The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, is the Federal Government’s lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States. They have released the results of their 2007 Treatment Episode Data Set, or TEDS, showing the National Admissions to Substance Abuse Treatment Services. Let’s take a look at the statistics for marijuana, shall we?
In 1997, about 200,000 people checked into treatment for marijuana. By 2005, that number has risen to over 300,000 people, though it has tapered off a bit these last couple of years. By any account, this is a huge rise in the number of people seeking rehab for marijuana in just a decade. It would seem like the powerful new “Not Your Father’s Woodstock Weed” has given rise to a 50% increase in reefer addicts!
However, when you look behind the numbers, you find that this increase has more to do with the rapid increase of drug courts in the late ’90s, early ’00s. By far, most of the people who are in treatment for marijuana are forced there! 57% are forced into treatment by the criminal justice system, while only 15% admitted themselves to treatment. For comparison’s sake, over all drugs combined, 1/3rd of all admissions are self-admissions, marijuana is the drug with the lowest self-admission rates (lower than meth) and highest criminal justice-admission rates (higher than meth), and for alcohol, self-admission is around 29% and criminal justice (including DUI) admissions are only 42.5%.
Even more interesting is a look at the actual substance use of the people admitted to treatment. Almost 4 out of ten marijuana smokers who are in treatment haven’t even used marijuana in thirty days! Again, for comparison, only 1 out of 4 alcohol admissions didn’t drink in the past month, and the number is only 1 in 6 for heroin.
Another interesting figure: almost 58% of marijuana admissions are first-time admissions to drug treatment, a number that seems suspisciously close to the 56.9% of admissions from criminal justice. That’s the highest first-time figure of all the common drugs (marijuana, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, and meth). Of those drugs, marijuana and alcohol are the only ones where the majority of drug treatment admissions are not returns to treatment. Also, 31% of marijuana users in treatment are employed, a number twice that of heroin or cocaine admissions, but lower than the 42.5% of employed alcohol users in treatment.
Finally, 3/4ths of marijuana rehabbers are male, half are white, 2/3rds are under age 25. Marijuana has the lowest average age of admittance (24 years old), with all other drugs but inhalants and hallucinogens having average ages in the 30’s. The average alcohol or crack cocaine rehabber is 39 years old.
While we certainly prefer any marijuana smoker caught by law enforcement to be sent to rehab rather than jail, the sentencing of people to rehab who don’t really need it means we are wasting resources that could be better directed to the unfulfilled needs of hard drugs addicts. If alcohol and crack’s average rehab age was closer to 20 than to 40, how much time, money, and misery would we save in this country?
Instead we arrest mostly young people for their marijuana use, then sentence them to rehab, then cite the increasing numbers of young people in rehab for marijuana as proof of the increasing danger of marijuana, which is then used to justify arresting more mostly young people for their marijuana use.
Hey, President Obama! Hey, Tax-Man it aint funny no more.
” Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch SMOKING a pipe of sweet HEMP, and playing my Hohner harmonica” . —–President Abraham Lincoln
“Make the most you can of the Indian HEMP seeds and Sow it everywhere”.———-President George Washington
“We shall, by and by want a world of HEMP more for our own CONSUMPTION”.———-John Adams
Hey, President Obama and you a Constitutional Lawyer? It aint funny.
“PROHIBITION….goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A PROHIBITION LAW strikes a blow at the very PRINCIPLES upon which our government was founded”.———————-President Abraham Lincoln
Hey, President Obama we aint laughing no more!
“HEMP is first necessity to the WEALTH & PROTECTION of the Country”.———President Thomas Jefferson
Hey, President Obama Constitutional Lawyer dig this: “If the words “LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS” dont include the right to experiment with your own Consciousness, then the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE isnt worth the HEMP it was written on”———Terence McKenna
Hey, President Obama is there more money to be made in the “DRUG WAR’?
“I now have absolute proof that smoking even one Marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast.——-President Ronald Reagan
Hey, President Obama there aint nothing funny no more!
This appears to be that the “AA Curse” is going into the average Mary Jane smoker. Force them into rehab; admit that they have no control; provide self help wrap in a blanket that Gen-Pop and the holier than thou can respect; rinse, spin and repeat. We see numbers all the time but until someone over the age of 60 says it is okay to end the “War on Drugs…drugs…drugs” it will not matter.
/someone did (new window)?
The government loves to use faulty statistics to justify their policies.
People in general don’t read into it and just take their word as a fact. I’ve heard plenty of people say that marijuana is a gateway drug but never show any evidence whatsoever other than “the government said so.”
In reality though, the government should give only facts and promote the truth, not their own propaganda. It’s a disgrace to this country.
