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Pot legalization group targets Vegas
Director says Nevada residents are pragmatic about drug
Friday, June 12, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Pipe Dreams? seg. 4
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-California) says now is the time for a reasoned debate on legalizing marijuana. Face to Face hears from an advocate.
Sun Archives
- Medical marijuana advocates rally for drug’s expansion (5-9-09)
- Marijuana proponents light up TV with ads (10-31-2006)
- Reefer Redux (9-22-2006)
- Lawmakers have mixed emotions over pot initiative (3-11-2005)
Sun coverage
Beyond the Sun
The Marijuana Policy Project has set up its first state chapter in Las Vegas, launching another effort to get voters to legalize pot in Nevada.
The national nonprofit advocacy group is too late to qualify an initiative for the 2010 ballot, and would likely try for 2012, director Neil Levine said.
“Our goal is to see marijuana treated the same way as alcohol,” Levine said.
Nevada voters twice since 2002 have rejected opportunities to legalize the use of marijuana, but in 2000, 65 percent of Nevadans approved a ballot initiative to allow the medical use of marijuana. The law authorized Nevadans to grow up to seven plants, only three mature, and possess an ounce for their own use.
The general ban on marijuana use, on the other hand, is “enormously failed public policy,” Levine said. No one has died of a marijuana overdose, he said, and making the drug illegal puts its distribution in the hands of street gangs and drug traffickers, which increases crime.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2006, 14.8 million Americans age 12 or older used marijuana at least once in the month before being surveyed.
The policy of marijuana prohibition doesn’t work, and it doesn’t make sense, Levine said.
Some statistics show the rate of marijuana use among young people is declining, though it’s still high. The National Institute on Drug Abuse’s 2007 Monitoring the Future Survey showed that from 2000 to 2007, past-year pot use decreased more than 20 percent among eighth, 10th and 12th graders combined. However, more than 40 percent of high school seniors report at least once instance of pot use.
Addiction recovery specialist Dr. Mel Pohl points to use by young people as a primary reason he is against legalizing marijuana. In 30 years of treating drug addicts, Pohl said, 99 percent of them started with drinking alcohol and smoking pot. Data show that the earlier young people are exposed to drugs the more likely they are to become addicts.
People’s lives are ruined by alcohol abuse, and making it easier to obtain marijuana would expand the opportunities for similar destruction, Pohl said.
“Philosophically, as a culture and society, I don’t think we need to encourage mood alteration with a substance,” Pohl said.
The Marijuana Policy Project, based in Washington, D.C., exists to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Levine said the organization has made progress since it started working in Nevada in 2001, and that setting up shop in Las Vegas makes sense because polling data show the state’s residents take a pragmatic approach to the drug.
Levine said polls show a majority of Nevadans favoring the legalization of marijuana, but their feelings have not translated to the ballot box.
A 2002 ballot initiative supported by the Marijuana Policy Project failed, collecting 39 percent of the vote. It would have legalized possession of up to three ounces of marijuana.
In 2006 Levine led the campaign for the Regulation of Marijuana Initiative, which would have made it legal for adults to purchase, for personal use, one ounce of marijuana — the equivalent of a pack and a half of cigarettes. That also failed, getting 44 percent of the vote.
Both ballot measures needed more than half the vote to pass.
Levine said polls show that more than 60 percent of Nevadans favor legalizing marijuana. His goal is to meet with enough community leaders to determine what type of ballot initiative could be crafted that would pass.
Discussion: 28 comments so far…
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...Probably a majority of folks reading this article have tried a toke or two. Reading government's warnings on the dangers of this herb will probably bring a smile to readers.
...Jefferey Miron of Harvard University has a study giving statistical estimates if Marijuana was reclassified and taxed as a normal product and two taxed as tobacco or alcohol.
..Besides emptying prisons of a lot of harmless inmates, state revenue could be replenished of needed funds and major expenditures could be saved in apprehension, judicial and incarceration
costs of Nevada's public employees.
...California's ab390 bill estimates a whopping one billion dollars could be added to their state treasury. They already have a healthy growing operation business now as highlighted in a Marijuana Inc. TV special on MNBC channel shown occasionally...
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"Philosophically, as a culture and society, I don't think we need to encourage mood alteration with a substance," Pohl said.
Hmmm... two things there Pohl:
1) Legalization is not the same as Advocation
- Making Alcohol legal wasn't advocating that people go out and get drunk. It was the result of people understanding the concept of Trade-Offs. It doesn't sound like you got a very good education in economics, so let me help you out with this concept.
Sometimes when you do ONE thing, it can result in a subsequent OTHER thing which is not desirable. Alcohol's prohibition brought with it organized crime and violence. Marijuana's prohibition is no different in this respect. The notion of placing harsh penalties against the end user of a product is a crime against society, and to hand over a hot commodity to crime syndicates is incredibly harmful to our culture. In fact, I'd be willing to wager that it is many times WORSE for our society than whatever you perceive to be the problem here.
