This country needs to get its priorities straight...

I am not pointing fingers at republicans here. I am point fingers at every administration since 1980.

It's time that we got a sensible drug policy.

From this morning's Washington Post:

Marijuana Becomes Focus of Drug War
Less Emphasis on Heroin and Cocaine

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 4, 2005; A01



The focus of the drug war in the United States has shifted significantly over the past decade from hard drugs to marijuana, which now accounts for nearly half of all drug arrests nationwide, according to an analysis of federal crime statistics released yesterday.

The study of FBI data by a Washington-based think tank, the Sentencing Project, found that the proportion of heroin and cocaine cases plummeted from 55 percent of all drug arrests in 1992 to less than 30 percent 10 years later. During the same period, marijuana arrests rose from 28 percent of the total to 45 percent.

Coming in the wake of the focus on crack cocaine in the late 1980s, the increasing emphasis on marijuana enforcement was accompanied by a dramatic rise in overall drug arrests, from fewer than 1.1 million in 1990 to more than 1.5 million a decade later. Eighty percent of that increase came from marijuana arrests, the study found.

The rapid increase has not had a significant impact on prisons, however, because just 6 percent of the arrests resulted in felony convictions, the study found. The most widely quoted household survey on the topic has shown relatively little change in the overall rate of marijuana use over the same time period, experts said.

This is absolutely absurd.

Look at this:

Annual Causes of Death in the United States

Tobacco 435,000
Poor Diet and Physical Inactivity 365,000
Alcohol 85,000
Microbial Agents 75,000
Toxic Agents 55,000
Motor Vehicle Crashes 26,347
Adverse Reactions to Prescription Drugs 32,000
Suicide 30,622
Incidents Involving Firearms 29,000
Homicide 20,308
Sexual Behaviors 20,000
All Illicit Drug Use, Direct and Indirect 17,000, 5
Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Such As Aspirin 7,600
Marijuana 0

If you want the sources for these statistics, they can be found here.


Marijuana: Zero.

Decriminalize it. Redirect your efforts and resources. Do it now.

There is no reason for this to be criminal. The only reason it's associated with other drugs is due to the irrational criminalization of an herb.

Beyond its clearly safe recreational function, this is a substance which has very real medical uses. Ask patients of Chemo therapy if they agree. Ask AIDS patients if they agree.

We need our government, both parties included, to move away from dogmatic policies based on a perceived public opinion that was shaped by propaganda years ago. We need this to happen, not just with "the War on Drugs," but most domestic and foreign policy.

We need to reassess priorities, premises, and viability.

The amount of benefit gained from the proactive pursuit of marijuana offenders is completely lopsided when compared to the benefit.

Meth is deadly. Abuse of subscription medications is deadly. Heroin is deadly. Marijuana leads to Twinkies and giggling.

Why can't we be sensible about this?

Go read the rest of the story. If you don't want to scroll back up, you can find the link here.

-The Oklahoma Hippy