Markass
12-15-2007, 06:00 PM
In your face John Walters...now we wait to see what they're going to say now..
Passage Of Medical Marijuana Laws, ??Deprioritization?? Measures, Coincides With ??Significant, Long-Term Reductions? In Teen Pot Use
December 13, 2007 - Washington, DC, USA
Washington, DC: Self-reported rates of adolescent marijuana use are declining at the same time that numerous states and municipalities are removing criminal penalties on the use of pot by patients and minor offenders, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said today in response to a White House report touting a 25 percent reduction in teen cannabis use from 2001 to 2007.
"The sharp decline in adolescent marijuana use cited by the White House actually began in 1997 ?? one year after voters in California enacted legislation approving the legal use of cannabis by authorized patients ?? and this downward trend has continued since that time," St. Pierre said. "During this same period, twelve states ?? that??s more than one-fifth of the US population ?? have enacted laws allowing for the authorized possession and cultivation of medical marijuana. In addition, numerous large municipalities ?? such as Denver, Colorado and Seattle, Washington ?? have enacted laws making the investigation and prosecution of minor marijuana offenders the cities?? ??lowest law enforcement priority.??
"In every case, these measures were opposed by law enforcement and the Drug Czar??s office on the premise that they would greatly increase teen marijuana use. However, as this week??s White House briefing shows, these legal changes have coincided with a ??significant, long-term reduction?? in adolescent pot use."
St. Pierre concluded: "It is evident that the Drug Czar??s fears were unfounded then and they are unfounded now. The continued opposition by the White House and law enforcement personnel to the enactment of these compassionate and common sense legal reforms has nothing to do with protecting public safety or addressing teen drug use. These groups?? zealous opposition to marijuana law reform is more closely tied to their addiction to bloated budgets and maintaining control over the general public through the coercive tactics associated with criminal prohibition."
Passage Of Medical Marijuana Laws, ??Deprioritization?? Measures, Coincides With ??Significant, Long-Term Reductions? In Teen Pot Use
December 13, 2007 - Washington, DC, USA
Washington, DC: Self-reported rates of adolescent marijuana use are declining at the same time that numerous states and municipalities are removing criminal penalties on the use of pot by patients and minor offenders, NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said today in response to a White House report touting a 25 percent reduction in teen cannabis use from 2001 to 2007.
"The sharp decline in adolescent marijuana use cited by the White House actually began in 1997 ?? one year after voters in California enacted legislation approving the legal use of cannabis by authorized patients ?? and this downward trend has continued since that time," St. Pierre said. "During this same period, twelve states ?? that??s more than one-fifth of the US population ?? have enacted laws allowing for the authorized possession and cultivation of medical marijuana. In addition, numerous large municipalities ?? such as Denver, Colorado and Seattle, Washington ?? have enacted laws making the investigation and prosecution of minor marijuana offenders the cities?? ??lowest law enforcement priority.??
"In every case, these measures were opposed by law enforcement and the Drug Czar??s office on the premise that they would greatly increase teen marijuana use. However, as this week??s White House briefing shows, these legal changes have coincided with a ??significant, long-term reduction?? in adolescent pot use."
St. Pierre concluded: "It is evident that the Drug Czar??s fears were unfounded then and they are unfounded now. The continued opposition by the White House and law enforcement personnel to the enactment of these compassionate and common sense legal reforms has nothing to do with protecting public safety or addressing teen drug use. These groups?? zealous opposition to marijuana law reform is more closely tied to their addiction to bloated budgets and maintaining control over the general public through the coercive tactics associated with criminal prohibition."