cannabisnews.com: Repeal Prohibition, Again
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Repeal Prohibition, Again
Posted by CN Staff on July 27, 2014 at 05:16:49 PT
By The NYT Editorial Board
Source: New York Times
USA -- It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished. It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol.The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.
We reached that conclusion after a great deal of discussion among the members of The Times’s Editorial Board, inspired by a rapidly growing movement among the states to reform marijuana laws.There are no perfect answers to people’s legitimate concerns about marijuana use. But neither are there such answers about tobacco or alcohol, and we believe that on every level — health effects, the impact on society and law-and-order issues — the balance falls squarely on the side of national legalization. That will put decisions on whether to allow recreational or medicinal production and use where it belongs — at the state level.We considered whether it would be best for Washington to hold back while the states continued experimenting with legalizing medicinal uses of marijuana, reducing penalties, or even simply legalizing all use. Nearly three-quarters of the states have done one of these.But that would leave their citizens vulnerable to the whims of whoever happens to be in the White House and chooses to enforce or not enforce the federal law.The social costs of the marijuana laws are vast. There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, according to F.B.I. figures, compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives. Even worse, the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals.There is honest debate among scientists about the health effects of marijuana, but we believe that the evidence is overwhelming that addiction and dependence are relatively minor problems, especially compared with alcohol and tobacco. Moderate use of marijuana does not appear to pose a risk for otherwise healthy adults. Claims that marijuana is a gateway to more dangerous drugs are as fanciful as the “Reefer Madness” images of murder, rape and suicide.There are legitimate concerns about marijuana on the development of adolescent brains. For that reason, we advocate the prohibition of sales to people under 21.Creating systems for regulating manufacture, sale and marketing will be complex. But those problems are solvable, and would have long been dealt with had we as a nation not clung to the decision to make marijuana production and use a federal crime.In coming days, we will publish articles by members of the Editorial Board and supplementary material that will examine these questions. We invite readers to offer their ideas, and we will report back on their responses, pro and con.We recognize that this Congress is as unlikely to take action on marijuana as it has been on other big issues. But it is long past time to repeal this version of Prohibition.Source: New York Times (NY)Published: July 27, 2014Copyright: 2014 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/6xtNAqhoCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by FoM on July 29, 2014 at 15:19:47 PT
New York Times: Evolving on Marijuana
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/30/opinion/high-time-evolving-on-marijuana.html
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Comment #12 posted by kaptinemo on July 28, 2014 at 17:11:36 PT:
Lucas, I've never been a Pollyanna
But as I often say at other Websites, a confluence of forces have arrived, all from different directions, but meeting together to create the (for us) rapidly improving situation we have today.The pols are starting to realize what going against over half of America will mean for their own political careers. Namely, they won't have one for long. Threaten a pol's rice bowl, and watch how fast a reversal of position is made.And that is just where this is leading. Just look at how few voices there are in support of maintaining prohibition...and you can clearly see the word 'PROHIBITION' is stamped on their rice bowls.Right this minute, seemingly moving in slow motion but gathering speed every day, is a sledgehammer with the word 'FREEDOM' etched on it that is falling towards those rice bowls, and as it gets closer to impact the prohibs will howl and screech ever louder. To no avail. They lost the propaganda war they waged against the DARE Generation. And they're losing their former allies/con-game suckers to the Grim Reaper's scythe by the thousands every day, the people they used as camouflage to cover their real self-serving motivations. It's getting harder and harder to hide that.I will predict here that even the 'reddest' of States will have legal cannabis once again within 5 years. I will also predict that a great many pols who have been thorns in our side will A) Start singing in our choir.
B) Retire from the field,
C) Make concession speeches to those who follow course A.A final showdown of sorts is approaching, and the prohibs are out-numbered. Support for cannabis re-legalization crosses almost every demographic in this country. And, as the old saying goes, "Nothing succeeds like success.". People in other States are traveling to Colorado, exactly as predicted they would, to experience what true personal sovereignty, denied them their whole lives, feels like. And they are returning to their home States driven to make Colorado's success their own. And that scares the crap out of our would-be masters. But they don't dare raise a hand against that now.Prohibition is DOOMED. Its grave is being dug even as I write this. How soon that grave is filled is not up to those would-be masters, anymore, but the electorate.
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Comment #11 posted by Lucas on July 28, 2014 at 00:42:52 PT
Hold the victory speech
It has been 77 years of Cannabis Prohibition, so far.
