California Police Chiefs Association Position Paper on the Decriminalization of Marijuana (Truth Edition)

The prohibitionists are at their wits’ end. 56% of the voters in California are saying they want legalization. The state’s own taxation board is saying legalization would bring in $1.4 billion in revenue to the state. Medical marijuana is becoming acceptable in more and more states across the country.

To fight back, the California Police Chiefs Association (motto: We know more about medicine than doctors!) have been encouraging local authorities to bring the hammer down on the medical marijuana dispensary system. NORML’s Paul Armentano details a meeting of California cops and the subsequent announcement by the Los Angeles County DA that this “abuse” will be shut down.

According to the cops, 49 out of fifty medical marijuana patients are faking it.

So I’m going to focus on this new position paper from the CPCA, where the cops tell you how terrible a predicament we are in because of medical marijuana in California.  However, unlike the Kalifornia Kops, I will provide hyperlinks and citations to unbiased, double-blind, peer-reviewed scientific research and the government’s own statistics.

It has become clear, despite the claims of use by critically ill people that only about 2% of those using crude Marijuana for medicine are critically ill. The vast majority of those using crude Marijuana as medicine are young and are using the substance to be under the influence of THC and have no critical medical condition.

2%, why that sounds like a statistic!  Or is it just a wild-ass guess?  Since they don’t provide citations, I have to assume they are referring to Dale Gieringer’s and Dr. Tod Mikuriya’s work documenting the conditions suffered by 2,480 California patients surveyed, which showed:

• 4.6% = Nausea / Appetite Loss (AIDS, hepatitis, cancer chemotherapy, etc.)
• 9.2% = Spasms / Convulsions (brain injury, epilepsy, paralysis, multiple sclerosis, Tourette’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc.)
• 7.2% = Migraines / Neuralgias  (migraine, neuropathy, amputation “phantom pain”, etc.)
• 17.5% = Arthritis (fibromyalgia, lupus, etc.)
• 14.8% = Spinal / Skeletal (scoliosis, spinal stenosis, crushed vertebrae, degenerative disc disease, etc.)
• 2.3% = Traumatic injury (sprain, whiplash, carpal tunnel, etc.)
• 2.7% = Gastro-intestinal disorders (GERD, ulcers, Crohn’s disease, etc.)
• 1.2% = Other inflammatory diseases (endometriosis, pruritis, etc.)
• 26.6% = Mood disorders (PTSD, depression, anxiety, ADD, OCD, etc.)
• 2.9% = Insomnia
• 5.5% = Substitution (alcoholism, heroin dependence, etc.)
• 1.0% = Glaucoma and eye diseases
• 2.1% = Asthma
• 2.5% = Miscellaneous (PMS, chronic fatigue, Lyme disease, etc.)

We can debate how “critical” of a medical condition things like migraine headaches and carpal tunnel syndrome are, but to assert that 49 out of fifty Californians using medical marijuana are only doing so just to be “under the influence” is ludicrous.

The use of Marijuana for medicinal purposes parallels the use of experimentation with opiates for that purpose. Therefore, examining the development of the use of opiates makes a worthwhile comparison.

Well, aside from the fact that an overdose of opiates can kill you and marijuana can’t, opiates are highly addictive and marijuana isn’t, opiates are injected and marijuana isn’t, you can get a prescription for opiates but not for marijuana, and the development of each as medicine takes place in two different centuries, then yes, heroin and pot are exactly alike.

Statistical data indicating the medical conditions identified as the necessity for a Marijuana recommendation would suggest that Marijuana is being abused by people who have no serous [sic] medical condition and simply like to be intoxicated on Marijuana.

Because in a cops’ mind, chronic pain and psychological disorders aren’t very “serous”.

Marijuana is being abused by doctors who recklessly recommend use as their primary medical business.

“Reckless” means “marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences”.  Since the patient cannot overdose, where is the danger?  The only “defiant disregard” happening is the doctors believing they have more medical expertise than cops.

Marijuana is being abused by special interest groups who want to promote legal drug use in the US.

Who?  NORML (reform marijuana laws), ASA (safe access to marijuana), MPP (marijuana policy)?  You might have an argument with Drug Policy Alliance or LEAP, both of which champion drug legalization beyond marijuana, but by far the majority of special interest groups favoring “legal drug use” are focused on marijuana only.

The claim that Marijuana is not addictive is false and dangerous.

Right, which is why none of us say that.  We do say that marijuana is less addictive than other drugs, as does the Institute of Medicine, which finds 9% of marijuana users developing dependence, compared to 15% for alcohol and 32% for tobacco.  We also noted just this month a study in the  Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence that characterized the withdrawal effects from cannabis are “mild”, “short-lived”, and “subtle”.

Medical science is now identifying the value of canabanoids [sic] in viable medication. This research is moving forward and clinical trials are underway in the US under FDA processes. Additionally these medications are coming to market in Canada and England. The pharmaceutical industry has and will continue to develop  viable uses and delivery systems that do not include the use of crude Marijuana in smoked form.

So, then, marijuana is medicinal… but only if a pharmaceutical company is packaging it in a way that isn’t smoked.  Also, got to love the repeated use of the term “crude marijuana”.  Ew, it’s crude!  Yucky!  Say, fellas, is marijuana still crude if it is vaporized?

Marijuana as a smoked product has never proven to be medically beneficial and, in fact, is much more likely to harm one’s health.

So, then, the federal government is purposefully allowing Elvy Musikka, Irv Rosenfeld, and two other Americans to harm their health with smoked federal government-grown and rolled medical marijuana?  And all these medical organizations are endorsing something that’s not medically beneficial?  And these 17,000 peer-reviewed studies on cannabinoids and endocannabinoids are not proof?

