cannabisnews.com: The Case for Decriminalizing Cannabis 





The Case for Decriminalizing Cannabis 
Posted by CN Staff on October 18, 2002 at 21:58:33 PT
Letters To The Editor
Source: Washington Post 
Asa Hutchinson's mischaracterization of Britain's marijuana decriminalization pilot program in the Lambeth borough of south London ["Drug Legalization Doesn't Work," op-ed, Oct. 9] is as disturbing as it is inaccurate. The fact that British police and politicians ultimately agreed to extend the Lambeth model nationwide speaks to the overwhelming success of cannabis decriminalization.
Under the Lambeth scheme, which was implemented last fall at the behest of British law enforcement, police "cautioned" rather than arrested minor marijuana offenders. Contrary to Hutchinson's allegations, street crime fell in Lambeth by nearly 50 percent during this program. Violent crime also fell dramatically under decriminalization. According to the BBC, robberies in the borough fell 18 percent during the first half of 2002 -- the largest reported decrease in England.Regardless of Hutchinson's impressions, the evidence dictates that marijuana decriminalization makes for safer streets. Additional statistics from Lambeth are equally telling. According to the British Home Office, arrests for hard drugs and drug trafficking increased nearly 20 percent under the pilot scheme. This increase was not because of an overall jump in hard drug use but because police had shifted their focus from marijuana to prosecuting more serious drug crimes. The Home Office further found that cautioning small-time pot users freed an estimated 1,300 hours in police time -- time the police used to better protect the public by targeting robbers, hard- drug dealers and other serious criminals.Had the Lambeth experiment not been so successful, Parliament would no doubt be champing at the bit to drastically increase England's marijuana penalties rather than reduce them. Instead, British policymakers are wisely choosing to join fellow European Union neighbors such as Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands and eliminate criminal penalties for the possession of marijuana for personal use. Rather than maligning this European trend, Hutchinson and other federal drug warriors should be learning from its success. -- Paul Armentano -- http://www.norml.org/The writer is a senior policy analyst for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Thanks to Asa Hutchinson, director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, for making the case for drug regulation and taxation. Of course, Hutchinson never intended to make this case. He favors the drug anarchy that we now see in our cities and even in small towns. But his description of a London neighborhood where drugs sales are tolerated on the streets is all too familiar.Whether or not drug possession is banned, police are unable to control or eliminate the black market. Hutchinson tries to pretend that the problems he describes are unique to this neighborhood and that they appeared when police relaxed marijuana enforcement. But an unbiased observer can see the same problems in any American city, and in particular in American high schools.We have tried Hutchinson's formula -- drug enforcement combined with anti-drug messages -- for many years, but the problems get worse, not better. The solution is tough regulation that takes drugs out of the black market and controls access by teenagers. Adults can make their own decisions about the risks and benefits of drugs. Although alcohol is our most dangerous drug, millions of American adults use it responsibly under a regulated system. A similar system could work for marijuana, which is less dangerous and is usually used in moderation.Under a regulated system, teenagers would at least have to fool an adult (as they do for alcohol) instead of simply buying drugs from other teenagers. -- Bruce McKinney Source: Washington Post (DC)Published: Saturday, October 19, 2002; Page A21 Copyright: 2002 The Washington Post Company Contact: letterstoed washpost.comWebsite: http://www.washingtonpost.com Related Article:Drug Legalization Doesn't Work http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14391.shtmlCannabisNews -- DEA Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/DEA.shtml 
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Comment #2 posted by goneposthole on October 20, 2002 at 08:39:41 PT
Wasted Government
A more appropriate characterization of what we really have.Another day orbiting the sun.51 times around the sun and counting.Maybe it is time to legalize cannabis. I don't think it is going to go away. The US gov will be long gone, but cannabis will still be around.