No there is not anything funny!!!!!
#1 respondent you rule
Time for real change,our generation,our time
copy and pasted from #1
Hey, President Obama! Hey, Tax-Man it aint funny no more.
” Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch SMOKING a pipe of sweet HEMP, and playing my Hohner harmonica” . —–President Abraham Lincoln
“Make the most you can of the Indian HEMP seeds and Sow it everywhere”.———-President George Washington
“We shall, by and by want a world of HEMP more for our own CONSUMPTION”.———-John Adams
Hey, President Obama and you a Constitutional Lawyer? It aint funny.
“PROHIBITION….goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A PROHIBITION LAW strikes a blow at the very PRINCIPLES upon which our government was founded”.———————-President Abraham Lincoln
Hey, President Obama we aint laughing no more!
“HEMP is first necessity to the WEALTH & PROTECTION of the Country”.———President Thomas Jefferson
Hey, President Obama Constitutional Lawyer dig this: “If the words “LIFE, LIBERTY and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS” dont include the right to experiment with your own Consciousness, then the DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE isnt worth the HEMP it was written on”———Terence McKenna
Hey, President Obama is there more money to be made in the “DRUG WAR’?
“I now have absolute proof that smoking even one Marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast.——-President Ronald Reagan
Hey, President Obama there aint nothing funny no more!
Its A Freaking Meat Grinder!! Its A Self FEEDING lie! This Law Sucks In People,And Spits Out……WTF!
Im so sick of the lies washington forces down our throats, on this issue straight to my lost 60g ayear job and lost 401k. Its one lie after another on and on..!
Have the Goverment forgetten about how we overcame the crisis of WWII
TAX IT….MR. PRESIDENT!!!!
Dont let this get out of hand!!!
Stop Killing My People!! >:0
The anti-pot “warriors” always cite the percentage of people admitted to rehab for marijuana use as proof of marijuana’s “addictiveness”. They fail to cite that the majority of those people are forced to go for treatment.
IF YOU smoke that refeer your ARE GONNA die period! Look up the statistics folks! Marijuana leads to
blindness, insanity, homosexuality, male to male bonding, female to female bonding, general anxiety, explosion of the lung and colon, smaller testicales. All kinds of stuff (sarcasm cough cough).
Just don’t do it folks! You might die from it. The
safer alternative is prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco! Stick to your whiskey and cigarettes. Marijuana
is just BAD BAD.. JUST SAY NO! IT WORKS (SARCASM)
My fellow Americans, children of logic, and defenders of truth.
It has been said before, many times, and with just cause the time is now. This time we have the boulder moving and must not let it stop. This push is sustainable. If we can now band together in one coherent, logical voice of reason I am confident that we can make an important change and obliterate the tyranny that manifests itself as our current national drug policy.
The battle is not being fought on the hill or in the presidential cabinet. It is being fought around the dinner table, in the streets, on blogs, and in your local newspapers.
Our common enemies are lies, false morality, lobbyists, and ignorance.
Our weapons are truth, intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom.
For the first time since the era of Anslinger we are the many, and they are the few. Our enemies will try to sway those on the ledge, and fortify the opinions of the already brain washed and zealots who hold false moral high ground.
It is every one of our duties to educate ourselves like never before. To know the facts, and the gods honest truth. To finally take our own high ground, and to do it with honesty and righteousness.
For every lie we must have fact. For every false report we must have a non biased source. We will fight them at home. We will fight them at work. We will fight them in the paper and on the blogs. We can not let one fallacy go unchecked. We can not let ourselves be tempted by their tactics. We must be truthful and correct about every point we make, every fact we state.
Arm yourselves with knowledge. Protect yourself with wisdom. We shall not falter. Not this time. Marijuana will be legalized. To many lives have been ruined. To many are at stake. The revenue to be gained is to great.
God Speed.
I think that last bar graph needs to go all green.
No Alcohol, Heroin, crack, coke, or Meth. All Marijuana for all ages.
Revised..Submitted to my local editor.
My fellow Americans, children of logic, and defenders of truth.
It has been said before, many times, and with just cause the time is now. This time we have the boulder moving and must not let it stop. The current push is sustainable. If we can now band together in one coherent, logical voice of reason I am confident that we can make an important change and obliterate the tyranny that manifests itself as our current national drug policy.
The battle is not being fought on the hill or in the presidential cabinet. It is being fought around the dinner table, in the streets, on blogs, and in your local newspapers.
Our common enemies are lies, false morality, lobbyists, and ignorance.
Our weapons are truth, intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom.
For the first time since the era of Anslinger we are the many, and they are the few. Our enemies will try to sway those on the ledge, and fortify the opinions of the already brain washed zealots who hold false moral high ground.
