305 lines
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Plaintext
305 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
Newsgroups: alt.drugs,talk.politics.drugs,alt.hemp
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Path: news.claremont.edu!uunet!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!usenet.ucs.indiana.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!hagerp@cs.indiana.edu
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From: "Paul Hager" <hagerp@cs.indiana.edu>
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Subject: The FINAL corrected version of "Marijuana Myths" (20-July-93)
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Message-ID: <1993Jul20.222126.820@news.cs.indiana.edu>
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MARIJUANA MYTHS
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by Paul Hager
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Chair, ICLU Drug Task Force
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1. Marijuana causes brain damage
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The most celebrated study that claims to show brain damage is
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the rhesus monkey study of Dr. Robert Heath, done in the late
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1970s. This study was reviewed by a distinguished panel of
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scientists sponsored by the Institute of Medicine and the National
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Academy of Sciences. Their results were published under the title,
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Marijuana and Health in 1982. Heath's work was sharply criticized
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for its insufficient sample size (only four monkeys), its failure
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to control experimental bias, and the misidentification of normal
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monkey brain structure as "damaged". Actual studies of human
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populations of marijuana users have shown no evidence of brain
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damage. For example, two studies from 1977, published in the
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Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed no
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evidence of brain damage in heavy users of marijuana. That same
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year, the American Medical Association (AMA) officially came out in
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favor of decriminalizing marijuana. That's not the sort of thing
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you'd expect if the AMA thought marijuana damaged the brain.
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2. Marijuana damages the reproductive system
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This claim is based chiefly on the work of Dr. Gabriel Nahas,
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who experimented with tissue (cells) isolated in petri dishes, and
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the work of researchers who dosed animals with near-lethal amounts
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of cannabinoids (i.e., the intoxicating part of marijuana). Nahas'
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generalizations from his petri dishes to human beings have been
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rejected by the scientific community as being invalid. In the case
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of the animal experiments, the animals that survived their ordeal
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returned to normal within 30 days of the end of the experiment.
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Studies of actual human populations have failed to demonstrate that
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marijuana adversely affects the reproductive system.
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3. Marijuana is a "gateway" drug -- it leads to hard drugs
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This is one of the more persistent myths. A real world
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example of what happens when marijuana is readily available can be
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found in Holland. The Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the
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1970s. Since then, hard drug use -- heroin and cocaine -- have
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DECLINED substantially. If marijuana really were a gateway drug,
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one would have expected use of hard drugs to have gone up, not
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down. This apparent "negative gateway" effect has also been
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observed in the United States. Studies done in the early 1970s
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showed a negative correlation between use of marijuana and use of
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alcohol. A 1993 Rand Corporation study that compared drug use in
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states that had decriminalized marijuana versus those that had not,
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found that where marijuana was more available -- the states that
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had decriminalized -- hard drug abuse as measured by emergency room
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episodes decreased. In short, what science and actual experience
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tell us is that marijuana tends to substitute for the much more
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dangerous hard drugs like alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.
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4. Marijuana suppresses the immune system
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Like the studies claiming to show damage to the reproductive
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system, this myth is based on studies where animals were given
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extremely high -- in many cases, near-lethal -- doses of
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cannabinoids. These results have never been duplicated in human
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beings. Interestingly, two studies done in 1978 and one done in
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1988 showed that hashish and marijuana may have actually stimulated
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the immune system in the people studied.
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5. Marijuana is much more dangerous than tobacco
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Smoked marijuana contains about the same amount of carcinogens
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as does an equivalent amount of tobacco. It should be remembered,
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however, that a heavy tobacco smoker consumes much more tobacco
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than a heavy marijuana smoker consumes marijuana. This is because
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smoked tobacco, with a 90% addiction rate, is the most addictive of
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all drugs while marijuana is less addictive than caffeine. Two
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other factors are important. The first is that paraphernalia laws
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directed against marijuana users make it difficult to smoke safely.
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These laws make water pipes and bongs, which filter some of the
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carcinogens out of the smoke, illegal and, hence, unavailable. The
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second is that, if marijuana were legal, it would be more
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economical to have cannabis drinks like bhang (a traditional drink
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in the Middle East) or tea which are totally non-carcinogenic.
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This is in stark contrast with "smokeless" tobacco products like
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snuff which can cause cancer of the mouth and throat. When all of
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these facts are taken together, it can be clearly seen that the
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reverse is true: marijuana is much SAFER than tobacco.