2)We don't need to encourage mood alteration with a substance? What do you think Alcohol does? What do you think the pharmaceutical companies are producing? What do you think Caffeine does? Do your homework man...
Put short, if Alcohol is legal, then why is Marijuana illegal?
" Pohl said, 99 percent of them started with drinking alcohol and smoking pot."
100% began with drinking milk. Cause and effect? Duh. Given that nearly half of all adults have tried pot in their lifetimes, the bad information about the drug causes a lowering of respect for laws. That's cause and effect.
Hey all. We talked about the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana on Thursday's Face to Face with Jon Ralston. The program re-broadcasts today (June 12) at 11:00am and 3:00pm on Las Vegas ONE, Cox Cable Channel 19.
If people can drink, pop Xanax,and antidepressants all the time, let's not worry about pot. We have far more dangerous legal substances out there. I'm sure the makers of all these pharmacutical Frankenstien drugs are worried that marijuana will end up replacing their dangerous drugs.
Woohoo!! If we legalized marijuana, there would be even more brain dead idiots running around the city. Sounds SOOOOOO exciting!
I once had an alcohol addiction expert appear at a church related group. He was asked about what caused addictive behavior and he suggested that feeding kids sugar laden things like candy and chocolate was perhaps the craving on a primordial level. Hmmmm - maybe we should tax candies and chocolate bars and make them controlled substances? I definitely think we should medicalize drug usage and quit prosecuting them in the courts. Maybe sell them with prescriptions at drug stores so the drug dealers at the pharmacy could dispense other drugs besides the dangerous pain killers and psychotropics that they dispense now. Then the state could hire treatment experts and use the moneys saved when they close some prisons to do things that are helpful rather than enforcing a system that trains people in criminal activity. Hey, good luck with that!
We are missing the point of the story, what they have in other states is that it is legal with perscription for those with dire health issues. It is not to be as a party drup like you find with your alcohol. These are for people with chemo, pain management and so forth. Quite frankly I am all for it, not that I use it, but I do work with chemo patients.
My buddy is going to So Cal tom'w, and will bring me back a 1/4 ounce. That helps keep me pain free for a couple of months. Mary Jane is much more potent today. I just saw an article that said 80% of the pot in Cali is produced by Mexican dealers. Thank you, Jose Canyousee. BTW-I'm 65, went through the 60's in SFO, and never had a problem with pot...
Just redefine marijuana at the state level to set an example for the federal government.
There is a simple definition which maintains the historically popular understanding of marijuana, but implicitly permits the State to tax and regulate the many uses of cannabis.
The term 'marihuana' means all parts of the smoke produced by the combustion of the plant Cannabis sativa L. Period.
With this definition cannabis becomes legal, smoking marijuana remains pejorative and actually becomes redundant, but vaporizing it becomes a preferred method of use.
By simplifying the definition of marijuana, there will be a legal distinction between cannabis and marijuana. Then, by following state laws people can again grow cannabis, use it medically, make newspaper, bio-fuel, clothing, skin lotion, cannabis flour, birdseed, etc., while discouraging the public smoking of it.
It would be even better if the federal government adopted this definition, too.
Look at the history of how pot was criminalized. It was a triumph of deceit and propaganda by American's first drug czar, that pipsqueak Anslinger.
One of the stupidest parts of it all is how non-drug hemp was declared illegal, also.
The fact that pot is denied medicinally to cancer patients is an absolute abomination.
The people that would be most upset if marijuana were legalized are gangs, particularly from south of the border.
MJ should be legalized and taxed and regulated just as heavily as Tobacco and Alcohol. The US/State will gain a revenue stream from taxes, plus fines, etc. from enforcement (e.g. dui fines). Also, we will have dramatic savings from less expense on ineffective law enforcement. I recall that the estimated revenue in CA for MJ is around $8B USD per year.
We will deny the criminal element of a huge revenue stream, just like prohibition put a crimp on the US Mafia.
I am anti-drug use btw - however I do believe we are truly missing the boat on this topic.
Only criminals would attempt to "legalize" or "criminalize" one of nature's oldest, safest free growing medicines.
Marijuana stimulates appetite, reduces nausea from chemotherapy as well as a treatment for glaucoma. Used by ancient Chinese herbalist for stomach pain, menstrual cramps, malaria, consumption and by European dentists as a safe intoxicant.
Governmental marijuana studies (The Laguardia Committee Report) have concluded that marijuana does not lead to addiction, is not wide spread amongst school children, while not being a determining factor in major crimes or pose catastrophic social effects from usage.
Congressional testimony by the American Medical Association (William Woodward) found no evidence that marijuana consumption was dangerous.
Policy advisor Robert Dupont of the Nixon administration indicated marijuana does not produce physical dependence or produce overdose deaths, facts which make marijuana appealing to those who are "smart" and are interested in going beyond their conventional behavioral boundaries.
Marijuana's history as a safe natural remedy is long and extensive.
States decriminalizing marijuana judged that the "legal" side effects were more harmful than the drug it's self, which says it all.
