September 10, 2009 – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has once again released their annual survey on “drug use and health” — you know, the one where representatives of the federal government go door-to-door and ask Americans if they are presently breaking state and federal law by using illicit drugs. The same survey where respondents have historically under reported their usage of alcohol and tobacco — these two legal substances — by as much as 30 to 50 percent, and arguably under report their use of illicit substances by an even greater margin. The same survey that — despite these inherent limitations — “is the primary source of statistical information on the use of illegal drugs by the U.S. population.” Yeah, that one.

So what does the government’s latest round of ‘statistical (though highly questionable) information’ tell us? Nothing we didn’t already know.

Despite 70+ years of criminal prohibition, marijuana still remains widely popular among Americans, with over 102 million Americans (41 percent of the U.S. population) having used it during their lifetimes, 26 million (10 percent) having used it in the past year, and over 15 million (6 percent) admitting that they use it regularly. (By contrast, fewer than 15 percent of adults have ever tried cocaine, the second most ‘popular’ illicit drug, and fewer than 2 percent have ever tried heroin — so much for that supposed ‘gateway effect.’) Predictably, all of the 2008 marijuana use figures are higher than those that were reported for the previous year — great work John Walters!

Equally predictably, the government’s long-standing prohibition and anti-pot ‘scare’ campaigns have done little, if anything, to dissuade young people from trying it. According to the survey, 15 percent of those age 14 to 15 have tried pot (including 12 percent in the past year), as have 31 percent of those age 16 to 17 (a quarter of which have done so in the past year) — percentages that make marijuana virtually as popular as alcohol among these age groups. By age 20, 45 percent of adolescents have tried pot, and nearly a third of those age 18 to 20 have done so in the past year. And by age 25, 54 percent of the population has admittedly used marijuana.

Question: Does anyone still believe that marijuana prohibition is working — or that all of these people deserve to be behind bars?

For too long, advocates of prohibition have framed their arguments on the false assumption that the continued enforcement of said laws “protects our children.” As the numbers above illustrate, this premise is nonsense. In fact, just the opposite is true.

The government’s war on cannabis and cannabis consumers endangers the health and safety of our children. It enables young people to have unregulated access to marijuana — easier access than they presently have to alcohol. It enables young people to interact and befriend pushers of other illegal, more dangerous drugs. It compels young people to dismiss the educational messages they receive pertaining to the potential health risks posed by the use of “hard drugs” and prescription pharmaceuticals, because kids say, “If they lied to me about pot, why wouldn’t they be lying to me about everything else, too?”

Most importantly, the criminal laws are far more likely to result in having our children arrested, placed behind bars, and stigmatized with a lifelong criminal record than they are likely to in any way discourage them to try pot.

In short, what the results from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health is simple and consistent; in fact, we say it all the time: “Remember prohibition? It still doesn’t work!”
By Paul Armentano Source.

By continuing to treat the harmless plant as a drug, the United States has handed over the profitable market to other nations.

August 9, 2009 – For reasons I don’t fully understand, Americans seem to have lost the common sense that has always been a hallmark of our culture. Once again, we seem to be routinely shooting ourselves in the foot by adopting public policies that run counter to our own best interests. A good example is outlawing the use of hemp, one of the most beneficial crops in the history of the world, by burdening it with unnecessary and restrictive regulation in the name of fighting the so-called war on drugs.

Hemp is a harmless plant that is the source of an almost endless list of benefits. Wikipedia notes that it can be used in everything from food products to clothes as well as having multiple industrial or commercial uses, such as “paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel.”

China, France and Canada are all major producers of hemp and, although more hemp is exported to the United States than to any other country, our government generally does not distinguish between marijuana and a type of hemp that is used only for industrial and commercial purposes.

The North American Industrial Hemp Council says, “The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency classifies all C. sativa varieties (of hemp) as ‘marijuana.’ While it is theoretically possible to get permission from the government to grow hemp, DEA would require that the field be secured by a fence, razor wire, dogs, guards and lights, making it cost-prohibitive.”

The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 “placed an extremely high tax on marijuana and made it effectively impossible to grow industrial hemp … (and) the Federal Bureau of Narcotics lumped industrial hemp with marijuana, as its successor, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, does to this day.” As Groucho Marx famously quipped, “Those are my principles. If you don’t like them I have others.”

Other facts about hemp offered by NAIHC include:

» “Hemp has been grown for at least the last 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and food.”

» “Much of the bird seed sold in the United States has hemp seed (it’s sterilized before importation), the hulls of which contain about 25 percent protein.”

» “Rudolf Diesel designed his engine to run on hemp oil.”

» “Construction products such as medium-density fiber board, oriented strand board and even beams, studs and posts could be made out of hemp. Because of hemp’s long fibers, the products will be stronger and/or lighter than those made from wood.”

» “More than 25,000 products can be made from hemp.”

» “To receive a standard psychoactive dose (of hemp) would require a person to power-smoke 10 to 12 hemp cigarettes over an extremely short period of time. The large volume and high temperature of vapor, gas and smoke would be almost impossible for a person to withstand.”

» “Hemp fibers are longer, stronger, more absorbent and more mildew-resistant than cotton.”

» “Fabrics made of at least one-half hemp block the sun’s UV rays more effectively than other fabrics.”

» “Hemp can be made into a variety of fabrics, including linen quality.”

» “Hemp grows well in a variety of climates and soil types. It is naturally resistant to most pests, precluding the need for pesticides. It grows tightly spaced, out-competing any weeds, so herbicides are not necessary. It also leaves a weed-free field for a following crop.”

» “Hemp can yield 3 to 8 tons of fiber per acre. This is four times what an average forest can yield.”

The bottom line is that by treating hemp as a drug, the United States has effectively shut down one of the most profitable and useful crops in history and has once again essentially abandoned the market to other nations that have a more realistic attitude.

We are preventing our farmers from growing a crop that has almost unlimited uses. It’s cheap and easy to plant and cultivate, and could potentially rejuvenate the small farming industry in the United States. While spending billions of dollars in what has been an almost fruitless effort to keep small farmers on the farm, we also have been unwilling to simply let them do it for themselves by allowing them to cultivate perhaps the best cash crop they could grow.

By stubbornly refusing to change or adapt our thinking, we are once again preventing one of our own industries from producing an important product and leaving a major market to our competition. By Harris R. Sherline. Source.