Why are we asking this now?
Because a British think-tank has published a report for next year’s United Nations Strategic Drug Policy Review, suggesting that a decriminalised, regulated market in cannabis would cause less harm than the prohibition of the drug currently in force across most of the world…
What exactly is the think-tank report?
It is the Global Cannabis Commission report, launched at a conference in the House of Lords and prepared for the Beckley Foundation, a charitable trust “set up to promote the investigation of consciousness and its altered states from the perspectives of science, health, politics and history.” The report, put together by a specially-commissioned international group of academics and experts in drug policy analysis, attempts to put the issue of cannabis in a global perspective with a comprehensive view of the evidence, so that governments can move beyond what is termed “the present stalemate in cannabis policy…”
So what are the chances that cannabis will cease to be internationally outlawed?
With the US running the show? Don’t hold your breath.
Useful, informative article. Bound to be ignored by our politicians.
By and large, the “war” on drugs is far more destructive than are the actual drugs.
As a staunch classical liberal (aka Conservative in today’s dumb down society)all drugs should be legalized. Let the government control it and profit from taxing it. Looking at the serious problems along the Mexican/US border and the spike in murders, if you take the economic advantages away from the drug dealers and control the distribution and price of drugs, the violence will drop precipitously. Of course, our politicians do not have the guts to do so. They are cowards.
Maybe not so far-fetched as most people think !!! If they can put a TAX STAMP ON POT like they do Tobacco, they might be able to ELIMINATE DEFICIT SPENDING AND PAY OFF THE NATIONAL DEBT !!! And reduce the VERY EXPENSIVE PRISON POPULATION AND CLOGGED COURT CALENDARS TOO !!!
If they make pot ‘legal’ they will not be able to propagate cash into the police-prison-industrial complex that has arisen out of this. This means less money for police, prisons, and many factions of that industry will go bankrupt. This includes drug testing companies, probation monitoring device companies, and others that profit from this.
OTOH — If pot were taxed and controlled like alcohol, more money could be raised in taxes for its use. This could be used for paying down the debt.
Unfortunately, not much of the prison population is for marijuana related offenses. The prisons are rife, however, with mandatory sentenced individuals for other, harder, drugs, and/or felony convictions based on quantities.
But yes, pot is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol. It’s a 100% reusable plant. It can be used to create anything from clothing to fuel and a nice buzz to boot.
If we can subsidize the tobacco in this country why the hell can’t we legalize pot? And if I remember correctly, we’re kinda short on cash lately and maybe taxing drugs would help a little?
With three chronic illnesses, including one that prevents my use of analgesics, it would just be nice if the fucking DEA left me alone and stayed away from clinics that are legal in California (proposition 215) and let me help to fill the stats sales tax coffers.
The war on drugs is a sham.
Paid for by the society to allow the use of drugs as a serious means to raising awareness? (paraphrased) Come on. I am no conservative, but come on, this is a group bent on legalizing drugs, saying their drug study proves them right.
I wonder if this will be raised in the debate tomorrow.
And I’m for legalization of mj.
Just move to Canada already. And BTW, how did you get that shot of my garden?
Don’t hold your breath.
Just a little bit, but not so much that you have to choke/cough.
BTW
What’s happened to Pin-Up of the Day?
[KD Martin has been out of commission for a while. He should be back soon. – ed.]
Pot will be legalized as soon as the Feds need the tax money. That is why Prohibition was repealed after all.
My biggest worry would be the increased spillage of bong water.
I’ve never understood the basis for laws against what you can put into or do to your body. Even as a 12 year old, I couldn’t fathom what business it was of government.
As a 39 year old (okay, 46) I’ve now seen a few lives lost to drugs. Alcohol is of course the most common one, but cocaine and meth too. I even know a few who are so dedicated to their weed that I consider them a lost cause.
But I’ve also seen plenty of folks who use all of the above recreationaly for years without serious problems. Even meth, though that is certainly rarer. It’s life. There are winners and losers.
While I advocate the total legalization of all drugs, I realize that is a political impossibility. Pot has a couple of features that make it a good candidate for legalization. It is a plant, which can be grown by darned near anyone. It is rather mild in its effects. It is non-toxic even in large doses. A large percentage of the population has actually tried it at one point or another so the public knows something about it besides what the government and “experts” tell them. And it has already been defacto legalized in quite a few places, even in the US. You don’t find many arrests for pot possession in Venice Beach or Haight Ashbury, for example. Perhaps, an Obama administration could move toward legalization. They can’t of course mention this in the campaign, as it would be death just as assuredly as tampering with Social Security. But once in office, especially, in a second term, the time might just be ripe.
One (practical) problem with legalising pot is that (unlike tobacco) it grows literally like a weed, so it’s much harder for the government to monitor supply and ensure taxes are paid.
Still, today 0% of pot sales are taxed, so legalising it would still raise some tax revenue even given the above.
I thought weed was legal !
