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InvisibleGreen_T
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Registered: 10/02/08
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an argument against the legalization bill
    #9136074 - 10/26/08 10:13 AM (15 years, 3 months ago)

....

_____________________

The Hill Blog

Congress Must Reject Marijuana Decriminalization Bill
August 11th, 2008

Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) recently introduced H.R. 5843, “The Act to Remove Most Federal Penalties for Possession of Marijuana For Personal Use” in Congress. Should this bill come to the floor for a vote, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) urges Congress to vote no. Legislation such as this is not the solution to reducing drug abuse or its concomitant crime and ignores the fact that responsible drug policy should be driven by research based prevention, treatment, and recovery. Not only would H.R. 5843 remove all criminal penalties for anyone, regardless of age, who possesses up to 100 grams of marijuana, but it also removes any criminal penalties associated with the “not-for-profit transfer” of up to one ounce of marijuana and only allows a civil penalty of no more than $100 to be imposed for the public use of marijuana. This legislation severely undermines the prevention efforts of the many community anti-drug coalitions throughout the country and their message that marijuana is not a benign drug.

Proponents of decriminalization and legalization purport that marijuana is a harmless, non-addictive drug. They also imply that marijuana use begins in adulthood rather than in adolescence. These arguments ignore the facts that marijuana has been classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as an addictive, Schedule I drug; is the most widely abused illicit drug in the nation among both youth and adults; and that treatment rates for marijuana addiction have skyrocketed in recent years. In fact, results from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) revealed that the mean age at first use for marijuana initiates is 17.4, and 63.3% of all marijuana initiates between 2002 and 2006 began prior to age 18. Also, according to the 2007 Monitoring the Future results, 41.8% of high school seniors have tried marijuana, with 18.8% of them reporting that they have used marijuana in the last 30 days. It is important to note that while these trends are disturbing, this national data set masks the fact that many communities throughout the country are seeing a much, much lower age of initiation for marijuana use – often times as young as 12 and 13. Further, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found that rates of clinical diagnoses of marijuana abuse and/or dependence for minors has increased by a staggering 492.1 percent between 1992 (when marijuana use was at its lowest point) and 2006. Concurrently, there was a 53.7 percent decrease in rates of clinical diagnoses for all other substances combined, including alcohol, illicit, controlled prescription and over-the-counter drugs and inhalants.

Using marijuana at a young age can have deleterious effects on youth. In fact, according to Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), drug addiction is a pediatric/adolescent onset disease and prevention of first use is critical. In other words, the younger the age a person first uses drugs, the higher their chance of adult drug dependency and addiction. The 2002 NSDUH substantiated this fact as it reported that youth who first smoke marijuana under the age of 14 are more than five times as likely to abuse drugs as adults.

Marijuana use among youth also contributes to poor performance in school as indicated by the 2002 NSDUH which reported youth with an average grade of D or below were more than four times as likely to have used marijuana in the past year than youth with an average grade of A. Additionally, according to the NIDA study entitled “Marijuana Abuse: Age of Initiation, Pleasure of Response Foreshadow Young Adult Outcomes,” youth who initiate marijuana use by age 13 usually do not go to college, while those who have abstained from marijuana use, on average, complete almost three years of college. Even if they decrease their usage later in life, those who begin using marijuana by age 13 are more likely to report lower income and lower level of schooling by age 29.

A clear link between violence and marijuana use among adolescents also has been established, and exists not only for the perpetrators of violence, but also for those who are victims of violence. For example, in its 2006 National Summary of its Questionnaire Report for Grades 6-12, Pride Surveys reported that of those students who reported carrying a gun to school, 63.9% reported also using marijuana; of those students who reported hurting others with a weapon at school, 68.4% had used marijuana; and of those students who reported being hurt by a weapon at school, 60.3% reported using marijuana.

Research also illustrates that the decline in the use of any illegal drug is directly related to its perception of harm or risk by the user. Decriminalizing marijuana sends the wrong message to America’s youth, and will de-stigmatize a drug that clearly has the potential to be both dangerous and addictive. While it is true that alcohol and tobacco addiction rates are higher than that of marijuana, this is the case in large part because they are legal substances and the stigma associated with them has been removed. Doing the same for marijuana will only ensure that addiction rates continue to rise.

