CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET A BONG?

[Ferre]

Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in

receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake

 

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Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2002 11:13:09 -0800

From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stanford@crrh.org>

Subject: 003 HI: Can't We All Just Get A Bong?

 

Pubdate: Wed, 11 Dec 2002

Source: Honolulu Weekly (HI)

Copyright: 2002 Honolulu Weekly Inc

Contact: editorial@honoluluweekly.com

Website: http://www.honoluluweekly.com/

Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/197

Author: Gary Bosch

Cited: Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i ( http://www.dpfhi.org )

Cited: Common Sense for Drug Policy( http://www.csdp.org )

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Kevin+Zeese

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

 

According to one government study, smoking marijuana causes "cloudy

thinking." But a closer inspection of the details of the study, posted at

www.drugwarfacts.org , reveals that participants were given over a dozen

marijuana cigarettes per day. Cloudy thinking indeed.

 

Such was the information that flowed from guest speaker Kevin Zeese at last

Saturday's meeting of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai'i held at Central Union

Church.

 

Zeese, with the Washington-based organization Common Sense for Drug Policy,

pointed out that many of the studies funded by the federal government

actually provide more ammunition to end the failed war on drugs than to

continue treating drug abuse as a criminal problem. Unfortunately, Zeese

said, we are now at the point where budgets for law enforcement, including

interdiction and incarceration, are so awash in funding that to refocus on

drug abuse as a medical condition will be challenging at best.

 

The passage in many states of medical marijuana laws, Zeese said, shows that

attitudes can change. He outlined a four-part plan to provide a logical

alternative to the billions of dollars already poured down the rabbit hole

to fight a "war" which cannot be won in its current form:

 

1) Treatment on demand. (Many states require an individual be arrested

before treatment can be accessed by those who can't afford private

programs.)

 

2) Invest in kids. (After-school programs rather than the "educational"

brainwashes such as D.A.R.E.)

 

3) Restore justice, particularly where minorities and the poor are

concerned. We spend approximately $30,000 per year to incarcerate nonviolent

offenders who need to be treated for a medical problem.

 

4) A prohibition market vs. a regulated market. (Drugs are not made safer by

putting criminals in charge of production and distribution.)

 

For more fun facts about the neo-reefer madness sweeping the country, and

for a look at the realities that don't make the evening news, visit

www.drugfacts.org .

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