Welcome to the Growery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!
|
Shaggy420
Registered: 07/06/10
Posts: 3,372
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
|
Study suggests US should decriminalise cannabis
#486158 - 10/08/10 04:51 PM (14 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Andrew Jack
Financial Times
Friday 08 Oct 2010
The US government should decriminalise cannabis and instead regulate and tax producers, according to a study based on its own official statistics that suggest prohibition has simply increased its availability and potency in recent years.
The International Centre for Science in Drug Policy, based in Vancouver, Canada, highlighted that while the budget of the US Office of National Drug Control had increased more than six-fold to $18bn over the past two decades, cannabis seizures had jumped four times.
The study is the most comprehensive attempt to analyse, using government data, the failure of US policy to reduce the use of cannabis through its criminalisation.
Greater government financing of law enforcement has increased cannabis-related arrests, but retail costs fell from $37 a gram in 1990 to $15 in 2007.
Dr Evan Wood, founder of the centre, said: "Data collected and paid for by the US government clearly shows that prohibition has not reduced cannabis consumption or supply. Scientific evidence clearly shows that regulatory tools have the potential to effectively reduce rates of cannabis-related harm."
The research cited studies showing cannabis remained universally available to young Americans, with use increasing to 32 per cent of 12th-grade US students and 29 per cent of 19-28 year olds in 2008.
It stressed that decriminalisation should be accompanied by suitable regulation, highlighting how the continued illegality of production and distribution of cannabis in the Netherland and Portugal means it is still largely controlled by organised crime.
The findings add to many previous calls to reduce or remove criminal penalties from cannabis possession, which have failed to reduce use while swelling the power and activities of criminal groups involved in its production and sale.
They come as the state of California prepares to vote on a proposition that could potentially legalise cannabis.
The report argues that California should issue permits and prescriptions to select cannabis purchasers; enforce licences and regulatory guidelines for dispensaries; limit sales to consumers of legal age; tax and restrict the location, hours and volume of sales; and control advertising.
The centre said it largely relies on volunteers within a scientific network for support, with some support from St Paul's Hospital in Canada. It receives no funding from the pharmaceutical industry or any lobbying groups.
The report conceded that some of its analysis – such as on potency and price – were based on estimates from non-random samples.
The centre's scientific advisory board includes senior figures working on HIV, who have also argued for a science-based approach to injecting drug users. They say the practice should also be decriminalised to reduce stigma and ease programmes such as clean needle exchange and oral methadone substitution to cut transmission risk of the virus.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6aca7040-d16c-11df-96d1-00144feabdc0.html
|
NobodyImportant
Science Is Subculture
Registered: 05/03/08
Posts: 4,981
Loc: Jawjuh.
Last seen: 11 years, 7 months
|
Re: Study suggests US should decriminalise cannabis [Re: Shaggy420]
#487911 - 10/14/10 11:46 AM (14 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
lol nobody paid an average of $37 a gram for bud in 1990
--------------------
Glass By: US Tubes, ZOB, Roor.de, Sheldon Black, Jerome Baker, Medicali, Kennaroo, Sand, Alex K, Local and Unknown Artists
|
stinkbuttdog
Majestic Sproutling
Registered: 10/25/08
Posts: 12
|
Re: Study suggests US should decriminalise cannabis [Re: NobodyImportant]
#489194 - 10/18/10 03:02 PM (14 years, 1 month ago) |
|
|
Quote:
NobodyImportant said: lol nobody paid an average of $37 a gram for bud in 1990
Fail. I'd like to ask for your references please. I know it seems unlikely, but I've seen people selling for crazy prices like that on the East Coast, AND PEOPLE WERE PAYING FOR IT! That's the power of a proper 6-8 month cure (which almost NO ONE has the patience to do, sorry for their luck.)
Prices change with earning power, the more you earn, the more you'll spend. Simple. Go buy a Big Mac in NYC, then buy a Big Mac in Po Dunk USA. You'll get what I'm saying.
-------------------- Awwwww shoogie doogie!!
| |
|
|
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: geokills 2,428 topic views. 0 members, 1 guests and 15 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ] | | |
|
|
|