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South America Sees Drug Path to Legalization (NYT)
Αμάν και πότε! Αν η Λατινική Αμερική σπάσει το στραβό κεφάλι των Γιάνκηδων, υπάρχει ελπίδα!
Αμάν και πότε! Αν η Λατινική Αμερική σπάσει το στραβό κεφάλι των Γιάνκηδων, υπάρχει ελπίδα!
Legalize it?
- Thread starter Costas
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Ανοίγουν τις πύλες τους τα πρώτα νόμιμα coffee shops στο Κολοράντο (Καθημερινή)
Τα πρώτα νόμιμα coffee shops όπου οι καταναλωτές θα μπορούν να αγοράζουν ελεύθερα μαριχουάνα, υπό την προϋπόθεση ότι θα είναι άνω των 21 ετών, ανοίγουν σήμερα τις πύλες τους στο Κολοράντο και την πολιτεία της Ουάσινγκτον.
Ένας νόμος που ψηφίστηκε τον Νοέμβριο επιτρέπει πλέον την ίδρυση τέτοιων «καταστημάτων» που θα πωλούν έως και 28 γραμμάρια κάνναβης στους πελάτες τους για «ψυχαγωγικούς» και όχι ιατρικούς σκοπούς.
Πολλοί κάτοικοι του Κολοράντο έσπευσαν να γιορτάσουν την έλευση του νέου έτους σε συνδυασμό με τη νομιμοποίηση της μαριχουάνας. Στο Ντένβερ, την πανεπιστημιούπολη του Μπόλντερ, το Άσπεν και άλλες πόλεις και κοινότητες που εγκρίνουν την αλλαγή της νομοθεσίας, οι υποστηρικτές του μέτρου δεν έκρυβαν τον ενθουσιασμό τους. Δεκάδες συμμετείχαν σε ένα πάρτι στο Ντένβερ που οργανώθηκε από δύο εταιρείες οι οποίες δραστηριοποιούνται στο εμπόριο κάνναβης. Οι «εορτάζοντες» συγκεντρώθηκαν στο Casselman's Bar και κάπνισαν δημοσίως μαριχουάνα. Μολονότι ο νόμος επιτρέπει την πώληση, όχι όμως και τη δημόσια χρήση του ναρκωτικού, κανείς δεν έδειξε να ανησυχεί για μια ενδεχόμενη επιδρομή της αστυνομίας.
Η πρώτη νόμιμη πώληση μαριχουάνας στο Κολοράντο αναμένεται να γίνει μετά τις 17.00 (ώρα Ελλάδας), όταν θα ανοίξουν τα καταστήματα που έχουν λάβει τη σχετική άδεια. Στην πολιτεία της Ουάσινγκτον οι αρχές έχουν εγκρίνει την πώληση κάνναβης για ψυχαγωγικούς σκοπούς, όμως ακόμη δεν έχει ολοκληρωθεί η διαδικασία χορήγησης αδειών στα coffee shops.
Πολλά από τα καταστήματα του Κολοράντο που θα διαθέτουν μαριχουάνα πωλούσαν ήδη το ναρκωτικό για ιατρικούς σκοπούς αφού η χρήση του είναι νόμιμη, εδώ και σχεδόν τρία χρόνια, αλλά μόνο με συνταγή γιατρού. Σε άλλες 20 Πολιτείες των ΗΠΑ επιτρέπεται σήμερα η πώληση κάνναβης σε ασθενείς.
Ο 23χρονος Φίλιπ Χαντ, ζαχαροπλάστης από το Ντένβερ, είπε ότι η νομιμοποίηση της κάνναβης έχει προσελκύσει πολλούς «νόμιμους επιχειρηματίες» που θέλουν να βγάλουν κέρδος από αυτή τη δουλειά. Ο ίδιος μαζί με τον 38χρονο Τζόσουα Φινκ έχουν δημιουργήσει μια σειρά από τρόφιμα --από γλυκά με καρύδα μέχρι φιστικοβούτυρο-- που περιέχουν κάνναβη και προσπαθούν να προωθήσουν τα προϊόντα τους.
Τα πρώτα νόμιμα coffee shops όπου οι καταναλωτές θα μπορούν να αγοράζουν ελεύθερα μαριχουάνα, υπό την προϋπόθεση ότι θα είναι άνω των 21 ετών, ανοίγουν σήμερα τις πύλες τους στο Κολοράντο και την πολιτεία της Ουάσινγκτον.
Ένας νόμος που ψηφίστηκε τον Νοέμβριο επιτρέπει πλέον την ίδρυση τέτοιων «καταστημάτων» που θα πωλούν έως και 28 γραμμάρια κάνναβης στους πελάτες τους για «ψυχαγωγικούς» και όχι ιατρικούς σκοπούς.
