Posted on 07/25/2004 1:12:55 AM PDT by MadIvan
New super-strength marijuana readily available on US streets is prompting the White House to change direction in its war against drugs.
Research from the government-sponsored Marijuana Potency Project claims today's cannabis is more than twice as strong as in the mid-Eighties, leading to greater health risks for those smoking it at increasingly younger ages.
Now President George Bush, who had already promised a more aggressive campaign against substance abuse, has ordered that resources be allocated to fighting so-called 'soft' drugs instead of concentrating on harder forms, such as heroin and cocaine.
'We are working hard on education, but unfortunately a lot of today's parents are under the impression marijuana is harmless and that their kids trying it is some kind of rite of passage,' said Jennifer de Vallance, of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
'They might have had experience in their own teenage years with no problems, but this is not the same marijuana as in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. Today's forms are much stronger and potentially more harmful, especially to young people whose brains are not fully developed and are therefore more susceptible to adverse reactions.'
The Marijuana Potency Project, at the University of Mississippi, analysed more than 30,000 samples seized over the past 18 years by the authorities. It found that the average level of the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), jumped from 3.5 per cent in 1985 to more than 7 per cent in 2003.
Of more concern to the analysts is that the upward trend appears to be continuing. The average potency of 20 marijuana samples seized and tested so far this year exceeds 9 per cent, with a peak of 27 per cent in one batch from a state in the North West.
'Today's marijuana is a much more serious problem than the vast majority of Americans understands,' said John Walters, the government's director of drug control policy who has promised a clampdown on producers.
Those who support the legalisation of cannabis are not convinced. 'Whenever government officials speak about drugs issues, a more detailed examination of the facts is a good idea,' said David Borden, executive director of the Washington-based Drug Reform Coordination Network.
'These projects are always government-funded and, without criticising the researchers, officials take what they want from it and send out their press releases. There has always been a wide range of potencies. It doesn't mean people are getting more intoxicated, because the higher the potency, the less they smoke.'
Figures suggest overall drug use in America's high schools has fallen by 11 per cent in two years but the National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse reports the number of children and teenagers receiving treatment for marijuana abuse jumped 142 per cent over the last decade, and that emergency hospital admissions of 12 to 17-year-olds in which marijuana was implicated rose 48 per cent in four years.
Borden acknowledges children must be steered away from drugs, but says: 'Their anti-drugs efforts have had a paradoxical effect in promoting the underground cultivation of marijuana. The number of users makes it an appealing target and there is no limit to the number of arrests that can be made, and the government uses those numbers to scare the public into thinking there is some big problem.
'All the government has been able to do is encourage people to experiment with stronger drugs than they would have before.'
Do you really think that 'anyone that supports the criminalization of marijuana and cocaine is a socialist? -cinfla
Mugs, I wish to thank you for assisting me in getting us smoked. Mr C, good bye. I guess your audience is gone! Go troll elsewhere. I have to go pack a bowl! I got some DYNOMITE stuff, with 432% good stuff, and a self rolling leaf... little red and orange hairs- and smells like a skunk.... and then I am going looking for a saxophone!
Good night!
Sweet dreams...I'll be doing the same shortly.
I take it, then, that you favor legalization of cocaine.
Cocaine is legal, it is regulated. See the Harrison Narcotics Act.
The Constitution allows for regulation. It does not allow for prohibition.
To prohibit cannabis you must amend the Constitution.
The individual states have the right to regulate and/or control cannabis. The federal government does not have the right to prohibit its use.
To allow the federal government to behave in an illegal and criminal manner creates disrespect for the rule of law. We see the result of that in society today.
If you read some authoritive sources vs. your Soros' funded pro-drug websites, you would know that the Harrison Act is NOT controlling now.
You know not of what you speak, but you are entertaining.
Why not try a new approach? Your constant harping on the fat idiot Soros leads me to believe that you must be having some kind of domestic dispute with him.
You never did answer my question about peanut butter. Why not?
What party has this in their platform?
Freedom, Justice and Crime
We call for the defense and extension of the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, including freedom of speech, press, assembly and association, and the right to keep and bear arms for individual and collective defense. The ultimate guarantee of those rights is the organized strength of the working class.
...
Stop trials and imprisonment of juveniles as adults.
Treatment of prisoners as human beings; rehabilitation, not vengeance.
Decriminalize victimless activities including drug use and consensual sex. Legalize marijuana. End the "war on drugs," which is primarily directed against poor and working-class people.
Stop unwarranted searches and seizures of persons and property. Restore constitutional rights.
I'm so glad that you agree with my point!
Must be a f*cking commie, right?
I'll guess commie!
cinFla, you are one sad piece of work.
Here's some "Soros funded propaganda" for you:
1. The meaning of the Phrase "to regulate trade" must be sought in the general use of it, in other words in the objects to which the power was generally understood to be applicable, when the Phrase was inserted in the Constn.
2. The power has been understood and used by all commercial & manufacturing Nations as embracing the object of encouraging manufactures. It is believed that not a single exception can be named.
"I understand. You don't want to talk issues. You just want to demonize. Sad."
LMAO, that is the pot calling the kettle black!
Your game is flat, 2D, either personal attack or senseless diversion.
I ask you , please, to back up your slander.
Source please.
If you do not tend your crop or your flock
it will whither and die. I did not agree
with your false premise
because it is
solely based on
the inherent design
of this herb's
nature.
It falls into line with the simple law of nature:
Best treatment conditions toward maximum productivity.
If government understood this then the WOD would end.
Evidence = this thread
The War on Drugs will never be successful, because until we fix the root of the problem there will always be drug users and alcoholics.
WE need to teach parenting in the classroom, not just carrying around sacks of flour and changing diapers, although helpful. We need to teach communication skills, the power of time and manners and that love really is about commitment
.
As long as we have absentee parents consumed with materialism wihout true family values, we are wasting our time with the War on Drugs. One doesn't have to be rich to be into consumerism; the very poor are partying and consuming to the max, just in a different way.
Yes, educate and tax. Otherwise we are only creating law enforcement jobs that are creating more felons, younger and younger. These cycles can be changed by taking drug dealers off the street, taxing cig, alcohol, marijuana and teaching young people that having children is a responsibility and if you aren't ready for it, then abstinece is your best bet.
You have a problem with that?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.