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Dr. Carl Hart, Dr. Wendy Chapkis, Philippe Lucas, and Paul Armentano (among others) discussing medical marijuana’s future at the DPA Reform Conference in Albuquerque.
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 4:39 pm | By: Radical Russ
In the face of growing calls to tax and regulate marijuana, the prohibitionists are left with few tools in their rhetorical arsenal. One talking point they’ve trotted out lately goes something like this:
Why not tax pot and alleviate the financial burden of our cities and states? We tax alcohol sales and it earns billions. “The latest studies show that the U.S. collects about $8 billion yearly in taxes from alcohol.” However, this is not the end of the story. “The problem is, the total cost to the U.S. in 2008 due to alcohol-related problems was $185 billion, and the government pays about 38% of that cost (about $72 billion), all due to consequences of alcohol consumption, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism.”
In other words, if we “legalized” marijuana, the damage caused by all the rampant stoners would cost us more than the pot taxes would bring in.
Of course the argument is silly on its face; alcohol use causes serious health problems, violence, and auto wrecks, so it naturally costs society more than it brings in. Cannabis use is relatively safe and as I’ve argued before, 22 million of us are using it now, so if there is any social cost, why not at least bring in some tax revenue instead of none?
In terms of costs per user: tobacco-related health costs are over $800 per user, alcohol-related health costs are much lower at $165 per user, and cannabis-related health costs are the lowest at $20 per user. On the enforcement side, costs for cannabis are the highest at $328 per user—94% of social costs for cannabis are linked to enforcement. Enforcement costs per user for alcohol are about half those for cannabis ($153), while enforcement costs for tobacco are very low.
Now that’s Canada, so our US numbers may vary a bit, especially when we’re talking about health care costs. But in the title of his post, Paul asked me to “do the math”. So here it is:
Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 10:12 am | By: Radical Russ
Advocates of reforming marijuana laws will convene in Columbia Nov. 7, according to a news release from organizers Dan Viets and Sean Randall.
The conference of Missouri NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) seeks to educate attendees about the negative effects of marijuana prohibition and to increase public awareness and support of medical marijuana legislation in Missouri, the news release said.
Rep. Kate Meniners of Kansas City will introduce The Missouri Medical Marijuana Bill in the upcoming legislative session, the release said. If approved, it would protect patients from criminal arrest and prosecution who use medical marijuana with recommendations of their physician, the news release said.
Presentations throughout the day will address a variety of topics, including community organizing, firsthand stories of people using marijuana for medical purposes. Paul Armentano, deputy director of national NORML, will be the keynote speaker. He will speak about the safety and effectiveness of medical marijuana in comparison to other prescription and over-the-counter medications at 6 p.m.
The conference takes place at the Ellis Library Auditorium on the University of Missouri campus. It is free and open to the public. For more information, including a schedule, go to www.joplin-norml.org.
NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano has sent a follow-up letter to Assemblyman Ammiano that challenges the more egregious allegations from our opponents (like Scott Kirkland’s “18% to 24%” THC average claim) with all the hyperlinky academic study goodness we have come to expect from Paul.
Thank you so much for holding yesterday’s hearing, “Examining the Fiscal and Legal Implication of the Legalization and Regulation of Marijuana.” This is just the sort of comprehensive, civil, and intellectual debate that is needed if we are to move marijuana policy forward in California.
Over the course of yesterday’s nearly three hours of testimony there were several questions and allegations raised by both witnesses and members of the Committee. I have noted several of them below and have tried my best to provide accurate responses to them. Please note that I’d be happy to make background materials re: all of these issues available to your office upon request. More comprehensive replies to several of these issues are also available in my book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? (Chelsea Green, 2009) — a copy of which was handed to you at the conclusion of the hearing.
Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 5:43 pm | By: Radical Russ
I’m editing and compressing audio from our NORML National Conference last month in San Francisco as fast as I can. Here are five items from the conference that are already up at the Special Events feed at http://www.norml.org/rss/normlevents_podcast.xml
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Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 11:12 am | By: Radical Russ
Paul points out that marijuana has no LD-50 rating. LD-50 means the dose at which 50% of the people taking it will die. Paul tells us that alcohol, aspirin, and even water has an LD-50 rating. His point is that while people think marijuana is OK or safe, they have no idea how uniquely safe it is.
Paul relates the story of Cathy Jordan, diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), given three years to live in 1986. She only uses marijuana now and is still alive, the world record longest surviving ALS patient. So does medical science admit cannabis may help ALS? No, they think they may have misdiagnosed her in 1986. Typical.
Now he’s pointing out how THC programs cancer cells to kill themselves without killing the healthy cells. Why won’t science start testing THC therapy on human cancer patients, when they know so much about what it does to rats?
Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 2:56 pm | By: Radical Russ
Show 001: Steve Fox (MPP), Mason Tvert (SAFER), & Paul Armentano (NORML) discuss "Marijuana is Safer" book; NORML Exec. Dir. Allen St. Pierre; MMA Fighter Toby "Tigerheart" Grear
I am thrilled to be hosting our debut show tonight at 6pm PT / 9pm ET. I hope you all make it a regular Saturday night ritual.
You can listen to the show live three ways (and no, regular terrestrial or satellite radio is not one of those ways… yet):
Point your web browser to http://live.norml.org and follow the links to Show 001. (Or use the link on the powder-blue BlogTalkRadio player you see there on the right…)
Point your mobile phone’s browser to http://m.blogtalkradio.com/norml. Click the link at the bottom of the page for Shows and Blogs. Click the link for Show 001. (I’m not completely sure the live show will play this way; it may only allow you to see the blog and comments. If so, try…)
Call 347-994-1810 on your mobile phone. (”347″ is a New York area code, so long distance charges, if any, would apply. Probably only an option if you’ve got unlimited minutes and free domestic long distance.)