Πολλοί κάτοικοι του Κολοράντο έσπευσαν να γιορτάσουν την έλευση του νέου έτους σε συνδυασμό με τη νομιμοποίηση της μαριχουάνας. Στο Ντένβερ, την πανεπιστημιούπολη του Μπόλντερ, το Άσπεν και άλλες πόλεις και κοινότητες που εγκρίνουν την αλλαγή της νομοθεσίας, οι υποστηρικτές του μέτρου δεν έκρυβαν τον ενθουσιασμό τους. Δεκάδες συμμετείχαν σε ένα πάρτι στο Ντένβερ που οργανώθηκε από δύο εταιρείες οι οποίες δραστηριοποιούνται στο εμπόριο κάνναβης. Οι «εορτάζοντες» συγκεντρώθηκαν στο Casselman's Bar και κάπνισαν δημοσίως μαριχουάνα. Μολονότι ο νόμος επιτρέπει την πώληση, όχι όμως και τη δημόσια χρήση του ναρκωτικού, κανείς δεν έδειξε να ανησυχεί για μια ενδεχόμενη επιδρομή της αστυνομίας.
Η πρώτη νόμιμη πώληση μαριχουάνας στο Κολοράντο αναμένεται να γίνει μετά τις 17.00 (ώρα Ελλάδας), όταν θα ανοίξουν τα καταστήματα που έχουν λάβει τη σχετική άδεια. Στην πολιτεία της Ουάσινγκτον οι αρχές έχουν εγκρίνει την πώληση κάνναβης για ψυχαγωγικούς σκοπούς, όμως ακόμη δεν έχει ολοκληρωθεί η διαδικασία χορήγησης αδειών στα coffee shops.
Πολλά από τα καταστήματα του Κολοράντο που θα διαθέτουν μαριχουάνα πωλούσαν ήδη το ναρκωτικό για ιατρικούς σκοπούς αφού η χρήση του είναι νόμιμη, εδώ και σχεδόν τρία χρόνια, αλλά μόνο με συνταγή γιατρού. Σε άλλες 20 Πολιτείες των ΗΠΑ επιτρέπεται σήμερα η πώληση κάνναβης σε ασθενείς.
Ο 23χρονος Φίλιπ Χαντ, ζαχαροπλάστης από το Ντένβερ, είπε ότι η νομιμοποίηση της κάνναβης έχει προσελκύσει πολλούς «νόμιμους επιχειρηματίες» που θέλουν να βγάλουν κέρδος από αυτή τη δουλειά. Ο ίδιος μαζί με τον 38χρονο Τζόσουα Φινκ έχουν δημιουργήσει μια σειρά από τρόφιμα --από γλυκά με καρύδα μέχρι φιστικοβούτυρο-- που περιέχουν κάνναβη και προσπαθούν να προωθήσουν τα προϊόντα τους.
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Χάρτης με τις πολιτείες των ΗΠΑ που επιτρέπουν την ιατρική χρήση μαριχουάνας (ΝΥΤ). Προσεχώς και η Νέα Υόρκη.
Η πολιτεία της Νέας Υόρκης πρόκειται να γίνει η 21η πολιτεία που επιτρέπει την χρήση μαριχουάνας για φαρμακευτικούς σκοπούς. Στο μεταξύ, οι πολιτείες του Κολοράντο και της Ουάσινγκτον ψήφισαν τον Νοέμβριο του 2012 έναν νέο νόμο που επιτρέπει την χρήση μαριχουάνας για μη ιατρικούς λόγους, από εξουσιοδοτημένα καταστήματα. Οι νόμοι αυτοί διαφέρουν σε κάποια σημεία. Στην Νέα Υόρκη (Initiative 502) θα επιτρέπεται η πώληση σε άτομα ηλικίας από 21 και πάνω ενώ η μη εξουσιοδοτημένη κατοχή παραμένει παράνομη με επιτρεπόμενο όριο κατοχής την μια ουγγιά (καθαρή). Επιπροσθέτως υπάρχουν κάποια έξτρα μέτρα, όπως το ότι τα καταστήματα που πουλάνε κάνναβη πρέπει να βρίσκονται μακριά από σχολεία, δημόσια πάρκα, δημόσιες βιβλιοθήκες και όποιον άλλον δημόσιο ή ιδιωτικό χώρο μπορεί να βρίσκονται παιδιά (1000 πόδια, περίπου 300 μέτρα) και ότι ο παραγωγός κάνναβης δεν μπορεί να είναι και πωλητής ταυτόχρονα. Η προσωπική καλλιέργεια συνεχίζει να είναι παράνομη, εκτός αν πρόκειται για ιατρικούς λόγους. Τα φορολογικά έσοδα από τις πωλήσεις θα διατίθενται κυρίως στο σύστημα υγείας (55%) και στην εκπαίδευση και τα προγράμματα αποκατάστασης τοξικομανών (25%). Καταστήματα αναμένεται να ανοίξουν τους προσεχείς μήνες.
