Thread: Why is it still illegal?

Reform of Marijuana Law in the U.S.A.
October 23rd, 2006 by d1rekt
Reform of Marijuana Law in the United States
What I would like to know is what Mike Gravel will do in the United States about the ongoing war on drugs. This war has proved that is is NOT working. Marijuana use is at an all-time high and this means that the black market is getting stronger. Below are just a few of the issues Americans are facing RIGHT NOW because of our failed marijuana laws. Also a few facts that may be disturbing but all true.
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I. Decriminalizing marijuana frees up police resources to deal with more serious crimes.

60,000 individuals are behind bars for marijuana offenses at a cost to taxpayers of $1.2 billion per year.
REFERENCE: Marijuana Arrests and Incarceration in the United States. 1999. The Federation of American Scientists' Drug Policy Analysis Bulletin.

Taxpayers annually spend between $7.5 billion and $10 billion arresting and prosecuting individuals for marijuana violations. Almost 90 percent of these arrests are for marijuana possession only.
REFERENCE: NORML. 1997. Still Crazy After All These Years: Marijuana Prohibition 1937-1997: A report prepared by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) on the occasion of the Sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Washington, DC; Federal Bureau of Investigation's combined Uniform Crime Reports: Crime in the United States (1990-2000): Table: Arrest for Drug Abuse Violations. U.S. Department of Justice: Washington, DC.

The state of California saved nearly $1 billion dollars from 1976 to 1985 by decriminalizing the personal possession of one ounce of marijuana, according to a study of the state justice department budget.
REFERENCE: M. Aldrich and T. Mikuriya. 1988. Savings in California marijuana law enforcement costs attributable to the Moscone Act of 1976. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 20: 75-81.

New Mexico's 2001 state-commissioned Drug Policy Advisory Group determined that marijuana decriminalization "will result in greater availability of resources to respond to more serious crimes without any increased risks to public safety."
REFERENCE: New Mexico Governor's Drug Policy Advisory Group. 2001. Report and Recommendations to the Governor's Office. State Capitol: Santa Fe.

Marijuana arrests have more than doubled since 1991, while adult use of the drug has remained stable. During this same period, the number of arrests for cocaine and heroin fell by approximately 33 percent.
REFERENCE: Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2000. Drugs and Crime Facts. Table: Number of Arrests by Drug Type, 1982-99. U.S. Department of Justice: Washington, DC; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 1996. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings (1990- 1999). DHHS Printing Office: Rockville, MD.


Police arrest more Americans per year on marijuana charges than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
REFERENCE: Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2001. Uniform Crime Report: Crime in the United States, 2000. Table 29: Total estimated arrests in the United States, 2000. U.S. Department of Justice: Washington, DC.

Marijuana violations constitute the fifth most common criminal offense in the United States.
REFERENCE: Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2000. Drugs and Crime Facts. Table: Estimated totals of top 7 arrest offenses, United States, 1999. U.S. Department of Justice: Washington, DC.

More than 734,000 individuals were arrested on marijuana charges in 2000. Eighty-eight percent of those arrested were charged with marijuana possession only.
REFERENCE: Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2001. Uniform Crime Report Crime in the United States, 2000. Table: Arrest for Drug Abuse Violations. U.S. Department of Justice: Washington, DC.

Almost 5 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana since 1992. That's more than the entire populations of Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington DC and Wyoming combined.
REFERENCE. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Uniform Crime Reports: Crime in the United States (1993-2000). Table: Arrest for Drug Abuse Violations. U.S. Department of Justice: Washington, DC.

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As you can CLEARLY see the legalization of marijuana would free up police resources to deal with more serious crimes and would save the United States BILLIONS. It also has the possibility of MAKING the United States billions if they could regulate the sale of marijuana and tax it, similiar to that of tobbaco and alcohol.

This leads me to my next point, and that is that criminal Marijuana prohibition is MORE harmful than Marijuana itself.
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II. Far more harm is caused by the criminal prohibition of marijuana than by the use of marijuana itself.

According to editors of the prestigious Lancet British medical journal: "The smoking of cannabis, even long-term, is not harmful to health. ... It would be reasonable to judge cannabis as less of a threat ... than alcohol or tobacco."
REFERENCE: Deglamorising Cannabis. 1995. The Lancet 346: 1241. Editorial. November 14, 1998. The Lancet.

According to a 1999 federally commissioned report by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM), "Except for the harms associated with smoking, the adverse effects of marijuana use are within the range tolerated for other medications."
REFERENCE: National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (IOM). 1999. Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. National Academy Press: Washington, DC, 5.

The National Academy of Sciences further found, "There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs."
REFERENCE: National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (IOM). 1999. Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. National Academy Press: Washington, DC, 6.