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6. Legal marijuana would cause carnage on the highways
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Although marijuana, when used to intoxication, does impair
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performance in a manner similar to alcohol, actual studies of the
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effect of marijuana on the automobile accident rate suggest that it
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poses LESS of a hazard than alcohol. When a random sample of fatal
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accident victims was studied, it was initially found that marijuana
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was associated with RELATIVELY as many accidents as alcohol. In
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other words, the number of accident victims intoxicated on
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marijuana relative to the number of marijuana users in society gave
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a ratio similar to that for accident victims intoxicated on alcohol
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relative to the total number of alcohol users. However, a closer
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examination of the victims revealed that around 85% of the people
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intoxicated on marijuana WERE ALSO INTOXICATED ON ALCOHOL. For
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people only intoxicated on marijuana, the rate was much lower than
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for alcohol alone. This finding has been supported by other
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research using completely different methods. For example, an
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economic analysis of the effects of decriminalization on marijuana
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usage found that states that had reduced penalties for marijuana
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possession experienced a rise in marijuana use and a decline in
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alcohol use with the result that fatal highway accidents decreased.
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This would suggest that, far from causing "carnage", legal
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marijuana might actually save lives.
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7. Marijuana "flattens" human brainwaves
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This is an out-and-out lie perpetrated by the Partnership for
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a Drug-Free America. A few years ago, they ran a TV ad that
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purported to show, first, a normal human brainwave, and second, a
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flat brainwave from a 14-year-old "on marijuana". When researchers
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called up the TV networks to complain about this commercial, the
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Partnership had to pull it from the air. It seems that the
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Partnership faked the flat "marijuana brainwave". In reality,
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marijuana has the effect of slightly INCREASING alpha wave
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activity. Alpha waves are associated with meditative and relaxed
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states which are, in turn, often associated with human creativity.
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8. Marijuana is more potent today than in the past
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This myth is the result of bad data. The researchers who made
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the claim of increased potency used as their baseline the THC
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content of marijuana seized by police in the early 1970s. Poor
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storage of this marijuana in un-air conditioned evidence rooms
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caused it to deteriorate and decline in potency before any chemical
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assay was performed. Contemporaneous, independent assays of
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unseized "street" marijuana from the early 1970s showed a potency
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equivalent to that of modern "street" marijuana. Actually, the
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most potent form of this drug that was generally available was sold
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legally in the 1920s and 1930s by the pharmaceutical company
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Smith-Klein under the name, "American Cannabis".
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9. Marijuana impairs short-term memory
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This is true but misleading. Any impairment of short-term
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memory disappears when one is no longer under the influence of
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marijuana. Often, the short-term memory effect is paired with a
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reference to Dr. Heath's poor rhesus monkeys to imply that the
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condition is permanent.
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10. Marijuana lingers in the body like DDT
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This is also true but misleading. Cannabinoids are fat
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soluble as are innumerable nutrients and, yes, some poisons like
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DDT. For example, the essential nutrient, Vitamin A, is fat
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soluble but one never hears people who favor marijuana prohibition
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making this comparison.
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11. There are over a thousand chemicals in marijuana smoke
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Again, true but misleading. The 31 August 1990 issue of the
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magazine Science notes that of the over 800 volatile chemicals
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present in roasted COFFEE, only 21 have actually been tested on
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animals and 16 of these cause cancer in rodents. Yet, coffee
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remains legal and is generally considered fairly safe.
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12. No one has ever died of a marijuana overdose
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This is true. It was put in to see if you are paying
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attention. Animal tests have revealed that extremely high doses of
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cannabinoids are needed to have lethal effect. This has led
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scientists to conclude that the ratio of the amount of cannabinoids
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necessary to get a person intoxicated (i.e., stoned) relative to
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the amount necessary to kill them is 1 to 40,000. In other words,
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to overdose, you would have to consume 40,000 times as much
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marijuana as you needed to get stoned. In contrast, the ratio for
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alcohol varies between 1 to 4 and 1 to 10. It is easy to see how
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upwards of 5000 people die from alcohol overdoses every year and no
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one EVER dies of marijuana overdoses.
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WHAT IS THE ICLU DRUG TASK FORCE?
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The Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU) Drug Task Force is
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involved in education and lobbying efforts directed toward
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reforming drug policy. Specifically, we support ACLU Policy
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Statement number 210 which calls for the legalization of marijuana.
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We also support an end to the drug war. In its place, we favor
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"harm reduction" strategies which treat drug abuse as what it is --
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a medical problem -- rather than a criminal justice problem.
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The Drug Task Force also works to end urine and hair testing
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of workers by private industry. These kinds of tests violate
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worker privacy to no good purpose because they detect past use of
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certain drugs (mostly marijuana) while ignoring others (e.g., LSD)
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and cannot detect current impairment. In situations where public
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and worker safety is a legitimate concern, we advocate impairment
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testing devices which reliably detect degradation of performance
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without infringing upon worker privacy.
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For more information about the activities of the Drug Task
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Force, call the ICLU at (317) 635-4059 or call Paul Hager at (812)
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333-1384 or e-mail to hagerp@cs.indiana.edu on the InterNet.
