dea speaks out against drug legalization

[juggalo420]

Summary of the Top Ten Facts on Legalization

Fact 1: We have made significant progress in fighting drug use and drug trafficking in America. Now is not the time to abandon our efforts.

The Legalization Lobby claims that the fight against drugs cannot be won. However, overall drug use is down by more than a third in the last twenty years, while cocaine use has dropped by an astounding 70 percent. Ninety-five percent of Americans do not use drugs. This is success by any standards.

Fact 2: A balanced approach of prevention, enforcement, and treatment is the key in the fight against drugs.

A successful drug policy must apply a balanced approach of prevention, enforcement and treatment. All three aspects are crucial. For those who end up hooked on drugs, there are innovative programs, like Drug Treatment Courts, that offer non-violent users the option of seeking treatment. Drug Treatment Courts provide court supervision, unlike voluntary treatment centers.

Fact 3: Illegal drugs are illegal because they are harmful.

There is a growing misconception that some illegal drugs can be taken safely. For example, savvy drug dealers have learned how to market drugs like Ecstasy to youth. Some in the Legalization Lobby even claim such drugs have medical value, despite the lack of conclusive scientific evidence.

Fact 4: Smoked marijuana is not scientifically approved medicine. Marinol, the legal version of medical marijuana, is approved by science.

According to the Institute of Medicine, there is no future in smoked marijuana as medicine. However, the prescription drug Marinolâ??a legal and safe version of medical marijuana which isolates the active ingredient of THCâ??has been studied and approved by the Food & Drug Administration as safe medicine. The difference is that you have to get a prescription for Marinol from a licensed physician. You canâ??t buy it on a street corner, and you donâ??t smoke it.

Fact 5: Drug control spending is a minor portion of the U.S. budget. Compared to the social costs of drug abuse and addiction, government spending on drug control is minimal.

The Legalization Lobby claims that the United States has wasted billions of dollars in its anti-drug efforts. But for those kids saved from drug addiction, this is hardly wasted dollars. Moreover, our fight against drug abuse and addiction is an ongoing struggle that should be treated like any other social problem. Would we give up on education or poverty simply because we havenâ??t eliminated all problems? Compared to the social costs of drug abuse and addictionâ??whether in taxpayer dollars or in pain and sufferingâ??government spending on drug control is minimal.

Fact 6: Legalization of drugs will lead to increased use and increased levels of addiction. Legalization has been tried before, and failed miserably.

Legalization has been tried beforeâ??and failed miserably. Alaskaâ??s experiment with Legalization in the 1970s led to the stateâ??s teens using marijuana at more than twice the rate of other youths nationally. This led Alaskaâ??s residents to vote to re-criminalize marijuana in 1990.

Fact 7: Crime, violence, and drug use go hand-in-hand.

Crime, violence and drug use go hand in hand. Six times as many homicides are committed by people under the influence of drugs, as by those who are looking for money to buy drugs. Most drug crimes arenâ??t committed by people trying to pay for drugs; theyâ??re committed by people on drugs.

Fact 8: Alcohol has caused significant health, social, and crime problems in this country, and legalized drugs would only make the situation worse.

The Legalization Lobby claims drugs are no more dangerous than alcohol. But drunk driving is one of the primary killers of Americans. Do we want our bus drivers, nurses, and airline pilots to be able to take drugs one evening, and operate freely at work the next day? Do we want to add to the destruction by making drugged driving another primary killer?

Fact 9: Europeâ??s more liberal drug policies are not the right model for America.

The Legalization Lobby claims that the â??European Modelâ?� of the drug problem is successful. However, since legalization of marijuana in Holland, heroin addiction levels have tripled. And Needle Park seems like a poor model for America.

Fact 10: Most non-violent drug users get treatment, not jail time.