More than 76 million Americans have admittedly tried marijuana. The overwhelming majority of these users did not go on to become regular marijuana users, try other illicit drugs, or suffer any deleterious effects to their health.
REFERENCE: Combined data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 1996. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1994. Rockville, MD and 1995. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Population Estimates 1994; Deglamorising Cannabis. 1995. The Lancet 346: 1241. Sydney Morning Herald, February 18, 1997.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 35 percent of adults admit to having tried marijuana. Of these, only 5 percent have used marijuana in the past year, and only 3 percent have used marijuana in the past month.
REFERENCE: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2000. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Table G.9. Percentages Reporting Lifetime, Past Year, and Past Month Use of Illicit Drugs Among Persons Aged 26 or Older: 1999. DHHS Printing Office: Rockville, MD.

According to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter: "Penalties against drug use should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against the possession of marijuana in private for personal use."
REFERENCE: President Jimmy Carter: Message to Congress, August 2, 1977.

Convicted marijuana offenders are denied federal financial student aid, welfare and food stamps, and may be removed from public housing. Other non-drug violations do not carry such penalties. In many states, convicted marijuana offenders are automatically stripped of their driving privileges, even if the offense is not driving related.
REFERENCE: Section 483, Subsection F of the Higher Education Act of 1998; Amendment 4935 to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996; U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. 1992. Drugs, Crime, and the Justice System. U.S. Department of Justice: Washington DC; NORML's State Guide to Marijuana Penalties.

Under federal law, possessing a single marijuana cigarette or less is punishable by up to one year in prison and a $10,000 fine, the same penalty as possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine or crack.
REFERENCE: J. Morgan and L. Zimmer. 1997. Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence. The Lindesmith Center: New York, 42.

In several states, marijuana offenders may receive maximum sentences of life in prison.
REFERENCE: NORML's State Guide to Marijuana Penalties.
A recent national study found that blacks are arrested for marijuana offenses at higher rates than whites in 90 percent of 700 U.S. counties investigated. In 64 percent of these counties, the black arrest rate for marijuana violations was more than twice the arrest rate for whites.
REFERENCE: J. Gettman. 2000. United States Marijuana Arrests, Part Two: Racial Differences in Drug Arrests. The NORML Foundation: Washington, DC.
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As you can see, our current Marijuana laws make the United States look like a corrupted society. This is NOT freedom. Alcohol and Tobbaco is legal and regulated and many scientists say that both Alcohol and Tobbaco is MORE harmful than Marijuana. So I ask you, why is Marijuana illegal? Some government officials believe that the regulation of marijuana will lead to increased use.
This bring me to my next point and that is that decriminilization DOES NOT lead to greater marijuana use.
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III. Decriminalization does not lead to greater marijuana use.

Government studies conclude that marijuana decriminalization has had virtually no effect on either marijuana use or beliefs and related attitudes about marijuana among American young people in those states that have enacted such a policy.
REFERENCE: L. Johnson et al. 1981. Marijuana Decriminalization: The Impact on Youth 1975-1980. Monitoring the Future, Occasional Paper Series: Paper No. 13. Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.

Citizens who live under decriminalization laws consume marijuana at rates less than or comparable to those who live in regions where the possession of marijuana remains a criminal offense.
REFERENCE: E. Single et al. 2000. The Impact of Cannabis Decriminalization in Australia and the United States. Journal of Public Health Policy 21: 157-186.

There is no evidence that marijuana decriminalization affects either the choice or frequency of use of drugs, either legal (such as alcohol) or illegal (such as marijuana and cocaine).
REFERENCE: C. Thies and C. Register. 1993. Decriminalization of marijuana and demand for alcohol, marijuana and cocaine. The Social Sciences Journal 30: 385-399.

States and regions that have maintained the strictest criminal penalties for marijuana possession have experienced the largest proportionate increase in use.
REFERENCE: Connecticut Law Review Commission. 1997. Drug Policy in Connecticut and Strategy Options: Report to the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut Assembly. State Capitol: Hartford.
Rates of hard drug use (illicit drugs other than marijuana) among emergency room patients are substantially higher in states that have not decriminalized marijuana use. Experts speculate that this is because the lack of decriminalization may encourage the greater use of drugs that are even more dangerous than marijuana.
REFERENCE: K. Model. 1993. The effect of marijuana decriminalization on hospital emergency room episodes: 1975-1978. Journal of the American Statistical Association 88: 737-747 as cited by the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine. Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base, 103.
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If you have taken the time to read over this, you should now see that our laws are not working. They are actually making the problem worse. Increased use, wasted "drug war" money, innocent tax-paying americans imprisoned, and the black market is making it easier than ever for our children to obtain marijuana. Most of these black market salesmen also carry more harmful drugs such as cocaine, morphene, methaphetamine, heroin, crack, xanax, and many other drugs that are easily accessibile to our children. The reason the government classifies this drug as a gateway drug is because of this black market.
If marijuana was regulated there wouldn't be this fear because marijuana would be taken off the black market. My final point is that criminal laws prohibiting marijuana possession DO NOT deter marijuana use.
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IV. Criminal laws prohibiting marijuana possession do not deter marijuana use.