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SOURCES
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1) Marijuana and Health, Institute of Medicine, National Academy
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of Sciences, 1982. Note: the Committee on Substance Abuse and
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Habitual Behavior of the "Marijuana and Health" study had its
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part of the final report suppressed when it reviewed the
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evidence and recommended that possession of small amounts of
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marijuana should no longer be a crime (TIME magazine, July 19,
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1982). The two JAMA studies are: Co, B.T., Goodwin, D.W.,
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Gado, M., Mikhael, M., and Hill, S.Y.: "Absence of cerebral
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atrophy in chronic cannabis users", JAMA, 237:1229-1230, 1977;
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and, Kuehnle, J., Mendelson, J.H., Davis, K.R., and New,
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P.F.J.: "Computed tomographic examination of heavy marijuana
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smokers", JAMA, 237:1231-1232, 1977.
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2) See Marijuana and Health, ibid., for information on this
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research. See also, Marijuana Reconsidered (1978) by Dr.
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Lester Grinspoon.
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3) The Dutch experience is written up in "The Economics of
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Legalizing Drugs", by Richard J. Dennis, The Atlantic Monthly,
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Vol 266, No. 5, Nov 1990, p. 130. See "A Comparison of
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Marijuana Users and Non-users" by Norman Zinberg and Andrew
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Weil (1971) for the negative correlation between use of
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marijuana and use of alcohol. The 1993 Rand Corporation study
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is "The Effect of Marijuana Decriminalization on Hospital
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Emergency Room Episodes: 1975 - 1978" by Karyn E. Model.
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4) See a review of studies and their methodology in "Marijuana
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and Immunity", Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Vol 20(1),
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Jan-Mar 1988. Studies showing stimulation of the immune
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system: Kaklamani, et al., "Hashish smoking and T-
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lymphocytes", 1978; Kalofoutis et al., "The significance of
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lymphocyte lipid changes after smoking hashish", 1978. The
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1988 study: Wallace, J.M., Tashkin, D.P., Oishi, J.S.,
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Barbers, R.G., "Peripheral Blood Lymphocyte Subpopulations and
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Mitogen Responsiveness in Tobacco and Marijuana Smokers",
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1988, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, ibid.
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5) The 90% figure comes from Health Consequences of Smoking:
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Nicotine Addiction, Surgeon General's Report, 1988. In Health
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magazine in an article entitled, "Hooked, Not Hooked" by
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Deborah Franklin (pp. 39-52), compares the addictives of
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various drugs and ranks marijuana below coffeine. For current
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information on cannabis drinks see Working Men and Ganja:
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Marijuana Use in Rural Jamaica by M. C. Dreher, Institute for
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the Study of Human Issues, 1982, ISBN 0-89727-025-8. For
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information on cannabis and actual cancer risk, see Marijuana
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and Health, ibid.
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6) For a survey of studies relating to cannabis and highway
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accidents see "Marijuana, Driving and Accident Safety", by
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Dale Gieringer, Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, ibid. The
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effect of decriminalization on highway accidents is analyzed
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in "Do Youths Substitute Alcohol and Marijuana? Some
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Econometric Evidence" by Frank J. Chaloupka and Adit
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Laixuthai, Nov. 1992, University of Illinois at Chicago.
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7) For information about the Partnership ad, see Jack Herer's
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book, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, 1990, p. 74. See also
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"Hard Sell in the Drug War", The Nation, March 9, 1992, by
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Cynthia Cotts, which reveals that the Partnership receives a
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large percentage of its advertizing budget from alcohol,
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tobacco, and pharmaceutical companies and is thus disposed
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toward exaggerating the risks of marijuana while downplaying
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the risks of legal drugs. For information on memory and the
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alpha brainwave enhancement effect, see "Marijuana, Memory,
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and Perception", by R. L. Dornbush, M.D., M. Fink, M.D., and
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A. M. Freedman, M.D., presented at the 124th annual meeting of
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the American Psychiatric Association, May 3-7, 1971.
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8) See "Cannabis 1988, Old Drug New Dangers, The Potency
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Question" by Tod H Mikuriya, M.D. and Michael Aldrich, Ph.D.,
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Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, ibid.
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9) See Marijuana and Health, ibid. Also see "Marijuana, Memory,
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and Perception", ibid.
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10) The fat solubility of cannabinoids and certain vitamins is
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well known. See Marijuana and Health, ibid. For some
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information on vitamin A, see "The A Team" in Scientific
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American, Vol 264, No. 2, February 1991, p. 16.
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11) See "Too Many Rodent Carcinogens: Mitogenesis Increases
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Mutagenesis", Bruce N. Ames and Lois Swirsky Gold, Science,
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Vol 249, 31 August 1990, p. 971.
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12) Cannabis and alcohol toxicity is compared in Marijuana
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Reconsidered, ibid., p. 227. Yearly alcohol overdoses was
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taken from "Drug Prohibition in the United States: Costs,
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Consequences, and Alternatives" by Ethan A. Nadelmann,
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Science, Vol 245, 1 September 1989, p. 943.
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--
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paul hager hagerp@moose.cs.indiana.edu
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"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason."
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-- Thomas Paine, _The Age of Reason_
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