Michael Phelps, hypocrisy and American Drug Policy

Originally posted by saint4God
I've yet to see anyone post studies with data that refute them.

Umm... You posted the studies that included data that refuted your points.
Remember that?

reply to post by BlackOps719


Unfortunate that I only have a single star to give to this post because BlackOps is right on the money.

Um... am I the only one seriously thinking I should get in the pool and see if I can win at least a bronze!

[edit on 6-2-2009 by Coup_Detat_Cam]

I just realized something.

Don't laugh.

The reasons given for cancelling Phelps' contract and suspending him from competing in contests was for admitting inhaling Marijuana smoke from a bong.The Envelope

However, this is funny. President Barack Obama, while campaining for the office of president, did admit to drug and alcohol abuse as a teen in high school. It wasn't until he had gotten into college and been there for some time before he began to change his ways. He is the most noted celebrity and government official and a moral leader for at least 53% of Americans, those who voted for him in spite of his sorted past.Obama

If I were Phelps I would sew for breach of contract and note the presidents election as proof that the majority of Americans neither care nor would hold it against Kellogg for continuing the contract with Phelps but to say that the majority of the nation may hold it against Kellogg for the breach and stop purchasing the product if Mike isn't back on top.

Okay, now you can laugh.

reply to post by saint4God

Ah, this is it. Sorry, my 'fear' is not irrational, rather am looking at the results. In fact, I never feared it when I should have.

I find a lot of people make this logical fallacy. They think that serial examples prove a point.

Let me start off by saying good, I'm glad your family is dead or burnt out. Less bad genetics on the planet. The less bad genetics we have floating around, the less this will be a problem. I hope they didn't have any kids, and if they did, they die without reproducing.

My complete lack of respect for you or your suffering now established, I shall shred your argument.

America is a land in which 80% of rich people got there by being born rich. Obama is a 7th cousin to Dick Cheney. (See I can do it too!) Most people who are successful in life are successful because they were born with the genetics and money to see those genetics through. The rest are probably bastard children of people with exceptional genetics Rags to riches simply does not happen, a fact that's accepted most places, but is popularly refuted in America via media and government propaganda, who want everyone to believe they have a chance at greatness....so they will slave away in a dead end job instead of demanding socialism(Sorry 'greater equality'). Genetic engineering may someday alleviate this problem, but before then will more likely make it worse.

Why did I just list that small fact? The simple fact that most of you probably BELIEVE the rags to riches stories. Yes it happens. No it's not common. If you have any doubt weather it can happen to you, it can't. Despite these things, I am sure my post will draw several posts from people outlining their 'rags to riches' stories, or that of some guy they knew in high school. (Really the need for private health care prevents more rags to riches stories than anything else.....let's see if that's fixed in a timely manner shall we?)


Having established a minor fact, I await the influx of rags to riches stories. Afterward I shall cite major studies of human genetics and socioeconomic distributions which will prove that just because you know one of the 20% doesn't mean you understand society. Then your point will have been dis proven; that just because you know 2 people in your family with bad genetics does not mean that pot is bad.

Then again, bad genetics does run in families, and you probably have your fair share. Which would explain the blind belief in a logical fallacy.

FYI I am a genetic engineer with an IQ of 181 and an enormous inheritance. Yes I am biased.

Originally posted by cenpuppie
reply to post by hoochymama

 

basically...

Hoochymama tell'em like it is. He cannot be arrested because i'm sure the stature of limitations of smoking chronic out of a bong has expired. Hell, what i want to see is someone with balls big enough to say "Yea i did it and i plan on doing it again..and you know what? Whatcha gunna do 'bout it, huh?!"

Lil Wayne has that mentality... except he also does X and a slew of other hard drugs...

For one I think this whole Phelps smoking thing is a good thing, I seem to be seeing a whole lot more attention being given to the cannabis cause and I think people are finally starting to realize how silly the "Reefer Madness" and above the influence mentalities are. Heck I've even heard people say the ONLY THING that throws them off weed is that it's illegal.

Of course his response is the politically correct one, it's the same one millions of teenagers give their parents when they're caught sneaking out of the house

"No mom and dad, of course I know what I did was wrong, I'm sorry, I understand why you're upset, it won't happen again, I promise"

ALL drugs should be legalized.