It is every one of our duties to educate ourselves like never before. To know the facts, and the gods honest truth. To finally take our own high ground, and to do it with honesty and righteousness.
For every lie we must have fact. For every false report we must have a non biased source. We will fight them at home. We will fight them at work. We will fight them in the paper and on the blogs. We can not let one fallacy go unchecked. We can not let ourselves be tempted by their tactics. We must be truthful and correct about every point we make, every fact we state.
Arm yourselves with knowledge. Protect yourself with wisdom. We shall not falter. Not this time. Marijuana will be legalized. To many lives have been ruined. To many are at stake. The revenue to be gained is to great. Increasing taxes on tobacco and soon alcohol was a great start, now lets tap the least evil of the three, Marijuana.
Make them understand that we can unburden our unsustainable prison system, create jobs, and create billions in revenue. Make them understand that the effects of tobacco, and alcohol are far more destructive than that of our simple beloved plant. Make them understand that aspirin has caused more deaths than marijuana, which has caused none. Make them understand that the the unjust war against cannabis has caused for more damage than it ever could have prevented. Make them understand we have to disarm the gangs, dealers, pushers, cartels, kingpins, and terrorist organizations by destroying a huge source of their funding from the black market that our drug policy has created. Ask them if they are ready to send 20 million more of their brothers and sisters to prison. And finally make them understand that it is not their will that dictates what a sovereign person in a free society imbibes. If they truly value freedom of choice, and of the pursuit of happiness, there is no argument to be had. If they do not hold these most basic of American values, they truly are the enemy.
P.S.
I myself do not currently imbibe cannabis. Until it is a taxed commodity I would rather spend my money on taxed goods that help the economy, even if in the most minuscule of ways. I would drink but that stuff will kill ya.
RON PAUL…2012
Of the “15%” mentioned, I know of several people who have “self-admitted” to save their jobs/family lives/etc and technically were not there “voluntarily.”
Many people chose to show an effort to reform themselves in the name of saving their lives. Its done “voluntarily.” Anyone who’s attended NA/AA meetings, or been nice enough to just offer help with them, has seen this type of reluctant “voluntary” presence.
I admit there are people who honestly are looking for real help in that quote. Typically its not the substance but their view on things that needs help… I digress.
Still, a lot of those “voluntary” folks are there for things that are more along the lines of getting caught watching porn by your family (if your family was opposed to it.)
So even that 15% I find rather questionable.
The 56% seems low based on some other findings. Oddly most prohibition sympathizers point to that chart as representing how the war has moved into a more “compassionate” stance on cannabis. No, really. They push it in their favor. Stop laughing or gnashing your teeth. It helps to know what you’re up against.
Along these same lines, current Senate bill 714 seems more like smoke and mirrors to just throw a ton of money at some pro-prohibitionist people. I hope I’m wrong. But when any branch says they want a study, it usual means they want to just play with numbers to support the status quo. See twisted example of interpretation above for why I’m skeptical.
i eat hemp cereal every other day. the days in between i vaporize cannabis…try some soon. those are the days i play tennis. ahhh california is nice.
to think that my tax dollars are spent forcing my fellow humans to seek treatment for wanting to enjoy the flowers of cannabis truly sickens me.
then to learn of the origin of the prohibition and the resulting illegality of hemp & cannabis i truly want to vomit.
I was pretty much forced into rehab for weed when I failed a drug test in the National Guard. I have smoked weed heavy all day everyday for years at times and have no problem whatsoever giving it up when I have to for a job or what not. Weed is not addicting at all in my opinion, yeah sure when I quit I would love to get high again but I don’t need to. Anyone who say’s that weed is addictive is just a dumb ass who listens to government propaganda and has no opinion of their own.
If only closed mind’s came with closed mouth’s…
ITS ALL ABOUT THE GOVERNMENTS MISLEADING MISINFORMATION STRATEGY CAMPAIGN.
I NEED A PRESIDENT WHO DOES NOT GIGGLE LIKE A LITTLE EIGHT-YEAR-OLD GIRL WHEN HE SAYS OR HEARS THE WORD MARIJUANA. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK IN AMERICA TODAY?
I’m so glad someone finally covered this!! I’ve been saying this is the case ever since Unicorn Walters started preaching about the horrors of marijuana addiction. And this is only court-ordered subimssions we are talking about here. If you included all the people who put themselves into “marijuana rehab” at the advice of their lawyers in advance of their trials, I bet the numbers would be even further skewed. What about the teens whose parents influenced their decision to seek treatment?
Good job on this one.
The 15% portion is mislabeled. It is actually self/individual.
