|
Comment on this article |
View comments |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Civil & Human Rights : Crime & Police : Drugs : Elections & Legislation : Health |
|
Study Debunks Feds' Marijuana Claims - Regulated Sales May Stop "Gateway Effect" Without Increasing Marijuana Use |
Current rating: 9 |
by MPP
(No verified email address) |
04 May 2004
|
|
Wars are built on lies -- the War on Marijuana is no different than the War on Iraq. It alsoappears as if the tactics used percipitate the very problems they claim to address. In other words, the despicable way we have conducted the War on Terrorism actually is creating a vast new pool of those willing to take revenge for they injustices they have suffered. The War on Marijuana actually appears to make people five times more likely to use hard drugs. |
WASHINGTON - May 3 - A new study appearing in the May issue of the American Journal of Public Health debunks several of the major claims made by the federal government and other proponents of marijuana prohibition. The study, which compared patterns of marijuana use in Amsterdam, where possession and purchase of small amounts of marijuana by adults are allowed under a legally regulated system, and San Francisco, where such activities are illegal and punishable by fines or jail, found no significant differences in patterns of marijuana use in the two cities, and greater use of hard drugs in San Francisco.
Researchers from the University of California and the University of Amsterdam conducted detailed interviews with hundreds of randomly chosen marijuana users -- people who had used marijuana at least 25 times-in both cities. "Proponents of criminalization attribute to their preferred drug-control regimen a special power to affect user behavior," the authors write. "Our findings cast doubt on such attributions. Despite widespread lawful availability of cannabis [marijuana] in Amsterdam, there were no differences between the two cities in age at onset of use, age at first regular use, or age at the start of maximum use. ... We also found consistent similarities in patterns of use across the different policy contexts."
One significant difference: Marijuana users in San Francisco were much more likely to use powder or crack cocaine, opiates, amphetamines or ecstasy than their Amsterdam counterparts. Lifetime crack cocaine use in the San Francisco sample was five times that of the Amsterdam group. "Dutch decriminalization does not appear to be associated with greater use of other drugs," the researchers report. "Indeed, to judge from the lifetime prevalence of other illicit drug use, the reverse may be the case."
Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, commented, "Despite the claims by federal officials like White House Drug Czar John Walters, the evidence continues to grow that marijuana prohibition not only doesn't curb marijuana use, it actually contributes to the so-called 'gateway effect,' by exposing marijuana users to criminal dealers of hard drugs. A system of responsible regulation can break the link between marijuana and far more dangerous substances."
The full study can be obtained on the American Journal of Public Health's web site :
http://www.ajph.org |
See also:
http://www.MarijuanaPolicy.org
|
This work is in the public domain |
|
Re: Study Debunks Feds' Marijuana Claims - Regulated Sales May Stop "Gateway Effect" Without Increasing Marijuana Use |
by NRA4Freedom
nra4freedom (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified) |
Current rating: -2
05 May 2004
|
I WANT MY DOOBIE! GIVE IT TO ME NOW! Oh, and I want the same thing homosexuals want...someone to tell me that what I WANT to do isn't REALLY bad for me. In fact, it is GOOD for me and for civilization...I know it is, in my own mind anyway. Why won't people believe me, why can't I keep a job, wo invented drug testing anyway, why am I such a LOSER...pot is really good for you just like homosexual sex is...I'm so elite, I must be smarter than everyone else in the world, they just don't know how good pot and homosexuality is...
IDIOTS! |
|
Re: Study Debunks Feds' Marijuana Claims - Regulated Sales May Stop "Gateway Effect" Without Increasing Marijuana Use |
by NRA4Freedom
nra4freedom (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified) |
Current rating: -2
05 May 2004
|
|
Ok, rational conversation. I can only speak from my personal experience about Mary Jane. More than a few people I have work with and beside over the years were tokers. Even after they got married and had children, they continued to carry their one hitters around and sneak a light every chance they could get. But what kind of people are they or did they become...do they have a nice home, a nice car, a decent family life, children that don't have behavior problems, spare cash on hand, think clearly all the time, can remember past events clearly and speak rationally all the time...the unfortunate answer is no. If it is a fact that smoking weed kills off brain cells, all the people I know who got hooked are poster children for that fact. Not a single one of them has ever amounted to a darned thing, and from the looks of it, never will. So why do something that is gonna harm you in the long run? Where am I missing it? |
