding the taxation and regulation of cannabis.
For example, the most popular question in the category “Budget” is: “With over 1 out of 30 Americans controlled by the penal system, why not legalize, control, and tax marijuana to change the failed war on drugs into a money making, money saving boost to the economy?”
Similarly, under the topic “Financial Stability,” most asked question is: “Would you support the bill currently going through the California legislature to legalize and tax marijuana, boosting the economy and reducing drug cartel related violence?”
Marijuana-related questions also top the “Green Jobs and Energy” category, and are among the top vote-getters on the site overall.
That’s right, the questions pertaining to marijuana law reform were already the top vote-getters before NORML ever put pen to paper!
Further, NORML at no time engaged in any sort of “coordinated campaign” (to quote Fox) to “rack up votes” (to quote the Obama administration). NORML did not list-serv news of the White House poll to our tens of thousands of e-zine subscribers, nor did we publicize the poll to the hundreds of thousands of people that have joined us on Facebook andMyspace. And to the best of my knowledge, no other marijuana law reform group did so either.
In short, there was no orchestrated “campaign” and there is no grand conspiracy. The simple explanation for the White House poll results is this:Marijuana law reform is immensely popular with the public. That’s why we win initiatives — time and time again. And that’s why when the public is asked whether they support ending prohibition they say ‘yes’ — inoverwhelming numbers!
As my colleague Scott Morgan writes at stopthedrugwar.org: “This is a movement, and it isn’t going away. Our issue is bigger than the organizations backing it.” He’s right.
Americans are demanding a serious and objective political debate regarding the merits of legalizing marijuana. They have come to this conclusion on their own — simply by witnessing the failure of the drug war all around them.
President Obama, the time for adolescent jokes and giggles is over. Fox News, the time for insults has long passed. The public is serious; why aren’t you?