[UPDATE! I have a revised version of this blog post online now on The Hill.com’s Congress blog. This is the website where Washington DC insiders go to blog. Click here to read my op/ed, and when you are done please leave a polite comment for the Drug Czar.]
Since 1975 the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has been tracking students self-reported use of cannabis and other intoxicants, and every year their use of these substances trends either up or down from the prior survey. Predictably, when self-reported use goes down, drug war lackeys like Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske claim that drug prohibition is working. Conversely, when use trends upward — as it did this past year — drug warriors respond by pointing the blame at everyone else.
White House Drug Czar: Teen Marijuana Use on the Rise
via ABC NewsTeenagers are beginning to think of marijuana as medicine, and more and more young people are toking up as a result, White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske argues upon the release of a major survey on teenage drug use.
The 2010 Monitoring the Future Survey queried 50,000 eighth, 10th and 12th graders about their use of, and attitudes toward, illicit drugs.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy survey found that daily pot use among high school seniors is at 6.1 percent, its highest point since the early 1980s. In the past month, 21.4 percent of 12th graders said they had used marijuana, continuing an upward tick that began in the middle of the decade. Monthly, more seniors now smoke pot than cigarettes, a phenomenon not seen in nearly three decades.
It’s the decreasing perception of the harm of marijuana that is leading to increased pot use, according to the drug czar.
“If young people don’t really perceive that [marijuana] is dangerous or of any concern, it usually means there’ll be an uptick in the number of kids who are using. And sure enough, in 2009, that’s exactly what we did see,” Kerlikowske told ABC News Radio.
“We have been telling young people, particularly for the past couple years, that marijuana is medicine,” the former Seattle police chief argued. “So it shouldn’t be a great surprise to us that young people are now misperceiving the dangers or the risks around marijuana.”
On the other hand, he said, a broad understanding of the harms of tobacco and alcohol has led to lower cigarette smoking and binge drinking in teens. Regular cigarette smoking continues its decline, and binge drinking (five or more drinks at one sitting) among high school seniors is down from 25.2 percent to 23.2 percent. Tougher enforcement has also contributed to these declines, Kerlikowske said.
“We know that through education and enforcement, something can be done. But I think we should also be very concerned about these marijuana numbers, particularly among these very young people,” Kerlikowske said.
Okay, let me get this straight: California enacted legislation legalizing the physician-supervised use of medical marijuana in 1996 — some fourteen years ago — thus kicking off the national debate that is still taking place today. Between 1996 and 2005, nine additional states enacted similar laws (Alaska, 1999; Colorado, 2000; Hawaii, 2000; Maine, 1999; Montana, 2004; Nevada, 2000; Oregon, 1998; Vermont, 2004; Washington, 1998). Yet, the Drug Czar claims to the national media that this discussion has only been taking place in earnest for “the past couple years”?! Does he really think the public is that stupid?!
Further, the Czar is well aware that throughout this period of time, youth-reported use of marijuana declined across the nation — including in the very same states that enacted medical cannabis access. NORML Advisory Board member Mitch Earleywine co-authored a comprehensive review of this data here, concluding: “More than a decade after the passage of the nation’s first state medical marijuana law, California’s Prop. 215, a considerable body of data shows that no state with a medical marijuana law has experienced an increase in youth marijuana use since its law’s enactment. All states have reported overall decreases – exceeding 50% in some age groups – strongly suggesting that the enactment of state medical marijuana laws does not increase marijuana use.”
Investigators at the Texas A&M Health Science Center also assessed whether the passage of medical cannabis laws encourages greater recreational use. They too found, definitively, that it does not. “Our results indicate that the introduction of medical cannabis laws was not associated with an increase in cannabis use among either arrestees or emergency department patients in cities and metropolitan areas located in four states in the USA (California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington). … Consistent with other studies of the liberalization of cannabis laws, medical cannabis laws do not appear to increase use of the drug.”
As this government map (Marijuana Use in Past Year among Persons Age 12 or Older) so keenly illustrates, marijuana use rates as a percentage of the overall population vary only slightly among states, despite states having remarkably varying degrees of marijuana enforcement and punishments. In fact, several states with the most lenient laws regarding marijuana possession — such as Nebraska (possession of up to one ounce is a civil citation) and Mississippi (possession of up to 30 grams is a summons) — report having some of the lowest rates of marijuana use, while several states that maintain strict penalties for personal users (e.g., Rhode Island) report comparatively high levels of use. The Drug Czar is aware of this of course, yet he is forbidden by his office from ever acknowledging it publicly.
But wait, it gets even sillier. One statistic gleaned from the Monitoring the Future study that was not emphasized by the Drug Czar (for obvious reasons) was that more than eight out of ten 12th graders report that marijuana is “fairly easy” or “very easy” to get — a percentage that has remained constant for three and a half decades! So much for the notion that criminal prohibition is limiting youth marijuana access. It never has and it never will. On the other hand, Kerlikwoske concedes that the legalization, regulation, and the imposition of age restrictions on alcohol and cigarettes is associated with a reduction in teens use of those drugs. Nevertheless, the Czar irrationally brags that, when it comes to cannabis, those words are not even in his vocabulary. Seriously.
Finally, as to the Czar’s notion that teens are ‘misperceiving’ (a term that was apparently made up by Kerlikowske) the harms of marijuana compared to cigarettes and alcohol, let’s get real. Cigarette smoke is far more dangerous to humans than cannabis smoke, the latter of which has been shown to have an inverse relationship with incidences of certain types of cancer, even when consumed long-term. Further, unlike alcohol, marijuana is incapable of causing lethal overdose, is relatively nontoxic to healthy cells and organs, and its use is not typically associated with violent, aggressive, or reckless behavior. That’s why, according to the latest Rasmussen poll, fewer than one in five Americans nationwide now believe that consuming marijuana is more dangerous than drinking alcohol, and by a nearly two-to-one majority, respondents agree that marijuana is far less dangerous than smoking cigarettes. In short, the public has gotten it right even though their government keeps getting it wrong.
