Sunday, June 14, 2009

Marijuana: Just the Facts

Here are the facts about marijuana, its use, and its criminalization. Make the decision for yourself.

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General Information on Marijuana

The illegal drug marijuana (also known as grass, weed, dope, pot, Mary Jane, bud, indo, and hydro) is made of the Cannabis savita plant. The leaves and stems of the Cannabis plant are ingested by smoking them in a joint or a bong. The primary active ingredient in marijuana is THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol), which works by binding to protein receptors in the brain. This binding sets off a series of chemical reactions resulting in a high that consists of distorted perception, slowed reaction times, lack of critical thinking skills and coordination, and an overall relaxed state of being with some anxiety and paranoia. (1)

Health Effects of Marijuana Use

Despite these negative short-term effects, no serious negative long-term health effects have been found to be associated with marijuana use. (2) Kaiser Permanente, a large Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), studied 65,177 men and women between the ages of 15 and 49. Over the course of ten years, there was no difference between the mortality rates of those who smoked marijuana and those who did not smoke marijuana. Similarly, a second study researched 45,450 soldiers in the Swedish Army who were 18-20 years old when they were asked about their marijuana use. Fifteen years later, the mortality rates of marijuana smokers and non-marijuana smokers were the same.

Marijuana is also alleged to have health benefits. Kaiser Permanente found that there is "reasonable evidence for the efficacy of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and marijuana as anti-emetic (nausea) and anti-glaucoma (seeing disorder) agents and the suggested evidence for their efficacy in the treatment of other medical conditions, including AIDS." (3)

External Effects of Marijuana Use (Crime)

Six different studies (4), published in respectable government and scientific journals, have found no connection between marijuana use and crime.
  • Fagan, J., et al. "Delinquency and Substance Use Among Inner-City Students." Journal of Drug Issues 20 (1990): 351-402.
  • Johnson, L.D., et al. "Drugs and Delinquency: A Search for Casual Connections." Ed. D.B. Kandel. Longitudinal Research on Drug Use: Empirical Findings and Methodological Issues. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1978. 137-156.
  • Goode, E. "Marijuana and Crime." Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding: Appendix I. National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972. 447-453.
  • Abram, K.M. and L.A. Teplin. “Drug Disorder, Mental Illness, and Violence.” Drugs and Violence: Causes, Correlates, and Consequences. Rockville: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1990. 222-238.
  • Cherek, D.R., et al. “Acute Effects of Marijuana Smoking on Aggressive, Escape and Point-Maintained Responding of Male Drug Users.” Psychopharmacology 111 (1993): 163-168.
  • Tinklenberg, J.R., et al. “Drugs and criminal assaults by adolescents: A Replication Study.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 13 (1981): 277-287.
Effects of Marijuana Criminalization

The criminalization of marijuana and the associated War on Drugs costs taxpayers. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) uses $2.2 billion annually in taxpayer money, while the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) uses $532 million annually in taxpayer money (5), adding up to $2.732 billion used to fight the use and distribution of marijuana and other illegal drugs.

The criminalization of marijuana has also resulted in an increase in crime nationwide. The FBI Uniform Crime Reports (6) show dramatic increases in the murder rate across the U.S. (shown as homicides per 100,000 people) since the start of the drug war. There were approximately 7.5 homicides per 100,000 people in 1969 when the war on drugs was started. This rate rose dramatically, peaking at approximately 10 homicides per 100,000 people around 1980. Similarly, there were approximately 7 homicides per 100,000 people in 1919, when the Prohibition started. As the Prohibition continued, the homicide rate increased until peaking in 1930 at approximately 10 homicides per 100,000 people. This rate dropped dramatically after the repeal of the Prohibition later in 1933.

The criminalization of marijuana has crowded prisons. The federal government now incarcerates 1.7 million people, only 3 percent of which are violent criminals. 60 percent of these inmates are drug offenders. The FBI Uniform Crime Reports show that there were 704, 812 arrests for marijuana in the year 1999, 88 percent of which were for possession and use rather than sale or distribution. (7)

The criminalization of marijuana has increased violent paramilitary police tactics. The number of SWAT team deployments in 1981 was 3,000; this number increased to more than 40,000 per year in 2001. Due to this rate of increase, the number is probably even higher today. (8) These deployments raid homes and other alleged dealers' posts, often without knocking and without immediately identifying themselves as members of law enforcement. (8) These paramilitary deployments are often the results of bad intelligence from ignorant informants and target the wrong person. (9) Marijuana busts have been attempted at sites where the alleged marijuana was actually hibiscus, ragweed, tomato, sunflower, or elderberry. (9) Researcher Radley Balko documented over 300 cases in the span of one year in which a no-knock paramilitary raid resulted in one or more of the following: a raid on an innocent suspect, a raid on a doctor or a sick person, the death of an innocent, the death of a nonviolent offender, the death or injury of a police officer, or some other example of excessive force by law enforcement. (10)

Friday, June 12, 2009

Banks' Fault or Government's Fault?

From the start of the recession the world currently faces, people have been clamoring for justice to come to the investment banks that supposedly started the downturn. The banks and their lobbyists supposedly have had Congress in their back pocket, pushing for things like deregulation and tax cuts. Now, with the bailouts now working in full force, even I'm beginning to believe this. But what is the most common solution to this problem? Give the government more power, so they can reign in those nasty bankers!

But wait a second--the power given to Congress even before the economic crisis was what the bankers used in the first place! Giving Congress more power to regulate, give tax cuts, and hand out subsidies will still end up with the wealthy and powerful in control. The problem isn't that the government had too little control over the investment and banking sector--it was that it had too much control, and that control was corrupted and abused. Only once Congress's power to dictate the path of the economy is gone will corruption cease. As some guy once said a while back, "government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem."