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April 19, 2009
Rehab for Pot Smokers? Say it isn’t So, Barack!!
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to remember that back in November, I was actually hopeful that we’d see some intelligent changes in the corrupt and destructive American policy known as the "War" on Drugs. It’s not as if the drug war had ever done anything but fail in the nearly four decades since Richard Nixon’s unexpected election and a surprising Supreme Court decision combined to allow his administration to rewrite what had been a bad drug policy to begin with. The rewrite produced a greatly expanded version of the old policy that soon made things infinitely worse by retaining and intensifying all its erroneous assumptions while creating several new illegal markets for agents that had become available during and after the Second World War.The result has been been an unmitigated disaster; by expanding the role of police agencies in the practice of Medicine, the Omnibus Controlled Substances Act (CSA) has been responsible for countless deaths and blighted lives; it has corrupted law enforcement, Psychiatry, and the Behavioral Sciences, while quadrupling our prison population, debasing Education and creating business opportunities for powerful transnational criminal organizations that now have the power to destabilize sovereign nations.
Sadly, since taking office in January, the Obama Administration's drug policy initiatives have been disappointing; first, it sent a confusing series of mixed signals on medical marijuana in California; more recently, when faced with resurgent Mexican drug cartels, it dusted off all the old shibboleths favored by past administrations.
The latest is an announcement, seconded by his new drug czar, that we will be relying on rehab to “control” the murderous cartels now competing for a share of the lucrative US marijuana market.
A far more intelligent approach might be to ask why that market has grown so steadily since the Sixties despite all the money spent to suppress it.
Because our study of chronic users in California strongly suggests that inhaled cannabis protects troubled teens from problematic use of alcohol and other drugs, I can't imagine a move more likely to fail. Talk about being trapped in the ignorance of the past!
Nevertheless, our new President was (by far) the most intelligent and open of all candidates in the last election, as he demonstrated again today at a press conference in Trinidad. Perhaps what would help most would be for some members of the press to ask some intelligent questions about pot for a change.
Doctor Tom
Posted by tjeffo at April 19, 2009 07:32 AM
Comments
Just legalize drugs. I see that most posts throughout the internet are for legalization. Obama promised change, but in regards to this he isn't really doing what he promised. So what I say as that all of us Americans who want legalization (which I am sure are the majority) need to organize ourselves and put extreme pressure on the government to legalize. Another thing is, go to Mexico and ask any Mexican if they are more fearful of the police or drug dealers. You will find they are more scared of the police and military and that the police and military actually lessen security and are the worst criminals in Mexico. Furthermore, why don't we use Calderon's lame argument about the demand of drugs in the U.S. as the problem against him? Mr. Calderon, why don't you stop the huge DEMAND for weapons in your country before you blame us for the problem? Additionaly, why don't we look at Mexico as an example of gun and weapons control. In Mexico, guns and weapons are illegal. You can't even carry a knife on the streets legally. That shows you how well gun control works. Just look at Mexico!
Posted by: martin at April 24, 2009 07:06 AM