The self/Individual category at SAMHSA is defined as “self or individual referral,” which includes the client, a family member, friend, or any other individual who would not otherwise fall into another category of referral.
This would include parents checking their son or daughter in for treatment because they think that’s the thing to do if they caught them with pot.
So the drug with the lowest self-admission rate is probably even lower.
ACTION IS DEMANDED NOW!! If you truly want the legalization of marijuana you must ACT. CALL YOUR LOCAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS. A CALL IS WORTH 10 TIMES THE REPRESENTATION OF AN EMAIL. CALL AND SAY I SUPPORT THE LEGALIZATION, TAXATION, AND REGULATION OF MARIJUANA. I SUPPORT LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS!!
Man…these results are sickening. What a sick and twisted way in which our government controls the people.
I’m appalled, really. This is stupid and inhumane treatment as far as I’m concerned.
I know first hand how they use these faulty statistics. I was arrested and plead guilty to distribution of mj in 2006 (NJ). They told me as part of the program that I would have to speak with a counselor about my drug history and go to a rehab if she deemed it necessary, as well as do some community service and pay some fines.
Once the trial was complete I spoke with some woman about my long history of drug abuse (mostly from my younger days), and she asked if I needed help, or thought I did. I said no, and told her I understood all the reprecussions that could from coming up dirty on a drug test.
about 6 months into my probation, my first P.O. told me she was going to try and get me off for good behavoir within a month or two. Three months later, or 9 months into my 1 year probation they switched my probation officer. The new one told me I needed to complete a 6 month outpatient program at the YMCA which included 3 N.A. meetings a week and a group counseling session and madatory weekly drug test at the YMCA as well.
I argued and argued because I didn’t have a problem with weed and the 6 months would bring me to 1 yr and 3 months (3 months more than originally sentenced)with no avail…I was still forced into this treatment process, at my own expense.
I was lucky enough to get off only a year and a month into my probation because my drug counselor from the YMCA voluntarily came with me to probation to say someone who had pissed clean from all drugs twice monthly at probation, and once a week at his YMCA clearly didn’t have a drug abuse problem, and his limited spots could have been put to better use. Even witih all of this my probation officer was hesitant to release me, but eventually did.
Why would anyone need treatment for marijuana?
I mean I’ve looked far and wide I can’t find a singe weed whore or a weedhead wanting to sell me his grandma’s wedding ring for a joint. I’m just so fucking tired of the bull shit. Weed is not even addictive most people I know have cut way down some have stopped smoking altogether because of the economy. How many meth junkies have quit because they couldn’t afford meth and dance lessons for their daughter?
Fuck Obama
Fuck the Federal government
not cool, man……
DOWN WITH PROHIBITION!!
These results are completely shocking, but really not surprising. Since this is coming from a drug court graduate. All of these statistics show what people are trying to prove. It’s ridiculous that the government will not see our cry!!!
Im might get akot of grief over this comment but i dont care. Yes Ron Paul is a really cool guy but the only smart thing he would do if he were elected in 2012 is legalize it which would be awesome but thats about it. his economy and military plans are shit, id like to be able to smoke a joint without having to worry about a bomb being dropped on my head. as far as Obama I think his actions speak for themselves and dont need my belittling to correct his mistakes. hukabee in 2012 legalize in 09
I go to a maritime academy and i am 23 years old. I get randomly drug tested there durring each semester, so I can’t smoke while at school. Durring my breaks I smoke though and just make sure I give myself enough time (25-30) days to let it get out of my system. I enjoy smoking a lot, I find it helps me to relax and i do not really like alcohol too much, but because of these outdated laws again marijuana, alcohol is my only choice of recreation. My point here is that I can smoke for 2 months and then stop with no problems. Of course I would like to smoke when I go out or just to relax but I can’t. I have been smoking off an on for about 5 years now and I have never felt any “withdrawl” symptoms or any overbearing need to smoke. Again of course I would love to be able to use marijuana but I have no physical or real mental reliance on it once I stop using for the time I am not able to.
Is it maybe possible that these people who say they are addicted to marijuana are just week and use the plant as a crutch or excuse? Millions of people use marijuana responsibly and there is no reason what so ever that we are not allowed to use it instead of alcohol. Adults should have the choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol for recreational use. IT’S HARMLESS!!
The statistics prove couple of things, the youth have become targets for this is all about creating revenue, government expansion and industries loyal to the politics of the state which by proxy are owned and controlled by big business. If no one was ever arrested for cannabis in the first place there would not be any problem.To create the problem and self ingest through institutions also of their own creation to always compose a scenario on the public stage in which government intervention is required while keeping the window dressing of perfection,control, and all knowing pristine.