Στο Κολοράντο (Amendment 64) το πρώτο κατάστημα άνοιξε την Πρωτοχρονιά. Οι κανονισμοί της πολιτείας επιτρέπουν την ιδιωτική καλλιέργεια για προσωπική χρήση, με όριο τα 3 φυτά και υπό τον όρο ότι παραμένουν σε κλειδωμένο χώρο και δεν πρόκειται να μετακινηθούν. Οι χρήστες επιτρέπεται να κατέχουν μέχρι μια ουγγιά όσο είναι έξω και να δώσουν σε τρίτο πρόσωπο (όχι πώληση) μέχρι μια ουγγιά, με την προϋπόθεση ότι έχουν κλείσει και οι δυο τα 21. Τα πρώτα 40 εκατομμύρια από τα φορολογικά έσοδα κάθε έτους θα διατίθενται στην κατασκευή και συντήρηση σχολείων, μέσω του Public School Capital Construction Assistance Fund. Ακόμα, αμφότεροι οι νόμοι θέτουν συγκεκριμένους όρους για τα προϊόντα μαριχουάνας, σε οποιαδήποτε μορφή, όπως την περιεκτικότητά τους σε THC. Επίσης απαγορεύεται η δημόσια κατανάλωση.
Φυσικά, ο ομοσπονδιακός νόμος απαγορεύει ακόμα την κάνναβη σε εθνικό επίπεδο κι έτσι απαγορεύεται η αγορά κάνναβης και εξαγωγή της απ' αυτές τις δυο πολιτείες προς άλλες, αλλά οποιοσδήποτε πολίτης άλλης πολιτείας μπορεί, βεβαίως, να καταναλώσει επιτόπου τα εν λόγω προϊόντα και τα παράγωγά τους. Σ' αυτό το σημείο έρχεται και το παράδοξο/παράλογο του πράγματος, όπου οι χρήστες, ακόμα και τα καταστήματα μπορούν να διωχθούν ποινικώς υπό τον ομοσπονδιακό νόμο (αν η ομοσπονδιακή κυβέρνηση θέλει, βέβαια). Οι αθλητικές ομοσπονδίες, όπως το NBA και το NFL συνεχίζουν να απαγορεύουν την κάνναβη, καθώς και οποιοσδήποτε οργανισμός ή γενικότερα εργοδότης που λαμβάνει ομοσπονδιακή επιχορήγηση για οποιονδήποτε λόγο.
USA Today
Financial Times
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Guardian
Στο Κολοράντο (Amendment 64) το πρώτο κατάστημα άνοιξε την Πρωτοχρονιά. Οι κανονισμοί της πολιτείας επιτρέπουν την ιδιωτική καλλιέργεια για προσωπική χρήση, με όριο τα 3 φυτά και υπό τον όρο ότι παραμένουν σε κλειδωμένο χώρο και δεν πρόκειται να μετακινηθούν. Οι χρήστες επιτρέπεται να κατέχουν μέχρι μια ουγγιά όσο είναι έξω και να δώσουν σε τρίτο πρόσωπο (όχι πώληση) μέχρι μια ουγγιά, με την προϋπόθεση ότι έχουν κλείσει και οι δυο τα 21. Τα πρώτα 40 εκατομμύρια από τα φορολογικά έσοδα κάθε έτους θα διατίθενται στην κατασκευή και συντήρηση σχολείων, μέσω του Public School Capital Construction Assistance Fund. Ακόμα, αμφότεροι οι νόμοι θέτουν συγκεκριμένους όρους για τα προϊόντα μαριχουάνας, σε οποιαδήποτε μορφή, όπως την περιεκτικότητά τους σε THC. Επίσης απαγορεύεται η δημόσια κατανάλωση.
Φυσικά, ο ομοσπονδιακός νόμος απαγορεύει ακόμα την κάνναβη σε εθνικό επίπεδο κι έτσι απαγορεύεται η αγορά κάνναβης και εξαγωγή της απ' αυτές τις δυο πολιτείες προς άλλες, αλλά οποιοσδήποτε πολίτης άλλης πολιτείας μπορεί, βεβαίως, να καταναλώσει επιτόπου τα εν λόγω προϊόντα και τα παράγωγά τους. Σ' αυτό το σημείο έρχεται και το παράδοξο/παράλογο του πράγματος, όπου οι χρήστες, ακόμα και τα καταστήματα μπορούν να διωχθούν ποινικώς υπό τον ομοσπονδιακό νόμο (αν η ομοσπονδιακή κυβέρνηση θέλει, βέβαια). Οι αθλητικές ομοσπονδίες, όπως το NBA και το NFL συνεχίζουν να απαγορεύουν την κάνναβη, καθώς και οποιοσδήποτε οργανισμός ή γενικότερα εργοδότης που λαμβάνει ομοσπονδιακή επιχορήγηση για οποιονδήποτε λόγο.
USA Today
Financial Times
Huffington Post
Guardian
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Αχ, αυτοί οι Κινέζοι! (The Independent)
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U.S. Issues Marijuana Guidelines for Banks
By SERGE F. KOVALESKIFEB. 14, 2014
(NYT)
The Obama administration on Friday issued guidelines intended to give banks confidence that they will not be punished if they provide services to legitimate marijuana businesses in states that have legalized the medical or recreational use of the drug, even though it remains illicit under federal law.