As for the Drug Czar and his mindless rhetoric, never forget the words of novelist Upton Sinclair, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” In reality, Kerlikowske is not nearly as stupid as his sound bytes imply; he just assumes that you are.
“Does he really think the public is that stupid?!”
To answer that question, I think probably… But I’m very sure the public thinks that he is that stupid!!!
What the Czar is failing to point out is teenagers are getting off the street not from Dispensaries. What a F*^%ng Meat Head! More Propaganda!!!
please take into consideration, now that the genral public isnt as hidden about it, and marijuana isnt openly shuned by the public, maybee there isnt an increase in teen use just increase in the willingness to admit it as the stigma of being a dirty pot head hippie just isnt around as much.
i dont agree, i think not as many people are afraid to admit they use so thats why the figures are going up, but thats just my opinion.
Just Legalize; Tax and Regulate and along with education the same will happen for cannabis, youth smoking will decrease.
Putting pot behind a counter and making consumers show I.D. is obviously better than letting children buy it from a neighbor. There’s not one “tobacco dealer” in my neighborhood!
Drug Czar lol the title alone make me want to rebel against any thing a czar wants me to do,hmm did Russia have a czar or 2,i knew a pharmer czar named goat haha what a joke he is,any how drug czar guy there are lots of bad drugs for you to czar over stop being a goat and free the weed.
everyone this is just one of those situations where the people(us) are ahead of their government…its just a matter of time till they catch up to us
1.Prohibition has never worked.
2.People are going to do as they choose.
3.People are not taking up smoking pot just because it is now”almost legal” in some states.
4.Even kids know that smoking pot is way less harmful then cigarettes – and non-addictive to boot.
5.A 20 year long federally funded study proved that there are no long term health risks associated with regular marijuana use. ( The Czar would not release the results of this study, guess why?)
6.The results of the Gov. study were covered up for two years after it was concluded, it was only made available to the public because a watchdog group was going through a number of gov. funded “studies” & found out that any studies that the gov. did not get the results desired on were routinely buried.
7.I am 48 years old, I have smoked pot since I was 12 yrs old, I have no smoking related health issues, no serious health issues at all as a matter of fact. These are the results of my own independant study. I will post the results when I decide I am done!
8.On top of everything else, The people have decided. Those who choose to smoke weed do & there is really nothing the goverment can do about it. We the people have proven that!…
9.I think the voters in Ca. proved that we don’t really care one way or the other whether it is legal or not.We still speed, run the occasional red light, and smoke a bowl of good weed, or Mexican or what ever your friend grew this season. Whenever we feel like it.
10.Kerlikowske – It is your wounded pride & refusal to accede to the choices made by those you serve that is the real problem here. We the people have been doing as we choose all along, do you think that will change if you fake another poll – or try to bury another set of study results if you do not get the answers you want to hear?
9.
Depite all the fancy statistics listed above that support our search for cannabis liberty, only one really matters. That figure is 56% of voting Californians denied us access to legal use of cannabis.
It doesn’t matter if 100% of the Country believe it’s harmless and healthy if only 46% are going to vote for it.
i took a few of those types of survey in high school. lied on every question. i even said i’d done drugs i’d never heard of before.
i’d take the accuracy of these surveys with a grain of salt.
The kids are getting smart, not smoking poisonous cigarettes and booze and they’re choosing the non-toxic choice. I see no problem here. It’s a problem for the government because it shows they’re losing the War on Misinformation.
There’s a special place reserved in hell for people who manipulate facts to justify their job like this. How stupid does Mr. Kerlikowske think we are? Medical marijuana has been in the works for at least the last twelve years. Does he think that kids just found out about it this year or, is this really just a normal trend?
My wife has been fighting a battle with stage IV, metastatic, breast cancer for the past eighteen years and for the past two she has been constantly nauseous, do you think Mr. Kerlikowske can even imagine how that must feel? Now add to it that there is a plant that can help her but it’s just out of reach. She could go to jail for using it. As it is now, we have to sit idly by as she slowly wastes away. Mr. Kerlikowske obviously can’t imagine how that feels.
We can send a message to our youth that says that we are compassionate to people when they are sick, let’s do it.
The DEA needs to get a grip and stop their self serving tactics. Lying about this issue is just wrong! And remember, scumbag, black market drug dealers don’t care that they are selling to children…
The world would be a better place if all the drug addicts and drunks swtched the the much safer alternative in Cannabis. We could only hope that pot use is up amung young people (not too young)we would surely see a drop in vehicle fatalities from drunk driving,and I’m all for solving that problem
And yeah, they’re right, marijuana is medicine, something the government refuses to acknowledge (they place marijuana in Schedule I – very high potential for abuse, no medical value. Anyone who’s an “expert” in drugs / medicine who says marijuana has no medicinal value deserves an award for stupidity. The federal government claims meth has more medical value than marijuana. GET REAL
The Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske doesn’t want to debate over this issue because he doesn’t believe the crap he’s saying. He doesn’t care and he has no control.
That is why he acts like a chump and say the most stupidest things.
Would the Czar prefer if ciggarette users increased, as well as alcohol users?
What an idiot!
Because we are discussing marijuana and it’s medical uses
the drug czar is finding his job extremely trying. All those millions of dollars spent on harm studies and research with debatable,negligible results and the worst
scientific proof of harm,after 40 years of searching is that marijuana could cause a dependency,the same way coffee does when someone cannot start their day without their coffee.
