Marijuana Legalization Gains Support, Confounding Policymakers

[Logical]

WASHINGTON — It took 50 years for American attitudes about marijuana to zigzag from the paranoia of "Reefer Madness" to the excesses of Woodstock back to the hard line of "Just Say No."

The next 25 years took the nation from Bill Clinton, who famously "didn't inhale," to Barack Obama, who most emphatically did.

And now, in just a few short years, public opinion has moved so dramatically toward general acceptance that even those who champion legalization are surprised at how quickly attitudes are changing and states are moving to approve the drug – for medical use and just for fun.

It is a moment in America that is rife with contradictions:

_People are looking more kindly on marijuana even as science reveals more about the drug's potential dangers, particularly for young people.

_States are giving the green light to the drug in direct defiance of a federal prohibition on its use.

_Exploration of the potential medical benefit is limited by high federal hurdles to research.

Washington policymakers seem reluctant to deal with any of it.

Richard Bonnie, a University of Virginia law professor who worked for a national commission that recommended decriminalizing marijuana in 1972, sees the public taking a big leap from prohibition to a more laissez-faire approach without full deliberation.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/29/marijuana-legalization_n_3521547.html

[newfie11]

1. Maybe because there's lots of us old coots

I hear it works great for arthritis pain.
Bring it on, I'll be happy to try it.

[Fly by night]

2. "But... but what about the children?"

Some pot prohibitionists (including Patrick Kennedy, a practicing alcoholic and pill addict; and Nora Volkow, whose self-serving interests and interference with scientific inquiry are obvious ) continue to oppose the return of cannabis to the medical pharmacopoeia because they state that it will increase use of recreational cannabis by young people. To be clear, I do not want young people to use pot either because their body systems (including their brains and endocannabinoid systems) are still developing. Fortunately, the evidence is very strong that the one (safe access to medical cannabis) does not lead to the other (increased use by kids.) Thankfully, we have years of data with legalized medical marijuana and the impact on teenager cannabis usage rates. Numerous studies show the enactment of statewide medical cannabis laws is not associated with increased rates of adolescent marijuana consumption.

American Journal of Public Health 2003-2011 study: the passage of medical marijuana laws in various states has had no “statistically significant … effect on the prevalence of either lifetime or 30-day marijuana use” by adolescents residing in those states.

University of Florida College of Medicine 2003-2011 study: “found no evidence of intermediate-term effects of passage of state MMLs (medical marijuana laws) on the prevalence or frequency of adolescent non-medical marijuana use in the states evaluated. Our results suggest that, in the states assessed here, MMLs have not measurably affected adolescent marijuana use.”.

Study of Labor (IZA) in Germany 2012 study: “Our results suggest that the legalization of medical marijuana was not accompanied by increases in the use of marijuana or other substances such as alcohol and cocaine among high school students. Interestingly, several of our estimates suggest that marijuana use actually declined with the passage of medical marijuana laws.”.

McGill University 2002-2009 study: “Passing MMLs (medical marijuana laws) decreased past-month use among adolescents … and had no discernible effect on the perceived riskiness of monthly use. … These estimates suggest that reported adolescent marijuana use may actually decrease following the passing of medical marijuana laws.”.

Brown University 2011 / Texas A&M 2007 studies: “Consistent with other studies of the liberalization of cannabis laws, medical cannabis laws do not appear to increase use of the drug.”.

Rhode Island Hospital “researchers looked at marijuana use among youth between 1993 and 2009, a time when 13 states legalized the drug for medical use. They found no correlation between legalization of the drug and increased use among teens in a given state. In fact, slight drops in teen use were seen in some states where marijuana was legalized.“.

Pot prohibitionists are entitled to their own opinions.
They are not entitled to ignore the facts.

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. K&R. n/t