In December 2013, Uruguay legalized marijuana, Earlier, in 2012, Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana under the laws of their states, and 21 additional states and the District of Columbia have now decriminalized or allowed medical use of marijuana. Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001, and the Netherlands has practiced de facto legalization for marijuana for decades. More broadly, many countries have de-escalated their "Wars on Drugs." Indeed, President Obama hinted strongly in a recent interview that he supports marijuana legalization. [continues 690 words]
While voters across the nation cast their votes on hotly-contested national races, a resounding majority of Massachusetts residents voted yesterday to legalize the use of medical marijuana. Physician-assisted suicide, the other issue put to voters on the ballot, remained contested until the early hours of the morning. At about 2 a.m., The Boston Globe predicted a narrow defeat for the measure. Question 3 on voters' ballots, entitled "Medical Use of Marijuana," included provisions to legalize cannabis use by patients with "debilitating medical conditions" and sanctions the creation of 35 medical marijuana dispensaries across the Commonwealth. [continues 420 words]
Panelists discussing drug violence along the U.S.-Mexico border said that the corruption of government officials on both sides of the border is a major problem facing the fight against cartels, during a forum at the Institute of Politics yesterday. "[Cartels] corrupt to create permissive environments in which they can operate and get away with anything from murder to mass murder," said Michael Braun, the former chief of operations at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. "They corrupt, they intimidate and they resort to extreme violence when the other two don't work." [continues 433 words]
Legalizing drugs in the U.S. could save the federal government $88 billion, according to Harvard economics lecturer Jeffrey A. Miron. The findings, published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, show that legalizing drugs would save the federal government an estimated $41.3 billion in drug prohibition enforcement expenses. Legalizing drugs-including marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and synthetic drugs-would also generate tax revenues of about $46.7 billion, Miron argued in the paper, which he co-wrote with Katherine Waldock, a doctoral candidate at the NYU Stern School of Business. [continues 210 words]
The Word "Narcotics" Distorts The Drug Debate On Aug. 3, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico called for a national debate on the legalization of drugs. Shortly afterwards, former president Vicente Fox demanded the outright legalization of all drugs in order to remove the monopoly guaranteed to the drug trafficking organizations by the current state of prohibition. A year earlier, three other former Latin American presidents--Fernando Cardoso of Brazil, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico--issued a report explaining why Latin American nations and the United States should abandon the "War on Drugs" and consider legalization as part of an initiative to begin treating drug use as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue. [continues 653 words]
In November 2010, California voters will consider a ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana in the state. The proposed law includes restrictions on sale and use, such as a minimum purchase age of 21, but the bill gives marijuana roughly the same legal status as alcohol. Early polls suggest the measure will pass, although full-scale debate has not yet occurred. Marijuana legalization is a far bigger step than decriminalization or medicalization, which have already occurred in California and other states. Decriminalization legalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana, but it does not eliminate the underground market or permit easy taxation. Medicalization is closer to legalization, but it still leaves producers and consumers in a legal gray area and collects less revenue than legalization. Should California, or the country, legalize marijuana? [continues 621 words]
When citizens of Massachusetts voted yes in November to Question 2, the "Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative," many of them thought that they were voting to legalize marijuana. Because marijuana is illegal under federal, not state law, this would be impossible--states can only choose how they punish use of the drug, not whether or not it is illegal. The new law, which was inserted into The General Laws of Massachusetts, chapter 94C, section 32L, actually reads, "possession of one ounce or less of marihuana shall only be a civil [rather than criminal] offense, subjecting an offender who is eighteen years of age or older to a civil penalty of one hundred dollars and forfeiture of the marihuana, but not to any other form of criminal or civil punishment or disqualification." In Massachusetts that is, small-scale possession became the legal equivalent of a bad traffic ticket. Law enforcement officers, however, worry that citizens' first impression may prove all too close to correct--that the "marijuana ticket" will prove impossible to enforce and is thus a de facto legalization of weed. In the short run, officers should try to enforce the law as best they can, despite the enforcement challenges that it presents; it is, after all, law. In the long run, however, citizens and officers alike should consider the real reasons that officers hesitate to enforce the law, and what can be done to better the situation. [continues 506 words]
The Swiss government is now peddling heroin to its hard-core addicts. Since 1994, the Swiss government has used a heroin prescription program that enables doctors to provide heroin junkies with a strictly controlled dosage of heroin everyday. Shockingly enough, this program has succeeded in controlling the nation's drug problem beyond the government's wildest dreams. The Swiss pilot program--recently made permanent by a nationwide referendum on the issue--has saved the nation money, decreased crime rates, and halted the spread of infectious disease. [continues 638 words]
The possession of an ounce or less of marijuana will be decriminalized, dog racing will banned by 2010, and the state income tax isn't going away, Massachusetts residents decided on Tuesday when they voted on three state-wide ballot questions. When the law governing marijuana goes into effect in November or December, people will not be arrested for the possession of small quantities of marijuana, said Whitney Taylor, the chairwoman of the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, an advocacy group that supports decriminalization. [continues 678 words]
While a recent poll showed that more than two thirds of Massachusetts voters favor relaxing laws against marijuana, State Representative Will N. Brownsberger '78-a drug addiction and enforcement expert who represents parts of Belmont and Cambridge-said he has grave concerns about the wisdom of a November ballot initiative that would decriminalize possession of the drug. The initiative, championed by the Committee of Sensible Marijuana Policy, would replace criminal penalties for possession of an ounce or less of personal use marijuana with civil penalties. [continues 513 words]
Most marijuana users who get caught smoking a joint summarily pay a fine, but when an undercover police officer detained Richard E. Cusick and R. Keith Stroup, the two chose instead to challenge the constitutionality of Massachusetts laws banning marijuana for the first time in 30 years. Arrested for sharing a marijuana cigarette at the annual Boston Freedom Rally in September, Cusick and Stroup turned to Harvard Law School professor Charles R. Nesson '60 for legal counsel. Nesson and his clients acknowledged that they had used the illegal drug, and decided upon an unusual defense: they argued that the statute outlawing marijuana in Massachusetts has no "rational basis," and that the jury has the power of jury nullification, or ruling a defendant innocent while recognizing that he or she had violated a law. [continues 306 words]
Paint out an exaggerated caricature of the Left and you are likely to find among "Bible-burning," "latte-drinking," and "tax-raising" the common epithet "pot-smoking." A well-stuffed joint is, apparently, a familiar staple in the progressive's quiver alongside a Che shirt and a burning American flag. Unfortunately, marijuana as political issue goes better to the tune of "Puttin' on the Ritz" than "The Internationale," for drug consumption, even if it frees minds, shackles the lower class into economic bondsmanship. [continues 799 words]
