Re: Drug Laws Kill - Proof

April 27, 2001

> >

H. said,

> > >In my mind marijuana certainly should be legal. It is much less

> > >harmful any way you look at it than alcohol.

> >

Anne said,

> > And the evidence for this?

The following evidence is not in the form of a study, but the

conclusions reached in my Sociology text, " Deviant Behavior: Crime,

Conflict and Interest Groups, " by H. McCaghy, A.

Capron and J.D. son. This is a source I trust and if anyone is

interested in the footnoted information I will provide it.

p. 317.

" The long-term impact of marijuana use on the human system is yet

unknown. The Institute of Medicine assembled a committee to analyze

the existing evidence about its health hazards. Although committee

members concluded that the drug's use " justifies serious national

concern, " they also pointed out great areas of ignorance about its

effects. In any case, most negative effects were linked to long-term,

heavy use. Among the committee's findings were the following:

1. There is no conclusive evidence that prolonged marijuana use

causes permanent changes in the nervous system or in brain functions.

2. While there is evidence that heavy usage is linked with mental

disorders, it is unknown whether the usage is a cause or a result of

the disorders.

3. While there is evidence that smoking marijuana causes acute

changes in the heart and in circulation, there is no evidence of

long-term effects on the system.

4. There is evidence that heavy smoking of marijuana, like heavy

tobacco smoking, may be linked with cancer of the lungs and

respiratory tract.

5. There is no conclusive evidence that a mother's use of marijuana

can harm the human fetus.

6. There is no conclusive evidence that using the drug impairs the

body's immunity system.

7. The body does build tolerance for marijuana and mild withdrawal

symptoms do occur: restlessness, irritability, mild agitation, and

insomnia. But there is no evidence of " compulsive behavior to acquire

the drug " or of other indicators of " addictions. "

Thus, despite the committee's concern, one must conclude from its

report that marijuana is less dangerous to the user than are the legal

drugs of alcohol and tobacco.

Marijuana Use and Deviance

From what we have said about marijuana, it appears that, at worst, its

known physiological hazards rank lower than do those of alcohol and

tobacco. Of course, there are hazards from the drug: driving an

automobile under its influence is dangerous because it impairs

coordination and reaction time. We also know that regular users--20

or more times in 30 days--tend to do poorly in school because they are

absent more frequently than are irregular users or nonusers.120 The

cause-effect relationship is not clear, however. Perhaps those who

skip class are more likely to be frequent users rather than vice

versa. Do these kinds of problems warrant making the drug illegal?

Or are we missing something? For example, is marijuana linked to

other crimes: homicide, rape, and so on? According to the National

Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, * " The only crimes which can be

directly attributed to marihuana-using behavior are those resulting

from the use, possession or transfer of an illegal substance " *

[emphasis in the text]121 In short, the crimes stemming from

marijuana are the same crimes that would stem from butter it if were

made illegal.

But marijuana leads to the use of heroin and other dangerous

drugs, doesn't it? The Bureau of Narcotics certainly thought so. In

its 1965 publication, subtly entitled 'Living Death: The Truth About

Drug Addiction,' it claimed that

'it cannot be too strongly emphasized that the smoking of the

marijuana cigarette is a dangerous first step on the road which

usually leads to enslavement by heroin...*Most* teenaged addicts

started smoking marijuana cigarettes. *Never let anyone persuade you

to smoke even one marijuana cigarette. It is pure poison.* " 122'

There is no question that studies comparing marijuana users with

nonusers find that users are more likely to use heroin. But it is one

thing to say that persons who use marijuana are more likely to try

heroin; it is quite another thing to say that marijuana use leads to

heroin use. It must be recognized that coffee drinkers, aspirin

takers, tobacco smokers, and alcohol drinkers are all more likely to

use illegal drugs than are noncoffee drinkers, nonaspirin takers, and

so on. In fact, any user of any drug, legal or illegal, is more

likely than a nonuser to use any other drug.123 As h Goode puts

it,

'individuals who use drugs tend to be selectively recruited from

segments of the population tha tare already oriented toward the use of

drugs. In this sense, there is a kind of drug-taking " disposition. "

