Prohibitionists continue to shout whatever they can to frighten voters. As more and more U.S. citizens realize that current marijuana laws do more harm than good, the misinformation is going to get stranger and stranger. Just watch.

One classic cry is that marijuana might cause cancer. Recent work out of Brown University actually reveals quite the opposite. Researchers gathered hundreds of people from Massachusetts who had head or neck cancers and compared them to similar people from the same neighborhoods who had no cancer. Despite the reefer-madness rants, those who had used marijuana for a decade or two were significantly less likely to develop these cancers than those who did not use marijuana.  In fact, their rates of cancer were less than half the rate among non-users. Anything else that cut the rates of cancer in half would be hailed as the newest wonder drug for tumor prevention.

As Dr. Bob Melamede explained almost five years ago in a delightful article from Harm Reduction Journal, cannabinoids inhibit tumor growth, so marijuana can’t cause cancer. Cannabinoids show promise for battling cancer, not creating it.

So the next time you meet another misinformed prohibitionist squealing about marijuana causing cancer, feel free to spread the word.

Dr. Mitch Earleywine is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University at Albany, State University of New York, where he teaches drugs and human behavior, substance abuse treatment and clinical research methods. He is the author of more than 100 publications on drug use and abuse, including “Understanding Marijuana” and “The Parents’ Guide to Marijuana.” He is the only person to publish with both Oxford University and High Times.

Today, on more than 80 college campuses across the country, students organized by MPP-grantee Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) are calling for changes in campus policies that steer students toward the use of alcohol instead of marijuana. Although the national day of action was timed to coincide with the first day of Alcohol Awareness Month, the organizers played off the April Fool’s Day theme by emphasizing that the health and safety of students is not a joke.

[Disclosure: I am one of the co-founders of SAFER. But I will try to be objective while discussing today’s brilliant, aggressive, and well-coordinated events. ;-) ]

There is no doubt that many Americans who read about this effort will initially dismiss it as the actions of a bunch of students who “just want to get high.” But that would be missing the point entirely. What these students are trying to say is that they and the vast majority of their fellow students are going to do something to get intoxicated at parties. And for most of these students, the choice is between one of two substances – alcohol and marijuana.

The conundrum though is that on almost every campus in the country, the penalties for being caught with the less harmful substance, marijuana, are far greater than the penalties for being caught with alcohol. The students are trying to raise awareness about this widespread irrational disparity. It is a disparity that steers students toward alcohol and the more harmful effects – both in terms of health and campus safety – associated with its use.

Let me be clear here: Neither I nor MPP are promoting or encouraging marijuana use by students. The point here is that university administrators, as well as our elected officials, need to examine their policies and regulations and determine whether they are really protecting the health and welfare of community members. By punishing individuals more harshly for using the less harmful of the two recreational substances, it doesn’t appear that current policies do.

The Chronicle of Higher Education, the publication of record for university administrators, posted a solid article today about SAFER’s efforts. And if you want to read more about the movement to educate the public about the relative harms of marijuana and alcohol, check out Marijuana is Safer: So why are we driving to drink?, a book I co-authored with SAFER’s executive director Mason Tvert and Paul Armentano of NORML.

I have to admit I was a little nervous when I first heard “South Park” was airing an episode about medical marijuana this week. The show’s creators have spent the last 13 years mocking public policy issues both credible and contemptible, and—as much as I try to have a sense of humor about these things—I was legitimately worried that the same guys who recently referred to Sarah Jessica Parker as a “transvestite donkey witch” might not portray medical marijuana in the best possible light.

Luckily, I thought last night’s episode—about the opening of the first medical marijuana dispensary in South Park—managed to make the show’s requisite outrageous jokes without going too far in attacking state medical marijuana laws. I especially liked the following line from an employee at the new South Park dispensary: “We can’t just sell the marijuana to anybody. You need a reference from your doctor to show it’s necessary.”