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Comment #1 posted by DANA on October 19, 2002 at 19:40:49 PT
...sort of off topic example of empire propaganda
..This is from USnewswire website....It is an example of how far the empire has gone,and will continue to go,,in order to further social control,,,and manipulative influence of the minds,and opinions of the masses.This "article",is from a supposed; "Citizens Against Government Waste"........Notice the shocking examples of "Government Waste", ....Who do you suppose funds this wonderful watchdog organization?.....Am I lost in some weird strange world of my own? ..(yes,,it's true,,perhaps I am,,forgive me..)CAGW Waste Wire. U.S. Newswire 18 Oct 18:08
CAGW's Waste Wire; Rounding Up The Latest News Items On Government Waste
To: National Desk
Contact: Sean Rushton or Mark Carpenter, 202-467-5300,
both of Citizens Against Government Waste.http://www.cagw.orgWASHINGTON, Oct. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Waste Wire is a
bi-monthly compendium from Citizens Against Government Waste of the
costly ways in which government spends public money.Agencies consistently give top job performance ratings to
85 percent of career executives even though numerous federal
programs fall short of meeting their strategic goals. The
performance ratings usually influence the distribution of bonuses
and other incentives. According to the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM), about half of senior executives receive bonuses
each year, and the size of those bonuses increased from $10,200 in
1999 to $12,300 in 2001. A recent Government Accounting Office
(GAO) report looked at approaches used by four agencies to link
individual performance to goal achievement and found that they made
some difference. The OPM plans to scrutinize performance ratings
and bonuses for 2002, which ended Oct. 1. -- Washington Post (10/1)The stopgap funding solution to the budget mess leaves most
federal agencies with no firm idea of how much money they will have
to spend over the next fiscal year. Operating on a week-to-week or
month-to-month budget will impair agency performance and could lead
to layoffs, say both Republicans and Democrats. --Washington Post
(10/2)A federal trade panel approved duties as high as 369 percent on
imports of steel wire rods, a move that will shelter American mills
but will provoke angry protests from companies that use the rods to
make wire. --New York Times (10/3)The Postal Service held letters addressed to Osama bin Laden in
Afghanistan. When officials from the Justice Department came to
rip them open, the Postal Service called the Customs Service, which
said nobody could get a warrant to open the letters without
probable cause. The letters proceeded to Afghanistan. Congress
reacted by changing the rules, so that from now on Osama's mail and
packages can be opened. -- US News & World Report (10/7)The House Appropriations VA-HUD Subcommittee approved its fiscal
2003 spending bill by providing more funding for veterans' medical
care than President Bush requested, while gutting AmeriCorps and
other federally administered volunteer programs which Bush strongly
backs. --Congressional Quarterly (10/7)Congress's failure to pass a budget means that tens of billions
of dollars in long-awaited federal funds to beef up homeland
security - including money for emergency training and equipment -
will not be available until next summer. -- USA Today (10/7)Congress is spending $100 million on research to explore
alternative mind-body healing techniques. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
helped establish the National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine after he claimed to use bee pollen to relieve
his allergies. Soon after his conversion experience, the Federal
Trade Commission fined the distributor of the bee pollen $200,000
for false advertising. -- Washington Times (10/7)A coalition of liberals and conservatives delayed a House vote
on the $3.6 billion Army Corps of Engineers appropriation due to
flagrant waste, mismanagement, and environmental abuse. Leadership
had attempted to renege on pledges to allow amendments and a full
debate of the corps. The Corp's projects have been widely
criticized for their economic and environmental deficiencies, from
such groups as the National Academy of Sciences, the Pentagon's
inspector general, the General Accounting Office (and CAGW). --
Washington Times (10/8)Congress neared completion of the $10.5 billion Military
Construction spending bill, which is about $800 million over the
president's budget request. -- Congressional Quarterly (10/8)The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) costs taxpayers
millions of dollars annually because of its inability to identify
and deport illegal immigrants being held in federal, state and
local prisons, a Justice Department audit said. The audit said the
INS "has not effectively managed" the Institutional Removal Program
(IRP), which was created in 1988 as an effort to deport criminal
aliens as soon as they served their prison terms. -- Washington
Times (10/8)Navy personnel used government credit cards to hire prostitutes,
buy jewelry, gamble, and attend New York Yankees and L.A. Lakers
games in fraudulent purchases exceeding $200,000, congressional
investigators have found. -- Associated Press (10/8)White House budget chief Mitch Daniels said President Bush wants
to use supplemental spending bills to fund any military strike on
Iraq to avoid permanently embedding new spending into the federal
budget's baseline going forward. -- Dow Jones (10/9)According to experts, the visa-application forms of 15 of the 19
Sept. 11 terrorists should have been denied under then-existing law
(the other four applications could not be obtained). Six separate
experts who analyzed the simple, two-page forms came to the same
conclusion: All the visa applications they reviewed should have
been denied on their face, but were instead approved by the
Department of State. -- Joel Mowbray, National Review (10/9)A top aid to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is proposing cuts
in major weapons programs including the Army's RAH-66 Comanche
helicopter and its $4 billion Stryker combat vehicle. The
recommendation is part of Pentagon official Stephen Cambone's plan
to trim more than $10 billion from the 2004-2009 defense budgets.