The thought that a group of individuals would want to advocate for decriminalization of a substance that the state of California has deemed to be carcinogenic is alarming.

California EPA declared constituents of marijuana smoke to contain carcinogens, which again leaves me asking about vaporization, edibles, and tinctures, which eliminate all smoke.  Furthermore, California EPA didn’t assess whether marijuana smoking causes cancer, just that there were carcinogens in smoke.  Subtle difference, but it is like noting that water contains two flammable gases – hydrogen and oxygen – and then printing explosion warnings on bottled water.

When you try to prove marijuana smoking causes cancer, though, you find just the opposite.  Tashkin’s research showed no association between even long-term, heavy cannabis smoking and lung cancer or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  Other research shows an inverse association – that is, less risk – for marijuana smoking and head and neck and oral cancers.

The fact is that drug use among young people has declined and great success has and is being achieved in protecting our society from addictive substances.

Not really.  While youth use of illicit drugs is down, youth use of prescription drugs is up.  Funny how when youth use is up, the prohibitionists cry that we need to fight the drug war harder and when it is down they claim we need to fight the drug war harder.  Studies, however, show that how hard you fight the drug war has no bearing on youth use rates.  or we could note that youth in the Netherlands have half the drug use rates as we do in the States.

Making illicit drugs legal will clearly fuel new levels of violence, addiction and crime.

You mean like when we made illicit alcohol legal and levels of violence and crime plummeted?

It is important to note that society is having a very difficult time dealing with our two legal drugs; alcohol and tobacco. Alcohol use has been documented that about 65% of the population are regular users and it is attributable to 100,000 deaths per year. Tobacco use has been documented that about 35% of the population are regular users and is attributable to 400,000 deaths per year.

Pick a consumption level - you tell me what "regular" use is.

And 1%-10% of our society are regular users of cannabis (depending on how you want to define “regular”) and it is attributable to 0 deaths per year.  Also, I’d note that we’re, in fact, not having a “very difficult time” dealing with alcohol and tobacco – drunk driving is down 9.8% from 2007 to 2008 and tobacco use is at its lowest rate ever.

The $8 billion collected in tax revenues from the sale of alcohol does little to offset the nearly $200 billion in social costs attributed to its use.

So, then, you’re OK with collecting $0 in tax revenues from the sale of cannabis doing nothing to offset any imaginary social costs of cannabis use?  And since cannabis is less addictive than alcohol and tobacco, and since cannabis use doesn’t cause a productivity-killing hangover at work the next day like alcohol, and since cannabis-using drivers are far safer than alcohol-using drivers, and since cannabis smokers don’t get long-term expensive-care diseases such as cancer or COPD like tobacco smokers do, these imaginary social costs (if any) would be far far less than alcohol and tobacco, and you’re cool with that?

It’s not as if nobody is smoking pot now and suddenly under legalization we’ll have a flood of pot-related costs.  If there are pot-related costs, we’re paying them now and getting zero tax revenues in return.

Young adults are particularly vulnerable to addiction. Relaxed attitudes toward drug use place them at greater risk of addiction.

You know, like those kids in the Netherlands who have half the drug use rates, even though marijuana and mushrooms are tolerated.  And again, we see no correlation between the harshness or laxness of drug laws and people’s desire to use.

Criminals who deal in illicit drugs will not turn to legal endeavors if illicit drugs are legalized. The claim that drug legalization will eliminate crime associated with drug trafficking is just not true.

But people who make money buying and selling marijuana will no longer be committing a crime!  What incentive do they have for drug turf wars, slayings of rivals, and ancillary crimes when their business is legal and they can take disputes to court instead of settling them by gunfire?  Do these Kalifornia Kops really believe that with no weed to traffic, pot smugglers will become rapists, murderers, thieves, and arsonists instead?  Do they really believe we didn’t see an end to bootlegger gangs after the 21st Amendment?

Much as we see in the use of other controlled substances, people who become addicted to Marijuana and cannot afford to maintain their addiction will turn to crime in order to supply themselves with their drug of choice.

Sometimes they make me laugh so hard I can barely type.  Please, show me the marijuana “addict” who jonesed so hard for Purple Kush he was forced to rob a convenience store for a fix.  Then explain to me how the post-prohibition $50-$100 ounce of weed will lead him to robbery more than the current $420 ounce prohibited weed does now.

If drugs were legalized, the United States would see significant increases in the number of drug users, the number of drug addicts and the number of people dying from drug-related causes.

That didn’t happen in Portugal.  They legalized personal possession of just about all drugs and saw overdoses drop and HIV cases plummet while drug use rates remained the same or decreased slightly.

Marijuana is a powerful and dangerous psychoactive substance. Society and our children do not need another dangerous substance in their lives.

News flash – marijuana is already in our lives.  Again, the Kalifornia Kops pretend like if we legalize, marijuana will suddenly appear.

Simply stated the use of Marijuana is not and never will be good for the success, education, and well-being of our society.

Unless you’re winning eight gold medals in Beijing.

When a person examines the two known abused drugs in our society, alcohol and tobacco, from a Public Health standpoint, those two substances would be recommended today to be banned.

Actually, banning alcohol was recommended back in 1918 and we all know how well that turned out.  But this is a common trick for the prohibitionists, to point out how awful alcohol and tobacco are and ask, “Do we really need a third awful substance to abuse?”  The key is to flip it on them; “If we have two terrible substances that people abuse, why do we prevent them from choosing instead a third, much safer choice in cannabis?”  Studies show people that are forced into marijuana abstinence increase their alcohol intake.  Dr. Tod Mikuriya found many alcoholics who were able to stay off the bottle through cannabis use.  If people had three legal choices – alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis – and use of the booze and cigs declined in favor of smoking pot, wouldn’t that be a good thing?