BTW: The 1937 Marijuana Stamp Act required those applying for a federally issued stamp to have possession of marijuana which was illegal to possess without an issued stamp.
Tune in, Turn on, Drop out, Timothy Leary challenged the Marijuana Stamp Act in the '60s based upon the fact that in order for one to acquire the necessary stamp they would have to possess an illegal substance thus implicating themselves as a criminal i.e. self-incrimination. The Supreme Court agreed with Leary, who had been jailed and I believe sometime later was briefly employed under a government sponsored drug research program, while the 1937 Marijuana Stamp Act was abolished.
However due to concerns that Vietnam troops were using heroin along with a congress that did not view drug use as a right protected by the Constitution the Nixon administration brought into law the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 once again prohibiting Americans from utilizing and/or enjoying one of nature's oldest, safest free growing medicines.
Face it America, licensed physicians are your most dangerous drug-pushers (check-out the TV commercials/big business), propagating a national healthcare crisis of prescription related addictions, illnesses, side-effects as well as premature deaths. Marijuana is harmless by comparison with the exception of government criminal intervention as studies have repeated concluded.
It's your only life, do what's best privately.
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...A highly disputed medical study several years ago at..??..University by Doctor...???..whats his face, tried to prove that heavy marijuana smoking led to long term memory.____?? I forget..?
...I participated in this study under the monitoring of a knockout lab assistant from a ..?? Scandinavian country. Though I disputed the results of this project I relished the moments of theses experiments and memories of her pouting lips, gorgeous face and lithe body linger in my minds eye.
...I'll never forget, what's her name..???
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Harley -- again, the voice of reason. Thanx for the history lesson. Why it's illegal is a study in smoke and mirrors.
If you have fears of the effects that pot will have on the driveing ways in NV all you have to do is go and read a few accident reports(which are public record)and see just how many involved pot use.The legalization of this particular plant would create billions in tax revenue,put many people to work,and would take it out of the hands of the drug cartels! Compare the studies for yourself between pot,cigs,and booze and it just may open your eyes a bit.To this day i have never read of anybody smokeing pot,and robbing a bank,or shooting someone.Let the people decide this one again!
Marijuana should become legalized in the USA. I don't smoke the stuff; I tried it once when I was 16 and I didn't like the expansion in my lungs and how dizzy I became. Being loaded on this stuff absolutely sucked.
What politicians don't realize is that the trillions upon trillions of dollars are spent to keep Marijuana out of mainstream. Wake up, mainstream is the largest consumer and you're wasting our tax dollars. The criminals are making trillions and this is one war we'll never win.
Legalize pot and prostitution at the same time and we'll have a PARTY!
This sounds like a plot by the evil George Soros who lurks in the basemnent controlling everything, Rush and Sean warned me about him, trying to destroy America and all, just say NO.
Please, please, please ... I don't know how to get high on life (or am too ignorant or lazy to learn). How can I join the Marijuana Policy Project so I can help get it legalized?
Breaking into your house and/or stealing your car should be legalized and taxed, thereby raising $X billion dollars in tax revenues. It only makes sense, it is a win-win situation, let's do it.
If you people had a brain in your head you'd realize that the general principles stated by Dr. Mel Pohl (an expert with 30 years of addiction treatment experience): IT IS A GATEWAY DRUG. GET HIGH ON life.
As for comparing prior alcohol or pot use and drinking milk, your HYPER IGNORANCE is the problem. Really, think about it. Please go back to school.
IQ out
100IQ -- you're choosing to remain ignorant in spite of all the REAL evidence to the contrary, like that excellent bit the government wishes didn't exist, the the LaGuardia Committee Report mentioned in a previous post. Keep swallowing all the government feeds you, your choice. Some of us can still think for ourselves.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' "
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"Philosophically, as a culture and society, I don't think we need to encourage mood alteration with a substance," Pohl said.
1. Since when do we look to doctors for 'philosophy' or 'culture' advice ?
2. Doctors are the ones dispensing "mood alerations with substances" daily, even encouraging their use. Complete oxymoron or should I say oxycodone-mood altering substance.
3. Who ever said we should "encourage" cannabis use ? Allowing an adult to do something is not encouraging it. Do we encourage alcohol use because its legal ? No, but we acknowlegde an adult being allowed to decide if he wants a glass or two because its his own body and we supposedly believe in liberty !
2012 ? MPP has one goal and that is to legalize cannabis use for adults, so why cant it get their show together and learn when they have to qualify for 2010. Things can change in three years, like a better economy and a change in public opinion. MPP needs to learn to strike when the iron is hot. This state needs the tourism and tax revenue now !
I am a medical marijuana patient, there are 3000 of us here in Nevada. The cost of the card is $200 a year which is $600,000 dollars going to a little office in Carson city with 2 employees that run the whole program. You think they are making any profit???
That's a drop in the bucket... could you imagine if we legalized it, controlled and taxed it? that would be some serious cash. money that could pay for something we are paying taxes on now.
To many people in jail for weed, why don't the cops try to stop murders, rapes crimes that are destroying peoples lives.