How can we call our selves free when we can't even decide what goes in our body?

Sugar, salt, and caffeine are all much more physically addictive and damaging than marijuana.

The control of mind altering substances is the REAL conspiracy.

THEY don't want you to open your MIND.

Originally posted by Jezus
ALL drugs should be legalized.

How can we call our selves free when we can't even decide what goes in our body?

Dude, we haven't been free since before WWI.

Sugar, salt, and caffeine are all much more physically addictive and damaging than marijuana.

I totally agree.

surgar=diabetes
salt=heart problem
caffeine=kidney stones

The control of mind altering substances is the REAL conspiracy.

you have no idea... but you will. Hit this link and you'll know what I mean. Pop some corn it's a long video but it's informative. 1 hour 40 minutes

THEY don't want you to open your MIND.

They don't mind you opening your mind so long as you first open your pocket to their products. The only ones making money on illegal drugs, including marijuana, are the cartels and the government. They don't want to share with big business nor do they with pharmaceutical companies.

reply to post by MichJJC


Here is the statement I would have made to the press if I was Michael Phelps.

"Yes I smoked Pot. Get over it. If you don't want my company then good riddance. I will be fine and I do not need your money. There are plenty of people who will line my pockets who smoke or don't care." and if no one gives me a million dollar contract I will still be fine. You see, I don't need you bad enough to gravel. And I shall not!"

No one has any guts to satnd up to these bastards anymore. That is because they have picked on the wrong people.

PhoenixTearsMovie.com

has a FREE one hour movie that was made in Nova Scotia, Canada, about THC oil made optimally from:

* * * ONE POUND OF INDICA CULTIVAR FLOWERS

that can be made into

* * * TWO OUNCES OF THC OIL

which has been curing TERMINAL and other cancer and MULTITUDES OF
other illnesses (arthritis, asthma, back & stomach pain, insomnia, etc.) in

* * * THREE MONTHS OR LESS.

The free online movie is called RUN FROM THE CURE: THE RICK SIMPSON STORY

Forget the movies in the video stores - this is the only movie worth seeing in my opinion.

The oil can be ingested, vaporized or applied topically depending on the illness.

They have not found anything it can't help or cure!

Hallelujah, HEmp is arisen!

~ ~ FREE AT LAST FREE AT LAST ~ ~

FEEL FREE to download the movie and give it away, I checked with the producer.
Give it away at cancer clinics and to your Legislators and pass it out in bars and on the street and in churches throughout this uptight land.

NOBODY WAS PAID ANY MONEY TO MAKE THIS MOVIE.

The plant is... free; the movie is ... free; the cure is ... free.

ALSO see
PhoenixTears.ca
for photo album of before and after pix of melanoma cancer and Rick Simpson's several year story - he had given the THC oil to hundreds of people before the Canadian govt. asked him to stop.

The word on the street is that it can also be used as a preventative - I sent it to the
OBAMA ADMIN. late last year when they were asking for health care suggestions.

Who needs health insurance when you can stay healthy with the help of a 5,000-10,000
year old herb? Just don't get into any car accidents from drinking alcohol!

Also Google Manuel Guzman who at a university in Madrid, Spain, has been working
on cannabis oil potentially curing many diseases and possibly alleviating the onset of Alzheimers.

reply to post by scaredlady


you are so right :/

I don't know what has happened to us Americans that now we don't fight for our rights ... I feel like a sheep taken to the sacrificial stone and I do nothing about it :/

Why we are not demanding our rights back? what is going on with us?

reply to post by mastermind77


I absolutely am not jealous that Phelps might have gotten off without punishment. It wasn't about that at all. My whole point was that I see special people getting away with things that regular people are punished for. Exasperation is a better word to describe my feelings.

I realize that a photograph isn't absolute proof of anything, but he didn't deny it's implications.

A few days after my original post, I see that Kellogg has dropped him and this in a way is punishment.

I don't care if he smokes pot, that's his privilege.

Yes, we can all live together peacefully, and I would love to see it happen. This site is a good way to begin, because here we can have intelligent discussions without too much arguing and door slamming.

