Book: Legal War on Pot Ineffective

(CBS)  The legal war against marijuana is mostly a useless, expensive and in some cases, socially harmful exercise of government power, an international group of policy experts claim in a book published Tuesday.

"It is time for governments around the world to readdress cannabis policy," Peter Reuter, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland and one of the book's five co-authors, told Reuters in an interview.

The book, titled "Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate," claims most arrests for marijuana possession in Britain, Switzerland and the United States did little as a deterrent, though it did cause social divisions and cost large sums of government money.

A United Nations estimate quoted by Reuters says 190 million people around the world use marijuana.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Marijuana Nation

There is "growing evidence that criminalization of use is a minor deterrent," Reuter said in the interview adding that there should be more government emphasis on developing "responsible ways of managing supply, rather than creating large illegal markets."

Reuter explained that safety was a key concern.

"What we really need is a safer was way in which people can buy the drug, rather than leaving it to an illegal market which is producing a drug that is strong and stronger," he told Reuters.

"It's an additional but increasingly important argument for why we have to face up to working out how to provide a regulated market for cannabis."

Click here to find out more on Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate

[formrusmcsgt]

The legal war against marijuana is mostly a useless, expensive and in some cases, socially harmful exercise of government power, an international group of policy experts claim in a book published Tuesday.
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My opinion for the last 40 years......

You see murderers getting probation and someone with a bag getting hard time.

Absurd.

[cidaia]

You're right. We should FINE drug offenders, not jail them.

[OldGreengo]

cidaia is wrong, of course. - Why should we fine consumers of a non-addictive plant, far less harmful than alcohol? Actually, we should congratulate them for making the much safer choice.

[newageblues]

I forgot one other benefit of cannabis legalization. It's commonplace for cops to offer deals to arrested cannabis users to snitch on their friends/suppliers, so we've been running a gigantic experiment for decades in which people who won't roll on their friends and those they relied on get hammered, while those willing to snitch on their friends and associates wind up fine. Does that sounds like a good way to build American character?

[AttentionDeficit]

Not to mention the farming of industrial hemp which would be very helpful to farmers. But, apparently cops in the USA have a hard time distinguishing between hemp and pot. Nowhere else do they have this problem, but threaten the sacred institution and prohibitionists have a hissy fit.

[newageblues]

Cidaia says "I have never heard a single argument about how marijuana will make our nation better or stronger or do anything, other than that people who are dying of cancer should be allowed to do what they want". You really begrudge the use of cannabis by people dying of cancer? Boy, you are one stone cold hard case. And if you haven't heard anything about all the other blessed medicinal uses of cannabis, you ain't paying attention. Maybe you'll need medicinal cannabis someday and you'll change your tune, you wouldn't be the first cannabis hater to do a 180 degree when their own life or that of a loved one is involved.
Since you claim you haven't heard the arguments, not that you don't agree with them, here are some of the arguments for cannabis legalization: It provides a safer alternative to killer alcohol. People's lives won't be ruined because they prefer a safer alternative to killer alcohol. The drug cartels and street dealers who cause so much violence will be seriously weakened, cannabis provides the majority of their profits. Many millions of people will be much more willing to cooperate with the police and IRS, and will have more resources (money, time and heart) to contribute to the community (yes I know you think we're all takers but that's just your laughable prejudice showing). The government will obtain significant desperately needed funds directly thru a tax on cannabis and indirectly thru increased economic activity including growing weed in the US instead of Mexico. Drug education won't be tied up in knots by the indisputable fact that the more dangerous of the two drugs/herbs is the legal one. And of course the phrase liberty and justice for ALL won't be such a contemptible laughingstock. This isn't just any country, this is one solemnly pledged to liberty and justice for everyone, not just for the people you like. Why not hold people responsible for their actions that actually harm others, and lay off all the cannabis users who haven't done anything to anyone?

[cidaia]

Go back and try reading what I said.

I don't oppose letting dying people use cannibis.

I'm saying that if it really works for pain relief, the active ingredient should be released in dosed form.

I used to be in favor of letting dying people do whatever they want, but clearly that's just a wedge strategy - clearly what it is all about is that someone stands to make a huge profit from selling marijuana to children with ADD and so on, and instead of an informed debate, we're getting this crap from CBS and elsewhere that pretends cannibis is harmless and so on.

With the dangers of tobacco now so widely recognized, it's time to find a new product to induce the gullible to become a living experiment in why drugs are in fact bad not only for you but for your community.

[newageblues]

cidaia says "those of us who don't cause a lot of trouble don't like the drama or the costs of paying for the messes you id-ruled people make." That is a FAR, FAR more accurate description of killer alcohol than cannabis and every fair minded person who's paying any attention knows that. You want cannabis users to pay for the sins of alcohol users! A safer alternative to killer alcohol is desperately needed and cannabis is it. I'm not claiming it's use is always problem free, but compared to alcohol, cannabis is a true blessing.

[cidaia]

I also said, if you want to argue that alcohol should be illegal, then do so, but I do not recognize "two wrongs make a right" as either logically or ethically sound.

You prove my point. You can't make a real case for legalizing marijuana; you have to rely on one of the stock manipulative deceits - in this case, that alcohol is harmful, and alcohol is legal, so therefore it does not matter whether marijuana is harmful.