It’s not a huge leap to assume that as Colorado residents, the show’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, may themselves have seen dispensaries up close. It’s also worth mentioning that last night’s episode included an accompanying side plot that shows how doing anything to excess can be bad for you, and how making a highly demanded product illegal can lead to “underground black markets, death, and shootings.”

Gee, what does that sound like?

For those who haven’t seen it, you can watch the episode for free at SouthParkStudios.com.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases that questioned a harsh federal law requiring the deportation of non-citizens who are convicted of certain crimes, including minor drug violations.

Media reports on those whose lives hang in the balance over these decisions have included one horror story after another about people who in many cases were legal residents of the United States for decades, but were forced to endure brutal treatment and threats of deportation, simply for minor marijuana convictions.

Among the most egregious:

• Jerry Lemaine, a legal permanent resident of New York who was instructed by a lawyer to plead guilty after a police officer found a marijuana cigarette in his pocket one night in 2007. That guilty plea led to a terrible chain reaction, as reported by The New York Times: “Immigration authorities flew him in shackles to Texas, where he spent three years behind bars, including 10 months in solitary confinement, as he fought deportation to Haiti, the country he had left at age 3,” The Times reported yesterday.
• Jose Padilla, a native of Honduras who followed his lawyer’s advice to plead guilty to transporting marijuana. Federal agents told Padilla, a Vietnam veteran who has lived in Kentucky for many years, that he faced automatic deportation as soon as he pled guilty.

In the case of Padilla, the court ruled 7-2 today that lawyers must inform their clients about the consequences any case would have on their immigration status.

No opinion was given on the justness of punishing someone for possessing a substance that is safer than alcohol.

MPP spokesperson Aaron Houston debates Heritage Foundation's Ernest Istook on the benefits of ending marijuana prohibition and how it would adversely affect the profits of Mexican drug cartels. 03/29/2010

In 2009, the National Drug Intelligence Center’s annual drug threat assessment report stated that Mexican drug cartels operated distribution networks in at least 230 American cities.

This year, the annual report describes how the cartels have since expanded their influence, how they operate in nearly every region of the continental United States, and how they are “active in more cities throughout the country that any other [drug trafficking organizations].”

But, intriguingly, something is missing: the updated number of how many cities in which the cartels now operate. Why wouldn’t the NDIC, which is part of the Department of Justice, make the new number public?

A DOJ spokesman told Mother Jones that no “hard figure” was included because the agency was “in the throes of reanalyzing” its data, but admitted that the NDIC predicts the number will increase when it’s released in another month. Or longer.

Keep in mind that Mexican drug cartels are making up to 70 percent of their profits from selling marijuana in the United States and have become so brazen in their violent tactics that they are now assassinating American citizens.

If the cartels control distribution in more cities in 2010 than they did in 2009, it’s because marijuana prohibition has enabled them to. When the DOJ finally does release the updated number of cities in which cartels operate (however shockingly high it might be), the need for a legal, regulated market should be clearer than ever.

MPP director of state campaigns Steve Fox debates Brian Darling of the Heritage Foundation on the benefits of ending marijuana prohibition. 03/26/2010

MPP's Aaron Smith appears on CNBC debating prohibitionist spokeswoman Calvina Fay about the merits of TaxCannabis 2010, the initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. 03/25/2010

MPP's Sarah Lovering appears on KTTV Fox in LA to discuss the reasons to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Today a ballot initiative, TaxCannabis 2010, was approved that will give California voters the chance to allow adult possession and cultivation of marijuana for recreational purposes. 03/24/2010

Today, the California Secretary officially certified the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 for the state’s November ballot. This means that on November 2, Californians will be able to vote to send marijuana prohibition to the ash heap of history!

The groundbreaking initiative would make personal possession and cultivation of marijuana legal for adults over 21 in California. It would also allow cash-strapped cities and counties to tax and regulate marijuana sales in order to reap millions in new tax revenues. The proposition will also call on the legislature to enact a statewide system to tax and regulate marijuana.

Will the nation’s largest state finally create a legal market – complete with tens of thousands of new jobs – for what’s already its top cash crop?

We sure hope so!