The Legalization Lobby claims that Americaâ??s prisons are filling up with users. Truth is, only about 5 percent of inmates in federal prison are there because of simple possession. Most drug criminals are in jailâ??even on possession chargesâ??because they have plea-bargained down from major trafficking offences or more violent drug crimes.
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/demand/speakout/index.html

[juggalo420]

^they forgot its my right to do what i want to my mind and my body, fucking cock sucking bitches.

[ermitonto]

Really. If the DEA really wanted to make "harmful" things illegal, they'd make a law against snorting Drano. So why is everybody free to snort Drano? That's gotta be way more harmful than weed.

[Nullific]

Im working to denounce everyone of those half-truths and bullshit claims, give me an hour.

[dylan]

the fact is most of their evedince is collected by them and thus manipulated to prove what they want to prove. they also restrict anyone from conducting studies on many of these drugs to prove them wrong.

[ismokedope]

"Ninety-five percent of Americans do not use drugs"


What percentage of americans drink?





Would we give up on education or poverty simply because we havenâ??t eliminated all problems?



Who is fighting poverty? War on poverty? I never anyone say that. Thats a war i am down for






Fact 7: Crime, violence, and drug use go hand-in-hand.

Crime, violence and drug use go hand in hand. Six times as many homicides are committed by people under the influence of drugs, as by those who are looking for money to buy drugs. Most drug crimes arenâ??t committed by people trying to pay for drugs; theyâ??re committed by people on drugs.




The thing they arent mentioning: most murders are drunk. Booze is a drug when it suits them, its not a drug when it doesnt






Fact 4: Smoked marijuana is not scientifically approved medicine
Fact: yes it is







Fact 10: Most non-violent drug users get treatment, not jail time.

The Legalization Lobby claims that Americaâ??s prisons are filling up with users. Truth is, only about 5 percent of inmates in federal prison are there because of simple possession. Most drug criminals are in jailâ??even on possession chargesâ??because they have plea-bargained down from major trafficking offences or more violent drug crimes






User dealer, doesnt matter to me. Most people in prison are there on non violent drug offences







The Legalization Lobby claims drugs are no more dangerous than alcohol. But drunk driving is one of the primary killers of Americans. Do we want our bus drivers, nurses, and airline pilots to be able to take drugs one evening, and operate freely at work the next day?



So a hangover is great. But a drug hangover is bad? Who pays the DEA? Budweiser?






Fact 9: Europeâ??s more liberal drug policies are not the right model for America.

The Legalization Lobby claims that the â??European Modelâ?� of the drug problem is successful. However, since legalization of marijuana in Holland, heroin addiction levels have tripled




What is left unsaid: Most addicts in holland and switzerland came from other nations. Herion use among the dutch and swiss people is the same as conservative nations



And Needle Park seems like a poor model for America
Yeah prisons are what america is all about






The Legalization Lobby claims that the United States has wasted billions of dollars in its anti-drug efforts. But for those kids saved from drug addiction, this is hardly wasted dollars.



Thanks for spending our tax dollars "saving" kids from weed





Who is really behind the war on some drugs. The beer companies. Most of those anti drug commercials are bought and paid for by companies like anheiser busch (sp). People drink less when they are high.
Its your right to smoke MJ. God gave you the right. Dont let a christain funded thought police tell you, you need to piss in a bottle to work at wendys.

[Nullific]

Fact 1: We have made significant progress in fighting drug use and drug trafficking in America. Now is not the time to abandon our efforts.

The Legalization Lobby claims that the fight against drugs cannot be won. However, overall drug use is down by more than a third in the last twenty years, while cocaine use has dropped by an astounding 70 percent. Ninety-five percent of Americans do not use drugs. This is success by any standards.

They've pulled these figures straight out of their asses. Over 1.6 million people were arrested for drug law violations in 2003, a number expected to be exceeded this year. About 10% of persons over the age of 15 admitted to using cannabis, 2.6% Cocaine...we must question the accuracy of these tests however because I sure as hell know I wouldn't admit a damn thing even if I was told it was "anonymous".
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm


Fact 2: A balanced approach of prevention, enforcement, and treatment is the key in the fight against drugs.

