Thanks to Baker Institute, DFW NORML, NORML
My name – Outreach (177 chapters) – NORML SHOW – NORML Network – High School Guidance Counselor line
Dr. Sabet Ph.D. – intimidated – Buster Bronco line, Waffle House line
My one advantage – I am the person these policy talks directly affect – I have “skin in the game” – all friends, family, pot smokers – and not one is a criminal or any threat to you.
Law – Some people may think “no big deal” – not coke or heroin:
Federal: possession misd 1yr $1,000, plant felony, 5yrs, $250,000; one of nine countries with death penalty
Texas: possession (no priors) 6 mo prob $2,000, mand rehab; plant felony, 6mo-2yrs, $10,000
Oregon: possession <1oz ticket, 6mo d/l, $1,000, >1oz felony 10yrs $100,000, plant felony 10yrs $100,000
Florida: possession 21g felony 5 years $5,000, lose vote, pot pipe adds misd 1yr $1,000
Effects After Arrest
Drug Felon – Voting – Security Clearances (Damon)
Financial Aid (Kaliko)
Federal Housing (Serra)
Child Custody
Effects Without Arrest
Afraid to interface with police
Underemployment/ Unemployment (Me)
Unwilling to report workplace injuries (Iva, Shawana)
Organ Transplants (Jim Klahr, Jon Hamm)
Bottom line: Dr. Sabet endorses policies that put people like me in cages they do not deserve and rehabs they do not need
Now to the question: The War on Drugs Has Failed, Is Legalization the Answer?
First off, not really a “War on Drugs”
I’ve never seen the DEA point an automatic weapon at a pot plant. I have seen more than few pointed at some pot smokers. So “War on People Who Use Drugs”
But not all people equally. I have (Paul Mooney) “complexion of protection”, middle aged, good impulse control
Drugs are celebrated and promoted in our society, from Budweiser at the Super Bowl to that Viagra couple in the tubs (Cialis / tadalafil line) to the depressed cartoon lady who takes the pills, but the cartoon depression robe is still on her, so she gets another pill to add to the first pill and that makes the depression robe just follow her around all day
Even the evil legal drug, cigarettes, are tolerated. Companies build shelters for smoke breaks!
And even the “War on Drugs” isn’t about drugs – 52% of all drug arrests are for marijuana. 88% of those for possession, in Texas it’s 97% for possession
So, at best, War on Certain American Citizens Using Non-Pharmaceutical, Non-Alcoholic, Tobacco-Free Drugs
Second, has failed at what?
Viewed with the right perspective, the War on Drugs is a rousing success
It eliminates cheap natural alternatives to prescription drugs and alcohol (Less opioids medmj patients, alcohol switch)
It keeps private prison stock prices and prison guard salaries rising ($74K median in California)
It gives cops a great way to collect fingerprints on poor kids in the cities and profit from asset forfeitures and federal grants
It provides a low-education, low-skill job market (how high would unemployment really be…)
And more, which you’ll hear in great detail from the other panels
Nixon’s “Public Enemy Number One” – must eliminate drug abuse
Well, it’s failed at that, for sure. Goes up, goes down, never goes away.
Goes up – Oh no! We need to fight the drug war harder!
Goes down – Aha! What we’re doing is working, keep fighting!
We may as well have a “War on Tides” Tide comes in, goes out…
Is Legalization The Answer?
Well, no, not if you’re trying to achieve the unattainable and unrealistic goal of stopping humans from getting high.
Maybe, if you’re trying to achieve the realistic goal of reducing the harm done by humans who get high
But in the case of marijuana, I reject the underlying assumption that stopping people from using it is either necessary or desirable – and now, more Americans agree with me than do not.
Marijuana is far less harmful to the user and to society than alcohol, tobacco, or even caffeine and cheeseburgers and there is no legitimate reason to use guns to force people to stop using it.
At this point, we don’t have to defend why we should legalize marijuana, they have to defend why we should keep locking people up for it.
I smoke pot and I like it a lot – and so do many Americans
102 million 18+ Lifetime Users (44.5%) Ages 18-49 (52.5%)
Flip a Coin
26 million 18+ Annual Users (11.3%)
More Tokers Than Texans!
16 million 18+ Monthly Users (6.9%)
More than there are unionized workers in USA
2.6 million 18+ Daily Users (1.1%)
More Herb Lovers than Houstonians
Why do we feel compelled to make them stop smoking pot?
Why We Can’t Legalize – Muddying the Waters
Terrible things will happen that aren’t happening now
Alcohol & Tobacco bring in $14B & $25B, cost us $235B & $200B, why add marijuana?
Not “adding” anything – 26 million smoke pot NOW
Marijuana currently brings in $0 and costs us $7B to enforce
Alcohol & Tobacco cost $435B because they’re toxic and addictive
Nobody ever mentions how much marijuana costs NOW
If they did, then take that times the percentage you think use would increase, subtract the $7B we’re spending now, and make the tax that high.
But if we legalize, use rates will skyrocket!
Would they? Probably at first – people who toke now would have easier access and people who were curious might start
But even NIDA says marijuana’s addictiveness is like that of caffeine
And increased marijuana use is a net gain if it decreases prescription drug complications, alcohol abuse, crime inherent in prohibition.
What about the children?
The “gateway” isn’t physical – it’s economic – access to marijuana gives you access to hard drugs – they don’t sell cocaine next to tequila
Kids are the ones dealing weed NOW. 1 million teenage dealers.
CASA kids easier to get weed than alcohol
Dutch 15-year-olds 1/3rd lifetime use rates as Americans
Alcohol decline, tobacco decline, no arrests of adults
Terror on the Highways – The Stoned Drivers
Again, 26 million of us now. Where are the bodies?
Study after study shows pot drivers are nowhere near the risk of alcohol drivers, yet we still have bars with parking lots.
Legalizing pot doesn’t legalize impaired driving – we’re catching pot DUIDs now and getting 90% conviction rates
Studies claiming increased crash risks conflate “detected marijuana” with “marijuana impaired someone so they crashed”.
What we’re doing now isn’t terrible
Kinder, Gentler Drug War Prisons – We’ll force potheads into rehab!
More young people in rehab for marijuana because we catch young people with marijuana and3
sentence them to rehab.
Over 60% of rehab admissions for marijuana only are criminal justice referrals
Over a third of rehab admissions hadn’t even smoked pot the month before rehab.
So we pee test a bunch of people who weren’t really addicted in the first place, declare rehab a success, and sentence more people to it.
Last Ditch Effort: Well, we don’t really lock anyone up for pot…
2M to 16M living in fear
850,000 arrests
40,000 marijuana prisoners
Many “3rd strikers”, probation/parole violations
…we only go after the big time distributors
Like Patricia Spottedcrow – $31 in weed, 10 years in prison
Dale Schafer & Dr. Mollie Fry – 5 years each for growing medical marijuana for cancer patients in accordance with California Law and the blessing of the county and local law enforcement
Like my “guy” in Idaho who dealt weed to a close circle of musicians from his closet grow, doing 8 years in Idaho Pen
So… Why NOT Legalize Marijuana?
Marijuana’s not harmless – nothing is – but it is far below what we tolerate for alcohol – we don’t imprison alcoholics
Our experience legalizing alcohol and regulating tobacco, two drugs far more harmful and addictive than marijuana, shows we can reduce use and harm without putting people in cages and forcing them to quit.
Separating marijuana from the hard drug market is the best way to close the gateway.
Remember, any answer Dr. Sabet may give you must end with the following sentence:
…and that’s why Russ should be put in a cage and forced to stop smoking pot.
