Tag: war on drugs

Drug's Posted on

2014: Obama Needs to Fire His Rogue DEA Chief

The DEA head said the agency is “fighting back” against the Justice Department. DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart told a congressional committee today her agency is “fighting back” against Justice Department policies tolerating marijuana in states where it is legal. The president needs to dump her, or at least remind her who the boss is. Thanks to the Marijuana Policy Project for the heads up on this. Here’s their release on it: DEA Administrator Tells Congress Her Agency Is “Fighting Back” Against Administration’s Tolerance of Marijuana Legalization                                                                At a Wednesday House subcommittee hearing, DEA director Michele Leonhart publicly opposed Department of Justice position on legal marijuana in Colorado and Washington and warned of dangers of marijuana legalization … to pets. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Michele Leonhart, administrator of the […] Read More

Marijuana Posted on

2014: Debunking the 5 Biggest Myths About Pot

The more research is released, the more legalization makes sense. Back in the 1930s, the arguments to criminalize cannabis were bizarre and openly racist. The anti-pot crusader Harry Anslinger made all sorts of over-the-top claims, such as, “Marihuana is a short cut to the insane asylum. Smoke marihuana cigarettes for a month and what was once your brain will be nothing but a storehouse of horrid specters.” Nowadays more than 100 million Americans say they’ve smoke pot, millions use cannabis regularly to treat illnesses and it is as legal as alcohol in two U.S. states. However, it remains illegal under federal law largely due to scare tactics ingrained in our society, which date back even prior to Anslinger. Today, pot legalization opponents try a little […] Read More

Marijuana Posted on

2014: Study Shows Americans Are Ready to End the War on Drugs

A new national Pew poll on drug policy shows most Americans want a change. A new national survey released today by the Pew Research Center reveals that a broad majority of Americans are ready to significantly reduce the role of the criminal justice system in dealing with people who use drugs. Among the key findings of the report: More than six in ten Americans (63%) say that state governments moving away from mandatory prison terms for drug law violations is a good thing, while just 32% say these policy changes are a bad thing. This is a substantial shift from 2001 when the public was evenly divided (47% good thing vs. 45% bad thing).  The majority of all demographic groups, including Republicans and Americans over 65 years […] Read More

Drug's Posted on

2014: Intelligent People Are More Likely to Use Drugs. Why?

There’s a correlation between high childhood IQ and adult drug use. What does it mean? The following article first appeared on TheFix.com. Also on TheFix.com: Brain Restoration: Too Good to be True for Addiction and Disease?; Howard Dean and the Politics of Recovery; Tap Tap Tap: A Path to Healing and Recovery.  Two major papers have found a positive correlation between high childhood IQ and adult drug use. The first was published in 2011 (Intelligence across childhood in relation to illegal drug use in adulthood: 1970 British Cohort Study). The second was published in 2012(Intelligence quotient in childhood and the risk of illegal drug use in middle-age: the 1958 National Child Development Survey). Both were co-authored by James W. White PhD and all of the data for both research papers comes from The Centre for Longitudinal […] Read More

Marijuana Posted on

Who Masterminded U.S. Pot Prohibition?

Harry Anslinger testified that marijuana induces homicidal mania, but he was just one witness in a strange show trial. Harry Anslinger, the longtime Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, is widely considered the prime mover behind marijuana prohibition. But during the Congressional debate on prohibition in the spring of 1937, Anslinger was just one witness in a strange show trial.  He testified that marijuana induces homicidal mania and so forth, but it was not Anslinger who designed the complicated prohibitive-tax strategy. That maneuver was thought up by the Treasury Department’s top lawyer, Herman Oliphant. Nor was Anslinger called back to refute Dr. William Woodward of the American Medical Association, who made many telling points in opposition to the prohibitive-tax bill. It was Congressman Fred Vinson of […] Read More