Money has ruinous overtones.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions
It is most true, stylus virum arguit,-
our style betrays us.
Robert Burton 1577-1640
Putting people in ‘rehab’ that do not want to be there is essentially creating a networking opportunity for cannabis connections. I guess this is not so good for anybody who is legitimately seeking help for some perceived issue with marijuana. However, it provides an opportunity for those who enjoy cannabis to make lemon out of lemonade. 😉
Sorry to be a buzzkill, but these two Lincoln quotes:
” Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch SMOKING a pipe of sweet HEMP, and playing my Hohner harmonica” . —–President Abraham Lincoln
“PROHIBITION….goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A PROHIBITION LAW strikes a blow at the very PRINCIPLES upon which our government was founded”.———————-President Abraham Lincoln
…are fakes. The Hohner harmonica wasn’t invented until after Lincoln’s death, and the prohibition quote was invented by Georgia abolitionists seeking to defame Lincoln.
The Founders quotes, though, are true. — “R”R
Most people don’t think they have a Mary J problem, people force them to belive that they do with threats of their jobs and such so they just go to rehab insted.
Circular reasoning gets you everywhere with the government. 1)Get caught with marijuana and get sent to rehab in lieu of a criminal record and/or jail time.
2) Become another statistic in the ‘marijuana user in rehab’ list.
3) Gov.t then cites statistics showing how many people go to rehab for marijuana to prove how dangerous it is.
4) Rinse and Repeat
How stupid do they think we are?
Thanks again NORML for being on top of the shenanigans.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-stranahan/
watch-5-benefits-to-legal_b_182263.html This is an amazing article that has just been placed on the huffington post with a 2 part video series that shows all the injustices of marijuana prohibition. SPREAD THIS LIKE WILDFIRE!!!
What about nicotine addiction/rehab? That’s as addictive a drug as any of them, and one of the most prevalent, and in my opinion one of the most vile, disgusting and insidious.
Why don’t we see figures for nicotine addicts in these figures?
I’m part of the 56.96% that was forced into “treatment”.
In my class we talked about why we started smoking and if we ever dealt. About 2 hours of an 8 hour class were spent on cigarette breaks. We had a guy with AIDS come talk to us, the same guy who had come into my high school health class a year before and said that he used marijuana medicinally (which he did not mention in the class). One of the speakers didn’t show so we watched Requiem for a Dream (which has nothing to do with pot). I still smoke, I’m still adamant about legalization, THAT CLASS WAS A JOKE!
I just hate that I’m a freaking statistic!
Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks for we know it is made acceptable through the word of God and prayer. 1 Timothy 4:4
Why should my freedom be limited by what someone else thinks? For as long as I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why should I feel condemned for eating it? So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10: 29-31
Rehab for marijuana is like going to rehab for chocolate cake or coffee. Anybody with half a brain would know something ain’t kosher when there are more people in rehab for “marijuana” than anything else. Of course they are being forced.
Legalization would solve this huge waste of tax payer’s money involved with arresting and prosecuting harmless marijuana users.
free cannabis and hemp across the americas by 2010, spread the words. yes we cannabis.
I sent the following e-mail to Senator Kay Hagan D-NC who is on the list of supporters of Senator Webbs effort to address the pityful state of our injustice system.
Dear Senator Hagan,
Cannabis legalization has been all the talk in the country, mostly on blogs, but more and more main stream media outlets are joining the debate and for the first time in seven decades facts are debated, rather than falsehoods propagated.
The war on drugs started with the war on cannabis and the first law written in El Paso in 1914 was used to persecute Mexican migrant workers and “negro” jazz musicians. 95 years ago, almost a century ago. December 5th 1933 – last year was the 75 year anniv. – was the day the 21st amendment was ratified and alcohol prohibition put to bed. Less than 4 years after repealing prohibition BECAUSE OF IT’S FAILURE the Marihuana Tax Act was enacted in 1937 to effectively prohibit a plant. Since then we have spent over one trillion dollars, incarcerated since 1969 over 20 million people at tax payers expense, given rise to the drug cartells and made THEM filthy rich, while feeding the never satisfied beast of privately run and tax payer supported prisons.
In 1972 Nixon commissioned former repub. Governor of Pennsylvania to study drug use. Nixon pooped his pants when the report was presented because he didn’t like the findings. To this day many in media, law enforcement and churches continue this policy of denying the facts. I’m sorry, but this is no longer acceptable. The fourth link below will show statistics about how much North Carolina would benefit from medical cannabis alone and fortunately a bill is about to address this. Denial and false “facts” are no longer permissible!