The guidance, which requires banks to vigorously monitor their marijuana-industry customers, was provided by the Treasury Department and the Justice Department in separate advisories. The policy does not grant immunity from prosecution or civil penalties to banks that serve legal marijuana businesses. But it directs prosecutors and regulators to give priority to cases only where financial institutions have failed to adhere to the guidance.
Still, the banking industry was quick to say that the new guidelines would not be sufficient to make banks feel at ease about opening accounts for or granting loans to marijuana businesses because the drug would still be illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act.
“While we appreciate the efforts by the Department of Justice and FinCEN, guidance or regulation doesn’t alter the underlying challenge for banks,” Frank Keating, president of the American Bankers Association, said in a statement, referring to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Treasury unit that issued part of the guidelines. “As it stands, possession or distribution of marijuana violates federal law, and banks that provide support for those activities face the risk of prosecution and assorted sanctions.”
Twenty states and the District of Columbia allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and two of those states, Colorado and Washington, have also legalized the recreational use of the drug. Those numbers may grow this year, as several other states are considering measures to legalize marijuana use.
In a three-page memo to prosecutors issued in conjunction with the new banking guidelines, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole wrote that prosecutions may not be “appropriate” when banks do business with marijuana entities that are operating legally under state law and do not violate any of the eight priorities set forth in a Justice Department memo last August. Those priorities include preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors and preventing revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises.
Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said she was unaware of any banks that have been punished for servicing legal marijuana businesses.
Legal marijuana entrepreneurs have stressed that access to banking has been their most pressing concern. Their businesses are conducted almost entirely in cash, raising huge security concerns, because it is difficult for them to open and maintain bank accounts, or to accept credit cards. Banks have been apprehensive about providing services to marijuana businesses for fear that the authorities might punish them for violating money-laundering laws, among other federal statutes and regulations.
Last month, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. acknowledged that having so much cash on hand presented a public safety problem for legal marijuana businesses, adding that they should have access to the country’s banking system.
Some representatives of the legal marijuana industry said that although the guidelines showed progress, federal laws need to be revamped.
“It’s a great step in the right direction, but ultimately it would not solve all the problems here,” said Michael Elliott, executive director of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group in Colorado. “We need to go beyond saying that this is a low law enforcement priority. There are still violations of federal law going on here. So, federal laws need to be changed to ensure that what is legal in states like Colorado is legal at the federal level, as well.”
Marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug — along with heroin, LSD and Ecstasy — under the Controlled Substances Act. This week, 18 members of Congress, in a joint letter to President Obama, asked him to instruct Mr. Holder to remove marijuana from any of the drug schedules or to reschedule it to a lower category.
“Classifying marijuana as Schedule 1 at the federal level perpetuates an unjust and irrational system,” the lawmakers, led by Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon, said in the letter. “Schedule 1 recognizes no medical use, disregarding both medical evidence and the laws of nearly half of the states that have legalized medical marijuana.”
Ms. Shasky Calvery said in a conference call with reporters that the guidelines should clarify how financial institutions can provide services to marijuana businesses while maintaining their obligation to comply with the federal anti-money-laundering law, the Bank Secrecy Act. She also said that the guidelines were drafted “to move from the shadows” the financial operations of marijuana businesses.
The guidance “will provide transparency and mitigate the risks to the financial system,” Ms. Shasky Calvery said. The authorities do not intend to crack down on banks “for a technical mishap,” she said, adding: “We are not looking to have a gotcha enforcement regime.”
In a seven-page document explaining the guidelines, FinCEN called for “due diligence” by financial institutions in monitoring their marijuana customers, including reviewing their applications for state licenses and understanding their “normal and expected activity,” such as the types of products they sell and whether they have medical or recreational customers.
Since the financial transactions of a marijuana business are considered illegal under federal law, banks are required to file suspicious activity reports on those entities. A spokesman for the Treasury unit, Steve Hudak, said the reports under the guidelines would be abbreviated versions. Banks will have to initially file one suspicious activity report on a marijuana business, then three a year after that.
The new guidelines also establish different kinds of suspicious activity reports, depending on whether a bank believes a marijuana business is running afoul of the Justice Department’s priorities or is violating state law.
Matt Apuzzo contributed reporting.
By SERGE F. KOVALESKIFEB. 14, 2014
(NYT)
The Obama administration on Friday issued guidelines intended to give banks confidence that they will not be punished if they provide services to legitimate marijuana businesses in states that have legalized the medical or recreational use of the drug, even though it remains illicit under federal law.
The guidance, which requires banks to vigorously monitor their marijuana-industry customers, was provided by the Treasury Department and the Justice Department in separate advisories. The policy does not grant immunity from prosecution or civil penalties to banks that serve legal marijuana businesses. But it directs prosecutors and regulators to give priority to cases only where financial institutions have failed to adhere to the guidance.
Still, the banking industry was quick to say that the new guidelines would not be sufficient to make banks feel at ease about opening accounts for or granting loans to marijuana businesses because the drug would still be illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act.
“While we appreciate the efforts by the Department of Justice and FinCEN, guidance or regulation doesn’t alter the underlying challenge for banks,” Frank Keating, president of the American Bankers Association, said in a statement, referring to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Treasury unit that issued part of the guidelines. “As it stands, possession or distribution of marijuana violates federal law, and banks that provide support for those activities face the risk of prosecution and assorted sanctions.”
