The war on drugs has had a devastating impact in the U.S. Yet, as Republicans and Democrats gather at their national conventions, neither party has taken a strong stand on the critical need to support drug policy reform.
And that's surprising. Drug reform is not a partisan issue. For Republicans, reform efforts both ensure and secure states' rights and at the same time minimize waste of limited federal dollars. For Democrats, minorities who make up a large portion of their constituency disproportionately bear the greatest burden of current drug policies.
In fact, we have reached a watershed moment for drug reform in the U.S. as attitudes and opinions across the country have dramatically shifted. A Gallup Poll this past year found that fully 50 percent of Americans now support legalizing marijuana.
As a business leader, I have learned the importance of delegating responsibilities and letting entrepreneurs get on with it. In U.S. drug reform, those entrepreneurs are the states. Buoyed by polls like the one I mentioned, states like Colorado, Oregon and Washington have been driving legalization initiatives to regulate marijuana similar to alcohol. They have received majority support and slight opposition (about 38 percent). At least seventeen states as well as the District of Columbia already allow provisions for medical marijuana. California, of course, has continued to embark on new frontiers, and politicians would be wise to ensure that legitimate medical marijuana dispensaries are not undermined by federal statutes.
With states as our innovators we know what we need to do on drug reform. Which is good, because the cost of the alternatives has gotten completely out of hand. The U.S. currently spends no less than $51 billion -- per year -- on the war on drugs. That's double what Apple profited last year. It's a horribly depressing number when you think how far even a fraction of that money would have gone if invested in prevention and rehabilitation efforts. With so much rhetoric on the economy in this election year, it is startling that no one has looked to drug reform to unlock resources.
A large portion of the money spent on the war on drugs goes toward criminalization. I recently had the privilege of spending time with Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative. I was shocked when he pointed out that back in the 1970s there were only 300,000 people in prison in the U.S.! Forty years later, the number of people incarcerated -- 2.3 million -- is greater than the population of Houston, Texas. He attributes much of the increase to American drug policy, with minorities taking the hardest hit. Stevenson shared that 1 in 3 black men in the U.S. will be incarcerated between the ages of 18 and 30. (Michelle Alexander has written a book, The New Jim Crow, which illustrates how the war on drugs has in fact created this system of mass incarceration.)
A focus on criminalization also undercuts future economic development. A recent Pew study revealed that incarceration reduces former inmates' earnings by 40 percent -- further devastating their families and their communities.
This type of blanket incarceration dismisses root causes, disenfranchises millions and most likely results in repeat offenses rather than cleaning up the problem. We need new approaches that treat drug use as a health issue and not a criminal one.
In fact, several countries have already led the way. Portugal, Switzerland and Germany, for example, have been taking a public health approach to their drug response. I became a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy to help unlock barriers to drug reform and create access to fact-based research so we can all learn from these innovative models. But that's not enough. Especially in an election year, we must encourage political leaders to learn about these new approaches -- ones that will decrease the emotional, legal and financial burdens created by outdated policies.
With a clear majority behind legalization, it is mind-boggling to think that Americans will continue to support the current approach. And this change will be welcome across the continent. Just next door in Mexico, we are witnessing a devastating human rights catastrophe. According to Isaac Campos, the author of Home Grown: Marijuana and the Origins of Mexico's War on Drugs, in the past 5 years alone, due to cartel-related violence, about 55,000 lives have been lost. At least 5,000 and perhaps twice that many have simply disappeared and a staggering 1.6 million have been displaced.
Marijuana is the lynchpin drug. Half of all U.S. drug arrests are for marijuana. More than 850,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana in 2010 -- 88 percent of these for possession alone. In Mexico, marijuana distribution drives a significant portion of drug trafficking income. Legalization of marijuana -- the most politically feasible way of rolling back current drug policies -- is not a silver bullet that will remove cartels from power. However, if we can get U.S. political leaders to understand the opportunity and take action, we have a very real chance to turn the tide on the war on drugs and end needless suffering.
In the run up to the election, we need to encourage both parties to take a stand in favor of reform. As my friends at the Drug Policy Alliance tell me, strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans already believe that the federal government should not interfere with state medical marijuana laws. 74 percent of Americans also support alternatives to incarceration for marijuana possession.
Legalization is a win-win for both parties. The door is open. If we do not come together to support reform efforts in the U.S. now, we risk backtracking and missing the opportunity.
This post is part of the HuffPost Shadow Conventions 2012, a series spotlighting three issues that are not being discussed at the national GOP and Democratic conventions: The Drug War, Poverty in America, and Money in Politics.
HuffPost Live will be taking a comprehensive look at America's failed war on drugs August 28th and September 4th from 12-4 pm ET and 6-10 pm ET. Click here to check it out -- and join the conversation.