In the seventies, when for a while cannabis was defacto decriminalized, North Carolina was among the first dozen States to do so. I lived in Oregon at the time, ran a business and use cannabis occasionally. Governor Tom McCall did a study for the four years after decriminalizing and found that cannabis use did not go up or adversely affect crime statistics.
The time for change is now and it is time for the media to inform the public about those facts, rather than continue the old ways of according the problem and in fact make it easier for children and teens to obtain cannabis from illegal sources, rather than benefiting from jobs, taxes and control.
Allow me to close with a passage from the Shaffer Commission report
>>>
The Commission believes that the first step toward resolving the drug problem is to reconsider the present diagnosis of the ailment. The social response is presently a large part of the problem, one which is compounded with each unanticipated crisis. To break this cycle, it is necessary to refocus our attention on that behavior which carries the most serious social consequence. Preoccupation with the drugs themselves must be replaced by an understanding of the behavioral impact of drug use. We must deal directly with the ambivalence of our attitudes with respect to drugs, conforming our beliefs to reality and our conduct to our ideals. Only then will a coherent policy emerge, one which can withstand legitimate criticism, and one which will have a beneficial impact on the problem.
Promises which cannot be kept must not be made. The public must be apprised that disapproved drug use is part of a larger social pattern, and that all the money and effort that the American society can muster will never be able to deal effectively with this behavior if the problem continues to be defined as it is now. Drug policy making must take into account a wide range of social phenomena of which drug use is a small part, and institutional responses must be framed in the context of broader social roles. Unless present policy is redirected, we will perpetuate the same problems, tolerate the same social costs, and find ourselves as we do now, no further along the road to a more rational legal and social approach than we were in 1914.
The Commission has not attempted to devise utopian policy recommendations. Instead we have attempted primarily to formulate a policy-making process, one which includes all of the important variables and which separates various crucial issues. We have applied this process in order to provide a plan of action to be implemented immediately. But we would be remiss if we were only to propose recommendations for the present. The Commission feels that a coherent social policy requires a fundamental alteration of social attitudes toward drug use, and a willingness to embark on new courses when previous actions have failed.
Respectfully submitted
Greg Williams
828-xxx-xxxx
http://norml.org/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-stranahan/
watch-5-benefits-to-legal_b_182263.html
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/30/citing_failed_war_on_drugs_former
http://www.marijuanalobby.org/States/
demographics.php?id=1121&state=NORTH CAROLINA
http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php
http://www.naihc.org/hemp_information/content/hemp.mj.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-barr/
i-was-wrong-about-the-war_b_106249.html
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/duapip/pipmenu.htm
-2008 MICHIGAN ELECTION RESULTS-
MEDICAL MARIJUANA (YES) 3,008,980 63%
MEDICAL MARIJUANA (NO) 1,792,870 37%
BARACK OBAMA 2,875,308 (57%)
JOHN MC CAIN 2,050,655 (43%)
-MICHIGAN COUNTIES WON-
MEDICAL MARIJUANA (YES) = 83 (100%)
MEDICAL MARIJUANA (NO) = 0 (0%)
BARACK OBAMA 48 Counties (57%)
JOHN MC CAIN 35 Counties (43%)
ron paul 2012
I understand why Obama chooses to play down the issue of, “immoral” drug use, however I believe he should have shown more respect to the issue marijuana legalization and shown the same insight and common sense honesty that he was elected for. At the inauguration Obama highlighted the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln a man who led this country through one of its darkest times. What was remarkable about the Civil War was that it pitted brother against brother, a display to history that Americans are capable of inflicting terrible brutalities to one another when they fall on opposing sides of a powerful ideology. There are similarities between the “civil” war of old and the war on drugs today. Both wars pit Americans against Americans in a battle of divisiveness, bloodshed and suffering. Americans should exercise our collective control of government and email, call or write a representative. By doing so the drug war will become an issue that has to be dealt with now rather than a lingering one to be laughed off and prolonged as long as it is politically prudent to do so.
SunflowerPipes.com
Marijuana prohibition is not working for the same reasons Alcohol prohibition hadn’t. The Mafia made millions selling alcohol, and today cartels make their money from weed. Lift prohibition, and put the money in America’s pockets not foreign nations.
The majority of inner city police admit that its not worth their time to fill out reports for an average small marijuana charge, and over look it. The legislature has no business creating laws that cannot be enforced, it makes the public loose even more confidence for the criminal justice system.
OBAMA!
Lifting the marijuana prohibition does not mean defeat on the war on drugs, rather that the slippage between the ideals of society and actual societal behavior has finally caught up and ITS TIME FOR CHANGE!
