Category: Drug’s

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The Latest Pot Myth, Smacked Down By Science

Why do prohibitionists keep pushing lies about legal weed? Those opposed to the legalization and regulation of marijuana for any purpose, including the plant’s therapeutic use when authorized by a physician, often allege that the adoption of such laws will result in a significant increase in pot use by young people. “The damage of marijuana—and these laws—is clear,” claims David Evans, executive director of the Drug Free Schools Coalition, in a recent open letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder and DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart. “Legalization of marijuana for ‘medical’ use and recreational use in those states has resulted in more marijuana use, particularly among young people.” Adds Kevin Sabet, co-founder of Project SAM and a former senior policy advisor at the White House Office of National Drug […] Read More

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Here’s Why Advertisers Should Embrace Marijuana

Google, Facebook and Twitter have all recently come out against pot ads. But they should rethink their decision. The following article first appeared in Cannabis Now:  With the majority of Americans in favor of marijuana legalization and the recent legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado, Obama’s decision to allow such business models to operate legally within their states and his recent concession that the substance is no more harmful than alcohol and tobacco, it’s safe to expect these newly legal enterprises will eventually have a need for advertising and marketing efforts. Attorney General Eric Holder is even positing that the administration is about to allow banking reforms for these legal businesses and has come forward saying that he would work on the rescheduling of cannabis should congress decide to move in that direction. Recently, […] Read More

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Frequent Cannabis Consumers Are Less Likely To Engage In Problematic Alcohol Use

Investigators analyzed data from a nationwide survey on alcohol and drug use. Those who report consuming cannabis two or three times per week are less likely to engage in at risk drinking behavior, according to data published online in The American Journal of Addictions. Investigators from Sweden’s Lund University, Department of Clinical Sciences, analyzed data from a nationwide survey on alcohol and drug use conducted by the National Institute of Public Health. Over 22,000 respondents between the ages of 15 and 64 participated in the survey. Researchers reported that frequent cannabis consumers (defined as having used cannabis two or three times per week) were less likely to engage in hazardous drinking practices compared to infrequent users (those who reported having consumed cannabis fewer than four times per month). […] Read More

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The Drug War Fuels Mass Deportation of Nonviolent Migrants

250,000 people have been deported for drug offenses in the last 6 years. The drug war has increasingly become a war against migrant communities. It fuels racial profiling, border militarization, violence against immigrants, intrusive government surveillance and, especially, widespread detentions and deportations. Media and politicians have tried to convince us that everyone who gets deported is a violent criminal, a terrorist or a drug kingpin. But a newly released, first-of-its-kind report shatters that notion, showing instead that the majority (some two-thirds) of those deported last year were guilty of minor, nonviolent offenses – including thousands deported for nothing more than possessing small quantities of drugs, typically marijuana. The report, an analysis of federal immigration data conducted by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, […] Read More

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The Most Unbelievably Absurd Argument Against Legal Pot, Yet

Legal marijuana opponents are getting increasingly desperate in their efforts to thwart legalization. Maryland is going green. Last week, the State Senate passed by a margin of 34 to 8 a bill that would decriminalize marijuana in the Old Line State. Governor Martin O’Malley – a potential frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination – said in a statement that he would sign the bill. He said:  “As a young prosecutor, I once thought that decriminalizing the possession of marijuana might undermine the public will necessary to combat drug violence… I now think that [it] is an acknowledgment of the low priority that our courts, our prosecutors, our police and the vast majority of citizens already attach to this transgression of public order and public […] Read More

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One Death Doesn’t Mean Marijuana Edibles Are Dangerous, It Means We Need Better Education and Labeling

Regulation keeps them from being an iffy proposition The recent death of a 19-year-old exchange student has led to a surge of concerns about the safety and regulation of edible products in Colorado. Levy Thamba of the Republic of Congo allegedly ate marijuana edibles in Denver during spring break with friends in March, then jumped from a hotel room balcony later that night. Thamba’s is the first death officially related to “marijuana intoxication” on a coroner’s report since Colorado legalized marijuana in January 2013. While Thamba’s death is tragic, it is not a realistic indication of a larger public threat. Thamba’s friends also ate the edibles that night, and thousands if not millions of people eat marijuana edibles every day without issue. In California, hundreds […] Read More

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2014: Obama Administration Doesn’t Need Congress to Loosen Marijuana Restrictions

Polls find up to 81% U.S. support for medical pot–it’s time we at least allow studies. Attorney General Eric Holder is trying to walk an increasingly fraught middle ground on cannabis policy. Attention has turned to the federal government on the issue of marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and LSD, among many others. Schedule I drugs are deemed to be harmful and have no medical benefit. With 20 states plus Washington D.C. having a medical marijuana law on the books, and Maryland set to be the 17th state to decriminalize pot, it’s clear that many state legislatures disagree. Polls have found up to 81% national support for medical cannabis. Holder said he’d be “more than glad to work with Congress,” on […] Read More

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2014: Politicians Who Oppose Marijuana Legalization Are On the Wrong Side of History

A majority of Americans support marijuana legalization. A majority of Americans support marijuana legalization – yet not one sitting governor or U.S. Senator supports it, according to a New York Times piece. Marijuana prohibition is a disastrous failure. 43 years after President Nixon launched the “war on drugs,” the U.S. arrests 650,000 people a year for marijuana possession – yet marijuana and other illegal drugs are as available as ever. Thanks to the drug war, the U.S. has less than five percent of the world’s population, yet nearly 25 percent of its prisoners. Colorado and Washington made history in 2012 becoming the first states – and the first two political jurisdictions anywhere in the world – to legally regulate the production and distribution of marijuana, and many […] Read More

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2014: 10 Songs With Hidden Drug References

Some are subtle. Others…not so much. The following article first appeared on Substance.com:  Music and drugs: They’re so enmeshed that you might well call them co-dependent. Drugs have been used both as subject matter—whether it’s Neil Young lamenting “The Needle and the Damage Done“ or Pete Tosh imploring the powers-that-be to “Legalize It“—and as tools to unlock hitherto unexplored sonic landscapes. Without LSD’s mind-twisting influence we probably wouldn’t have the freaked-out beauty of The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” and it’s doubtful whether the jittery aggression of The Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the UK“ would have been quite so frantic without copious amounts of amphetamine. And as for MDMA’s relationship with dance music, or the cloud of ganja smoke that hangs over the history of reggae, it’s fair […] Read More

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2014: Majority of Law Enforcement Officers Support Marijuana Policy Reform

Former cop: the war on drugs changed the very nature of policing for the worse. Though not conducted with the methodological rigor of the Pew poll that came out yesterday showing 54% of Americans support the legalization of marijuana and two-thirds believe drug policy should focus on treatment rather than prosecuting drug users, Law Officer magazine has provided LEAP a poll of its own showing an even more surprising finding: a majority of law enforcement officers also support marijuana policy reform. Though some of the provided answers seemed to overlap, the overall effect is one indicating broad support for change among the readership of the publication, 97% of whom indicated they are or had been in law enforcement.  Some of the most surprising results include 66% saying marijuana possession should […] Read More