Twenty states and the District of Columbia allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and two of those states, Colorado and Washington, have also legalized the recreational use of the drug. Those numbers may grow this year, as several other states are considering measures to legalize marijuana use.
In a three-page memo to prosecutors issued in conjunction with the new banking guidelines, Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole wrote that prosecutions may not be “appropriate” when banks do business with marijuana entities that are operating legally under state law and do not violate any of the eight priorities set forth in a Justice Department memo last August. Those priorities include preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors and preventing revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises.
Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said she was unaware of any banks that have been punished for servicing legal marijuana businesses.
Legal marijuana entrepreneurs have stressed that access to banking has been their most pressing concern. Their businesses are conducted almost entirely in cash, raising huge security concerns, because it is difficult for them to open and maintain bank accounts, or to accept credit cards. Banks have been apprehensive about providing services to marijuana businesses for fear that the authorities might punish them for violating money-laundering laws, among other federal statutes and regulations.
Last month, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. acknowledged that having so much cash on hand presented a public safety problem for legal marijuana businesses, adding that they should have access to the country’s banking system.
Some representatives of the legal marijuana industry said that although the guidelines showed progress, federal laws need to be revamped.
“It’s a great step in the right direction, but ultimately it would not solve all the problems here,” said Michael Elliott, executive director of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group in Colorado. “We need to go beyond saying that this is a low law enforcement priority. There are still violations of federal law going on here. So, federal laws need to be changed to ensure that what is legal in states like Colorado is legal at the federal level, as well.”
Marijuana remains a Schedule 1 drug — along with heroin, LSD and Ecstasy — under the Controlled Substances Act. This week, 18 members of Congress, in a joint letter to President Obama, asked him to instruct Mr. Holder to remove marijuana from any of the drug schedules or to reschedule it to a lower category.
“Classifying marijuana as Schedule 1 at the federal level perpetuates an unjust and irrational system,” the lawmakers, led by Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon, said in the letter. “Schedule 1 recognizes no medical use, disregarding both medical evidence and the laws of nearly half of the states that have legalized medical marijuana.”
Ms. Shasky Calvery said in a conference call with reporters that the guidelines should clarify how financial institutions can provide services to marijuana businesses while maintaining their obligation to comply with the federal anti-money-laundering law, the Bank Secrecy Act. She also said that the guidelines were drafted “to move from the shadows” the financial operations of marijuana businesses.
The guidance “will provide transparency and mitigate the risks to the financial system,” Ms. Shasky Calvery said. The authorities do not intend to crack down on banks “for a technical mishap,” she said, adding: “We are not looking to have a gotcha enforcement regime.”
In a seven-page document explaining the guidelines, FinCEN called for “due diligence” by financial institutions in monitoring their marijuana customers, including reviewing their applications for state licenses and understanding their “normal and expected activity,” such as the types of products they sell and whether they have medical or recreational customers.
Since the financial transactions of a marijuana business are considered illegal under federal law, banks are required to file suspicious activity reports on those entities. A spokesman for the Treasury unit, Steve Hudak, said the reports under the guidelines would be abbreviated versions. Banks will have to initially file one suspicious activity report on a marijuana business, then three a year after that.
The new guidelines also establish different kinds of suspicious activity reports, depending on whether a bank believes a marijuana business is running afoul of the Justice Department’s priorities or is violating state law.
Matt Apuzzo contributed reporting.
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Προς το τέλος του "πολέμου κατά των ναρκωτικών" (François Polet [Αυγή / Le Monde Diplomatique])
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What Science Says About Marijuana (PHILIP M. BOFFEY / ΝΥΤ σε θέση κύριου άρθρου)
For Michele Leonhart, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, there is no difference between the health effects of marijuana and those of any other illegal drug. “All illegal drugs are bad for people,” she told Congress in 2012, refusing to say whether crack, methamphetamines or prescription painkillers are more addictive or physically harmful than marijuana.
Her testimony neatly illustrates the vast gap between antiquated federal law enforcement policies and the clear consensus of science that marijuana is far less harmful to human health than most other banned drugs and is less dangerous than the highly addictive but perfectly legal substances known as alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana cannot lead to a fatal overdose. There is little evidence that it causes cancer. Its addictive properties, while present, are low, and the myth that it leads users to more powerful drugs has long since been disproved.
That doesn’t mean marijuana is harmless; in fact, the potency of current strains may shock those who haven’t tried it for decades, particularly when ingested as food. It can produce a serious dependency, and constant use would interfere with job and school performance. It needs to be kept out of the hands of minors. But, on balance, its downsides are not reasons to impose criminal penalties on its possession, particularly not in a society that permits nicotine use and celebrates drinking.