Marijuana use remains consistent despite a high level of enforcement, and there is no detectable relationship between changes in enforcement and levels of marijuana use over time.
REFERENCE: J. Morgan and L. Zimmer. 1997. Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts: A Review of the Scientific Evidence. The Lindesmith Center: New York, 46.

Marijuana users believe that their behavior will go undetected; thus fear of arrest is usually not a factor in people's decisions whether or not to use it.
REFERENCE: Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse National Working Group on Addictions. 1998. Cannabis Control in Canada: Options Regarding Possession. Ottawa.

Marijuana laws have no "specific" deterrent impact on drug taking behavior. Studies show that marijuana offenders continue to use marijuana after their conviction at rates equal to those prior to their arrest. No relation between the actual or perceived severity of their previous sentence and subsequent use has been found.
REFERENCE: P. Erickson. 1980. Cannabis Criminals: The Social Effects of Punishment on Drug Users. Addiction Research Foundation: Toronto

In surveys, most individuals cite health concerns and family responsibilities rather than legal concerns as their primary reasons for ceasing (or never initiating) marijuana use.
REFERENCE: National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine (IOM). 1982. Marijuana and Health. National Academy Press: Washington, DC

A California police officer's study concluded, "The reduction in penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use does not appear to [be] a factor in people's decision to use or not use the drug."
REFERENCE: California State Office of Narcotics and Drug Abuse. 1977. A First Report on the Impact of California's New Marijuana Law. State Capitol: Sacramento.
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In reading the following I am just wondering what Mr. Gravel has to say about our current Marijuana laws and what he thinks needs to be done about them. This issue does not just pertain to marijuana users. It pertains to every tax paying American. Thank you to everyone who read this for your time.

I think people have a right to privacy concerning marijuana use and cultivation in the home. The Supreme Court of Alaska had the right idea in 1975, IMO. The court essentially ruled that prosecuting people for the use and cultivation of marijuana for personal use is unconstitutional.

Ravin v. State, 1975

Because it makes people stupid-er.

Some of us have that covered without smoking.

Originally Posted by DaMayor

Because it makes people stupid-er.

Some of us have that covered without smoking.

How does it make people stupider? That's bullshit.

Originally Posted by DaMayor

Because it makes people stupid-er.

Some of us have that covered without smoking.

That is the dumbest thing I have read in a long time.

Originally Posted by squanto

How does it make people stupider? That's bullshit.

Just to name a few known examples: Compare Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Whitney Houston, Courtney Love, Corey Haim, Ozzy Osborne, ect. before and after drugs.

Uh oh, here comes a weed debate!

I'm gonna take some bowl hits and follow along

Actually i've stopped smoking weed regularly for a long time now. I've just noticed that, with me, it is not conducive to my goals and does make me slower/lazier (hard to wake up the next morning and that burnt feeling for half the day). As well, no matter how much i try i can't control the munchies. I don't really lack will power either, or at the very least i would probably fall middle of the pack in terms of will power since i do have enough will to not smoke cigarettes and keep a healthy diet when no one around me does the same.

I do smoke on the occasion, since when i begin my career i will need to stop altogether, i do think weed should be de-criminalized. I know very productive people who smoke pot, and have been smoking it their whole live's. So, to me, it comes down to the individual. Some people can have a drink with dinner every night be normal citizens of society. Other's turn into alcoholics and ruin lives. Pot doesn't work for me in my life on a daily basis, other people have different goals and can maintain their productivity and lifestyle while smoking pot all the time.

Bottom line, give the goddamn potheads their weed and video games. They're not hurting you.

"Marijuana" is not the same thing as "drugs." Marijuana is a very specific "drug." The examples you listed are people who abused many drugs, not just marijuana.

That's like saying the lettuce on a cheeseburger is the reason that it will make you fat.

Originally Posted by Yanick

Uh oh, here comes a weed debate!

I'm gonna take some bowl hits and follow along

Actually i've stopped smoking weed regularly for a long time now. I've just noticed that, with me, it is not conducive to my goals and does make me slower/lazier (hard to wake up the next morning and that burnt feeling for half the day). As well, no matter how much i try i can't control the munchies. I don't really lack will power either, or at the very least i would probably fall middle of the pack in terms of will power since i do have enough will to not smoke cigarettes and keep a healthy diet when no one around me does the same.