Originally posted by scaredlady
A few days after my original post, I see that Kellogg has dropped him and this in a way is punishment.

I don't care if he smokes pot, that's his privilege.

Yes, we can all live together peacefully, and I would love to see it happen. This site is a good way to begin, because here we can have intelligent discussions without too much arguing and door slamming.

Good way to wrap it all up scaredlady
As far as celebs getting special treatment, oh course they do, it's a perk that goes with the fame but sometimes it works the other way as well. Just as often, some cop or judge wants to make an example out of a celeb. Most feel they have to walk a tighter line than you and I. example; paul ruebens and robert downey jr.
Perhaps it all balances sooner or later, who knows for sure.

Originally posted by keeb333

Originally posted by saint4God

Originally posted by alaskan
By the way, do you think god put it here only for us to deem evil and destroy?

No more than I think God put it here to smoke.

[edit on 5-2-2009 by saint4God]

I couldn't let this pass by without noting:

God is perfect; man is not.
Man made whiskey; God made pot!

-Author Unknown

That my friend was awesome...and well put.

Star for you!!

You know I'm more angry at the person who took and distributed this picture. This person obviously had an agenda and made alot of money from selling these images at the expense of potentially ruining someone for something as frivolous as smoking pot.

This kind of drug policy in the US has got to be abolished.

My question is this:

If he won as many gold medals as he did while smoking pot, then would the performance have been any greater if he hadn't? If that's the case then we should allow him to smoke pot just to give others' a glimmer of hope that they could beat him.

All joking aside, this is still a screwed up issue that has potentially ruined a good young man for no good reason.

Originally posted by saint4God

Originally posted by TNT13
Gateway drug is a myth, the reason that people get into other drugs is because they are looking for something stronger with a greater affect;

This is what I meant by gateway drug and your definition seems to fit the one here as well:

gateway drug: A habit-forming substance whose use may lead to the abuse of drugs that are more addictive or more dangerous.

- education.yahoo.com...

By that definition Marijuana shouldn't be on the "gateway" drug list because there is absolutely no study that concludes Marijuana to be addictive! The key word in your definition of a gateway drug that does not fit with the substances contained in marijuana. If you could show me a single source that -proves marijuana is addictive, and by this I mean an entire break down of the molecular makeup of marijuana and each substance categorized by addictive or not. THC is 100% not clinically addictive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In a recent study tabacco smoking has resulted in a higher dependency to try harder drugs; making tobacco a harsher "GATEWAY" drug then marijuana.

Cannabis Vs. Tobacco:
Marijuana is not more dangerous than tobacco. Smoked tobacco, with a 90% addiction rate, is the most addictive of all drugs while marijuana is less addictive than caffeine. Cigarettes kill more then 450,000 people a year, there has never been a reported death from smoking marijuana. One would have to consume 40,000 times as much marijuana as you needed to get stoned. In contrast, the ratio for alcohol varies between 1 to 4 and 1 to 10.

Gateway Effect:
The Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the 1970s. Since then, hard drug use-heroin and coc aine have declined substantially. This "negative gateway" effect has also been observed in the United States. A 1993 Rand Corporation study that compared drug use in states that had decriminalized marijuana versus those that had not, found that where marijuana was more available, the states that had decriminalized, hard drug abuse as measured by emergency room episodes decreased.

Source: Marijuana Facts!!!!!!!!!!!

reply to post by scaredlady

A couple things stick-out in my mind regarding......checks and balances?.....in the drug situation.
I've heard authority state "Drugs are a problem with the poor, and 'most addicts are middle-class".
..............and..........'spread of drugs always/usually starts in the upper classes".
If it's not considered a psychaitric or moral poblem from what may be authoritative hypocrites, someone outside the that kaliedoscopic island and peripheral constituents must rectify.

More info that was requested by Saint4God...

The Gateway Theory Myth....
"For every 104 Americans who have tried marijuana, there is only one user of coc aine, and less than one user of heroin, according to annual data compiled by the federal National Household Survey on Drug Abuse."
taken from: norml.org...
(When less than 1% of cannabis users go on to harder drugs, it's not a gateway... sorry)

Brain damage myth and Depression myth (it actually does quite the opposite)
"Cannabinoids promote embryonic and adult hippocampus neurogenesis and produce anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects"
taken from: www.encod.org...

