A conference lecture by Dr Melanie Dreher reviewing a randomized study carried out in the early 1990's analysing the developmental effects on the new born children from mothers that smoked marijuana during pregnancy in Jamaca. The study compares intellectual as well as physiological and emotional development between two groups, being woman that smoked cannabis (divided into light, moderate & heavy use) and a group of woman that were drug free during pregnancy. The outcomes drawn are truly thought provoking tragic at the same time, and not at all what you would expect!
Largly shunned by the academic world when published and since in literature reviews, Dr Dreher shows clearly the arrogant academic snobbery, eliteism and short sightness in the academic world. What I fail to understand is how the academic world stands by and ignores a highly relavent insight and still calls their ongoing litrature reviews and subsequent conclusions as accurate. The mind boggles.
Even though this is a long video clocking in at 30mins, do take the time to watch it through, there are some remarkable closing statements made by Dr Dreher, and the journey itself while heavy at times is quite astounding.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Policy Analysis: Drug Prohibition
Thinking about Drug Legalization
by James Ostrowski
(James Ostrowski, an associate policy analyst of the Cato Institute, was vice chairman of the New York County Lawyers Association Committee on Law Reform).
Prohibition is an awful flop.
We like it.
It can't stop what it's meant to stop.
We like it.
It's left a trail of graft and slime,
It don't prohibit worth a dime,
It's filled our land with vice and crime.
Nevertheless, we're for it.
-- Franklin P. Adams (1931)
On Thursday, March 17, 1988, at 10:45 p.m., in the Bronx, Vernia Brown was killed by stray bullets fired in a dispute over illegal drugs. The 19-year-old mother of one was not involved in the dispute, yet her death was a direct consequence of the "war on drugs."
By now, there can be little doubt that most, if not all, "drug-related murders" are the result of drug prohibition. The same type of violence came with the Eighteenth Amendment's ban of alcohol in 1920. The murder rate rose with the start of Prohibition, remained high during Prohibition, and then declined for 11 consecutive years when Prohibition ended. The rate of assaults with a firearm rose with Prohibition and declined for 10 consecutive years after Prohibition. In the last year of Prohibition--1933--there were 12,124 homicides and 7,863 assaults with firearms; by 1941 these figures had declined to 8,048 and 4,525, respectively.
Vernia Brown died because of the policy of drug prohibition. If, then, her death is a "cost" of that policy, what did the "expenditure" of her life "buy"? What benefits has society derived from the policy of prohibition that led to her death? To find the answer, I turned to the experts and to the supporters of drug prohibition.
In 1988, I wrote to Vice President George Bush, then head of the South Florida Drug Task Force; to Education Secretary William Bennett; to Assistant Secretary of State for Drug Policy Ann Wrobleski; to White House drug policy adviser Dr. Donald I. McDonald; and to the public information directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, General Accounting Office, National Institute of Justice, and National Institute on Drug Abuse. None of these officials was able to cite any study that demonstrated the beneficial effects of drug prohibition when weighed against its costs. The leaders of the war on drugs are apparently unable to defend on rational cost-benefit grounds their 70-year-old policy, which costs nearly $10 billion per year (out of pocket), imprisons 75,000 Americans, and fills our cities with violent crime. It would seem that Vernia Brown and many others like her have died for nothing.
Some supporters of drug prohibition claim that its benefits are undeniable and self-evident. Their main assumption is that without prohibition drug use would skyrocket, with disastrous results. But there is little evidence for this commonly held belief. In fact, in the few cases where empirical evidence does exist it lends little support to the prediction of soaring drug use. For example, in two places in the Western world where use of small amounts of marijuana is legal--the Netherlands and Alaska--the rate of marijuana consumption is arguably lower than in the continental United States, where marijuana is banned. In 1982, 6.3 percent of American high school seniors smoked marijuana daily, but only 4 percent did so in Alaska. In 1985, 5.5 percent of American high school seniors used marijuana daily, but in the Netherlands the rate was only 0.5 percent. These are hardly controlled comparisons--no such comparisons exist--but the numbers that are available do not bear out the drastic scenario portrayed by supporters of continued prohibition.
Finally, there is at least some evidence that the "forbidden fruit" aspect of prohibition may lead to increased use of or experimentation with drugs, particularly among the young. This phenomenon apparently occurred with marijuana, LSD, toluene-based glue, and other drugs. The case for legalization does not rely on this argument, but those who believe prohibition needs no defense cannot simply dismiss it.