Russ Belville: Seattle Smokes-in Marijuana Legalization at the Space Needle
FBI statistics show 80 percent of all illegal drug sales is of marijuana. Clearly, the "war on drugs" is primarily the war on marijuana consumers. Marijuana is NOT addictive, and is so near harmless, trying to describe "marijuana abuse" becomes an impossible task.
The increasing danger in our society is caused by the fraudulent marijuana PROHIBITION. Just as we saw with the miserable failure of alcohol prohibition.
For a good view underneath the iceburg, see Catherine Austin Fitts' excellent article: "Narco Dollars For Beginners." - keeping in mind that while Fitts employs cocaine because it best suits her metaphor, marijuana sales comprise 80 percent of all "illegal" drug transactions.
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/narcoDollars.html
It's time to dismantle the marijuana-prohibition-industrial-complex!
“THE CHILDREN”
If they really cared for the children they’d legalize and regulate marijuana. If they really wanted to keep any substance out of the hands of “The Children” they first must take control of distribution away from black market dealers. They haven’t accomplished that in 40+ years at a taxpayers cost in the hundreds of billions. It’s time to treat marijuana as we do alcohol. My 27 year old daughter still gets carded when she buys alcohol, yet your 13 year old can buy anything the black market dealer has for a price whether it be money or “something else”.
FACT: Your kids have a better chance dying at the hands of someone enforcing marijuana laws than they do from ingesting it.(ZERO %).
LEAP member, NYPD, ret.
http://www.pitt.edu/~ugr/Hrych2.pdf Scientific Proof Marijauna is not a Gateway drug!
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57456999-10391704/medical-marijua...
wont-boost-teen-pot-use-study-finds/
sleep at night and, while it obviously seems to affect some people differently from others, arresting people for possession of marijuana serves no purpose. Another reason I would legalise it is because hemp plants are good for the environment and may help save the planet. I would say that that reason alone is a good enough reason to legalise it. With global warming, it may also become too hot to drink alcohol safely. The profits made from the revenue could also be used to help people overcome drug problems - or to build solar panels so as to save the planet - and the prisons could be freed up to give paedophiles longer sentences. There should be a war on paedophilia, not on drugs and the time and money wasted on the "war on drugs" could be used to investigate child pornography and hopefully close down as many of these websites as possible.
Big Pharma knows weed will replace all their
dangerous and worthless drugs.
The beer industry has stated it's disappoval.
Private prisions are making a ton of money
off people who had a few joints in their pocket.
FACT : Alcohol is a billion times more harmful than weed.
the marktet for over 12 years and costs approx $20 per pill(generic) and is sold 60 pills per Rx..(or $1,200 a month) It origianally cost $7 per pill when it first came out ..
Ive had 3 Gastro Drs, tell me that smoking pot works better thanthe pill and they would gladly write me a script if it wa legal in my home state.. and everything else you said is very true as well...F&F&F&F :-)_
We simply must end the monstrously destructive, counter-productive, freedom-strangling fraud of marijuana prohibition. Once we do, Americans will lose their propaganda-induced hysteria and be able to deal with the thornier problems of the hard drugs in a rational way.
As a self-described business leader, you should be very well aware that the WOD has been an epic boon for American banks and the for-profit-prison industry.
With all due respect Mr. Branson, don't hold yourself to be an "business leader" if you wish to influence Public policy.
Advancement of the Public good has never been withing the realm of "business"
(Do you know how much more effective it is to oppose prohibition when you can call up state legislators and say "Endorse our effort publicly or be cast out of office in the next election. You won your election by 10,000 votes. We have 15,000 people in your state legislative district who have said they would vote against any politician who opposes marijuana legalization.")
Well, Democrats like to make sure that minorities are kept down so they can say, "See, they don't care about you an we do", and yet the policies continue. In fact, I was once at a speech that Obama gave, and someone asked him about the drug war and marijuana, and he absolutely rejected changing anything. It's also a great way to keep people from voting by making it illegal for a convicted felon to vote.
"As a business leader..."
You didn't build that, the government did.
"A focus on criminalization also undercuts future economic development. A recent Pew study revealed that incarceration reduces former inmates' earnings by 40 percent -- further devastating their families and their communities."
You are not an American, but let let you in on a secret that not even many Americans know, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." IOW, slavery and involuntary servitude are allowed for in the US, which is the US prison system. You are a slave, or at least in involuntary servitude. Government makes a lot of money off of you being a slave or in involuntary servitude when you break the law.
Where this 'war on drugs' needs to take a hard look, is the cocaine use, the methamphetamine use, coupled with achohol abuse, and how it has destroyed people, homes, families, estates and mostly, health, world wide.It has escalated to the point of much expendable income is drained into not only the use, but the treatment for those seeking help.