Smoking cannabis impairs you for days, or weeks myth
"Most impairment studies have found that the adverse effects of acute marijuana use wear off in 2-6 hours, commonly faster than alcohol"
taken from: www.ccguide.org.uk...


The truth is Saint4God, cannabis is not as harmful as you say it is. Can it be harmful? Sure... if the USER is not responsible. Which can be said about ANYTHING in this world. I do not recommend smoking cannabis all day every day for the rest of your life. I don't recommend smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol, popping pain pills, drinking coffee, or eating cheesburgers all day every day for the rest of your life either. And Cannabis is much safer in moderation than all of those I just mentioned.

Also, I noticed in later posts you stated "we can't use personal experience as evidence," which voids your sob stories about your family. If we aren't allowed to use our own FIRST HAND experience, then you sure as heck can't use your SECOND hand experience... and this is according to YOUR OWN STANDARDS. What I have to say about that, is a family member should have stepped in. You should have let them know their priorities were getting mixed up... which is a USER PROBLEM.. not a cannabis problem (if it were a cannabis problem, ALL cannabis users would fall into despair as your family did... and they don't... ask Steve Jobs). If they didn't respond to your plea for help, then you should have resorted to other means aka: an intervention, or maybe call police (that'll straighten 'em out), or have them see a psychiatrist. This happens with alcohol, a legal drug, all the time. MUCH more often than it does with cannabis.

The problem is the majority of society fails to address the core of ANY problem. A great example is everyone is coming up with crazy theories to fix our economy, but only a person or two is calling for the end of The Federal Reserve. Another PERFECT example is cannabis... if someone has a problem in their life and they use cannabis, blame cannabis. Don't question the person's integrity, work ethic, priorities, or mental state... blame it on cannabis. That is ludicrous... there could be a thousand causes for the crap they're going through, but is just way too easy to demonize cannabis. Not to mention there is not one substance that is addictive in cannabis. You can smoke for 365 days straight... stop cold turkey... and your body will not shake, you won't get headaches, you won't become irritable for no reason... which you can't say the same for alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine.

When compared to legal substances such as tobacco, alcohol, caffeine, prescription meds, over the counter meds... cannabis is less dangerous than all of the above. It isn't unreasonable to legalize cannabis and regulate it in the same way as alcohol and then ask users to practice the same responsibility we ask them to use with alcohol. If you went home every night and drank a 6 pack, you would become an alcoholic and put yourself at risk of many many diseases and possibly death. My father died an alcohol related death so I have seen first hand that alcohol is a very REAL killer. If you went home each night and smoked a joint of cannabis, you would live a much more stress free life and not subject yourself to even a fraction of the dangers of alcohol use. And I dare you to find one death caused by any sickness attributed to cannabis....as a matter of fact, in spite of every medical journal, of every study, of every fact I have posted in this thread.... if you find one death caused by an illness directly caused by cannabis and cannabis alone, I will leave ATS forever.... that is how sure I am that despite your profession, you have no fricking clue what you are talking about.

End... of.... story.



[edit on 8-2-2009 by ImaNutter]

www.norml.org...

Marijuana Decriminalisation Talking Points:

TALKING POINT #1:
Decriminalizing marijuana frees up police resources to deal with more serious crimes.

TALKING POINT #2:
Far more harm is caused by the criminal prohibition of marijuana than by the use of marijuana itself.

TALKING POINT #3:
Decriminalization does not lead to greater marijuana use.

TALKING POINT #4:
Criminal laws prohibiting marijuana possession do not deter marijuana use.

TALKING POINT #1: 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 coc aine 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.

TALKING POINT #2: 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, coc aine 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.

[edit on 8/2/2009 by Kryties]

TALKING POINT #3: 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 coc aine).
REFERENCE: C. Thies and C. Register. 1993. Decriminalization of marijuana and demand for alcohol, marijuana and coc aine. 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.


TALKING POINT #4: 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.

www.norml.org...