From:
http://www.cato.org/
Some wonderful points bought up, its hard to fathom how the policy makers of this world can continue this idiotic crusade against their people. An immensly destructive outright archaic set of rules and regulations.
by James Ostrowski
(James Ostrowski, an associate policy analyst of the Cato Institute, was vice chairman of the New York County Lawyers Association Committee on Law Reform).
Prohibition is an awful flop.
We like it.
It can't stop what it's meant to stop.
We like it.
It's left a trail of graft and slime,
It don't prohibit worth a dime,
It's filled our land with vice and crime.
Nevertheless, we're for it.
-- Franklin P. Adams (1931)
On Thursday, March 17, 1988, at 10:45 p.m., in the Bronx, Vernia Brown was killed by stray bullets fired in a dispute over illegal drugs. The 19-year-old mother of one was not involved in the dispute, yet her death was a direct consequence of the "war on drugs."
By now, there can be little doubt that most, if not all, "drug-related murders" are the result of drug prohibition. The same type of violence came with the Eighteenth Amendment's ban of alcohol in 1920. The murder rate rose with the start of Prohibition, remained high during Prohibition, and then declined for 11 consecutive years when Prohibition ended. The rate of assaults with a firearm rose with Prohibition and declined for 10 consecutive years after Prohibition. In the last year of Prohibition--1933--there were 12,124 homicides and 7,863 assaults with firearms; by 1941 these figures had declined to 8,048 and 4,525, respectively.
Vernia Brown died because of the policy of drug prohibition. If, then, her death is a "cost" of that policy, what did the "expenditure" of her life "buy"? What benefits has society derived from the policy of prohibition that led to her death? To find the answer, I turned to the experts and to the supporters of drug prohibition.
In 1988, I wrote to Vice President George Bush, then head of the South Florida Drug Task Force; to Education Secretary William Bennett; to Assistant Secretary of State for Drug Policy Ann Wrobleski; to White House drug policy adviser Dr. Donald I. McDonald; and to the public information directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, General Accounting Office, National Institute of Justice, and National Institute on Drug Abuse. None of these officials was able to cite any study that demonstrated the beneficial effects of drug prohibition when weighed against its costs. The leaders of the war on drugs are apparently unable to defend on rational cost-benefit grounds their 70-year-old policy, which costs nearly $10 billion per year (out of pocket), imprisons 75,000 Americans, and fills our cities with violent crime. It would seem that Vernia Brown and many others like her have died for nothing.
Some supporters of drug prohibition claim that its benefits are undeniable and self-evident. Their main assumption is that without prohibition drug use would skyrocket, with disastrous results. But there is little evidence for this commonly held belief. In fact, in the few cases where empirical evidence does exist it lends little support to the prediction of soaring drug use. For example, in two places in the Western world where use of small amounts of marijuana is legal--the Netherlands and Alaska--the rate of marijuana consumption is arguably lower than in the continental United States, where marijuana is banned. In 1982, 6.3 percent of American high school seniors smoked marijuana daily, but only 4 percent did so in Alaska. In 1985, 5.5 percent of American high school seniors used marijuana daily, but in the Netherlands the rate was only 0.5 percent. These are hardly controlled comparisons--no such comparisons exist--but the numbers that are available do not bear out the drastic scenario portrayed by supporters of continued prohibition.
Finally, there is at least some evidence that the "forbidden fruit" aspect of prohibition may lead to increased use of or experimentation with drugs, particularly among the young. This phenomenon apparently occurred with marijuana, LSD, toluene-based glue, and other drugs. The case for legalization does not rely on this argument, but those who believe prohibition needs no defense cannot simply dismiss it.
From:
http://www.cato.org/
Some wonderful points bought up, its hard to fathom how the policy makers of this world can continue this idiotic crusade against their people. An immensly destructive outright archaic set of rules and regulations.
From A.J.P. Taylor’s ‘English History; 1914-1945
From A.J.P. Taylor’s ‘English History; 1914-1945′.
‘Until August 1914 a sensible law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. He had no official number or identity card. He could travel abroad or leave his country forever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police.’
