Pubdate: Sat, 29 Sep 2012
Source: Wayland Town Crier (MA)
Copyright: 2012 GateHouse Media, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wickedlocal.com/wayland/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5214

HIGHLY ANTICIPATED WALDEN FORUM ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA

WAYLAND -Join us for a discussion with Drs. Kevin Sabet and Jeffrey
Miron, as they address the Walden Forum on Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 7:30
p.m. This Walden Forum will be held at the new Wayland High School
Auditorium, 264 Old Connecticut Path.

Drs. Sabet and Miron will talk about Question 3 (Yay or Nay on Medical
Marijuana). That's the issue before Massachusetts voters in November.

This is an opportunity for us to discuss what many have been unwilling
to address - an effective medical marijuana law.

The secretary of state announced in July that an initiative to allow
medical marijuana in Massachusetts has been approved and will appear
on the November ballot. The initiative would allow qualifying patients
to use and purchase marijuana "produced and distributed by new
state-regulated centers or =C2=85 to grow marijuana for their own use."

Drs. Sabet and Miron will each have 30 minutes to discuss their
respective views on the issue, followed by a civil question and answer
as the audience engages the speakers with their questions.

Dr. Sabet ("nay") says, "Medical marijuana is certainly a complex
issue. No one wants to see their loved ones suffer needlessly, and
there is a good case to be made that federal law enforcement should
focus their limited resources on major drug producers and
distributors.

"Unfortunately, however, the issue of medical marijuana goes beyond
simple compassion. Medicines in the United States are approved by the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), not a popular vote. So it is
troubling that some states have decided to bypass that system in favor
of one that is manipulated by political agendas."

Sabet has a doctorate in public policy analysis from Oxford University
with emphasis on drug policy, drug prevention, drug enforcement and
legalization.

A resident of Cambridge, he is the president of the Policy Solutions
Lab and also serves as director of the Drug Policy Institute at the
University of Florida, where he is an assistant professor. He served
in the Obama Administration from 2009 to 2011 as senior advisor at the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

He is currently serving as one of five Americans on the Hemispheric
expert panel charged to draft the "Report on Drug Policy for the
Summit of the Americas," organized by the Organization of American
States.

Dr. Miron's ("yay") perspective is as follows: Over the past several
decades, numerous states have decriminalized or medicalized, and many
others are considering full legalization. The situation is similar
across Europe and several Latin American countries as well. Dr. Miron
does not take a position on the medicinal value of marijuana; that
should be a question for medical professionals, he believes. But, he
argues that from a consequential perspective, it is difficult to
defend a ban on medical marijuana or recreational marijuana - both
should be legal. Standard economic reasoning shows that drug
prohibition is likely to cause numerous undesirable consequences and
is almost certainly inferior to alternative policies for addressing
the social costs created by drug use. An important theme will be that
even if drug consumption is undesirable - in the sense that
consumption causes harm to innocent third parties - prohibition is
probably the worst possible approach for addressin! g these harms.

Miron is an American economist. He is senior lecturer and director of
undergraduate studies in the Department of Economics at Harvard
University and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

Dr. Miron has studied the effects of drug criminalization for 15 years,
and argues that all drugs should be legalized, not just marijuana. He is 

author of the book "Drug War Crimes: The Consequences of Prohibition."

This Walden Forum is presented in cooperation with WaylandCares.Org
(Promoting Healthy Youth Decision Making).

The Walden Forum is a free public series that brings people together
to talk, listen and learn from one another in a civil environment. It
fosters discussion about important ethical, religious, political,
scientific, social and other topics in a live-forum setting.

Featuring world-class speakers on great topics throughout the year,
the Walden Forum is a non-religious community program supported by
First Parish in Wayland and others.

For more information go online (www.waldenforum.org) or send an  ---
MAP posted-by: Matt