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.'
The figures were described as a "national scandal" by the organisation, whose report was funded by George Soros's Open Society Institute. "
It's more a case of your use of illogical logic...
What logic is there in the war on herb?
Perhaps you should find a flaw and present it before,
so elegantly, declaring my use of "illogical logic"
I see. The fact that Human Rights Watch was involved, therefore taints anything Gray says?
BTW, did you ever find any link between Soros and Temple University Press, the publisher of Gray's book?
>>BTW, did you ever find any link between Soros and Temple University Press, the publisher of Gray's book?<<
(From Temple U Press)
>>BTW, did you ever find any link between Soros and Temple University Press, the publisher of Gray's book? <<
Read this page! www.soros.org funding
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/newsite/main/emba/mba_resource_aid.html
>>BTW, did you ever find any link between Soros and Temple University Press, the publisher of Gray's book?<<
Seems that Temple is really linked with Soros!
PI Career Support Center
Temple does not have a staff member in the Office of Career Planning solely or primarily dedicated to public interest. However, all staff members and the Assistant Dean counsel students in this area of law and the office has several resources specifically related to it, such as the Harvard Public Interest Job Search Guide and the PSLawNet Guide to Fellowships. The Office refers students to the Office for Public Interest Law Programs, PSLawNet's website as well as the Soros Foundation. The Office of Career Planning co- sponsors a Public Interest Public Service Job Fair every year and suggests that public interest-minded students attend First Monday and the Equal Justice Works Career Fair and Conference.
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/probono/lawschools/109.html
>>BTW, did you ever find any link between Soros and Temple University Press, the publisher of Gray's book?<<
One of only three of Soros' Senior Fellows (professors) is from Temple! More on the link.
http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/news/justicefellowships_20030203
This Temple grad is a big Sorosite. How did she and Temple benefit from Soros?
http://www.inch.com/~jholland/julie/jbio.htm
Why does Soros keep showing up at Temple?
http://www.temple-news.com/news/2002/10/17/News/Dead-Thinkers.Society-300159.shtml
This Temple ME/PHD carries the Soro money/propaganda to her new college.
http://users.ntsource.com/~dhfsbf19/papers/vita.htm
Indirect link. Seems Temple Press is a very LIBERAL publishing agency.
http://www.newark.rutgers.edu/ourfaculty/index.php?sId=kudosDetail&expertId=84
Check out the Temple Press home page! Looks like they won't publish it unless the subject is left of left!
http://www.temple.edu/tempress/
Thank you for pointing out the link between Gray and the Soros agenda.
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