A successful drug policy must apply a balanced approach of prevention, enforcement and treatment. All three aspects are crucial. For those who end up hooked on drugs, there are innovative programs, like Drug Treatment Courts, that offer non-violent users the option of seeking treatment. Drug Treatment Courts provide court supervision, unlike voluntary treatment centers.
It should be noted that there is a direct correlation between drug law enforcement and the homicide rate, one increases with the other. (Source: Drug War Crimes: The Consequences of Prohibition by Jeffrey Miron)
How affective are drug rehabs really? Take a look: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-100-1480776,00.html


Fact 3: Illegal drugs are illegal because they are harmful.

There is a growing misconception that some illegal drugs can be taken safely. For example, savvy drug dealers have learned how to market drugs like Ecstasy to youth. Some in the Legalization Lobby even claim such drugs have medical value, despite the lack of conclusive scientific evidence.
Lack of conclusive scientific evidence only because the government does as much as it can to prevent such research from happening. In fact in the 1970s the government requested all universities destroy anything marijuana-research. An example is a 1974 study that concluded THC and other cannabinoids when injected into laboratory mice was able to slow the growth of and even destroy tumours, increasing their life expectancy by 36%. http://www.alternet.org/story/9257
Also note that while there may not be much evidence to suggest these drugs are safe, there is even less suggesting they are harmful again because they don't let this sort of research take place.
What research that does take place is severly flawed. Example: George Ricaurte and his research team at John Hopkins university proved that MDMA (ecstasy) was neurotoxic in primates. He admitted in 2002 however that his team did not give the primates MDMA but instead methamphetamine. http://www.maps.org/mdma/retraction/bmj091303.html
Drug laws only make drugs more harmful, in the black market anything could be mixed in with your coke and heroin. This is where your collapsed veins and STDs come from.


Fact 4: Smoked marijuana is not scientifically approved medicine. Marinol, the legal version of medical marijuana, is approved by science.

According to the Institute of Medicine, there is no future in smoked marijuana as medicine. However, the prescription drug Marinolâ??a legal and safe version of medical marijuana which isolates the active ingredient of THCâ??has been studied and approved by the Food & Drug Administration as safe medicine. The difference is that you have to get a prescription for Marinol from a licensed physician. You canâ??t buy it on a street corner, and you donâ??t smoke it.
Marinol is a synthetic form of THC the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, however only one of over 60 cannabinoids that contribute to the plants effects. Im sure they'll tell you its safe and what not so they can profit on it, whereas it is difficult for the pharmaceutical companies to profit off a plant that terminally ill patients could grow themselves.
In fact, marinol could cost its patients up to $900 a month. Aside from this there is an obvious problem in giving a pill to people suffering from severe nausea, they vomit it out before it can be absorbed by the GI tract.
Ironically what they are basically saying here is THC-what gets you high-is perfectly safe and legal when they can make you pay $900 a month for it. Natural grown and smoked marijuana appearently isn't by their standards.


Fact 5: Drug control spending is a minor portion of the U.S. budget. Compared to the social costs of drug abuse and addiction, government spending on drug control is minimal.

The Legalization Lobby claims that the United States has wasted billions of dollars in its anti-drug efforts. But for those kids saved from drug addiction, this is hardly wasted dollars. Moreover, our fight against drug abuse and addiction is an ongoing struggle that should be treated like any other social problem. Would we give up on education or poverty simply because we havenâ??t eliminated all problems? Compared to the social costs of drug abuse and addictionâ??whether in taxpayer dollars or in pain and sufferingâ??government spending on drug control is minimal.
Taking the child-protection approach doesn't work in the case of drug laws, which put drugs directly into the hands of them. Maybe the government hasn't realized this but drug dealers don't check ID. Despite the billions of dollars the government spends each year to keep drugs out of the country we get more and more, the drugs only get purer and cheaper. An example of this is when the Bush administration gave the TALIBAN $43 million so that they wouldn't grow opium for heroin manufacture. Instead they used their surplus opium for heroin manufacture, and the next years crop was the largest ever. Heroin on the east coast is cheaper and purer than it has ever been.
Their attempts to halt growth of coca plants for cocaine are also flawed, they end up spraying herbicides on peasant fields so the peasants get to starve to death. The price of cocaine per pure gram has also fallen from a couple hundred dollars to about $50.