His brain is hollow,and his head is stuck in is ass, thats why tobacco use is down Cuz its REGULATED wow where did they find this guy?Hell i just got my G.ood E.nough D.iploma An i could figure that shit out
are they afraid to admit that they were wrong and have been for a long time? It is comon knowledge that the war on drugs has been a complete failure. Lets do the right thing and legalize already. Puff or pass , but give me the right
“Does he really think the public is that stupid?!” The dumbed down conservative redneck hicks whos main goal in life is to breed and save the country from Obamas Socialism really are that stupid!!! They will believe whatever Bill Orielly and Governor Huckabee tell them. They will probably also vote Sarah Palin into office in 2012. No more taxes for the wealthy!!! More stringent enforcement of Americas Drug Laws!!! Prison for abortion and homosexuals!!! Drill Baby Drill!!!
my 15 year old daughter has a prescription for Aderol. She was put on it by her mother, several years ago. She does find it helpful to concentrate at school and she does in fact get great grades. If you look at the script bottle it gives the real name of the drug. Amphetimine. My daughter is on amphetemines, prescribed by her doctor. There could be even more uses for Marijuana, medicinally, but we can’t study it. It’s status as a Class one drug and the FDA prohibit it. OUR WORLD IS BACKWARDS AND RUN BY RICH WHITE MEN AND WILL TAKE MASS REVOLUTION TO EVER CHANGE IT!! Save your seeds, hides your weed. Teach your children well.
There’s a lot of stupid ppl I wouldn’t doubt if his comments actually fueled the sentiments of large number of ppl
I believe cedibility is lost when is was said ealier that the drug czar has to lie about things to support the policy by the ones who one, Writes the policy, and two, Pay’s his salery. He is just some one’s puppet to me.
What I think is stupid is no matter what facts and proof the pro side has it doesn’t matter. Hemp answers 90% of the problems we hear on the news and it will not even be considered.
i wish these people would focus on the other problem causing drugs that are a much bigger threat to children than marijuana
Same we believed in…
Cannabis prohibition is a masterpiece in the art of brainwashing and it shows in the rhetoric of those who enforce it.
If a drug’s public acceptance as medicine is what causes teens to do those drugs, then shouldn’t pharmaceuticals be the most abused drugs by teens, instead of cannabis?
I am bored with this debate already :).
Somehow I’m not surprised. Is there any way we can get an email/phone number of this naz- I mean drug czar? I’d really like to send him some links to very well written and cited research papers on medical and recreational use.
F*** Gil, He is a kool-aide drinkin idiot, what part of lying does he beleive in?
Well I’ve just had a pleasant surprise while looking at the “The NSDUH Report – State Estimates of Drunk and Drugged Driving” from SAMSHA. The fact that I had a pleasant surprise when looking at government statistics about “drugged” driving is a shocking surprise in itself.
——————————————————-
Trends in Driving under the Influence of Illicit Drugs
When combined 2002 to 2005 data are compared with combined 2006 to 2009 data, the Nation as a whole experienced a statistically significant reduction in the rate of past year drugged driving (from 4.8 to 4.3 percent), as did seven States: Alaska, California, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, and Pennsylvania (Table 2). No States had a statistically significant increase in the rate of drugged driving.
http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k10/205/DruggedDriving.htm
Well ain’t that a slap in the face of the “drugged driving” dangers the Know Nothings like to include in their standard issue hysterical rhetoric.
Should I mention that 4 of the 7 states cited by SAMSHA as having statistically significant reductions in “drugged” driving From 2002 to 2009 are medical cannabis states? Do we also point out that Michigan wasn’t a medical cannabis state until 2008?
This tidbit is also included:
Reductions in past year rates of drugged driving were found both among persons aged 16 to 25 (12.9 to 11.4 percent) and among persons aged 26 or older (3.0 to 2.8 percent).
Wow, I wonder why this report didn’t make the headlines. Perhaps it was just forgotten seeing how it was published way, way back in last week, on 12/09/2010.
Well analyzed NORML! The truth will prevail!
Wow, this got me livid. I’m surprised, all this from a former Seattle Police Chief….a place with very liberal pot policy.
Armentano, you hit the nail on the head: it’ obvious that Gil KNOWS all of these facts.
It makes it that much more painful to hear them.
Gil Kerlikowske is just another polititian who will say or do anything to keep his job and the funds flowing.
Check out the Czar in this PBS interview;
he’s so full of bullshit. Does he really believe the words coming out of his own mouth? It’s so easy for a politician to be ‘hard on drugs’ these days, spitting out misinformation and untrue generalizations.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec10/marijuana_12-14.html
I watched the News Hour on PBS last night when Gwen Iffel interviewed Mr. Kerlikowske. It was disappointing that this otherwise fine program and journalist could offer no critical questions about his assessment of the drug survey and no other guest was invited to provide a contrasting view.
Interesting article, especially some of the comments
http://my.firedoglake.com/ruthcalvo/2010/12/14/past-time-for-ending-senseless-war-on-drugs/
Past Time For Ending Senseless War on Drugs-Ruth Calvo
i def agree that more ppl being willing to admit to ppl they smoke bud is making numbers go up BUT it is extremely easy to rebuttle this arguement by saying kids now say its easier to get pot than alcohol n ciggs …pot is the only illegal thing between the three nuff said
I was a teenager in the 70’s. We ALWAYS had pot. That was easy to get. The beer was another story. No one would sell beer to 16 and 17 year olds. We had to wait until we were 19 as that was the drinking age in Az back then. Anyway I don’t see much change from then and now. Marijuana is still there for teens today if they want it. It is amazing our government doesn’t see that. Or maybe they do and really don’t care because someone is making money at the expense of America’s kids. What else could it be?
How come this is the only website who has this information? Good story! But I haven’t read this anywhere else. How else are you (NORML) going to spread the information and the truth to the mass population? I’ve met marijuana users who have no idea what NORML is or what it’s about! Does ABC News have NORML’s rebuttal? Probably not. So what’s NORML’s next move? Just wait and post a story in few days about some Gov’t official making yet another false claim about marijuana? I can’t wait to read what’s NOT going to be printed in the newspaper!
