Research helps dispel marijuana myths

Sober Talk ^ | Thursday, August 1, 2002 | By BECKY CLARK, MSW, CSW

[Behind Liberal Lines]

As we endeavor toward a more lucid and informed discussion of substance abuse, let's deconstruct the mystique of marijuana and recognize it for the dangerous drug that it is.

Marijuana is a substance that's worthy of our concern. It is the most prevalent of all illicit drugs used in the country. The 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reported that 34 percent of Americans have used marijuana in their lifetime and 5 percent are current users.

[vin-one]

as far as name calling I was trying to point out the hypocrisy of what I perceive your screen name to be. Limited freedom by the gov't. Did not mean to offend you.

As for your post, look at the study done in England where they did not arrest people for MJ. Crime dropped, police were able to concentrate on real crimes. And isn't netherlands like one big red light district anyway, legalized everything , so what does that attract. The lowest form of elements.

I truly believe that MJ should be regulated like booze and tobacco, Period. The drug war is a failure!!!!!!

[vin-one]

oops, read wolfies thread, 500.

I thought everything was legal in the Netherlands,

[William Terrell]

Perhaps it's a threat to the all-powerful pharmaceutical industry.

I suspect it's a threat to a lot of industries.

[Wolfie]

No, just small quantity sales in the Coffeeshops, and like I said, technically, that's not even legal, just tolerated. Now, the Prohibitionists like to think that the new Christian Democrat government is going to close the shops, but they're just kidding themselves.

Yesterday, the Dutch Justice Minister, who is also a Christian Democrat, issued a statement that reaffirmed current policies and dropped any mention of even closing the border shops.

[William Terrell]

If you give people free recreational drugs and take away the profit from selling recreational drugs, these addicts will still continue to steal to support the lifestyle they want to have.

Do you believe that drug-using gang-bangers are going to lose their desire for your cars, car stereos, cash, gold chains, other jewelry, tv's, vcr's and everything else, because you legalized recreational narcotics?

They still have to steal to party, to eat, to afford tatoos and body piercings. That stuff doesn't come cheap, you know?

So, if drugs are illegal, punks steal to pay the high prices of drugs and if they're legal, punks will steal to pay for other things.

Are you saying that only punks on drugs want to "party, to eat, to afford tatoos and body piercings"? If so, I have news for you: punks stole to get these and similar things before the drug scene.

[tacticalogic]

I think we ought erect a monument in Washington, DC to Mr. Anslinger -- looks like he anticipated the multiculturalism of the "red diaper doper generation" a full 60 years before its decadent fruition.

That would be good. I think more people need to know about Mr. Anslinger, and the role he played in getting marijuana prohitition enacted. Everyone should know what he had to say about it, and what he stood to gain from it.

[4Freedom]

So what if everything isn't legal in The Netherlands, their let's call it increased tolerance hasn't decreased crime one bit.

You still haven't made your point.

[vin-one]

crime rates dropped and violent criminal arrests increase in England when they stopped busting people for minor amounts of MJ. So I guess I have proven my point. It certainly matches your one example of the netherlands.

[4Freedom]

"...punks stole to get these and similar things before the drug scene."

And they'll continue to steal, MORE to get them even after recreational narcotics are legalized. Just like crime increased in The Netherlands.

Thanks for helping me make my point.

[William Terrell]

(laughter)

[rb22982]

I'm sorry, but no matter how many cool people do it, nobody's going to convince me that smoking pot is anything more than an attempt to temporarily escape from reality.

And what is so bad about temporarily escaping from reality? Ever played a video game? Drink a beer/glass of wine? Gone on vacation? Gone fishing? Played a sport? And my point wasn't that "cool" people were doing it. I was never into who was popular in HS or college, my point was that intelligent people do it, so your 'stoner hippy' ad hominem attack is baseless and shows how intellectually bankrupt your argument is. While I'm not convinced the legality of pot is any business of the FedGov, at least for now it's the law of the land. But nor am I convinced that allowing pot to be possessed and used freely would be in our people's best interests.

Again, it was the law of the land to round up and kill jews in Nazi Germany, the law of the land today says abortion is ok. Just because it is the law does not make it right. And again, due to every possible scenario (economic costs, societal costs, addictive properties, intoxication), marijuana is SAFER than alcohol so for you to say that alcohol should remain legal while marijuana not makes you a hypocrite of the worst type.

