I do believe at the end of this interview I hear ardent prohibitionist Dr. Andrea Barthwell, former deputy drug czar, making the case for legalizing marijuana, taxing it, and offering up public health campaigns about it.

Good job, Aaron, and I know how the time constraints are on live national TV, but will somebody, please, anybody, when the prohibitionist says that the taxes on tobacco and alcohol don’t begin to cover the social costs, instead of going with the “marijuana is safer than alcohol and tobacco route”, which is undeniably true, swing it back to the economic argument and say:

“22 million Americans are smoking pot already and we’re taking in zero revenue to cover any social costs, which, since marijuana is safer than alcohol and tobacco, will be much lower. And since the greatest costs from marijuana are from policing people for it and dealing with the crime and violence of a black market, we’ll do much better than break-even on the deal.”

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This is the latest press release from the (Non-Alcoholic, Non-Phamaceutical, Non-Tobacco) Drug Free America Foundation:

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The arrest of the Connecticut Vice President of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws for violent threats against State Senator Toni Boucher has brought to light more incidents of verbal abuse, physical intimidation and harassment by other drug legalization activists.

Dr. Andrea Barthwell, a prominent treatment professional, recently spoke of her experiences. “They are not above using misinformation, intimidation, and retribution to advance their goals. As a long time advocate for the prevention and treatment of drug abuse, I have been harassed and threatened in person and on blogs by people and groups who support the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) agenda,” said Barthwell.

That’s Andrea Barthwell, former Deputy Drug Czar under George W. Bush.  Speaking of misinformation, she once said, “If there were compelling scientific and medical data supporting marijuana’s medical benefits that would be one thing, but the data is not there. The claim of one individual who has used marijuana does not medical data make.”  As a long time advocate for providing marijuana to the sick and dying people who gain relief from it, I have been harassed by Barthwell when she said, “The people who are advancing marijuana as a medicine are perpetuating a cruel hoax that exploits our compassion for the sick. They are using patients’ pain and suffering in an attempt to change America’s drug control policy. Marijuana is a crude plant product that most definitely is not a medicine.”

I’m still waiting for the medicinal marijuana patient to tell me to stop “using” them and repeal Oregon’s medical marijuana law, Andrea.  By the way, Andrea now works for a pharmaceutical company that takes marijuana in “crude plant product” form and makes a spray out of it for medicinal properties (check out Pete Guither’s excellent post on the subject).  The manufacturer touts that the product is a “whole plant extract” that contains all the compounds found in “crude plant product”.  You know, the one that Andrea says “is most definitely not a medicine.”

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