[Paul Armentano responds: NORML courts the media the same way all other advocacy groups do — by publishing press releases, calling/e-mailing key reporters, drafting op/eds, conducting phone and face-to-face interviews, etc. I’ve spoken personally with CNN about this story, drafted an op/ed which is published on The Huffington Post (one of the most trafficked news sites on the web), and proactively contacted various mainstream reporters and commentators about this story. Several other reform groups, like DPA, have engaged in similar efforts over the past 24 hours.]
Do you ever wonder how this guy must feel inside. I dont understand how he can actually look his self in the mirror everyday. He has to sell out his soul on a daily basis for a cause that is as dead as Hitler and he has to know this.
How could you live with yourself every day knowing that your life today will be just like yesterday when you have to go out in front of the general public and tell the same lie over and over and over again. Why would any man or woman want to follow this path of lies?
so as someone who spends 24 hours a day in bed…before the age of 25…I have to say all of this is just ridiculous…without marijuana I would be out of it…by that I mean I would be so distraught, upset…in pain….
but yeah, we, the medical cannabis commmunity, are to blame….this guy needs a reality check
what he doesnt discuss is that its just as easy to get alcohol…easier actually, or shrooms…or many other things far worse with actual negative side effects.
that man says those things
then goes and drinks
such a hypocrit
Thank you NORML– this kind of aggressive attitude is exactly what was missing for most of the last year. That’s right– they DO think we’re all “stupid” and they do NOT want it pointed out that they are fascists who are “helping” us.
Stay on the attack. Never give up, never surrender. I’m going to donate to my local chapter this week– because I like that you guys are not pussyfooting around with simple factual rebuttals anymore.
Logic is good & all– but emotions win arguments.
[Russ responds: I’m glad you think that way, because it’s very true. It is good to have truth, facts, logic, and reason on your side, but it won’t win arguments, or more importantly, elections. I encourage anyone interested in how people think and the idea of “framing” to read George Lakoff’s “The Political Mind” and “Don’t Think of an Elephant”.
The key is that we don’t defend legalization; they must defend prohibition. You’ll see that in how Paul frames this argument – any complaint the drug czar has about the failure to prevent kids’ use of drugs is an indictment of his own policies.]
Most people reading Kerlikowske’s comments here will think “wow, what a moron/liar.” if he was quoted on the Daily Show, the audience would mostly have the same response. I suspect that if he said the same things on The O’Reilly Factor, or a PBS news show with a mostly elderly audience, only a small proportion of the audience would have that response.
Your lies don’t have to be that good if you are selling them to people who want to believe them anyway. No matter how good your lies sound, you will never sell them to those who already know the truth.
What do you expect? You tell teenagers that cannabis is not good for you and of course they , do not beleive you adults. As soon as you say don’t, that is when they will try anything, it is that word “don’t” . As soon as that word is said they will.I was a teenager once and i know, that as soon as that word was said, you will!!
If the government would spend as much on education as it does on law enforcement on this issue, America would be way ahead of other nations on workforce capability. As it is now, China will be the forerunner in innovation technologies for the future. America’s future is bleak.
Little reading material
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/mustomj1.html
there is no legal age limit
every school has drug dealers (who are the kids themselves)
it is 10 times easier to get a gram than it is to go through the hassle of trying to find someone to buy you alcohol.
on top of that, these kids going to drug dealers to get their weed are going to be offered harder stuff.
medical marijuana isn’t what we smoke on the streets.
kids cannot get it.
trying to claim that it is the cause of rising drug use among teens is not only totally ridiculous
but it also requires you to completely ignore all of the proof that prohibition causes drug use to be higher.
look at alcohol prohibition back in the day.
kids were all drinking, organized crime spawned out of it, and when it was legalized the amount of users dropped drastically over time.
this is so stupid I can’t even take it.
This is EXACTLY what they want, they are lying their asses off because there’s people out there that still believes in the government, a lot of people, and sooner or later they will turn the ignorant people against cannabis users, this is one of the first steps, blame MMJ for use rise. Then they will go all out against legalization advocates and jail every single one of us, they started with Marc Emery, get ready, the totalitarian tip-top is advancing faster and faster.
Holy Smokes. I wonder what Wikileaks has on the DEA political factos that are made and kept secret? Secrets to keep the DEA industrial complex well oiled and complacent with the status quo. Blessings to all. Merry Christmas. Jesus is the reason for the season.
Rev. sLeezy
So if the ‘youth’ is being fooled into the idea that there is medical marijuana, what is happening to 1/3 of our elderly citizens – those who now use cannabis instead of prescription pain-killers (often written by a normal California MD/DO instead of an an outside clinic)?
Is everyone being fooled, or are we finally getting over being fooled.
Here in America, a white sports coat and a pink carnation, when young love, @53
The Grey fedora, the same hat that Capone wore, it reminds me of my dead father, and all who emulated that dress style, and how they accepted and allowed, voted to allow so much police in The United States.
Stalin was a very lost sick soul, took the Russians so long to figure it out, Nixon Is Dead making mulch
In the meantime so many fat and hungry lawyers, judges decide, what part of the hind of the taxpayer is tastier.
The drug czar should make reparations to all of the people he has harmed in order to set his soul right. Until he corrects his mistakes, his soul remains in jeopardy, and he cannot know happiness.
REALLY! They make the F#cking report every f*ing year!
It really never changes, they make the same dam statements every annum all around the same time. Anyone want to make a chart or mathmatic equaision?!
Im 100% positive that there is a Pattern that can be charted and measured. If that can be accomplished these false statements can be anticipated and counter argued before they come out!
If anyone can do this, maybe a cannabis minded mathamatitian, somone could prove once and for all that the Drug Employment Agency is not only misleading but also expose them as the lazy, yellow journalist, scumbags that they are.
Look at his picture and you will see a dark and troubled soul.