Fact 6: Legalization of drugs will lead to increased use and increased levels of addiction. Legalization has been tried before, and failed miserably.

Legalization has been tried beforeâ??and failed miserably. Alaskaâ??s experiment with Legalization in the 1970s led to the stateâ??s teens using marijuana at more than twice the rate of other youths nationally. This led Alaskaâ??s residents to vote to re-criminalize marijuana in 1990.
Well, consider how boring it must be to live in Alaska in the first place. I don't know much about this but I imagine it was only decriminalized, not actually legalized. Under decrim there would still be a black market, which still means easy access for teens.
Also consider the population of Alaska and other factors which would suggest we can't use this as a definitive example of how legalization fails. In fact there are no examples since marijuana is not truly legal in any nation.


Fact 7: Crime, violence, and drug use go hand-in-hand.

Crime, violence and drug use go hand in hand. Six times as many homicides are committed by people under the influence of drugs, as by those who are looking for money to buy drugs. Most drug crimes arenâ??t committed by people trying to pay for drugs; theyâ??re committed by people on drugs.

Oh look! Another figure they've pulled directly out of their asses.
Not to mention that 50% of all homicides involve alcohol. I quote from Jeffrey Mirons Drug War Crimes; "Finally, reviews of the literature on drug use and crime have consistently concluded there is little evidence that drug use causes crime. For example, Fagan (1993) concludes that "there is little evidence that alcohol or drugs directly cause violence" and that "several reviewers have concluded that alcohol is the substance most likely to lead to psychopharmacological violence," although "there is some evidence that cocaine, barbiturates, amphetamines, phencyclidine and steroids also have psychopharmacological properties that can motive violence." He also note that "the most consistent and predictable relationship between substances and violence is a result of trafficking in illicit drugs." Thus, the evidence that purports to show a casual effect of drug use on crime shows no such thing." (Page 15)


Fact 8: Alcohol has caused significant health, social, and crime problems in this country, and legalized drugs would only make the situation worse.

The Legalization Lobby claims drugs are no more dangerous than alcohol. But drunk driving is one of the primary killers of Americans. Do we want our bus drivers, nurses, and airline pilots to be able to take drugs one evening, and operate freely at work the next day? Do we want to add to the destruction by making drugged driving another primary killer?
Great rhetorical questions I must say, if I was 10 they might have had me there.
Unfortunately for them there is nothing to prove that smoking a joint, doing some lines of coke or heroin or ecstasy impairs your ability to work the next day...at least certainly not as much as alcohol.
There is also little evidence to suggest marijuana impairs driving ability as much as alcohol.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1068625.stm
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5450
If you're caught driving on drugs than you obviously can't drive well enough on them and thus should not. This is all up to individual responsibility, if a man spills has coffee while driving and causes a three-car accident I doubt driving under the influence of caffeine (a very addictive and dangerous drug) will be made punishable by death.


Fact 9: Europeâ??s more liberal drug policies are not the right model for America.

The Legalization Lobby claims that the â??European Modelâ?� of the drug problem is successful. However, since legalization of marijuana in Holland, heroin addiction levels have tripled. And Needle Park seems like a poor model for America.
Too bad marijuana isn't fully legal in Holland, and they had a heroin use 'edpidemic' even before this happened.
http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~maccoun/0799testimony.html


Fact 10: Most non-violent drug users get treatment, not jail time.