Marijuana’s negative health effects are arguments for the same strong regulation that has been effective in curbing abuse of legal substances. Science and government have learned a great deal, for example, about how to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors. Mandatory underage drinking laws and effective marketing campaigns have reduced underage alcohol use to 24.8 percent in 2011, compared with 33.4 percent in 1991. Cigarette use among high school students is at its lowest point ever, largely thanks to tobacco taxes and growing municipal smoking limits. There is already some early evidence that regulation would also help combat teen marijuana use, which fell after Colorado began broadly regulating medical marijuana in 2010.
Comparing the Dangers As with other recreational substances, marijuana’s health effects depend on the frequency of use, the potency and amount of marijuana consumed, and the age of the consumer. Casual use by adults poses little or no risk for healthy people. Its effects are mostly euphoric and mild, whereas alcohol turns some drinkers into barroom brawlers, domestic abusers or maniacs behind the wheel.
An independent scientific committee in Britain compared 20 drugs in 2010 for the harms they caused to individual users and to society as a whole through crime, family breakdown, absenteeism, and other social ills. Adding up all the damage, the panel estimated that alcohol was the most harmful drug, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana ranked eighth, having slightly more than one-fourth the harm of alcohol.
Federal scientists say that the damage caused by alcohol and tobacco is higher because they are legally available; if marijuana were legally and easily obtainable, they say, the number of people suffering harm would rise. However, a 1995 study for the World Health Organization concluded that even if usage of marijuana increased to the levels of alcohol and tobacco, it would be unlikely to produce public health effects approaching those of alcohol and tobacco in Western societies.
Most of the risks of marijuana use are “small to moderate in size,” the study said. “In aggregate, they are unlikely to produce public health problems comparable in scale to those currently produced by alcohol and tobacco.”
While tobacco causes cancer, and alcohol abuse can lead to cirrhosis, no clear causal connection between marijuana and a deadly disease has been made. Experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the scientific arm of the federal anti-drug campaign, published a review of the adverse health effects of marijuana in June that pointed to a few disease risks but was remarkably frank in acknowledging widespread uncertainties. Though the authors believed that legalization would expose more people to health hazards, they said the link to lung cancer is “unclear,” and that it is lower than the risk of smoking tobacco.
The very heaviest users can experience symptoms of bronchitis, such as wheezing and coughing, but moderate smoking poses little risk. A 2012 study found that smoking a joint a day for seven years was not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function. Experts say that marijuana increases the heart rate and the volume of blood pumped by the heart, but that poses a risk mostly to older users who already have cardiac or other health problems.
How Addictive Is Marijuana? Marijuana isn’t addictive in the same sense as heroin, from which withdrawal is an agonizing, physical ordeal. But it can interact with pleasure centers in the brain and can create a strong sense of psychological dependence that addiction experts say can be very difficult to break. Heavy users may find they need to take larger and larger doses to get the effects they want. When they try to stop, some get withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, sleeping difficulties and anxiety that are usually described as relatively mild.
The American Society of Addiction Medicine, the largest association of physicians specializing in addiction, issued a white paper in 2012 opposing legalization because “marijuana is not a safe and harmless substance” and marijuana addiction “is a significant health problem.”
Nonetheless, that health problem is far less significant than for other substances, legal and illegal. The Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a 1999 study that 32 percent of tobacco users become dependent, as do 23 percent of heroin users, 17 percent of cocaine users, and 15 percent of alcohol drinkers. But only 9 percent of marijuana users develop a dependence.
“Although few marijuana users develop dependence, some do,” according to the study. “But they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less severe than dependence on other drugs.”
There’s no need to ban a substance that has less than a third of the addictive potential of cigarettes, but state governments can discourage heavy use through taxes and education campaigns and help provide treatment for those who wish to quit.
Impact on Young People One of the favorite arguments of legalization opponents is that marijuana is the pathway to more dangerous drugs. But a wide variety of researchers have found no causal factor pushing users up the ladder of harm. While 111 million Americans have tried marijuana, only a third of that number have tried cocaine, and only 4 percent heroin. People who try marijuana are more likely than the general population to try other drugs, but that doesn’t mean marijuana prompted them to do so.
Marijuana “does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse,” the Institute of Medicine study said. The real gateway drugs are tobacco and alcohol, which young people turn to first before trying marijuana.
It’s clear, though, that marijuana is now far too easy for minors to obtain, which remains a significant problem. The brain undergoes active development until about age 21, and there is evidence that young people are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of marijuana.
A long-term study based in New Zealand, published in 2012, found that people who began smoking heavily in their teens and continued into adulthood lost an average of eight I.Q. points by age 38 that could not be fully restored. A Canadian study published in 2002 also found an I.Q. loss among heavy school-age users who smoked at least five joints a week.
The case is not completely settled. The New Zealand study was challenged by a Norwegian researcher who said socio-economic factors may have played a role in the I.Q. loss. But the recent review by experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse concluded that adults who smoked heavily in adolescence had impaired neural connections that interfered with the functioning of their brains. Early and frequent marijuana use has also been associated with poor grades, apathy and dropping out of school, but it is unclear whether consumption triggered the poor grades.
Restricting marijuana to adults is more important now that Colorado merchants are selling THC, the drug’s active ingredient, in candy bars, cookies and other edible forms likely to appeal to minors. Experience in Colorado has shown that people can quickly ingest large amounts of THC that way, which can produce frightening hallucinations.