War of the Weeds. guess who’s gonna win lol
Mankind so arrogant, always think he can govern the laws of nature. Why is this douchenozzle allowed to speak for anyone? Its cuz WE pay him, so Slash govt. spending by slashing the DEA. Easy.
Seriously guys n’ gals, smoke weed everyday & help overgrow this planet ;D
Kerlikowske is desperate, and having a hissy fit. Fuck him.
“Do you ever wonder how this guy must feel inside.”
#46 – Atlanta Toker…..I hope it eats him up
Sounds like it is saving lives and livers from tobacco and alcohol.
Question: Why does no one bring up the abuse and dangers of valuum, xanax, vicodin, adderall etc etc?? I’m sure teen use in all of those has soared far more in recent years compared to marijuana but this abuse is ok somehow? What’s the difference between smoking or popping a pill to relax or kill the pain?
Britain’s former Home Office minister and Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth argues for legalization of all drugs. Check it out:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/16/britain-minister-legalize-drugs_n_797489.html
marijuana is not a drug! people who havent tried it can say all they want until they actually try it, it helps out a lot in everyday life. the side affects from marijuana are nowhere near as bad as the side affects from crack, coke, or even beer.
This is great news! Now, there are more intelligent young people to increase the numbers for legalization.
teen cannabis use is on the increase, fantastic, and why not? would you rather your kids getting smashed of whiskey and rum?
the truth is all over the internet, cannabis is safer than alcohol, so why is it illegal? why?
He’s on DOPE and DOGFOOD teenagers are not going to the street dealers for medical cannabis. And they sure as hell can’t get into the dispensary’s.But it’s easy for them to get into mom and dads medicine cabnet,or take a drink.GET HIM OUT OF OFFICE.
Mabuda: EXACTLY! I was a wee lad in 2nd grade when I learned about the revolutionary war in social studies, and then later when i heard about the ‘drug czar’ position i was INSULTED beyond belief! I thought “has everyone gone crazy?! this is a US government position? What about our democracy that we just studied last year?!?”
Our neighbors in Jamaica are considering the cannabis issue, I noticed that religious sacrament part, well written and thought out, here in America, The Land Of The Lost, The Land Of The Lost Corrupted Souls.
Only In America, you can plea-bargain your sentence, reminds me of some old catholic practice that failed, social progress eventually realized that so many of our brothers, sisters, children are in shackles, here in this modern century.
This is how our Drug Czar took care of business here in Seattle before he was promoted to his current position.
http://www.policeone.com/news/50033-seattle-police-guild-votes-no-confidence-in-chief
Police have been criticized for the way they handled the riot early Feb. 28 that left one man dead and 71 others injured. Damage to Pioneer Square businesses and buildings totaled $200,000, the neighborhood’s community council says.
Concerned citizens and the Police Officers Guild, representing rank-and-file officers, have questioned why riot police were held back when roving bands of young men assaulted people in the crowd, including 20-year-old Kristopher Kime of Auburn. He died later that night of injuries suffered when he was savagely kicked and beaten, apparently for trying to rescue a woman from being trampled.
http://www.policeone.com/news/50033-seattle-police-guild-votes-no-confidence-in-chief
Seattle Police Guild Votes No Confidence in Chief
About 88 percent of some 1,000 Seattle Police Officers Guild members have voted no confidence in Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske in balloting triggered by the public discipline of a patrolman and simmering ire over last year’s Mardi Gras rioting, several sources familiar with the vote said today.
Dear Gilly, One question. What drug [ given a choice]would you rather have your child take to extreme use Alcohol or cannabis. Hint. One is extremely poisonous. Hint first letter A. Get it.
I”m here to disagree with Newnam Police Officer Donna Snane not being availble her whole lifetime after she gives a churchcop speech when a private I calls the Newnan Police Department. Her timing is the right to not want a reverse redneck cocaine bust and then make the wrong hot ranch hot because, her and her sister don’nt listen to Cyporess Hill 3 a take down should of happened in 2002 a stupid democrat don’t belive a snitch narc should of got action with a beeper code and let a libertarian informer go. Stupid bitches and there irate ex boyfriends are ass holes anti weed fanatics to too much extreme. The key to the cocaine bust going down the right way was’nt a million small time crooks acting like paranoid lynch mob relocaters. Public Safety’s double standard is bullshit. Civil service being bullshit about legitimate alibis is also there smart but bulcrap whites that that won’t acknowledge by being a bad neoghbor they botch things up even worse. Furthermore much civil service operations are’nt classified..
Sherrif and deputies is an azzhole mother f#cker satanist about an interview way way back then his self an insult to Ron Paul contibutors in this country. Used to want work at jail is one scenario issue but, increasing violent crime is uncalled for and that’s exactly what the Republican Party Sherriff was doing without even acknowledging an application reciept that don’t make up the harm factor caused by democrats outside the right wrong faction outside the traditional democratic methods or the help of a different faction of democrats after there better than people your own age but, not as advantaged in the ways I once had a need for.
George Washington grew hemp and wrote the Articles of Confederation. Why is it orientals do not want to cooroberate with caucasians about the articles of confederation anymore? People that want to turn people in to constable but, then not have them have a way to stay one are what I’m fed up with. Constables are not Police Officers but, sometimes they could be.
This study is more about alcohol use than marijuana. But from the reporting that is hard to discern.
The study is saying that if you put 100 high school students (grades 8-12) in a room, 6 of those students use marijuana regularly. Last year it would have been 5 students. That averages to one student per grade level. Some of that same group would be also using alcohol, tobacco, and drugs as well.
On the other hand, in a group if 100 seniors, 23 students would have engaged in binge drinking! (Last year that group would have had 25 students.) In 2010, the 30-day alcohol use prevalence for grades 10-12, was 26.8 percent down from in 28.4 percent in 2009.
Alcohol is the most dangerous substance abused by youth–hands down. The survey reflects that teens are perceiving the risks of alcohol use while at the same time seeing marijuana use as less risky than they have been led to believe.