The Army is fighting the proposal. -- Reuters (10/14)Some members of Congress and security experts are calling for a
new U.S. domestic intelligence agency devoted solely to identifying
enemy spies and saboteurs in the United States. Sen. John Edwards
and Sen. Bob Graham, Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Intelligence, are behind the idea. -- Congressional Quarterly
(10/15)A single measure could derail an omnibus resources bill that so
far includes the text of 139 bills. Rules Committee member Deborah
Pryce, R-Ohio, raised objections to a measure that would direct the
government to transfer interest from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation
Fund to cover the health care costs of retired coal miners and
their families. Pryce's objection will likely prevent the bill
from being considered under suspension of the House's rules. --
Congressional Quarterly (10/15)Congress is weighing a three-year extension of the existing
welfare program, with an added $100 million a year to promote
marriage. -- New York Times (10/15)The Treasury Department recommended that Congress impose higher
taxes on companies that seek to reduce extraneous tax burdens by
creating headquarters in foreign countries, like Bermuda. --
Congressional Quarterly (10/16)Congress passed an election reform bill that provides almost $4
billion to replace old voting machines, train poll workers, and
combat fraud. President Bush will sign it into law, but it will
not take effect in time for the election next month. -- CBS
(10/16)Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has ordered a review of
whether the U.S. Operations Command should be stripped of its
weapons-buying authority so that it can focus solely on its
war-fighting role of supporting global clandestine missions to
capture or kill Al Qaeda terrorists. -- Washington Times (10/17)Congress approved the largest defense spending increase since
the Reagan years with a $355 billion appropriation for the fiscal
year beginning Oct. 1. That's $34.4 billion over last year's
level. -- Wall Street Journal (10/17)In a move that prioritizes reelection campaigning above the most
basic duty of Congress, the House voted 228 to 172 in favor of a
continuing resolution, effectively postponing action on 11 of 13
appropriations bills until after the election. -- Washington Post
(10/17)The Navy's unprecedented effort to update its entire computer
system has run into major problems. The $6.9 billion Navy-Marine
Corps undertaking was supposed to create an internal web site
capable of carrying a broad range of information. The project is
a year behind schedule and some in Congress are concerned it won't
stay within its budget. The Navy discovered ten times the number
of software applications it expected on its old computers which has
slowed down the overhaul. Hundreds of the applications can't be
moved to the new system, meaning that many workers have two
computers on their desk. Shadowing the project are problems
associated with its two contractors: EDS is undergoing an informal
Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry, and WorldCom declared
the largest bankruptcy in history. -- Washington Post (10/17)A flood of new regulations and edicts is swamping the
already-overworked staff of trial lawyers at the Securities and
Exchange Commission, and extra budget money isn't likely to help.
Following last year's revelations of corporate fraud, the Senate
Committee on Governmental Affairs faulted the SEC for faulty
oversight and called for sweeping reforms, adding new emphasis on
filing charges quickly and detecting fraud as it occurs. At the
same time, Congress is demanding that the SEC write a ton of new
regulations to support the new Sarbanese-Oxly Act, a task that
pulls lawyers off their enforcement duties. Some important cases
are faltering or lying dormant altogether. -- US News & World
Report (10/21)CAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, dedicated to
eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government.http://www.usnewswire.com
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