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Steve Cohen: Ask If Pot Is As Dangerous As Heroin
Posted by CN Staff on February 05, 2014 at 14:45:39 PT
By Mollie Reilly, The Huffington Post 
Source: Huffington Post
Washington, D.C. -- Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) tore into deputy drug czar Michael Botticelli on Tuesday, highlighting federal drug policy's failure to address the substances "ravaging our country" while still considering marijuana to be as dangerous as heroin. Speaking during a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform focused on the Obama administration's marijuana policy, Cohen urged drug policy officials to rethink marijuana's classification as a Schedule 1 substance, which the Drug Enforcement Administration considers "the most dangerous class of drugs." Other Schedule 1 substances include heroin, LSD and ecstasy, while methamphetamine and cocaine fall under the Schedule II definition.
"It is ludicrous, absurd, crazy to have marijuana in the same level as heroin," Cohen said. "Ask the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, if you could. Nobody dies from marijuana. People die from heroin."Hoffman, the Academy Award-winning actor, died Sunday after an apparent heroin overdose. Police officials said he was found with a syringe still in his arm. "Every second that we spend in this country trying to enforce marijuana laws is a second that we're not enforcing heroin laws. And heroin and meth are the two drugs that are ravaging our country," Cohen continued. "And every death, including Mr. Hoffman's, is partly the responsibility of the federal government's drug priorities for not putting total emphasis on the drugs that kill, that cause people to be addicted and have to steal to support their habit."Cohen warned that by not acknowledging that marijuana is less dangerous than heroin and other substances, as DEA Chief Michele Leonhart has refused to do, the administration is undermining its own efforts to prevent drug abuse."Heroin is getting into the arms of young people," Cohen said. "When we put marijuana on the same level as heroin and crack and LSD and meth and crack and cocaine, we are telling young people not to listen to adults about the ravages and problems, and they don't listen because they know you're wrong."Later in the hearing, Cohen grilled Botticelli over the dangers of heroin use versus that of smoking pot."You can't name one person who's died from a overdose of marijuana can you?""Not to my knowledge," Botticelli replied."Do you know people, possibly, heard of people who smoke marijuana, who are corporate giants? Who run banks? Run major corporations?" Cohen asked."Yes sir, but I also know.. a substantial number of people who also have gone one to develop significant disorders who have smoked marijuana. Again 1 in 9 people who try marijuana develop a dependency and we know that particularly those kids who use it early..""Kids shouldn't use it," Cohen said, cutting off Botticelli. "Kids shouldn't use it ever. And at age 18 people shouldn't be arrested for it. Maybe it should be 21.. but the fact is, we need to put our priorities toward heroin and meth."Hoffman's death has put the spotlight back on heroin use, an epidemic that's been overlooked in recent years. As AFP reported Monday, overdose deaths rose 45 percent from 2006 to 2010. Meanwhile, an often lethal combination of heroin and Fentanyl has made its way through the mid-Atlantic, leaving a string of overdose deaths in its wake.When asked by Cohen how much of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's budget goes toward treating heroin addiction, Botticelli said the administration doesn't divide the budget based on specific drugs, but focuses on preventing overall drug use."Isn't that a mistake when people die form heroin in great numbers, that the Vermont governor spends his entire State of the State on heroin use? And we don't distinguish and try to save people's lives?" Cohen said. "That's when you knock people over at the corner store. It's not to get money to buy a donut 'cause you're high, it's to buy heroin because you're hooked."Dan Riffle, the Marijuana Policy Project's director of federal policies, criticized Botticelli's responses to Cohen's questioning."It was made abundantly clear that the drug czar's office either does not have its facts straight on marijuana or is unwilling to acknowledge them," Riffle said in a statement. "If someone cannot simply agree that marijuana is less harmful than drugs like heroin and methamphetamine, they are not fit to be overseeing our nation's drug policy."Source: Huffington Post (NY)	Author: Mollie Reilly, The Huffington Post  Published: February 4, 2014Copyright: 2014 HuffingtonPost.com, LLC Contact: scoop huffingtonpost.comWebsite: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/ziKoDHaXCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #10 posted by Oleg the Tumor on February 08, 2014 at 08:59:24 PT:
Suitable for Framing!
"It was made abundantly clear that the drug czar's office either does not have its facts straight on marijuana or is unwilling to acknowledge them," Riffle said in a statement. "If someone cannot simply agree that marijuana is less harmful than drugs like heroin and methamphetamine, they are not fit to be overseeing our nation's drug policy."Now we are getting somewhere . . . I think I see daylight!