Thus, even before we examine whether the effects of marijuana per se

have anything to do with " causing " the use of more dangerous drugs, it

is necessary to start with the question of whether the population

characteristics of those who use marijuana might be correlated with

those of individuals who use other drugs, to see whether dangerous

drug users might not be selectively recruited out of the larger

marijuana-using group.'124

Goode also points out that the criminal status of marijuana also

isolates users to some degree from conventional society and

incorporates them into a drug-taking subculture with its own

particular norms and verbalized motives supporting all kinds of

drug-taking. It is possible, he suggests, that removing the illegal

status of marijuana might decrease the number of persons turning to

heroin because it would neutralize the influence of the criminal

drug-taking subculture. "

==========

There is another section called " Marijuana and Conflict " but I will

summarize, rather than typing verbatim. Marijuana was not included in

the on Act of 1914 which put opiates and cocaine under strict

control. The pharmaceutical industry objected because it was used in

animal medicines and corn plasters. However, fears about it did

build, especially because of Mexican migrant laborers that were coming

to California. " The problem of marijuana and the problem of Mexican

immigration became one. "

[ok, typing verbatim again...this is really interesting!]

" Political pressure for the federal prohibition of marijuana grew as

its presumed link with race and crime was increasingly publicized.

The racial element is illustrated by this excerpt from a 1936 letter

from a Colorado newspaper editor to the Bureau of Narcotics:

'Is there any assistance your Bureau can give us in handling this

drug?...I wish I could show you what a small marijuana cigarette can

do to one of our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents. That's why

our problem is so great: The greatest percentage of our population is

composed of Spanish-speaking persons, most of whom are low mentally,

because of social and racial conditions.

While marijuana has figured in the greatest number of crimes in

the past few years, officials fear it, not for what it has done, but

for what it is capable of doing. They want to check it before an

outbreak occurs.'127

In addition to marijuana's association with a powerless minority

group, myths about the drug causing violent and perverted crimes were

considerably elaborated. By 1936, for example, 68 percent of all

crimes committed in New Orleans were attributed to marijuana users. A

propaganda campaign was launched with the support of the Bureau of

Narcotics to warn the public about the 'Marijuana Menace' and its role

as a 'Killer Drug.' An illustrated poster was prepared for trains,

buses, and streetcars:

'BEWARE! Young and old people in all walks of life! This marihuana

cigarette may be handed to YOU by the *friendly stranger.* It

contains the Killer Drug Marihuana in which lurks MURDER! INSANITY!

DEATH!--WARNING! Dope Peddlers are shrewd! They may put some of this

drug in the teapot or in the cocktail or in the tobacco cigarette.'

The stream of misinformation about the drug is exemplified by this

excerpt froma pamphlet issued by the International Narcotic Education

Association:

'Prolonged use of marihuana frequently develops a delirious rage which

sometimes leads to high crimes, such as assult and murder. Hence

marihuana has been called the 'killer drug.' The habitual use of this

narcotic poison always causes a very marked mental deterioration and

sometimes produces insanity...While the marihuana habit leads to

physical wreckage and mental decay, its effects upon character and

morality are even more devastation. The victim frequently undergoes

such degeneracy that he will lie and steal without scruple; he becomes

utterly untrustworthy...Marihuana sometimes gives man the lust to kill

unreasonably and without motive. Many cases of assualt, rape, robbey

and murder are traced to the use of marihuana.'128

The evil dimensions of this drug were becoming clear: once used only

by Mexicans, it was now spreading to black and lower-class whites and

turning them into drug-crazed criminals. In 1937 another revenue

bill, the Marihuana Tax Act, became law. This placed an extremely

high tax on the drug, and responsibility for the law's enforcement was

assigned to the Bureau of Narcotics. Another class of criminal was

created. "

============

Woah, I thought this was very interesting...the process by which

marijuana and those who use it became demonized and criminalized.

Note the racial overtones. This seems to be a theme with other drugs

as well, but that will have to be another post.

I feel that my original assertion, that marijuana should be legalized

and that it is less harmful than our legal drugs alcohol and tobacco,

is validated, on even more grounds than I originally claimed. Truly,

I do not have the time now, but the analysis of alcohol in this same

text shows that it has much more harmful effects and does have

correlations with voilent crimes such as murder and rape.

Later,

Hicks

April 27, 2001