But yes, it would be nice if the NYT article is part of a landslide of rapid change leading to repeal.In how many more years?
and yes, thanks for the site
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #10 posted by FoM on July 27, 2014 at 20:40:58 PT
Kaptinemo
Well here's a big hug for you even if you don't want it!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #9 posted by kaptinemo on July 27, 2014 at 19:33:01 PT:
I give credit where credit is due
I mean what I say. I've never been one for saccharine emotionalism. I don't have to butter anybody up. There's a few things we disagree on, but as I said, through all the bleak, rough times, you two have stood steadfast. Medals would never be enough.This place was and is a beacon...as well as a launching pad. I came here back in 1998 after having been looking at a lot of (rather unprofessional) reform Websites, and was struck by the high caliber of the commentaries I read. Intelligent, articulate, fact-based...I knew that this 'place' was 'for real', run by people more interested in forwarding the cause than their own ambitions or egos. And it still is.As to a 'launching pad', how many came here, were inspired by what they had read, and began to write on their own? I have no way of knowing, and no one probably ever will, because there have been so many.But it wouldn't have happened without you two being here, all these long hard years. No words of thanks can ever be enough.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on July 27, 2014 at 17:16:10 PT
Kaptinemo
And I want to add a lot of credit goes to all the people that have shared their beliefs and commitment to the reform of marijuana laws here on CNews and everywhere. It has been a journey with way more downs then ups until the last few years. Actually the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington State has turned the tide.
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on July 27, 2014 at 17:01:14 PT
"Islands of sanity
In an ocean of madness."So true. So true.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #6 posted by Victimless tragedy on July 27, 2014 at 12:12:16 PT:
Forgot the most important one we lost...
FREEdom.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by FoM on July 27, 2014 at 10:38:18 PT
Kaptinemo
Bless your heart. You brought tears to my eyes!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on July 27, 2014 at 09:40:03 PT:
And a lot of the credit belongs right HERE
If there is any doubt the tide is turning, this latest news should remove that doubt. For, to paraphrase an old saying about California, "As the NYT goes, so goes the media"Reformers knew that the word 'prohibition' carried enormous cultural weight, and if the MSM began using it, the war was almost over, for it would signify the sea-change we've been waiting for. The public would make the connection between the past failure of alcohol Prohibition and today's prohibition against cannabis.Add to the fact that another sea-change was occurring, with the (blind, ignorant and often racist) support for prohibition from what Nixon used to call 'The Silent Majority' being replaced in the electorate by much more knowledgeable generations, and the stage was set for the downfall of cannabis prohibition.But I posit that it would not have happened if there had not been lonely little outposts, islands of sanity in an ocean of madness, such as this and (bloody few) other Websites, where reform-minded activists could assemble, trade information freely, organize, re-evaluate tactics, and battle on. I daresay much of the impetus behind the letter writing campaigns that forced the media to accept the term 'prohibition' in their articles began right here at CNEWS, so terribly long ago. Throughout the long, cold, hard, mean years, FoM and Stick held the line, keeping this island of hope alive, with little help. I've said it before that when the histories of how cannabis prohibition was defeated are written, they will figure prominently in those annals. Were it not for this 'place', we would not have gotten as far as we have...and we are almost at the finish line, now. And a lot of the credit is theirs.
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Comment #3 posted by afterburner on July 27, 2014 at 07:11:42 PT
What Have We Lost (due to National Prohibition)
Life, liberty, happiness; pets, children, parents, friends;respect for government, the police, business, law; creativity, art, music; health, nutrition, peace of mind, respect for doctors, pharmacists, science; spiritual guidance, brotherhood, sisterhood;Constitutional rights and protections, privacy, personal property, neighborhood, safety, friendliness; jobs, money, invention, equal opportunity, determination;add to the list:The time is long overdue for the return of these rights and blessings. Thank you, Colorado, Washington state, Uruguay, and activists all around this distressed world for moving us forward.
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on July 27, 2014 at 06:11:54 PT
Winning at a snail's pace.
Ending cannabis prohibition and extermination is one of the most important issues of Our time.The leaches have been sucking the blood out of our country for too long.We are winningbutat a snails pace.This war needs to and can end over night.And at any given point, it may well end over night.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on July 27, 2014 at 05:18:02 PT
Winning!
When the NYT says repeal Marijuana Prohibition we are headed in the right direction!
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