[OldGreengo]

Sorry.

That should be, "The few people that consume it to excess..."

[OldGreengo]

Cidaia says:

>>>"do not say something should be legal because something else that is legal is bad."

Alcohol is not all bad. If consumed responsibly, infrequently and in moderation, it is a pleasant social lubricant. That, of course, is why it is served at so many social functions. The few people that consume it to success are not a reason to prevent its use by everyone. - This is even more true with marijuana, since it is non-addictive and FAR less harmful than alcohol.

>>>"There are a great many arguments about the harm done by marijuana"

Arguments, but no facts.

>>>"I have never heard a single argument about how marijuana will make our nation better or stronger or do anything, other than that people who are dying of cancer should be allowed to do what they want"

That's not an argument for re-legalization. Reformers' argument is that marijuana prohibition is destroying the country - and the lives of millions of innocent consumers. People dying of cancer shouldn't be allowed to do what they want. Should they be allowed to kill, rob, or wreak other havoc? They certainly SHOULD be allowed to have the great relief offered from medical marijuana. - As should everyone else. Prohibition doesn't even accomplish what it states to want. In countries where penalites for marijuana are reduced or eliminated, they have LESS use than the U.S. Forbidden fruit is a strong attraction, especially when black-markets put it in schools and playgrounds.

>>>"those of us who don't cause a lot of trouble don't like the drama or the costs of paying for the messes you id-ruled people make."

LOL! The alcohol culture is infamous for causing a "lot of trouble." Marijuana is famous for creating friendly peaceful attitudes. Prohibitionist make stuff up like this all the time. That's why you are losing.

>>>"I suppose you probably think the taxpayers owe you free healthcare, too."

That's a different subject, but you're looking at that wrong also. Taxpayers owe THEMSELVES decent healthcare - that most of them haven't had all their lives.

[cidaia]

Actually, there ARE facts.

I find it interesting that CBS chooses to ignore some really solid data.

Isn't that why Fox News is considered unreliable? Because they let their opinions spill over into what they choose to cover and how?

[berlinfoto-2009]

THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT OLD BOOKS
I have been reading lots of them recently, here is a quote from one.
"In 1953, the CIA made plans to purchase ten kilograms of LSD for use in "drug experiments with animals and human beings." Since there are more than 10,000 doses in a gram, that meant the CIS wanted 100 million doses. The CIA obviously intended to "corner the Market' on LSD so that other countries would not be ahead of the U.S. in their potential for "LSD warfare."Page 77, "OPERATION MIND CONTROL" Walter Bowart.
Quote from a newer book.
False prophets like timothy Leary, Richard "Baba Ram Dass" Alpert, Ken Kesey and Aldous Huxley, all of whom had extensive connections to a web of Intelligence operatives,75 co-opted the movement by instructing the faithful to "turn on, tune in, and drop out," precisely the wrong message to deliver.... Evidence clearly indicates that the massive infusion of LSD (and other drugs as well) into the subculture was no accident, Virtually all of the acid circulating so freely in the sixties was synthesized and distributed by intelligence operatives, who were not by any stretch of the imagination 'rogue agents.' 76. Page 252, "UNDERSTANDING THE F WORD", david McGowan.
One long term effect, that the introduction of drugs into society, has had is to increase the use of Narc's and or undercover agents, snitches, and to increase the overall amount or crime in to society and to make the U.S. a Police State.
The United States Probably has a higher percentage of secret police and snitches than NAZI Germany, and one thing the people say about the NAZI times, is that everyone was a detective. Is that where the United States is headed?

[rwsmith29456]

Maybe the war on pot is ineffective but it sure has staying power. Can the people that are criminalizing pot just back off? I don't use it but it's just no big deal.

[newageblues]

Cidaia: Do you really not know the difference between real crimes with real victims, and bogus crimes like preferring cannabis to killer alcohol? I'm sure you can see the difference if you try.

[cidaia]

You know, I don't care if you want to make alcohol illegal, but please do not say something should be legal because something else that is legal is bad. Two wrongs don't make a right - not ethically, not logically.

There are a great many arguments about the harm done by marijuana - CBS chooses not to report negative information about marijuana, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. The Christian Science Monitor had an interesting article about the marijuana being prescribed for ADD causing problems in schools.

But I have never heard a single argument about how marijuana will make our nation better or stronger or do anything, other than that people who are dying of cancer should be allowed to do what they want - and quite frankly the real solution to this problem is to tackle the problem of inadequate pain relief being given via prescription; if marijuana helps, it should be measured out in dosages like any other drug.

There are many arguments about why marijuana should not be legal. My own reason for wanting it to stay illegal is quite simply, those of us who don't cause a lot of trouble don't like the drama or the costs of paying for the messes you id-ruled people make.

I suppose you probably think the taxpayers owe you free healthcare, too.

[newageblues]

Cannabis prohibition causes social division? Nonsense, why should cannabis users be upset that killer alcohol is at the center of our culture, and that cannabis users are the designated scapegoats for the sins of alcohol users? What's unreasonable, unjust, cruel, violence promoting and perverted about that?
And who cares about the 1000's of jobs to be lost? It's not like there's a shortage of jobs or anything.