71 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
71 lines
2.9 KiB
Plaintext
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From: nyt@blythe.org (NY Transfer News)
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/* Written 7:52 pm Oct 13, 1993 by jnr@igc.apc.org in igc:talk.pol.drugs */
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/* ---------- "Marijuana: Costly & Wasteful War" ---------- */
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This paper retyped by jnr from a fax. Errors are mine.
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Original paper by D. Gieringer, CANORML
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Marijuana Enforcement in California: A Costly and Wasteful War
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Costs of Prohibition:
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* Marijuana accounts for 15,000 felony arrests per year, at a
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cost to the state of about $100 million. Over half of
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arrestees are black and minorities.
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* CAMP helicopters disrupt the peace of our wilderness,
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invading personal privacy and promoting the spread of
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cultivation to public lands.
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* State eradication programs destroy an estimated $300 million
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in marijuana per year -- revenue that is lost to the local
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economy and diverted to foreign suppliers.
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* Californians consume about $3 - 6 billion worth of marijuana
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per year, representing some $250 - 500 million in lost sales
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taxes alone.
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* The war on marijuana has deprived us of an economically
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valuable crop, cannabis hemp, a productive source of fiber,
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biomass, protein and oil.
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* The war on marijuana has cruelly deprived medical patients of
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valuable therapy for nausea from chemotherapy, AIDS,
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glaucoma, chronic pain and spasticity, migraines, depression
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and other diseases.
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The war on marijuana has not controlled drug abuse. On the
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contrary, the record shows clearly that the crackdown on
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marijuana fueled the state's disastrous cocaine epidemic. Recent
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studies have found that marijuana tends to substitute for alcohol
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and harder drugs, and that states with tough marijuana laws tend
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to have worse accident and drug abuse problems.
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California's marijuana decrim law has been a success: The
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Moscone Act reduced the penalty for possession of less than one
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ounce of marijuana from a felony to a minor misdemeanor in 1976.
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Since its passage, the state has saved $90 million per year in
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arrest and court costs, while consumption declined to its lowest
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level since 1967, when use was still a felony.
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Official studies have consistently called for further
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decriminalization, including the National Academy of Sciences
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(1982), the Presidential Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse
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(1973), and the state Research Advisory Panel (1990), which
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recommended legalizing personal use and cultivation of marijuana.
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Marijuana legalization works. In the Netherlands, where cannabis
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is legally available in coffee shops, only 5% of the population
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are regular users, while opiate and hard drug addiction is lower
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than in neighboring countries. Other foreign countries,
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including Germany, Australia, Italy, Switzerland and France, are
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seriously considering the Dutch system.
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-- D. Gieringer, Coordinator, California NORML, July 1993.
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National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, NORML
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2215-R Market Street #278
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San Francisco CA 94114
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tel: 415-563-5858
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