As for the Libertarians, all I see is mounting evidence this party exists solely for the purpose of legalizing narcotics, prostitution and queer marriages--things that in the end would only exacerbate social ills and give the monster State an even bigger excuse to step in and "help" us.

Actually the LP was create to protest many of Nixon's policies but what on earth does the LP have to do with anything I've said. Aand the LP would not legalize queer marriages, the LP doesn't think that the government even has a legal right to regulate marriage, and that marriage is between you, God, your spouse and your Church. As for legalization prostitution, yes its part of the LP platform, but its hardly a big thing. Go to lp.org and harrybrowne.org and see if you can even find an article on prostitution. And for drugs, i've already shown that most drugs are no more harmful than alcohol.

Annual Causes of Death in the United States

Tobacco	430,7001
Alcohol	110,6402
Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs	32,0003
Suicide	30,5754
Homicide	18,2725
All Licit & Illicit Drug-Induced Deaths	16,9266
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin	7,6007
Marijuana	08

1. (Average 1990-1994) According to the US Centers for Disease Control, from the beginning of 1990 through 1994 "2,153,700 deaths (1,393,200 men and 760-400 women; total annual average: 430,700 deaths) were attributed to smoking (19.5% of all deaths)." The CDC notes that "Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States."

   Source:(1996): "Smoking-Attributable Mortality and Years of Potential Life Lost," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control, 1997), May 23, 1997, Vol. 46, No. 20, p. 449.

2. According to the federal National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, in 1996 an estimated 110,640 people in the US died due to alcohol.

   Source: "Number of deaths and age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 population for categories of alcohol-related (A-R) mortality, United States and States, 1979-96," National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, from the web at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/databases/armort01.txt, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001, citing Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System, Saadatmand, F., Stinson, FS, Grant, BF, and Dufour, MC, "Surveillance Report #52: Liver Mortality in the United States, 1970-96" (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, December 1999).

3. (Average 1982-1998): According to Canadian researchers, approximately 32,000 hospitalized patients (and possibly as many as 106,000) in the USA die each year because of adverse reactions to their prescribed medications.

   Source: Lazarou, J, Pomeranz, BH, Corey, PN, "Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies," Journal of the American Medical Association (Chicago, IL: American Medical Association, 1998), 1998;279:1200-1205, also letters column, "Adverse Drug Reactions in Hospitalized Patients," JAMA (Chicago, IL: AMA, 1998), Nov. 25, 1998, Vol. 280, No. 20, from the web at http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v280n20/ffull/jlt1125-1.html, last accessed Feb. 12, 2001.

4. (1998): The US Centers for Disease Control reports that in 1998, there were a total of 30,575 deaths from suicide in the US.

   Source: Murphy, Sheila L., "Deaths: Final Data for 1998," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), Table 10, p. 53, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .

5. (1998): The US Centers for Disease Control reports that in 1998, there were a total of 18,272 deaths from homicide in the US.

   Source: Murphy, Sheila L., "Deaths: Final Data for 1998," National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), Table 10, p. 53, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .

6. (1998): "In 1998 a total of 16,926 persons died of drug-induced causes in the United States (Table 20). The category 'drug-induced causes' includes not only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of drugs (legal and illegal use), but also poisoning from medically prescribed and other drugs. It excludes accidents, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to drug use. Also excluded are newborn deaths due to mother's drug use." The total number of deaths in the US in 1998 was 2,337,256.

   Source:  Murphy, Sheila L., Centers for Disease Control, "Deaths: Final Data for 1998,", National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), pp. 1, 10, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf .

7. (1996): "Each year, use of NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) accounts for an estimated 7,600 deaths and 76,000 hospitalizations in the United States." (NSAIDs include aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, ketoprofen, and tiaprofenic acid.)

   Source: Robyn Tamblyn, PhD; Laeora Berkson, MD, MHPE, FRCPC; W. Dale Jauphinee, MD, FRCPC; David Gayton, MD, PhD, FRCPC; Roland Grad, MD, MSc; Allen Huang, MD, FRCPC; Lisa Isaac, PhD; Peter McLeod, MD, FRCPC; and Linda Snell, MD, MHPE, FRCPC, "Unnecessary Prescribing of NSAIDs and the Management of NSAID-Related Gastropathy in Medical Practice," Annals of Internal Medicine (Washington, DC: American College of Physicians, 1997), September 15, 1997, 127:429-438, from the web at http://www.acponline.org/journals/annals/15sep97/nsaid.htm, last accessed Feb. 14, 2001, citing Fries, JF, "Assessing and understanding patient risk," Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology Supplement, 1992;92:21-4.