The show will also be archived about one hour following the live broadcast. You’ll be able to hear it all week on the embedded player to the right or by subscribing to it as a podcast on iTunes.
In our 2nd hour, mixed-martial arts champion Toby “Tigerheart” Grear of True Warrior Fitness discusses being banned from fighting professionally in California because of positive tests for his legal medical marijuana.
We’re also taking your calls at the bottom of each hour. Dial 347-994-1810 to listen in on your phone and press 1 at any time if you’d like to speak to the host or guests. Your call will be screened and we remind you to have a question ready, keep it short and to the point, and avoid profanity (we’re not FCC regulated on the net, but if we want to take this to terrestrial radio, we need to act like it.)
Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 3:36 pm | By: Radical Russ
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ — San Diego DUI lawyer Lawrence Taylor claims that California DUI laws should not be applied to marijuana usage. Unlike alcohol and many drugs, he says, marijuana probably does not impair driving.
On the one hand, the California Department of Justice has found that marijuana impairs psychomotor abilities that are functionally related to driving, particularly at high-dose levels or among inexperienced users. (”Marijuana and Alcohol: A Driver Performance Study,” California Office of Traffic Safety Project No. 087902)
However, the San Diego DUI defense attorney points out, two federal studies contradict this.
In one, the U.S. Department of Transportation conducted DUI research with a fully interactive simulator on the effects of alcohol and marijuana, alone and in combination, on driver-controlled behavior and performance. Although alcohol was found consistently and significantly to cause impairment, marijuana had only an occasional effect.
Accidents and speeding tickets reliably increased with alcohol, but no marijuana or combined alcohol-marijuana influence was noted. (”The Effects of Alcohol on Driver-Controlled Behavior in a Driving Simulator, Phase I”(DOT-HS-806-414).)
Taylor, who heads a large firm of DUI attorneys with offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Riverside and San Francisco, points to another more recent report. Entitled “Marijuana and Actual Performance” (DOT-HS-808-078), it also found that “THC is not a profoundly impairing drug….It apparently affects controlled information processing in a variety of laboratory tests, but not to the extent which is beyond the individual’s ability to control when he is motivated and permitted to do so in driving.”
The researchers found that it “appears not possible to conclude anything about a driver’s impairment on the basis of his/her plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample.”
Sounds like a “whoo-hoo!” moment, huh? Well, not so fast. NORML’s Principles of Responsible Use states “The responsible cannabis consumer does not operate a motor vehicle or other dangerous machinery while impaired by cannabis.”
The $64,000 question*, then, is “what defines impaired?” I can tell you that one puff off a vape bag full of Oregon’s finest will severely impair your average Kansas ditchweed smoker, while that same puff for a 5g/day Oregon patient won’t even break his concentration from completing the New York Times crossword.
The same phenomenon exists for alcohol; the alcoholic can seem perfectly capable with as many drinks under his belt as would knock out your average sorority sister. But as a society, we decided that there should be an absolute measurable physical limit – .08 blood alcohol content – that defines impairment per se, that is, if you’re over .08 you’re too impaired even if you’re not really too impaired.
As always when there is a story about cannabis drug testing and driving, I called on NORML’s Deputy Director, Paul Armentano. Here’s what he had to say:
slash5city: don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west
thaistik: Local Crime Stoppers notice.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pot shop burglars sought
Crime Stoppers is looking for information on the suspects who police say burglarized a medical marijuana dispensary and stole cash, drugs [...]
Radical Russ: Testing, testing, 347-994-1810, chat with "Radical" Russ at the Cannabis Café, private invite for Stashers only!
RevRayGreen: I was like 14/15 back then..old fuckng school sht
RevRayGreen: @MH.....white x's, yellow jackts,BB's.then it became just caffeine pills
SneakerPimp: im diggen yesterdays stash daily toker tunes segment awesome
WakeUpDead: Just got done with yesterdays stash and now the new one is up, very cool.
SneakerPimp: ah fresh stashieness
SneakerPimp: nice pic there mr ruben
Missippi Hippy: black beauties - got 'em by the pharm sealed 1000 in the 80s
Adam: Kieth Stroup told me that he has new book coming out, it will cover the time periods after High in America was published.
Adam: I recommend that you all read High in America: The True Story Behind NORML and the Politics of Marijuana.
Read it FREE online HERE
http://tinyurl.com/cxzc3h
slash5city: ah the mid 80's spof ..the summers of 3d weed.... head down to the smoking area at school buy a 2$ pin joint or two from the one dealer then [...]
Missippi Hippy: drug war grunts we be.
Adam: @Rev, Thats right, They split over this exact priority issue. I have read a lot about the history of NORML and the marijuana legalization fight.
Missippi Hippy: yep... they lobby
Missippi Hippy: I'ma people, you'r a people, she's a people, he's a people, wouldn't you like to be a people too!
Adam: We can't forget that MPP has a man in the hall's of Congress every day, that POV is priceless for our side and without the NORML chapters in small town [...]
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Stash for Fri, Nov 20, 2009
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don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
I'ma people, you'r a people, she's a people, he's a people, wouldn't you like to be a people too! 
Fresh Stash V RSS Feed
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