Reefer Madness Strikes Again!

 

I showed the original film AReefer Madness@ to one of my classes recently, drawing a lot of laughter, as usual.   The film, made in 1936, was a product of the hysteria propagated by our first ADrug Czar@ Harry Anslinger, who headed up what was then known as the Bureau of Narcotics (now the Drug Enforcement Administration or DEA).  History has shown Anslinger to be nothing less than a madman who crazed public attention and went to great lengths to create mostly lies and distortions about what he termed the AAssassin of Youth@ (the title of a book he wrote).

More than 65 years later Areefer madness@ is back, this time promoted by our current ADrug Czar@ John Walters, who is repeating some of the same warnings that Anslinger used, such as marijuana being a highly addictive and Agateway@ drug. Both of these claims have been repeatedly refuted by hundreds of scientific studies over the past 50 plus years.

It is impossible to summarize in a short commentary the results of all the research that has been done on drug use, including marijuana, so I won=t even try.  Also, there have been so many claims made by opponents that can easily be refuted that space does not permit a detailed rebuttal to all of them.  I will restrict most of my comments to the controversial Question 9 on the November ballot in Nevada.

Let=s begin with four numbers that are incontestable: 400,000; 150,000; 5,000; zero. These are the most recent estimates on the annual deaths attributed to, respectively: tobacco, alcohol, the so-called Ahard drugs@ (heroin, cocaine, etc.) and, last but certainly least, marijuana.  You read it right.  Zero deaths caused by marijuana.  Here are some other undisputed facts about the Awar on drugs@ in general and marijuana in particular:

T                  As of September, more than $28 billion has been spent fighting the Awar on drugs@ and it is estimated that the total expenditures by the end of the year will be more than $50 billion;

T                   Over 1.3 million have been arrested on drug charges so far this year;

T                  Of those arrested, over 500,000 have been for marijuana, mostly possession;

T                  So far this year,170,000 people have been incarcerated for drug offenses (and drug offenses explain at least one-third of the rise in the prison population during the past two decades);

T                  Research sponsored by the National Institute of Drug Abuse found that when comparing six of the most popular drugs in terms of their addictive qualities, nicotine ranked highest, with heroin second, cocaine third, alcohol fourth, caffeine fifth and marijuana sixth; some of the more specific addictive qualities of these drugs (dependence, withdrawal, tolerance, etc.) were the least for marijuana;

T                  Recent research by the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C. summarizes a large number of studies on the so-called Agateway theory@ by stating that: AThere is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs.@  It was also concluded that, while there is a Aprogression of drug use from adolescence to adulthood,@ and Amost users of other illicit drugs have used marijuana first,@ however Amost drug users begin with alcohol and nicotine before marijuana@; one of the most recent reports refuting the gateway theory was published in the American Journal of Public Health by Dr. Andrew Golub, one of the foremost drug researchers;

T                  The World Health Organization recently concluded, based upon a careful review of the research, that when comparing marijuana, alcohol, nicotine and opiates, there is no evidence that marijuana Aexerts a permanently deleterious effect on the normal cardiovascular system@ and further that the public health risks from marijuana are far lower than the risks from alcohol or tobacco Aeven if as many people used cannabis as now drink or smoke tobacco;@