Canadian attitudes towards pot are more relaxed, but it is still illegal and profitable, and people are sent to jail for growing it. If you rent out a house in Canada, you have to be very careful that the renters don’t turn it into a “grow op” (thousands of plants). In general, that means dangerous mold and fungus. In many cases it means that the house has to be demolished, for health reasons.
Not much is going to change around the world until the DEA ceases to be a maker of US foreign policy and the DEA ceases to be a Cult of Personality. I suppose that eventually the guy on top will die, but don’t forget that after Lenin there was Stalin.
Treating pot more harshly than tobacco or alcohol, trivializes the potential harm that can come from taking other substances, in the minds of potential users. Wouldn’t it be amusing if the head of the DEA were thrown in the slammer for “bringing the administration of Justice into disrepute.”?
There are also entrenched financial interests related to the War On Drugs, just as there are, related to the War On Iraq.
All this is to say that I agree with #2 The Warden, but it’s more difficult than he (or I) can point out in a brief comment.
Took years to get the government out of my bedroom why will it take even longer to get them out of my recreation room. How come I have never been to a pot party where there was a fight and never been to a beer party where there wasn’t. It’s only a weed that turns into a flower in your mind.
The reason that the powers will never allow it is because there is too much profit in having it illegal. And parents YOU protect your children from the evils of drugs like you do for alcohol.
My father was stationed in Texas during WW II. He said pot was sold along side cigarettes at any gas station. The locals told him it was considered a poor alternative to booze, and only the very poor used it.
The people that smoke it will continue, and it’s doubtful those that don’t would start. But a lot of people are making big money in the drug wars, on both sides.
Never smoked it. Don’t like the smell of it. Think it is bad for you.
BUT
I see no legitimate reason why it is illegal.
#2, I lean classical liberal too, but your statement is inconsistent. You introduce yourself to imply a libertarian view on the issue of legalizing drugs “As a staunch classical liberal (aka Conservative in today’s dumb down society)”.
Then you state the position, “all drugs should be legalized”.
But then you state a supremely non-libertarian view to ‘balance’ your argument “Let the government control it and profit from taxing it”.
This is a weak argument. You’re trying to show a benefit to society under legalization. But the libertarian view is that regulation and taxes only manipulate society and don’t provide the desired results. In other words, being able to tax pot is no benefit to society.
When the baby boom generation retires in large numbers it will become legal.
We won’t have enough money to keep the full criminal justice establishment going. If seniors are going to lose out on promised social security and medicare benefits you can be sure the cops are going to have to cut back too.
Baby boomers were also around in the late 60s and early 70s. Most of them did not become infertile or crazy, although there was a strange propensity to shift towards being republicans. Everyone knows it isn’t horribly dangerous, right?
Canada is making huge money off it. In BC it is the first or second largest agro industry, hard to measure, and it accounts for around 5% of the overall economy in the province.
There are legitimate medical uses for pain and as an anti-inflammatory. Safer than Vioxx.
The real reason that cannabis is outlawed is most likely that it would compete with Tobacco. It also the reason that Hemp is outlawed, because it would compete with cotton. We’re all about having a “free market” aren’t we? Except this monopolies run to the government to get restrictions put on anything that might effect their bottom line. Like a little competition. If there were a alcohol like substance, that wasn’t already made by the distillers and beverage bottlers. You can bet they’d get the government to ban its sales too. Regardless if it didn’t do the harm that alcohol does.
“most of the world has made MJ illegal??”
Thats a LIE.
1. Hemp is an interesting plant. And has many uses. so does MJ. Do you know what happens when the cross pollinate?? NO MJ..
2. it would be nice if the USA would take ALL the documentation AROUND the world and look at it, and VALIDATE IT. As we KEEP REPEATING the same studies OTHERS have done.
3. LEGALIZE IT, DUMP the price, and saturate the market. MARK on the package, FOR HOME USE ONLY.
The problem we have is WHAT can Hemp be used for…and HOw to process it to make goods..
Its to easy to make and process. Every Tom/Dick and harry could be making GOODS that would compete with CHINA and USA Corps.
If you dont DUMP the price of the USE of hemp/MJ, Farmers will just SWAP crops, and there WONT be any food, unless you are RICH.(thats whats happening in Afghanistan..Its worth MORe to grow drug crops then FOOD).
“With the US running the show?”
So, MJ to be legalized soon, eh? ‘Cause, if this financial crisis proves anything, the US can’t even manage it’s own act without tripping over the scenery and mangling its lines, let alone run the whole show.
About a year ago, the sheriff of Dane County, Wisconsin stated they had more important things to do than bust pot smokers. So they don’t, for the most part. That’s where Madison & UW are. Go Badgers. The world did not come to an end.
As long as assholes try to legislate morality, bald & brazen absurdity abounds.
Free the weed and leave us be.
One of the things in the Constitution is Liberty. This is not an admendment to, it is in the Constitution. So why not fullfill the promise?
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