The report states, “One possible explanation for the resurgence in marijuana use is that in recent years fewer teens report seeing much danger associated with its use, even with regular use. Possibly as a result, fewer teens have shown disapproval of marijuana use over the past two or three years.” This is a mandate for accurate, realistic, objective information to be presented to students so that they can make informed decisions.
However, the use of any substances is illegal by youth and for good reason. The use of alcohol and/or marijuana is an adult decision. And the surest way of preventing teen alcohol, marijuana, and drug use is raising youth who exercise good decision making skills.
“It’s really no surprise that more American teenagers are using marijuana and continue to say it’s easy to get. Our government has spent decades refusing to regulate marijuana in order to keep it out of the hands of drug dealers who aren’t required to check customer ID and have no qualms about selling marijuana to young people,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project.
“The continued decline in teen tobacco use is proof that sensible regulations, coupled with honest, and science-based public education can be effective in keeping substances away from young people. It’s time we acknowledge that our current marijuana laws have utterly failed to accomplish one of their primary objectives – to keep marijuana away from young people – and do the right thing by regulating marijuana, bringing its sale under the rule of law, and working to reduce the unfettered access to marijuana our broken laws have given teenagers.”
Amen to that. Legalize-Tax-Regulate, the answer to “Will someone please think of the children!”
When I was a lad, I smoked some tobacco and I hated it, I drank some alcohol and I hated it, I smoked some MJ and I loved it.
There is no antidote for THE PINOCCHIO SYNDROME. When you have the ORWELLIAN MENTALITY you’ll say anything to protect MARIJUANA PROHIBITION and thats when our government is in DENIAL. Now it’s the TEENAGE WASTELAND SYNDROME. And by the way THERE IS MORE ENFORCEMENT THEN EDUCATION. The educated are the UNICORNS.
I read this. I would like to know what the goverment is hiding if cannabis bad for you prove it. twentyfive years of using it hasn’t done no harm to myself or anybody i know .
If Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske is at all intelligent and not continually under the influence of some combination of OTC and prescription drugs (or self-medicates with alcohol), he has to feel conflicted at some point in his daily endeavors at the behest of the fascist enablers and their crony corporatist masters in their persecution of marijuana, medical or otherwise.
Even when considered only as an intoxicant like alcohol, cannabis does not cause any of the cancers, sclerosis of the liver, brain lesions or nerve damage, or heightened criminally aggressive behavior that alcohol does. How many generations of Americans have a drink or two at the end of their workday as a means of unwinding, relieving stress, and relaxing, also known as “self-medicating”? Yet, when taken to excess alcohol is a deadly poison that kills many Americans every year. How many deaths can be attributed directly to consuming an excess of cannabis — truthfully can anyone name even one instance?
Medically speaking, lets compare the difference between a poisonous “witches brew” of prescription drugs and their herbal substitutes based upon cannabis. Many prescription drugs are addictive, are extremely dangerous to the life and well-being of the “consumer” when combined, and have obvious issues of impairment when operating motor vehicles or heavy equipment. Yet scientific studies both old and new show no such dangers from the consumption of cannabis — not one instance of death can be directly attributed to consuming cannabis, let alone to excess. Neither driving nor operating heavy equipment has been proven to be particularly problematic for consumers of cannabis, given some measure of acclimation and waiting a few hours before proceeding.
It would appear that the greatest problems with the cultural and moral acceptance of cannabis as both a medicine and a “recreational” drug are anecdotal non-scientific multi-generational lies and propaganda originating with the government itself. Mr. Kerlikowske, repeating the same bald-faced government sanctioned lies does not make them true, but they do almost incalculable damage to the already tarnished reputation of the government. And the threat (and use) of deadly force and undemocratic processes against civilians using cannabis will eventually inspire a counter-response of unpredictable magnitude. Only the assertion that a response will occur is predictable.
This citizen says
The Fires Hell are at my footpath
In my lifetime
there is not enough good music
there is not Justice
The Son Of Man has been corrupted
Ok so really the thing is that the government wants us to be stupid… they want us die’n from alcohol and ciggarets (population control)they would rather kill americans and keep us stupid and fucked up so we keep paying for there luxary and big houses. marijuana frees the mind, body and spirit. thats not what they want, they want us to fear them as if they were god, i fear only one person and that is god… arrest me and put me away for 20 for a plant i dont care. ill never fear you and you can never take this plant from us nor our dignity.
Tell a lie long enough and it some how becomes truth. This disinformation has smoke screened the truth. To all that commented on cannabis they are public officials are unchallenged and will continue with this injustice.
He doesn’t care, he’s just happy for a stable job that lets him provide for his family.
Says something to the public when *he* can show his face to the public and actually read these scripts with a straight face.
He’s just going along with the DEA mission statement in order to get along with the DC echo chamber.
No matter who is sitting in the hot seat, you know, is filling that paid position, he or she never going to come out and say, like hey, medical marijuana is great and it’s causing minors’ recreational use to go down. It’s been going up and down over the decades. Up at times when the American people feel they can trust their government the least, are in a national funk, and goes down when times are good. Makes sense that in times are good, good economy, materialism makes people happy, you know, affording more of what material things they want, that’s there be less of a non-violent, no hangover cannabis use. Responsible use the evening before is better than going to work with a hangover. I mean the correct and responsible use isn’t going to affect productivity as bad as an alcohol hangover.
When usage goes down, they say it’s because what they’re doing is working, and when it goes up it’s the legalizers’ fault and the prohibitionists need more money. It’s their fault that the black market doesn’t ask for identification. Duh!
No states with medical marijuana laws are even thinking about making it illegal again. They are making money. Even if it doesn’t cover all their deficits, it’s money they didn’t have before. Duh!
More states are jumping on the medical marijuana money train.
Keep driving the economy into the ground.