I do smoke on the occasion, since when i begin my career i will need to stop altogether, i do think weed should be de-criminalized. I know very productive people who smoke pot, and have been smoking it their whole live's. So, to me, it comes down to the individual. Some people can have a drink with dinner every night be normal citizens of society. Other's turn into alcoholics and ruin lives. Pot doesn't work for me in my life on a daily basis, other people have different goals and can maintain their productivity and lifestyle while smoking pot all the time.

Bottom line, give the goddamn potheads their weed and video games. They're not hurting you.

Well said.

Originally Posted by squanto

How does it make people stupider? That's bullshit.

Originally Posted by fufu

That is the dumbest thing I have read in a long time.

Uh-oh, looks like someone hasn't had their daily toke.

Originally Posted by DOMS

Uh-oh, looks like someone hasn't had their daily toke.

Originally Posted by squanto

I was being facetious.

But yeah man, you're right. It's so fucking good that they should put in childrens' vitamins.

I think you're taking it a little far.

Jimmy Carter put it nicely in his Drug Abuse Message to Congress:

Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use. We can, and should, continue to discourage the use of marijuana, but this can be done without defining the smoker as a criminal. States which have already removed criminal penalties for marijuana use, like Oregon and California, have not noted any significant increase in marijuana smoking. The National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse concluded five years ago that marijuana use should be decriminalized, and I believe it is time to implement those basic recommendations.

How can you argue with that?

i dont agree with pot usage. i think its dumb ya know i have seen way to many people just look retarded after smokin grass. to me its a waste of time and money.

Since hunting these people down and throwing them in jail, just because they "look retarded," is a huge waste of time and money, you must then agree that it should be decriminalized.

Originally Posted by squanto

I think you're taking it a little far.

No, I don't think so.

I've read all the posts from the pro-pot group saying how pot has no downsides and is the next best thing to manna. So I say we put in milk, too.

Originally Posted by DOMS

Uh-oh, looks like someone hasn't had their daily toke.

Stupid people make themselves "stupid-er", intelligent non restricted people know how to take advantage all sorts of mediums and substances for bettering themselves without harming their own self and others.

Putting daily effectors into a outside perspective is huge asset.

I don't usually bother getting to into this arguement so that is all I will say. I am now signing off this thread! If you believe that to be a cop-out, so be it.

Originally Posted by squanto

"Marijuana" is not the same thing as "drugs." Marijuana is a very specific "drug." The examples you listed are people who abused many drugs, not just marijuana.

That's like saying the lettuce on a cheeseburger is the reason that it will make you fat.

I rest my case.

Originally Posted by fufu

Stupid people make themselves "stupid-er", intelligent non restricted people know how to take advantage all sorts of mediums and substances for bettering themselves without harming their own self and others.

See what home grown does to you?


Rationalization at its best.

Originally Posted by DaMayor

See what home grown does to you?


Rationalization at its best.

Sure, just call everyone dumb and the problem goes away. Why try to actually make a case?

The penalties for nonviolent drug offenders desperately need reworking. Those people should be forced to do community service, rather than be put in jail/prison. That way they can actually add value to society, rather than draining $30K/year from the prison system.

That said, I think marijuana should remain illegal. I used to think otherwise, but I've recently realized how much it has negatively affected people I know. I think alcohol and cigarettes are currently providing more than enough damage to society, proliferating another one is not a good idea.

That's a good point. How has it negatively affected people you know?

Originally Posted by squanto

That's a good point. How has it negatively affected people you know?

gives them a place to escape to, in the same way alchohol does to others,

a thing to piss away money they need, etc.

not weeds fault, but still.

Originally Posted by squanto

That's a good point. How has it negatively affected people you know?

People I know who were heavy smokers during high school and college had their personalities completely change. They weren't the same people anymore. It destroyed their motivation to do anything meaningful. Without question, it made them all less intelligent, less able to learn, less able to grasp things, and even impacted their speech. It gradually became more and more difficult to have a meaningful conversation with them.

I don't think it's addictive physically, but every single one of the people I'm referring to was mentally addicted, and smoked several times per day. That isn't cheap.

Of course, I don't think any of them, or any other nonviolent drug offender needs to be locked up, but as I said before, I don't believe the drug should be proliferated further. Its effects are certainly not positive, and keeping it illegal discourages use at least a little bit.

jail time for pot offenders is stupid way to much money gets wasted on busting pot heads, and dealers. i dont think it should be legalized at all. i also dont think they should go to jail for some thing that dumb, when we have so many unsolved murders in the world. i think any thing that makes your over all motivation drop to nothing, makes you want to eat fat filled discusting food needs to be done away with. just like speedo's, and bikinis for big women. oh and big women who wear spandex.