If I remember correctly: There was a time when we were in another recession, and Roosevelt lifted alcohol prohibition in the beginning of his first. He not only curbed the cost of criminal justice agencies, prisons, but also eliminated much of the organized crime’s profits. If there ever was a time to lift marijuana prohibition it is NOW!
Or . . . Choose to do nothing and the states will choose for you.
WRITE YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVES!
If Obama wont vote for our cause, then mine goes to Ron Paul!
We need help in Pennsylvania also. We have a rep introducing a bill in the house in the coming weeks. So any one in PA please right your reps asap. Get the word out to your friends and any one who will listen. call your local papers and radio stations, do anything to get this out. Get the truth out there. The truth and our will can set this in motion and keep the ball rolling.
Thanks, Andy
Another stat here, forced into rehab by my well paying employer. Stopped because it was no prob, want to start because upper level management can use a weekend time out as well. Send those letters, we can win the battle of logic and reason.
marijuana does not leed to harder drugs but harder drugs can leed to pot.its true if you used alcohol or hard drugs .it can kill you right !but weed is safe know one dies ,so you see after you come off of alcohol or hard drugs.weed is the only thing you have left!im sick of people saying it leeds to hard drugs these people have not been there and have no clue!and are living in lies they were told refer madness.you see im sick of seeing bottles of alcohol all over the place like its a fashion alcohol its a cleaning fluid that i choice not to do for good reasons !but yet your a criminal for smoking a sacred plant. we have the right to this plant and in my mind it is legal!in a free country weed would be legal,we are not even close to being free!people are in a illusion of being free,when every one is under a dictator like control,slaves to pay for war and chemtrails and all there poisons your tax money pays for.this plant says it all,if it was legal for anyone adult to grow ,then that would be a start to real freedom!
i started smoking at 12 then i was sent to a rehab when i was 15 for smoking weed,i tried to say i was weed addicted and they laughed at me !they said you have to say your cross addicted or chemical dependent ,so i was forced to say a lie .
Sorry Russ I have it as Hohner Harmonicas est. 1859…Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865…
and Lincoln’s quote… 18 Dec 1840 to IL House of Representatives. You are partially right on its origin… It was written by J. B. Goodwin, former mayor and anti-prohibition campaign manager, and sent to Lincoln..
***PROHIBITION….goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes.***
This sentence is the one in question. The remaining portion of the quote is correct and verifiable.
Lincoln also said that men with few vices also have few virtues.
Slightly off topic, but I just finished watching the 10AM edition of the Today Show with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb and they began the show by teaching you how to do shots of tequila with lime and salt. They actually did shots on the air. I thought there was a law against consuming alcohol on air.
What does this say about the attitudes of Americans when it comes to drugs and legalisation?
Great job on the research and analysis of these numbers hope you guys can get these kind of statistics more into the public eye keep up the good work,its greatly appreciated!!
we are getting so tired of especially you tobacco using, alcohol consumin, moral preachin, wife beatin mother f-ers out their, try some cannabis indica. you’ll consume less of your own vices no doubt and be a more balanced human being because of it.
can you guys believe the scientific study these assclown prohibitionists site from the BRAINDEAD reagan era?
some evil scientists pretty much gased to death two poor monkeys. wow what a trip it must have been for them to be derprived oxygent and forced to inhale 200 freakin j’s worth of cannabis all at once. insane. may their ashes rest in peach.
One decades-old study continues to fuel claims that cannabis use causes cerebral damage. Two unwitting rhesus monkeys were exposed to 200 times the normal human dose of THC, administered through a constant cloud of smoke. However, in a more recent study, rhesus monkeys exposed to the equivalent of five cannabis cigarettes per day for seven months (what would be termed heavy chronic use in an adult human) showed no signs of cerebral abnormalities, discrediting claims attached to the older study.[10]
just as IOWA became the 3rd state to end the prohibition on Marriage inequality…one by one the cookies will crumble and this ridiculous national prohibition on HEMP an CANNABIS will be made an amendment. we need an amendment NOW obama.
spend my tax payer dollars wisely and AMEND the constitution NOW mr obama. lift the prohibition on Cannabis, Hemp, & Marriage CHOICE now obama. the earth is 4 billion years old. LOOK at the trends my friend.