The prohibitionists will keep driving the economy into the ground, and they don’t have any other new products and new sources of revenue in the pipeline to create jobs, jobs that pay well, jobs that will let Americans afford more of the things they want.
Stop sticking your noses in the air. Get out among the people more. Just because Washington is awash in money–prohibitionist lobby money–you know, that ain’t makin’ any jobs out in Anywhere, USA.
I told you before.
Hold regional conferences on the northwest, west coasst, upper midwest, lower midwest/southwest, southeast, midatlantic, northeast, you know, on how to legalize it at the state level in accord with bordering states, as well as papers and presentations on how to legislate at the federal level, you know, listen to different plans and revenue stream estimates and then just freakin’ pick one. Feds first, just pick one that will basically let the states legalize and regulate it locally. Try waiting to see which the many states choose as the state-level legalization plan they want/like/think they can get through and consult with a delegation to the Feds to tell them exactly what the hell you want them to do at the federal level that all the states can live with.
Just freakin’ do it!
I’m looking for conference announcements that will lead to progress. I want to see the national television and Associate Press carrying legalization forward.
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” ~ Lenin
Holy Smokes. I see in todays paper that this year alone, 2010, over 12,000 people in Mexico have died in the Drug War. Imagine if that was here across the Rio Grande. It would be in the news every minute. 30,000 plus dead since 2006. End it now.
Rev.sLeezy
The first day you walk into psychology 101: “Correlation does not imply causation.” Possibly the drug czar should go back to school.
It is time for us to act, using all peaceful means to overcome this great injustice. We must teach the citizen population that they have control. That our Jury of Peers have the last say, they can nullify the law as a juryer. The Courts do not want the people to know that the power is in the people and we must act and act now.
Your liberty lies in your hearts people, not in the courts, not in the congress, not with our executive branch, no the true power lies in the liberty of us, we the people, and we must act in defense of our liberty and freedom. We can do this, it is simple, yet we say nothing to each other about it. Jury Nullification of the Law, Send the king a clear notice that we are not going to take this anymore. Peacefully nullify the law in each cannabis case in this Nation will stop the unwanted and injustice of this government. We as the people of this Nation can choose not to act upon the law but ignor it completely. Teach Jury Nullication to everyone and anyone, talk about it openly, apply in the courts and be the Law of the Land and not sheep. Let us put an end to the denial of our liberty in this matter, we have the keys we need only to appy them upon the cannabis laws and shut these government folks down. Spread the words, Jury Nullification and teach the rights of a jury to everyone. Liberty will live on if we act upon it, if not no court, no congress, no president can ever bring it back. It lies in each of us on this planet, time to take charge of our liberty and freedom. Time to life back into the Bill of Rights.
Kids have been trying and using the bud, alcohol, and tobacco since as far back as I, or anybody else, can remember – and – I’m 72 years old. Hell – that’s the nature of the beast – experimentation. We learn by experience. You show me a kid that denies that, and I’ll show you an adult [presumably so] that’s delusional – or at least – lying their ass off to protect their parental reality. Facing reality is just not in their make up. Blaming everything else is. Blame! Blame! Blame! Pitiful isn’t it? Defying human nature is like trying to push the water back up stream, or pushing on a rope – but – they keep trying to prohibit [legislate] human nature. What hypocrites.
Honestly? Wow!
This guy really needs to be voted out of office.
Ignorance like this is why saddens me. I know we’ve made significant improvements with regards to the laws that have just recently loosened up. Unfortunately, it’s leaders like these that will continue to prevent the connection between our citizens’ needs and our governments ability to tend to our needs.
I for one would love to know how we can kick this man out of office… honestly.
“In a move designed to reduce the dockets in Criminal District Court and give police more time to deal with major crimes, the New Orleans City Council voted unanimously Thursday to designate marijuana possession and three other relatively minor crimes as municipal offenses, giving police the option to issue a summons rather than make an arrest, reports Bruce Eggler at The New Orleans Times-Picayune.”
“?If you get picked up for marijuana possession or prostitution in New Orleans, police no longer have to arrest you and take you to jail.”
http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2010/12/new_orleans_police_no_longer_have_to_arrest_you_fo.php
N.J. doctor supplied steroids to hundreds of law enforcement officers, firefighters..
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/hundreds_of_nj_police_firefigh.html
“A seven-month Star-Ledger investigation drawing on prescription records, court documents and detailed interviews with the physician’s employees shows Colao ran a thriving illegal drug enterprise that supplied anabolic steroids and human growth hormone to hundreds of law enforcement officers and firefighters throughout New Jersey.”
I also say end the drug war, end this costly, useless abuse on the citizenry.
96 Ruben M.
The Drug Czar is not elected – he’s appointed – as is Michele Leonart of the DEA. As Czar of the ONDCP he is required, by law, to lie his ass off. It all sounds like Russia – doesn’t it?
One might consider this as an ignormous request [an enormously ignorant thought, act or suggestion] – but – ask any doctor what would happen if the Endocannabis System was surgically removed from the human body. Then understand that the Endocannabis System needs cannabis. They go together like a horse and a carriage.
marijuana prohibition is a gateway law. if a state uses marijuana prohibition it opens the door for more dangerous and constitutionally negligent laws, like search and seizure, wire tapping, workplace drug testing, etc.
Further, the effects of marijuana prohibition on developing law enforcers has shown to result in delusions of power, racial profiling, and loss of memory and cognitive function which results in forgetting or failing to understand the rationale behind the priorities of law enforcement.
As such, the use of marijuana prohibition should be considered a drain on law enforcement and thus all of society.
I hope the guy is reading his own comment site. If he’s not, he needs help…seriously.