Although marijuana use had been declining among high school students for more than a decade, in recent years it has started to climb, in contrast to continuing declines in cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Marijuana was found -- alone or in combination with other drugs -- in more than 455,000 patients visiting emergency rooms in 2011. Nearly 70 percent of the teenagers in residential substance-abuse programs run by Phoenix House, which operates drug and alcohol treatment centers in 10 states, listed marijuana as their primary problem.
Those are challenges for regulators in any state that chooses to legalize marijuana. But they are familiar challenges, and they will become easier for governments to deal with once more of them bring legal marijuana under tight regulation.
For Michele Leonhart, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, there is no difference between the health effects of marijuana and those of any other illegal drug. “All illegal drugs are bad for people,” she told Congress in 2012, refusing to say whether crack, methamphetamines or prescription painkillers are more addictive or physically harmful than marijuana.
Her testimony neatly illustrates the vast gap between antiquated federal law enforcement policies and the clear consensus of science that marijuana is far less harmful to human health than most other banned drugs and is less dangerous than the highly addictive but perfectly legal substances known as alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana cannot lead to a fatal overdose. There is little evidence that it causes cancer. Its addictive properties, while present, are low, and the myth that it leads users to more powerful drugs has long since been disproved.
That doesn’t mean marijuana is harmless; in fact, the potency of current strains may shock those who haven’t tried it for decades, particularly when ingested as food. It can produce a serious dependency, and constant use would interfere with job and school performance. It needs to be kept out of the hands of minors. But, on balance, its downsides are not reasons to impose criminal penalties on its possession, particularly not in a society that permits nicotine use and celebrates drinking.
Marijuana’s negative health effects are arguments for the same strong regulation that has been effective in curbing abuse of legal substances. Science and government have learned a great deal, for example, about how to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors. Mandatory underage drinking laws and effective marketing campaigns have reduced underage alcohol use to 24.8 percent in 2011, compared with 33.4 percent in 1991. Cigarette use among high school students is at its lowest point ever, largely thanks to tobacco taxes and growing municipal smoking limits. There is already some early evidence that regulation would also help combat teen marijuana use, which fell after Colorado began broadly regulating medical marijuana in 2010.
Comparing the Dangers As with other recreational substances, marijuana’s health effects depend on the frequency of use, the potency and amount of marijuana consumed, and the age of the consumer. Casual use by adults poses little or no risk for healthy people. Its effects are mostly euphoric and mild, whereas alcohol turns some drinkers into barroom brawlers, domestic abusers or maniacs behind the wheel.
An independent scientific committee in Britain compared 20 drugs in 2010 for the harms they caused to individual users and to society as a whole through crime, family breakdown, absenteeism, and other social ills. Adding up all the damage, the panel estimated that alcohol was the most harmful drug, followed by heroin and crack cocaine. Marijuana ranked eighth, having slightly more than one-fourth the harm of alcohol.
Federal scientists say that the damage caused by alcohol and tobacco is higher because they are legally available; if marijuana were legally and easily obtainable, they say, the number of people suffering harm would rise. However, a 1995 study for the World Health Organization concluded that even if usage of marijuana increased to the levels of alcohol and tobacco, it would be unlikely to produce public health effects approaching those of alcohol and tobacco in Western societies.
Most of the risks of marijuana use are “small to moderate in size,” the study said. “In aggregate, they are unlikely to produce public health problems comparable in scale to those currently produced by alcohol and tobacco.”
While tobacco causes cancer, and alcohol abuse can lead to cirrhosis, no clear causal connection between marijuana and a deadly disease has been made. Experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the scientific arm of the federal anti-drug campaign, published a review of the adverse health effects of marijuana in June that pointed to a few disease risks but was remarkably frank in acknowledging widespread uncertainties. Though the authors believed that legalization would expose more people to health hazards, they said the link to lung cancer is “unclear,” and that it is lower than the risk of smoking tobacco.
The very heaviest users can experience symptoms of bronchitis, such as wheezing and coughing, but moderate smoking poses little risk. A 2012 study found that smoking a joint a day for seven years was not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function. Experts say that marijuana increases the heart rate and the volume of blood pumped by the heart, but that poses a risk mostly to older users who already have cardiac or other health problems.
How Addictive Is Marijuana? Marijuana isn’t addictive in the same sense as heroin, from which withdrawal is an agonizing, physical ordeal. But it can interact with pleasure centers in the brain and can create a strong sense of psychological dependence that addiction experts say can be very difficult to break. Heavy users may find they need to take larger and larger doses to get the effects they want. When they try to stop, some get withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, sleeping difficulties and anxiety that are usually described as relatively mild.
The American Society of Addiction Medicine, the largest association of physicians specializing in addiction, issued a white paper in 2012 opposing legalization because “marijuana is not a safe and harmless substance” and marijuana addiction “is a significant health problem.”