8. An exhaustive search of the literature finds no deaths induced by marijuana. The US Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) records instances of drug mentions in medical examiners' reports, and though marijuana is mentioned, it is usually in combination with alcohol or other drugs. Marijuana alone has not been shown to cause an overdose death.

   Source: Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), available on the web at http://www.samhsa.gov/; also see Janet E. Joy, Stanley J. Watson, Jr., and John A. Benson, Jr., "Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base," Division of Neuroscience and Behavioral Research, Institute of Medicine (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1999), available on the web at http://www.nap.edu/html/marimed/; and US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, "In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition" (Docket #86-22), September 6, 1988, p. 57.

   NO THANKS! For the above stated reasons among many others, I remain a Republican, a Conservative, and an opponent of legalized drugs.

   You are so conservative that you can continue to support FDR's & WW drug policies, how very conservative of you!

   If you potheads need a fix so bad, why not try Prozac?

   Another baseless ad hominem attack, I am not a pot head, alcohol is my drug of choice. BTW prozac is illegal to take also unless you have a prescription for it. NO THANKS! For the above stated reasons among many others, I remain a Republican, a Conservative, and an opponent of legalized drugs. If you potheads need a fix so bad, why not try Prozac?

[4Freedom]

No, your statistics from England prove nothing unless we know that incidents of violent crime didn't increase as well.

Arrests will go up, if there's an increase in incidents (probably as a result of more pot being smoked in public).

[Admin Moderator]

We're up to 500+ posts in this thread. Let's not have it turn into another flame war where insults are fired more than substantiated arguments and positions. Thanks, AM

[WyldKard]

Arrests will go up, if there's an increase in incidents (probably as a result of more pot being smoked in public).

He said VIOLENT CRIME arrests. Invest in a set of reading comprehension skills. Sheesh

[Scourge of God]

What, the point that people can use marijuana recreationally and hold down professional jobs, lead a productive life, pay their taxes, go to church, essentially run their own lives without help from you or a nanny, puritan government? You can't be serious right? You don't get out much, do you?

Huh? First of all, why did you post this to me? I commented on the double standard of another poster, I did not comment on maryjane at all. Now, since you started this dustup, let's consider your point. I'll merely substitute your concept into other sins.

What, the point that people can use cocaine recreationally and hold down professional jobs, lead a productive life, pay their taxes, go to church, essentially run their own lives without help from you or a nanny, puritan government? You can't be serious right? You don't get out much, do you?

What, the point that people rape and murder recreationally and hold down professional jobs, lead a productive life, pay their taxes, go to church, essentially run their own lives without help from you or a nanny, puritan government? You can't be serious right? You don't get out much, do you?

And so on. You get the point.

Scourge

[Scourge of God]

I offered personal experience. Others offered research plus criticism. You offered nothing - not even the effort to read the entire thread.

That is entirely beside the point. You can't criticize others for not doing research, then fail to offer your own research to back your point!

Scourge

[WyldKard]

What, the point that people rape and murder recreationally and hold down professional jobs, lead a productive life, pay their taxes, go to church, essentially run their own lives without help from you or a nanny, puritan government? You can't be serious right? You don't get out much, do you?

WOW! I haven't seen this silly strawman argument used in three whole days.

Taking drugs in the privacy of your own home doesn't require you to usurp the inaliable rights of another individual, through force of violence or threats.

You CAN'T commit rape or murder or theft, or kidnapping, etc etc etc, without violating the rights of another individual. It just can't be done. Thus, it's in the interest of the state to intervine in any case of rape, or murder, or any crime that usurps the rights of another individual, no matter where it occurs. It is NOT in the interest of the state to spend 10 billion dollars a year to put away some non-violent feb smoking a joint in the privacy of his own living room. Well, unless you have a cushy-Government job...

Trying to compare the two is like comparing apples and oranges.

[JediGirl]

Um. Prices will go down. People won't need to steal. Was there an epidemic of people stealing money for booze when it was legalised again?