Quite a vicious cycle there, eh? BTW Russ, great graphs, dude! I remember signing up for MJ rehab about 12 years ago out of pressure by the law, only to end up not going, when I realized I didn’t have to. I don’t guess there’s any stat category for that though, heh-heh
people go to change.org Obama has a petion and needs 3000 signatures for him to go further with this issue c’omon we can do it im tired of not bein able to find it or where do i go next to get it? I want it as easy as cigs i mean c’mon pple its a plant and so is tobacco lets do it
ppl go to change.org obama has a petion and needs 3000 signatures for him to bring this issue up and go further LETS DO IT PPLE under care2.com
JohnA, I’m just reporting what California NORML’s Dale Gieringer sent to me once when I used those quotes:
This quote is apocryphal. According to Michael Aldrich, it was begun many years ago by Ron Siegel, based on a story told him by a musician. Michael had Markus Storz check up on it at the Hohner company museum in Germany. Turns out that Hohner didn’t start selling harmonicas in the US until after Lincoln was dead, years later. Sorry to bust this great story, too bad it isn’t true!
“Prohibition. . . goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded” -Abraham Lincoln
This quote is also apocryphal. It was invented by Georgia anti-prohibitionists long after Lincoln’s death to stir up support among blacks.
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lincoln.htm
It was investigated by a Lincoln scholar at the request of Ollie Steinberg of the Minnesota Grassroots party. Like Mark, he found no record of any speech by Lincoln on the alleged date (Dec 18, 1840).
I’ve been told that according to the Home Book of Quotations (16th edition), it was fabricated in the 1880s – apparently by anti-Prohibitionists in Atlanta courting the Negro vote. Lincoln was well-known for his temperance sympathies. According to Herbert Asbury’s “The Great Illusion,” he authored a dry law modeled on the Maine law, which was rejected by Illinois voters in a special referendum on June 4, 1855. He was also alleged to have authored and signed a total abstinence pledge in 1846. According to temperance authorities, Lincoln was reluctant to sign the 1862 whiskey tax that helped fund the Civil War, on grounds it would condone the liquor trade. According to a temperance leader who spoke with him on the day of his assassination, Lincoln predicted that the next great question after slavery would be abolition of the traffic in legalized liquor.
Thank you Russ, after your post I looked into it alot further. You have a wonderful wealth of helpful knowledge. Please understand I meant no disrespect. Keep blazin you audio stash I’m a daily listener.
I had to go to rehab to get my job back after I fail a drug test. It was not that I was hooked on marijuana, because for me marijuana is very easy to put down. But it was for a company policy that made me go to rehab, in-order to get my job back. This may be the reason there is a large jump in visits to a rehab for marijuana use, just to get a job back.
lagalize the shit out of it!!! save us all the trouble. haha
This is simply Law Enforcement skewing the statistical data to fit their needs.
If you don’t think that it’s a concious and deliberate act you believe in the tooth fairy !
Judges forcing people into treatment is nothing more than his or her opinion being forced down the throats of the general public. That behavior or act is called indoctrination, something Communism uses with great success !
The problem is:
Bill Mahar is right; we live in a country where the populous is too uneducated to make a sane and rational decision !
Maybe Obama might want to reform education next, after a good Health Care Law with a strong Public Option !
He might want to atart in South Carolina and Mississippi. I believe that they are rated 49 & 50 educationally. A glaring statistic isn’t it. Says a lot about people like Haley Barber and Governor (gone hiking on the Appalachian trail) Sanford. Says a lot about the people too ! I’ll bet that the rain never hits them in the eyes !
I as many of you have used pot on and off for most of my life. I find no problem with it other than the fact that it is against the law. Somehow I have managed to never get busted although have come very close several times. I have to say though that I have known people that could not smoke pot as it completely debilitated them. That is maybe two out of hundreds of people I have smoked with in my life. I have as many stopped pot on many an occasion, primarily for employment reasons with no withdrawal symptoms at all. I did not smoke for about eight years as I worked in a casino where random drug testing is frequent and the pay good so could not take the chance. After leaving the industry I smoked for about a year and enjoyed it very much. I have since quit again as I am seeking employment where drug testing is the norm. It is a shame that I am not allowed the one vice I enjoy as I do not smoke cigs, drink alcohol, or do any other illicit drugs, or even chase wild women any more. I am sure I do not have to explain that it is about big business not the danger of the drug. The government could care less if smoking one joint would kill you. It is about the money. The money in the hands of the alcohol co. Can’t raise hemp in America as it would destroy the cotton industry and the foresting for paper manufacture. and the biggest of all the Pharm industry as many Pharmaceutical products are manufactured from the hemp plant at a much safer (natural) and more economically feasible means than what they use (synthetic production). I just hope I live to see the day that I can legally buy and smoke some pot without looking over my shoulder or worrying about losing my job. Hang in there folks we all know we are right. I do have to add though that I do know that while it is relaxing and enjoyable it does make you temporarily stupid, or as the old timers said all muddled up. Like anything, food, alcohol, sex, fast cars, or money it can be abused. A little common sense and it is a great thing. GOD given, he says so, he also explains about the abuse issue.
Ron Paul 2012