One of NORML’s primary missions is to move public opinion sufficiently to legalize the responsible use of marijuana by adults. One of the ways we successfully achieve this goal is by debunking marijuana myths and half-truths via the publication of timely op-eds in online and print media. Since the mainstream media seldom casts a critical eye toward many of the more over-the-top claims about cannabis, we take it upon ourselves to set the record straight.
The majority of NORML’s rebuttals are penned by Deputy Director Paul Armentano. In the past few weeks, he has published numerous op-eds rebuking a litany of popular, but altogether specious claims about the cannabis plant.
Below are links to a sampling of his recent columns.:
“Cannabis mitigates opioid abuse — the science says so”
in Santa Fe New Mexican
“Is big alcohol taking a hit from legal weed?”
in Salon
“Can marijuana help mitigate America’s opioid crisis?”
in The Hill
“The Deputy Attorney General is ignorant to the science of medical marijuana”
in The Daily Caller
“The DEA says ‘marijuana is not medicine’ — reality says otherwise”
in The Hill
For a broader sampling of NORML-centric columns and media hits, please visit NORML’s ‘In the Media’ archive here.
If you see the importance of NORML’s educational and media outreach efforts, please feel free to show your support by making a contribution here.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The most simple undeniable logic supporting the raw legalization of cannabis is this:
There are 2 main aspects of a chemical imbibed for effect, (a drug), which determine its overall risk:
– its risk of harm to society/its risk of harm to user
– its risk of being addictive; generally being where other aspects of life fail (job performance, and productivity in general)
NOW
plot a graph of the first, comparing cannabis to alcohol and cigarettes.
If accurate, the graph will show:
– that alcohol is more dangerous for society;
as there is far more violence associated with alcohol than cannabis (minus the DrugWar tm)
– and that the addictive risk, both in likelihood of occurrence, and degree of addiction, are far greater with cigarettes, (which ~rival the addiction of heroin), and even alcohol which is potentially deadly if a hardcore addict is suddenly without supply
The sum result:
Cannabis has been demonstrated to be less dangerous to society than alcohol (and cigarette addiction, counting health costs)-
and cannabis is clearly less addictive than either legalized substances.
Cannabis is safer than alcohol and cigarettes.
And it is illogical to prohibit it.
In fact, were the question of alcohol’s legalization not already answered by the national battles, (in the street and in court), it might be a better question to ask why alcohol IS legal, as this is more significant to our countries than the limited negative impacts of cannabis.
The drug war is undeniably the greatest negative societal impact from cannabis.
…couldn’t see the articles. …too many pop-ups and ads covered the text.
“Since the mainstream media seldom casts a critical eye toward many of the more over-the-top claims about cannabis…”
Ahh, the fakestream media. It gores all oxen…LOL!
So, you’re saying you only believe Trump-approved news? That makes you an idiot.
@ thegodemperor,
A few rhetorical questions for you: if a journalist films Trump publically invoking Russia to hack Hillary’s emails… is that fake news? If a citizen films a cop murdering an innocent black man, and a journalist reports on it and airs the video… is that fake news? When Trump lies, and journalists report that Trump is lying… is that fake news?
No. That’s not fake news. That’s journalism.
Setting the record straight… if we don’t citizen lobby, click on the Act tab, cite these studies when we call and visit our state and federal legislators and defend our nation from attacks on all our freedoms like voter caging and supression;
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/opinion/trumps-voter-suppression-efforts.html?module=subsection_opinion
Than we have allowed ourselves in this marijuana movement to become divided and conquered.
Marijuana prohibition is and always has been about voter suppression. And racism is always about the acquisition of other people’s property by tricking Americans to vote against eachother and our own interests. The stakes are high and so are we! Keep the http://www.norml.org/congressional-scorecard close and our enemies on this list even closer.
Happy Birthday America!
Happy Independence Day NORML
I salute your efforts to give those of us that choose to use cannabis independence and freedom from a government (consisting of the likes of Attorney General Sessions) that would have us locked up!
We are fighting people and organizations who are dedicated to keeping weed illegal for no good reason because they have nothing better to do and don’t want to “lose.” People who don’t smoke or haven’t for a while have a problem with people being “high” because they don’t understand what it’s like and it seems unnatural unlike love which most besides sociopaths can relate to. I wish I could smoke more. But I don’t have much money or connects.
So how can we change the opinion of Attorney General Jeff Sessions? How can we change the opinion of President Donald Trump? Both believe firmly that our countries addiction to drugs is bad and that there is no balance between the war on drugs and what our pharmaceutical industries have lobbied for since their creation. What is the right answer?
@ Jeffery Nelson,
I don’t believe it will be possible, ever, to educate Trump or Sessions enough to change their views on marijuana. That’s because it’s not about views, it’s about values; and Trump and Sessions share a set of values that are anti-social and criminal in nature. There is no principle of justice, fairness, or truth to which we could appeal that would not be met with contempt by Trump or Sessions.
I have joked in the past, that if we could just get Sessions high enough, he just might turn into a flower child of the sixties, and start preaching for marijuana legalization, free healthcare, hippie beads, and inter-racial love.
But that’s, like, not happening, Man.
Sessions? Refinance CVS Caremark with reliable and clean whole-plant marijuana treatment.
And as for Trump?
https://www.electiondefense.org/voter-caging-purging/