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Comment #9 posted by afterburner on February 06, 2014 at 17:36:17 PT
If You Haven't Watched the CSPAN Hearing Video...
hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform focused on the Obama administration's marijuana policy:February 4, 2014.Marijuana Policy.Michael Botticelli testified on the Obama administration’s marijuana policy. The hearing occurred as a number of states had decriminalized or legalized marijuana possession, which were at odds with current federal laws. Chairman John Mica called the policy “schizophrenic,” a reference to President Obama, who recently said marijuana was less dangerous than alcohol. Committee Democrats meanwhile asked how the administration could keep cannabis on the DEA’s list of most dangerous drugs in the face of changing public opinion and moves by states to decriminalize and even legalize the drug. [01:45:41]
http://www.c-span.org/video/?317590-1/317590-1
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on February 06, 2014 at 16:54:35 PT
VP Biden Not High On Marijuana Legalization
If Joe Biden wanted to run for President he just ruined it for himself.***Vice President Joe Biden Not High On Marijuana LegalizationFebruary 6, 2014URL: http://swampland.time.com/2014/02/06/marijuana-legalization-joe-biden-pot/
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Comment #7 posted by runruff on February 06, 2014 at 07:47:09 PT
Wally Fly, reporting:
I was on the wall of Mark Souder's home office on the day he watched the Marijuana Congressional Oversight hearings.Most of his language cannot be repeated here. Later he wrote in his journal and I sat on the rim of his indestructible, made from bowling ball material, reading glasses, and read along.He wrote: I have a heavy heart today after watching my colleagues take a shellacking from the congressional committee. In a way I feel responsible. If I would have just been there with my undeniable truth and the majesty in which I present it, with dazzling fascination I trip the light fantastic! In short, I bring down the house.I see that without my presence, congress has gone all akimbo. I am sorry and I feel guilty about that but she was worth it!!!Off the wall reporting with Wally Fly
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Comment #6 posted by mark702 on February 05, 2014 at 23:26:51 PT:
Jacksonville City Council Attacks Dispensaries
Jacksonville, Oregon City Council Attempts To Keep Medicine Away From Patientscannabistvorg.blogspot.com/2014/02/jacksonville-city-council-attempts-to.html
Jacksonville, Oregon City Council Attempts To Keep Medicine Away From Patients
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Comment #5 posted by Universer on February 05, 2014 at 23:18:54 PT
More Help: LEAP's Neill Franklin
This gentleman was kind enough to be the speaker at our January NoVA NORML meeting, and presented a wonderfully refreshing perspective on the recognized futility of drug interdiction, particularly vis-a-vis cannabis.A 30-year veteran of the force and a 10-year member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, now he's getting a nice long feech in the Baltimore Sun.http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-cop-turned-pot-advocate-20140203,0,4104596.storyMore cops and judges are on our side than can admit it. (Not many, mind you, but more than none.) Witnesses such as Maj. Franklin and Capn. Peter Christ are assets to the cause of liberty which we seek.
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on February 05, 2014 at 19:12:23 PT
Bingo; NOW STOP HARMING AMERICAN CITIZENS!
"Other Schedule 1 substances include heroin, LSD and ecstasy, while methamphetamine and cocaine fall under the Schedule II definition." -0-Many activists have been pointing this out for years. Now, people that still adhere to that vile malarkey are going to come out looking extremely ignorant.-0-*How many people have heard the fed's HISTORICALLY DISCREDITED CLAIMS that cannabis is among the worst drugs... (think DARE)... then try cannabis and realize it's not nearly as harmful as claimed and think other substances must not be so bad either only to become addicted to hard drugs?WE MUST STOP THESE PEOPLE IN POSITIONS OF TRUST, FROM HARMING ANY MORE CITIZENS & THEIR FAMILIES.
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Comment #3 posted by Universer on February 05, 2014 at 18:11:05 PT
Worthy of commendation...
In addition to the verbal beatdown Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) put on Li'l Mikey Botticelli yesterday, a series of shout-outs also goes to a few other Congressmen choosing to see the light:Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO);
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR);
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA).(The latter, unfortunately, is not my representative but is of an adjacent district here in Northern Virginia.)You want to see a very enjoyable nine minutes? Enjoyable, that is, for all but Li'l Mikey? Check out the vid on this page: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/04/deputy-drug-czar-reluctantly-admits-marijuana-is-less-deadly-than-alcoholKeep it up keep it up keep it up up up.Ninety-four thousand and still going. Sign & share: http://www.change.org/petitions/president-barack-obama-if-marijuana-is-safer-than-alcohol-remove-it-from-the-dea-s-schedule-of-drugs
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Comment #2 posted by HempWorld on February 05, 2014 at 15:42:33 PT
More... from link below eugenics in Wikipedia:
"Its moral aspects included rejection of the doctrine that all human beings are born equal, and redefining morality purely in terms of genetic fitness.[24] Its racist elements included pursuit of a pure "Nordic race" or "Aryan" genetic pool and the eventual elimination of "less fit" races"Ok, so here we see the immorality of eugenics, stating that, somehow, we are NOT born equal; to lead to the immoral policies and laws to prohibit cannabis/hemp/marijuana because it is justified by its means of race purification!Please remember who is in power not poor brown and black folks. Do you get the picture?And now, the oxymoron of our time is that the USA has a 'black' president and this for a 2nd term.What has he done about this?
HempWorld
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on February 05, 2014 at 15:10:29 PT
It Is Now Clear As Day,
that the entire 'drug policy' of the USA is about 'race purification' i.e. eugenics (please look it up on Wikipedia.org) or better yet, here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EugenicsThere is no logic, reason or rhyme, and certainly science has not been applied, unlike in other areas of industry or government.And here we are in 2014, running rudderless into the abyss...Hello president Obama, are you listening and thinking? Please act now and back your fellow African American brother.
Legalize it, end race purification!
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