This is evidenced by the fact that those states which have implemented “medical” marijuana ballot initiatives have some of the highest addiction rates in the country. In those states where marijuana has been equated with medicine, the perception of harm relating to that drug has been drastically reduced and social norms to reinforce “no use” messages, have been undermined. In fact, according to the State Estimates of Substance Use from the 2004–2005 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in February of 2005, most of the states in which marijuana ballot initiatives have been passed were clustered at, or near the bottom of the list, in terms of the perception of great risk associated with smoking marijuana once a month.

Responsible drug policy must focus on effective research based efforts to both prevent and treat drug use. If passed, H.R. 5843 would normalize the use of a Schedule I addictive drug by removing all criminal penalties associated with possession of up to 100 grams and would reduce the perception of harm associated with marijuana use thereby increasing the number of new initiates and enabling existing addictive behaviors to continue. This is not the message we should send to America’s youth. Congress should vote no on “The Act to Remove Most Federal Penalties for Possession of Marijuana For Personal Use.”

Editor’s Note: CADCA was invited to post on the Congress Blog in response to this post from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) in support of Rep. Frank’s bill.


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"I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man" - Thomas Jefferson

Legalize Meth | Drug War Victims


Edited by Green_T (08/02/11 04:08 PM)


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OfflineApJunkie
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Re: an argument against the legalization bill [Re: Green_T]
    #9136084 - 10/26/08 10:16 AM (15 years, 3 months ago)

I got as far as the part where they start quoting slanted private interest scientific "Studies" about addiction etc before I realized the whole thing was probably going to be bullshit


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Invisibledaytripper23
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Registered: 06/22/05
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Re: an argument against the legalization bill [Re: ApJunkie]
    #9197494 - 11/06/08 06:59 PM (15 years, 2 months ago)

These arguments ignore the facts that marijuana has been classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as an addictive, Schedule I drug; is the most widely abused illicit drug in the nation among both youth and adults; and that treatment rates for marijuana addiction have skyrocketed in recent years.

In trying to understand this text, I am wondering how much of the text's facticity is derived from the fact that drug enforcement agency stated this or that... I mean, how far does this fact extend into the text? It seems that if this is not the entire premise, it is at least the basis from which all the statistics are rooted.

This seems like a general pattern that could be found in any anti-legalization document.


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OfflinePiRepeating
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Re: an argument against the legalization bill [Re: Green_T]
    #15054943 - 09/09/11 07:03 PM (12 years, 4 months ago)

Ridiculous.

lol.. the "great" risk associated with smoking once a month. Exactly what is that great risk?
I'm ignorant to such facts I guess.


--------------------
“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.” - Robert McCloskey


“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” -Robert McCloskey

I am not trustworthy, anything I say here can not and should not be taken as factual evidence; instead it should be regarded as mere garbage spewing from the mouth of a pathological liar.


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Invisibletrscstghst
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Re: an argument against the legalization bill [Re: PiRepeating]
    #15061282 - 09/11/11 05:10 AM (12 years, 4 months ago)

age at first use for marijuana initiates is 17.4, and 63.3% of all marijuana initiates between 2002 and 2006 began prior to age 18. Also, according to the 2007 Monitoring the Future results, 41.8% of high school seniors have tried marijuana, with 18.8% of them reporting that they have used marijuana in the last 30 days


i bet this is close to the stats on sex and alcohol as well.  neither are considered good for kids to be partaking in but, we dont make them illegal and when a society does it fails. so why cant we recognize that marijuana and other drugs as well fall into the same category?





students who reported carrying a gun to school, 63.9% reported also using marijuana; of those students who reported hurting others with a weapon at school, 68.4% had used marijuana; and of those students who reported being hurt by a weapon at school, 60.3% reported using marijuana.

i bet 100% of these kids have watched tv. mabe tv causes violence.  or even video games.  i dont really think that. just pointing out that marijuana is not the cause of their violent behavior


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Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?
o Henry Ford


Edited by trscstghst (09/11/11 05:16 AM)


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