The Legalization Lobby claims that Americaâ??s prisons are filling up with users. Truth is, only about 5 percent of inmates in federal prison are there because of simple possession. Most drug criminals are in jailâ??even on possession chargesâ??because they have plea-bargained down from major trafficking offences or more violent drug crimes.
While 25% of the prison population is incarcerated for drug law offenses. (Look at the Drug War Clock) Even if, that is 5% of people who don't actually need to be in prison.
Instead they force them into rehab and make them believe they have a drug problem so they can go back use it as a statistic claiming the majority are people are in rehab for "marijuana addiction".

Heres the real fact: If drugs were legalized tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical industries would loose BILLIONS.

[ermitonto]

Excellent work tearing apart that nauseatingly faulty logic there, Nullific!

[Buck268]

So much propaganda... So little motivation...

Read some Ayn Rand, especially "Atlas Shrugged" and tell me what you see happening is not what Ms. Rand is set against (I happen to find my thoughts coherent with many of Rand's).

[4252]

Just to add 2 cents on the subject of alcohol. In my opinion alcohol is a lot worse than marijuana in its negative impact on ones health, its effect on peoples self control and abilties to function safely (as in driving a car or in situations where good judgement and coordination are necessary), and its addictive characteristics. So, by deduction, if these suppositions of mine are correct, marijuana is a "safer" substance, and that if it were legalized there'd be a dimished use of alcohol; an overall positive effect socially.

Not to mention the fact that obnoxious drunks are such a pain in the ass to be around.

42

[ermitonto]

Just to add 2 cents on the subject of alcohol. In my opinion alcohol is a lot worse than marijuana in its negative impact on ones health, its effect on peoples self control and abilties to function safely (as in driving a car or in situations where good judgement and coordination are necessary), and its addictive characteristics. So, by deduction, if these suppositions of mine are correct, marijuana is a "safer" substance, and that if it were legalized there'd be a dimished use of alcohol; an overall positive effect socially.

Not to mention the fact that obnoxious drunks are such a pain in the ass to be around.

42

I couldn't agree with you more. There is not one negative property that is true of marijuana that is not also true of alcohol and/or tobacco. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to justify its continued prohibition. The inconsistency with banning alcohol and not marijuana, which they just freely admitted to in "Fact" #8, is not tolerable. The only reason, it's been said before and I'll say it again, is because it has not historically played a role in aristocratic white culture, to which the legislators mostly belong and have belonged for centuries. It was made illegal thanks to the blatantly racist propaganda of Anslinger and the fundamental reasons for its being considered contraband have not changed.

[Darkneon420]

:D Props nullific!

Yo, i'de like to see the police try and stop me from smoking weed! I'de laugh smile and light a joint! Unfortionitly, that'd probiblly land me on probation. >_>I dunno peace yall.

[DarkFire]

i wouldnt ever, and none of you should either, take the violence part of this seriously. they cant even begin to speak on drugs causing violence when alcohol is legal. ive NEVER been violent on weed, weed makes you much less violent than being on no weed.

now alcohol.... wow. ive been violent. i remember once i was drunk like crazy and my friends were putting me in a bad mood.... bam i get into a fight with all of them, got shot in the thumb by a airsoft gun wit metal bbs and didnt notice it until 2 hours later when it was dripping, go to the garage, get the weed whacker, turn it on, and chase everyone out of the house down the street.

if i was as high as i was drunk that night i wouldnt be physically able to be violent, or be mentally able to.

[Bspectral]

:rolleyes: aint it funny how peaceful people with all the smoke they want arent criminals///but when they take it away from them ,then they are a criminal :rolleyes:

[Bspectral]

:rolleyes: aint it funny how peaceful people with all the smoke they want arent criminals///but when they take it away from them ,then they are a criminal :rolleyes:
why are families split apart by people who are paid to make someone a criminal///that aint no way to go///its only hurting not helping