"If something is not legal, you can't regulate it very effectively."
-- Prof. Robin Room, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne
On October 2, the Global Cannabis Commission, a group of top scientists commissioned by the Beckley Foundation, issued its groundbreaking report, "Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate." Your faithful correspondent was able to attend the daylong seminar in which the report was discussed, held in the distinctly imposing Moses Room of the House…
On Saturday, New Bedford Standard-Times columnist Jack Spillane weighed with an eminently sensible and amusing take on the opposition to Question 2 , the marijuana decriminalization initiative on the November ballot in Massachusetts. He quotes some funny/scary dialogue from the press conference held by prosecutors and other opponents that managed to escape the notice of other reporters. The silliness begins with Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter:
And "I don't want to hear," he said, those…
One of the arguments raised regularly by opponents of marijuana law reform is the claim that any lessening of penalties will lead to higher rates of marijuana use, and from that all sorts of terrible consequences will flow. This argument has already been raised against Question 2 in Massachusetts. It's one of those claims that makes intuitive sense, but research suggests it's simply not true.
That's not just my opinion. A few years ago the White House asked the National Research Council to look at…
It was probably inevitable: Lacking actual facts to make their case, opponents of Question 2 in Massachusetts have begun spinning fictional scare stories in order to frighten voters out of reforming that state's marijuana laws.
Question 2 would replace the current criminal penalties for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults with a civil fine. Marijuana would still be illegal, but simple possession of a small amount wouldn't require arrest, booking, and all the time and expense that…
Tom Riley's nonchalant statement about the relationship (or lack thereof) between tough drug laws/enforcement and rates of use, cited in Dan's earlier post, contradicts just about everything ONDCP has been saying for years whenever a state considers loosening its marijuana laws. In a March 19 press release, deputy Drug Czar Scott Burns railed against a New Hampshire proposal to decriminalize marijuana, saying such a move "sends the wrong message to New Hampshire's youth, students, parents, public…
Short answer: Don't hold your breath!
It could certainly be interesting though if Senator Obama offered the slot to Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.), who says the following in his new book: "The time has come to stop locking up people for mere possession and use of marijuana. It makes far more sense to take the money that would be saved by such a policy and use it for enforcement of gang-related activities."
Other then Webb, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico stands out for his yeoman's work on getting…
A new report from the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction has a fascinating chapter on regulated marijuana sales through "coffee shops" in the Netherlands. The bottom line: Despite tall tales spun by U.S. drug warriors, the Dutch system appears to have had little effect on rates of marijuana use. Dutch use rates have shown the same "wave-like" up-and-down trends as in other European countries and the U.S., which pursue prohibitionist policies. "This leads to the conclusion" the…