Posted on 02/11/2003 6:49:57 AM PST by MrLeRoy
WASHINGTON--A friend recently remarked to me, "Alcohol is the original date-rape drug." That's very sadly true. And it's why I found it hypocritical that the national drug czar's new ad equating marijuana use with teen pregnancy should debut during the Super Bowl, in which beer and sex were the dominant advertising themes.
Teen drinking is the bigger problem, both in sheer numbers as well as health risks, yet the federal agency overseeing drug-control policy ignores it. An antiteen drinking commercial would have been a powerful counterpoint during that game; the antipot ad came off as a clumsy attempt to maintain beer's market share.
These ads are emblematic of the government's overall war on marijuana. Since marijuana was first federally outlawed in 1937, prohibition has had the perverse effect of making marijuana more popular, particularly among youth and the counterculture. Our government insists on staying the course even though there is no evidence that criminalizing marijuana has ever reduced its use, let alone its trafficking. Meanwhile, the focus on marijuana diverts attention away from more serious problems.
Historian Barbara Tuchman once defined folly in government as the perverse persistence in bad policy in spite of evidence of its failure and the existence of a reasonable alternative.
Marijuana prohibition is a clear example of this. Reports by governmental commissions in several countries point out its failure and call for drastic changes, from decriminalization (for example, the Shafer Commission in 1972) to legalization (a Canadian Senate committee report in 2002). So many of our political leaders have tried marijuana that it becomes news if a politician ever denies any "youthful indiscretions." And yet, still prohibition persists. Why?
Some argue that marijuana is a dangerous drug so it must be banned. Yet we've decided that the dangers of alcohol and tobacco present an acceptable risk, so let's compare:
Alcohol overdoses kill more than 15,000 people each year in the United States, and alcohol-related deaths push the toll up to more than 100,000 annually; marijuana, according to the scientific evidence, has not racked up a single overdose death in centuries of use.
Alcohol use is involved in 40 percent of the violent crimes committed in the United States annually; marijuana is associated with meditative, peaceful behavior, while violence in the marijuana trade is the result of prohibition, not the drug.
Tobacco use is credited with more than 400,000 deaths annually, according to the Surgeon General; in spite of decades of trying, the federal government has still not found anyone dying from marijuana use.
Clearly, marijuana prohibition is not justified by health concerns.
Prohibitionists say we don't need to legalize yet another drug because the ones we have do too much damage. That argument misses the point in many ways.
First, marijuana is widely used, legal or not. At least 21 million people used it last year, according to the federal Household Survey. (The real number is much higher, possibly 40 million; government surveys of illegal behavior are not noted for their accuracy and are widely believed to underreport the true totals.)
More important, marijuana is not simply another substance, it's a less dangerous--not safe, but less dangerous--alternative to drugs we already make available. And, if regulated as we do with alcohol, there would be guarantees of marijuana purity as well as regulation of potency, something the illegal market does not provide.
Prohibitionists counter: Ending marijuana prohibition "sends the wrong message" that legalizing drugs supposedly connotes societal approval of drug abuse. Oh, really? Then we need to bring back alcohol prohibition because, by that logic, legal alcohol sends the message that alcoholism and alcohol abuse are OK. Obviously, that's not true. And we're not going back to alcohol prohibition. We need to turn in a different direction.
It makes no sense to continue threatening people with arrest over their simple use of marijuana. A regulated system takes control of the marijuana market away from the criminals. This means age limits, just as we have for alcohol--drug dealers never ask for ID.
As for the "gateway" theory? Research shows that alcohol and tobacco are more likely suspects than marijuana. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that early alcohol and tobacco use were strong indicators of later drug use. That study's authors contended that the link between marijuana and other illegal drugs may be due solely to marijuana's illegality, nothing more.
A regulated marijuana market--similar to alcohol but a little more restricted (no Super Bowl marijuana promotions, for example)--is workable. And selling U.S.-grown marijuana through state-run outlets similar to Virginia's ABC stores could bring in millions in tax revenue to states and the federal government.
So why does prohibition persist? As Tuchman put it in her book "The March of Folly": "Wooden-headedness, the source of self-deception, is a factor that plays a remarkably large role in government. It consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts."
Seventy years ago, we ended the tragic mistake that was alcohol prohibition. The time has now come to end the folly of marijuana prohibition.
I sure hope you clean that keyboard before anyone else uses it.
Read my tagline.
So you have no evidence. Duly noted.
Or, better yet, go smoke a bowl and find out for yersef!
I have---it didn't make me any hornier.
Then stay off it ... TROLL
I'm an ex because I did my time ... SONNY.
BTW you present yourself as a person who gets his thrills irritating people. It probably reflects in your personal life. My guess you are either divorced or soon to be. If you have kids, they probably don't want anything to do with you because you apparently get your kicks getting people mad at you so that you can punish yourself with their anger and contempt ... Which you do well at.
Therapy is free on base ... you might seek some before you have spent most of your life miserably punishing yourself and being angry at the world
Which have yet to be refuted in any intelligent way by the happy band of moral authoritarians.
But that's what these free my dope threads are all about...a bunch of people who take themselves far too seriously, with an agenda that less and less people care about.
But that's what these free my dope threads are all about...a bunch of people who take themselves far too seriously, with an agenda that less and less people care about.
How many times do you have to post this lay-up?
No way in hell this clown could be on active duty . . . my guess is an ex or a wannabe writ large.
I made it up. Describes the euphoric stage of drug use. "Down-down" describes the reverse. U dig?
On darn, I guess I'll have to leave now.
Sure. It's good that you did your time...everyday a few more of your friends end up doing time also. And if you think having the folks on dope threads angry at you is some kind of punishment...LOL! It sure beats doing time in the lock up for possession.
Provide evidence for your claim that less and less people care about drug legalization.
As a troll yes ... do leave ... as a contributor to the discussion (on either side) you're welcome here. When you post nothing but name calling and flame bait, you look more like a refugee from the "little" school bus and the title CWO comes into doubt.
It's in the paper's every morning...not at all.
Last Christmas there was a make dope legal rally in Seattle and they couldn't get two dozen people to show up. You can get 500 people to show up in Seattle for anything. You could host a Gay Salmon Day and get 500 freaks...and you can't get 50 pot heads to protest in Seattle?
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