cannabisnews.com: The Marijuana Tipping Point Is Here
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The Marijuana Tipping Point Is Here
Posted by CN Staff on August 13, 2013 at 13:33:40 PT
By Stephanie Slade
Source: U.S. News & World Report 
USA -- The tide of drug prohibition is turning. With the decision of voters in Colorado and Washington state last year to not just decriminalize but legalize marijuana outright, I believe the nation arrived at a tipping point.Polling shows people are increasingly open to the notion that not all drugs should be outlawed. A survey by Pew Research Center back in March found a majority of Americans - 52 percent - now say marijuana should be legal. More strikingly, 72 percent agreed that government efforts to enforce marijuana laws cost more than they are worth, and three in four agreed the drug has "legitimate medical uses."
Last night, a uniquely credible voice joined the growing cacophony calling for the U.S. to rethink its drug policies. In a documentary special, neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta offered what amounts to a mea culpa for his previous opposition to medical marijuana. "We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that," he wrote in an accompanying op-ed.In both the TV special and the column, Gupta shares the story of little Charlotte Figi, whose severe form of epilepsy was subjecting her to as many 300 life-threatening seizures a week - until, at the age of 5, she began to take medical marijuana, and the seizures all but ceased completely.Desmond Tutu once said that "the texture of our universe is one where there is no question at all but that good and laughter and justice will prevail." But there's no justice in keeping a drug on the schedule 1 narcotics list that has the potential to reduce the suffering of millions like Charlotte Figi. There's no justice in perpetrating a "war" on drugs that puts hundreds of thousands of nonviolent, victimless offenders in jail.Today in America, one in every 15 black men is behind bars. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, that means an African-American male is more likely to be incarcerated here, in the land of the free, than in South Africa during Apartheid when Tutu spoke those famous words. Human Rights Watch says people of color are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites, yet they're arrested far more often. There's no justice in that.Which is why it's no surprise the tides are changing.Source: U.S. News & World Report (US)Author:  Stephanie Slade Published: August 12, 2013Copyright: 2013 U.S. News & World ReportWebsite: http://www.usnews.com/Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/gfkqitBTURL: http://drugsense.org/url/SeU3KRcmCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #5 posted by museman on August 14, 2013 at 08:50:04 PT
The truth is
"We have been terribly and systematically misled..." And the WOD is just the "Tip" of the Systemic Corruption. And its been so much longer than just 70 years.The WOD is just a symptom of this Systemic Corruption. So now that the truth is out, many of the bulwarks and upholders of the Systemic Corruptions -like the good doctor- are hustling to get in on the wave. Better he 'apologize' now before we start prosecutions for war crimes.Anyone who thinks the WOD is all there is to the Systemic Corruption, is obviously connected to that corruption in ways they are either in denial of, or secretly in support of. Wouldn't want the 'hand that feeds you' to withdraw.' Then we'd all have to start dealing with each other instead of just buying them off with money and compromises with a Systemically Corrupt Rule of LawLEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #4 posted by mexweed on August 13, 2013 at 17:32:34 PT:
Incarceration, o.k., and how about Carcinogen?
To Sam's good comment on $80 billion incarceration I would add another cost issue: H-ot B-urning O-verdose M-onoxide $igarette $moking costs the US economy $193 billion a year, about half medical, about half lost productivity (CDC estimate). LegaliZing cannabis removes FEAR of owning or being CAUGHT with a small 25-mg pipe or vaporizer, so 18-29-ers and younger persons won't be intimidated any more into the suicidal "smoke it up fast, don't get caught with leftovers" panic that drives 500-mg-per-lightup joint smoking and leads many children over into deadly 700-mg-per-lightup nicotine addiction.Thus I am persuaded cannabis can and shall play a leading part in the most important medical revolution of the last two centuries-- elimination of the one deadly "medicine" (TOBACCO $IGARETTE FORMAT) which killed over 200 million human beings in the last 160 years.
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on August 13, 2013 at 16:59:37 PT
US News & WR
great article, these guys & USA Today seem to be good.The Empire has been at war with itself for far too long:>>>The cost of incarceration in the United States was $80 billion in 2010, according to the Justice Department. While the U.S. population has increased by about a third since 1980, the federal prison population has grown by about 800 percent. Justice Department officials said federal prisons are operating at nearly 40 percent over capacity.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on August 13, 2013 at 16:23:14 PT
Dan Lee
Welcome to CNews. I agree we are getting near the end.
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Comment #1 posted by Dan Lee on August 13, 2013 at 16:21:21 PT:
legalization
I remember when the Viet Nam war was over. I get the same feeling now about the unholy drug war. Its end is near.
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