But they won't. They are afraid, it's too devastating. There's too much violence and abuse in that industry.They'd rather an alternative reality. In my opinion
"Why is Marijuana cultivation, sale, and use prohibited by ANY level of Government in the USA?"
To my knowledge (which I admit is not very 'deep' on this subject), here are a few of the current 'myths'.
Marijuana cultivation, sale, and use are Prohibited in the USA because:
1) Black and Hispanic men used and sold Marijuana and by so doing became sexual predators focused on raping white women.
2) Hemp, due to its ease of cultivation and resiliency threatened the profits of various entrenched industries, the biggest of which were (are) the paper pulp manufacturers.
3) And The Biggest Whopper: Marijuana is bad for your health.
Unless we as a Nation (or a State) know the SPECIFIC reason(s) why Marijuana Prohibition exists in the first place (not some vague notion like 'well way back in the '30s' it was differn't so...that's why!) - we cannot address REMOVING Prohibition.
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm
The public is waking up to this truth. A growing majority of Americans now want to end the war on marijuana consumers. So why do we still have this barbaric persecution?
Because police, prosecutors and politicians build their careers and empires on it. Because industries like alcohol and pharmaceuticals don't want the competition. Because other interests like the drug treatment/testing industry and the prison industries depend on it for their life's blood. Because many shaky corporations couldn't exist without the laundered money. And because government uses marijuana prohibition as a means of controlling minorities and the poor, and as a pretext for meddling in other countries' affairs.
The trillions of dollars made by the drug gangs have not been buried in the ground. They have been invested in legitimate business, causing another huge support of this persecution of millions of innocent people.
For a good view underneath the iceburg, see Catherine Austin Fitts' excellent article: "Narco Dollars For Beginners." - keeping in mind that while Fitts employs cocaine because it best suits her metaphor, FBI statistics show marijuana sales comprise 80 percent of all "illegal" drug transactions.
http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/narcoDollars.html
I wish politicians would listen to you but sadly unless you throw millions or billions of dollars towards their elections they won't. But please keep making you case for the public to hear.
Thank you
http://wordsofwhizdumb.com/2012/09/just-say-know.html
We could do it and they know it. That's why the titillating drug war stays at the top of the discussion. If they talked about the prohibition of hemp, it would knock the legs right out from under them. So, instead they spin divisional madness, as though that's the way forward.
I say, no to war and move along to victory with industrial hemp. "Hemp for Industry" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kybQTtnJjQA I couldn't have said it better. So, I'm content just sharing it. Enjoy!
"there's not a rich man there, who couldn't pay his way and buy the freedom that's a high price for the poor"
These miscreants are far from stupid, there is method in their seeming madness.
War is incredibly profitable for the 1%, and is paid for in blood, tears, sweat, and treasure by the 99%.
The War on Drugs, the War on Terror, are wars on the people.
Obama has stepped up with expansion of the efforts by Bush, attacking the people in states where preliminary elements of reason, medical marijuana, and a degree of decriminalization, have been introduced. It is more than obvious that Romney will bring religious zeal to the table in an even more aggressive stance.
Drugs are a public health issue, amenable to education, prevention, public health measures, and evidence based treatment programs.
Criminalization is counterproductive, unless you run for profit prisons. Prohibition leads only to forbidden fruit. Militarization is even worse, unless you make and sell weapons. Either approach disproportionately strikes at the already disenfranchised.
Though we are not responsible for Mexico and the Mexicans, we are destroying their security and driving illegal immigration toward their North.
Vote for either of the two sides of the same coin and get only more of the same.
It is time for a third party with real solutions.
http://www.voterocky.org/the_war_on_drugs
http://www.voterocky.org/solutions
http://www.voterocky.org/dylan_ratigan_show
Unfortunately it is way too late for 2012, some third party strength needs to be made real going toward 2016. If the process is started now, we might still have a chance for 2016. If we don't, I don't know if we will ever have another chance given the power of the Wars on Ourselves to oppress.
Mounting evidence shows ‘cannabinoids’ in marijuana slow cancer growth, inhibit formation of new blood cells that feed a tumor, and help manage pain, fatigue, nausea, and other side effects.
Cristina Sanchez, a young biologist at Complutense University in Madrid, was studying cell metabolism when she noticed something peculiar. She had been screening brain cancer cells because they grow faster than normal cell lines and thus are useful for research purposes. But the cancer cells died each time they were exposed to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive ingredient of marijuana.
Instead of gaining insight into how cells function, Sanchez had stumbled upon the anti-cancer properties of THC. In 1998, she reported in a European biochemistry journal that THC “induces apoptosis [cell death] in C6 glioma cells,” an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Subsequent peer-reviewed studies in several countries would show that THC and other marijuana-derived compounds, known as “cannabinoids,” are effective not only for cancer-symptom management (nausea, pain, loss of appetite, fatigue), they also confer a direct antitumoral effect.