Nonetheless, that health problem is far less significant than for other substances, legal and illegal. The Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a 1999 study that 32 percent of tobacco users become dependent, as do 23 percent of heroin users, 17 percent of cocaine users, and 15 percent of alcohol drinkers. But only 9 percent of marijuana users develop a dependence.
“Although few marijuana users develop dependence, some do,” according to the study. “But they appear to be less likely to do so than users of other drugs (including alcohol and nicotine), and marijuana dependence appears to be less severe than dependence on other drugs.”
There’s no need to ban a substance that has less than a third of the addictive potential of cigarettes, but state governments can discourage heavy use through taxes and education campaigns and help provide treatment for those who wish to quit.
Impact on Young People One of the favorite arguments of legalization opponents is that marijuana is the pathway to more dangerous drugs. But a wide variety of researchers have found no causal factor pushing users up the ladder of harm. While 111 million Americans have tried marijuana, only a third of that number have tried cocaine, and only 4 percent heroin. People who try marijuana are more likely than the general population to try other drugs, but that doesn’t mean marijuana prompted them to do so.
Marijuana “does not appear to be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse,” the Institute of Medicine study said. The real gateway drugs are tobacco and alcohol, which young people turn to first before trying marijuana.
It’s clear, though, that marijuana is now far too easy for minors to obtain, which remains a significant problem. The brain undergoes active development until about age 21, and there is evidence that young people are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of marijuana.
A long-term study based in New Zealand, published in 2012, found that people who began smoking heavily in their teens and continued into adulthood lost an average of eight I.Q. points by age 38 that could not be fully restored. A Canadian study published in 2002 also found an I.Q. loss among heavy school-age users who smoked at least five joints a week.
The case is not completely settled. The New Zealand study was challenged by a Norwegian researcher who said socio-economic factors may have played a role in the I.Q. loss. But the recent review by experts at the National Institute on Drug Abuse concluded that adults who smoked heavily in adolescence had impaired neural connections that interfered with the functioning of their brains. Early and frequent marijuana use has also been associated with poor grades, apathy and dropping out of school, but it is unclear whether consumption triggered the poor grades.
Restricting marijuana to adults is more important now that Colorado merchants are selling THC, the drug’s active ingredient, in candy bars, cookies and other edible forms likely to appeal to minors. Experience in Colorado has shown that people can quickly ingest large amounts of THC that way, which can produce frightening hallucinations.
Although marijuana use had been declining among high school students for more than a decade, in recent years it has started to climb, in contrast to continuing declines in cigarette smoking and alcohol use. Marijuana was found -- alone or in combination with other drugs -- in more than 455,000 patients visiting emergency rooms in 2011. Nearly 70 percent of the teenagers in residential substance-abuse programs run by Phoenix House, which operates drug and alcohol treatment centers in 10 states, listed marijuana as their primary problem.
Those are challenges for regulators in any state that chooses to legalize marijuana. But they are familiar challenges, and they will become easier for governments to deal with once more of them bring legal marijuana under tight regulation.
Costas
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Odd Byproduct of Legal Marijuana: Homes That Blow Up
JACK HEALY / NYT
18 Jan 2015
Cities are trying to clamp down as some amateur alchemists who turn their kitchens and basements into labs end up blowing up their homes while using flammable chemicals to extract potent drops of a marijuana concentrate.
JACK HEALY / NYT
18 Jan 2015
Cities are trying to clamp down as some amateur alchemists who turn their kitchens and basements into labs end up blowing up their homes while using flammable chemicals to extract potent drops of a marijuana concentrate.
...
5 charts explaining Colorado's first year of legal weed, Wired, 9-3-2015
Legalize it. And they will analyze it.
“They” being the Colorado Department of Revenue, and “it” being marijuana, of course. Beginning in 2014, recreational sales of marijuana were finally legal in the (Mile) High State.
Overall, legalization has worked out pretty well. Crime is down, tax revenues are up, and everyone is happy (well, except for neighboring states grumbling about drug trafficking). Here are five charts showing how the program has fared. And yes, these charts look way cooler under a blacklight.
[...]
5 charts explaining Colorado's first year of legal weed, Wired, 9-3-2015
Legalize it. And they will analyze it.
“They” being the Colorado Department of Revenue, and “it” being marijuana, of course. Beginning in 2014, recreational sales of marijuana were finally legal in the (Mile) High State.
Overall, legalization has worked out pretty well. Crime is down, tax revenues are up, and everyone is happy (well, except for neighboring states grumbling about drug trafficking). Here are five charts showing how the program has fared. And yes, these charts look way cooler under a blacklight.
[...]
Costas
¥
Ruling in Mexico Sets Into Motion Legal Marijuana
By ELISABETH MALKIN and AZAM AHMED (NYT)
Ruling that individuals should have the right to grow and distribute marijuana for personal use, the court waded into the debate on the war on drugs.
By ELISABETH MALKIN and AZAM AHMED (NYT)
Ruling that individuals should have the right to grow and distribute marijuana for personal use, the court waded into the debate on the war on drugs.
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www.theguardian.com
An end to cigarettes? New Zealand aims to create smoke-free generation
Proposals include making sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2004 illegal
www.theguardian.com