The real idiot, real dumb ass that started this war is Richard Millhouse Nixon, Gil is just a pawn, or as we call him a piece of shit. This government has proved it cannot be trusted, lies, deception, time to bring down this criminal organization…
punks..
just tell me where to go and what to do ! im tired of being lied to from roswell to the missing ww2 govt made film calling on americans to grow hemp for the war effort even though it was illegal! then burrying it for what 50+ years im tired of seeing so many suffer because our govt will not admit to its wrongs ……hemp is our foundation our roots if u will.Its time to empower its power and put people back to work in american factories that can lead us to a 100% renewable organic alternatertive to every product known to man and then and only then will our goals of saving this place we call earth be achived period end of story.
Why is it so hard to understand that the government,or someone in the government is “lying their ass off.” It would be far better to realize that once [one time only] someone or something lies, they are regarded as a lying person or lying thing, and who the hell is listening to them, or cares what the hell they have to say – ever again!!! It all becomes bla, bla, bla – yaba, yaba, yaba – same old bullshit – different day. Think positive, don’t let their crap cloud your mind.
yes, they are lying, but I don’t think they are doing it maliciously.
They’ve built their entire purpose for existence out of this: they derive their meaning to life from the lie. It is not the kind of lie they are willing to face, as doing so would be to consider the possibility that they are meaningless, worthless people. Certainly no one does that of their own volition, but further no one does it at the whim of suggestion. Uncovering this sort of lie typically takes some variety of force – in this case a ballot initiative.
Unfortunately, any confrontational event with the establishment is uphill, by definition. The only way to beat it with no confrontation is to wait for them to die of old age – but then so do we.
Marijuana will never be legalized. Between the Drug Cartels and northern california growers, there’s too much money to be made in the illegal environment. American culture will not progress either. In a country that thinks universal health care is a socialist menace, there is no hope. Obama didn’t end the wars either, all of them.
Drug dealers don’t ID? Not all liquor stores I.D. either. Besides that, not all bars care if you’re using a fake I.D. or a real one.
Kids don’t NEED an I.D. to get liquor OR cigarettes anyway. All they need is an older friend. Unlike our Czar, I remember what it was like to be a kid/teen. It was just as easy to get booze and tobacco as it was to get pot; in a state where it wasn’t decriminalized or allowed for medical use (Arizona.)
When will our government ever learn that they can’t control our lives? When a little kid is smoking pot, that’s an issue that their PARENTS should handle; not big brother. How can the government ethically blame everyone else in the country for the other people’s issues?? Oh, that’s right. Because they’re IDIOTS!!!
#106: I think it is done very maliciously
Drug dealers don’t ID? Not all liquor stores I.D. either. Besides that, not all bars care if you’re using a fake I.D. or a real one. Kids don’t NEED an I.D. to get liquor OR cigarettes anyway. All they need is an older friend. Unlike our Czar, I remember what it was like to be a kid/teen. It was just as easy to get booze and tobacco as it was to get pot; in a state where it wasn’t decriminalized or allowed for medical use (Arizona.) When will our government ever learn that they can’t control our lives? When a little kid is smoking pot, that’s an issue that their PARENTS should handle; not big brother. How can the government ethically blame everyone else in the country for the other people’s issues?? Oh, that’s right. Because they’re IDIOTS!!!
We no not need those Drug Czar, they are a waste of money and a waste of time.They do nothing, but tell us what to do and what not to do. I do not want this stupid czar telling me what to do. I have parents and they do that. Butt out!!
“Jury nullification” means that a jury finds a defendant innocent because the law itself is unjust, or is unjust in a particular application, and so should not be applied.
Does an American Jury have the power and the right to nullify the law? Is nullification a violation of the principle of the rule of law? Yes, and no, While it is common today for court judges to tell prospective jurors that they must apply the law as the court judge gives it to them and that jurors business is simply to determine whether the defendant has broken the law or not. But that is not the founding father’s intention by the right to trial by jury described in the Bill of Rights. As Thomas Jefferson said in 1782;
“…it is usual for the jurors to decide the fact, and to refer the law arising on it to the decision of the judges. But this division of the subject lies with their discretion only. And if the question relate to any point of public liberty, or if it be one of those in which the judges may be suspected of bias, the jury undertake to decide both law and fact.”
Thomas Jefferson is not talking about nullification per se, but about the power the jury has by taking the interpretation of the law into its own hands at trail.
We have this District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals case of the Unites States v. Dougherty, (1972), which said,
“The jury has an unreviewable and irreversible power…to acquit in disregard of the instructions on the law given by the trial judge…The pages of history shine on instances of the jury’s exercise of its prerogative to disregard uncontradicted evidence and instructions of the judge; for example, acquittals under the fugitive slave law.”
Does jury nullification contribute to, rather than mitigate, such judicial misbehavior? No, because it is part of the system of checks and balances itself — a check against the bias of judges and the irrationality and corruption that creeps steadily into the law, as irresponsible legislators and judges think about things other than justice. Jury nullification is not a violation of the rule of law because it is part of the rule of law.
The jury is the last line of defense, the last check and balance, against tyrannical government, if, that is, it is charged with determining the justice of a case and not just with blindly applying the law as given by a judge.
The interpretation of the law cannot be trusted to those with the power to enforce it also. The separation of powers between the judiciary and the executive in the federal government was not sufficient to prevent this, as
Jefferson’s maxim that only trial by jury can hold a government to the “principles of its constitution.” Since, as a matter of fact, a jury can practice nullification even if the judge tells it that it can’t, because its deliberations are secret and unrecorded, trial by jury is still, as long as jurors are brave and informed, one of the most important protections for freedom. Most Americans on jury duty blindly obey the judge, but occasionally feelings run high enough in important cases for juries to ignore the judge and do the right thing.
If the jury feels the law is unjust, we recognize the undisputed power of the jury to acquit, even if its verdict is contrary to the law as given by a judge, and contrary to the evidence…If the jury feels that the law under which the defendant is accused is unjust, or that exigent circumstances justified the actions of the accused, or for any reason which appeals to their logic or passion, the jury has the power to acquit, and the courts must abide by that decision.4th Circuit Court of Appeals, United States v. Moylan, 1969