‘Unlike the countries of the European continent, the state did not require its citizens to perform military service. An Englishman could enlist, if he chose, in the regular army, the navy or the territorials. He could also ignore, if he chose, the demands of national defence. Substantial householders were occasionally called on for jury service. Otherwise, only those helped the state who wished to do so.’
‘The Englishman paid taxes on a modest scale; nearly $400 million in 1913-14, or rather less than 8% of the national income. The state intervened to prevent the citizen from eating adulterated food or contracting certain infectious diseases. It imposed safety rules in factories, and prevented women, and adult males in some industries, from working excessive hours. The state saw to it that children received education up to the age of 13. Since 1 January 1909, it provided a meagre pension for the needy over the age of 70. Since 1911, it helped to insure certain classes of workers against sickness or unemployment.’
‘This tendency towards more state action was increasing. Expenditure on the social services had roughly doubled since the Liberals took office in 1905. Still, broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone.’
‘All this changed by the impact of the Great War.’
Megadeth: Holy Wars...The Punishment due (1990: Rust In Peace)
Brother will kill brother
Spilling blood across the land
Killing for religion
Something I dont understand
Fools like me,who cross the sea
And come to foreign lands
Ask the sheep,for their beliefs
Do you kill on gods command?
A country thats divided
Surely will not stand
My past erased,no more disgrace
No foolish naive stand
The end is near,its crystal clear
Part of the master plan
Dont look now to israel
It might be your homelands
Holy wars
Upon my podium,as the
Know it all scholar
Down in my seat of judgement
Gavels bang,uphold the law
Up on my soapbox,a leader
Out to change the world
Down in my pulpit as the holler
Than-thou-could-be-messenger of god
Wage the war on organized crime
Sneak attacks,repel down the rocks
Behind the lines
Some people risk to employ me
Some people live to destroy me
Either way they die
They killed my wife,and my baby
With hopes to enslave me
First mistake...last mistake|
Paid by the alliance,to slay all the giants
Next mistake...no more mistakes|
Fill the cracks in,with judicial granite
Because I dont say it,dont mean I aint
Thinkin it
Next thing you know,theyll take my thoughts away
I know what I said,now I must scream of the overdose
And the lack of mercy killings
Sepultura: Murder (Arise: 1991)
Sepultura Murder lyrics
Chaotic Violence In My Eyes
This Whole World Moves Backwards
Peace, Another Sign That Lies
Life Today Is Not Worth The Pain
On The Radio, Another Homicide
Inmates Suffocate In Jail
Severed Heads Of Revolt
I Wish I'd Never Been Born
Same Hand That Builds -- Destroys
Same Hand That Relieves -- Betrays
Same Hand That Seeds -- Burns
Same Peace That Exists -- Here Lies
I Can't Trust Anymore
Criminals Within The Law
I Have Something To Say
Where I Live, Don't Believe In Another Day
Heresy And Graft
Apartheid
Same Religion That Saves -- Damns You!
"The Wind Among the Reeds"
"Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."
By: William Butler Yeats (1899)
By: William Butler Yeats (1899)
The Truth about Marijuana.
The war on drugs, especially marijuana, is a failed waste of tax payers money. Humans should have a right to choice and not be fed hypocritical lies about drug use. How is it that Alcohol and Tobacco are seen as acceptable but other drugs in particular marijuana are not! The war on drugs is a bullshit scare mongering and fear campaign put forward by those in power directed at their fear of the people. The real problem is Marijuana gives the smoker true insight into the state of our societies, and the rich subsequent risk loseing power via overthrow through revolution.
The capitalist system in conjunction is wholy corrupted and keeps the majority (which is actually societies power minority) subservient and second class to the rich and political powers that be.
We could have a world where everyone is equal, everyone is fed, No one is in poverty.
Money could be directed towards education of all. The human race could focus on the real issues, such as destruction of our planet, extinction of animals and the poison that is deeply rooted in our cultures and societies. (Attain true evolution of our species). A society where everyone has an equal chance at life, the chance to reach their full potential, and no one need be destitute. I guess I'd call it a utopia. Legalisation would provide greater control, taxes can be spent on thourough research. The war on drugs is wrong. Have'nt we learnt anything over the last 200 years (let alond million or so years since our evolution began!)The war on drugs like religion, is simply a tool of the wealthy and subsequent influential to control us all. (.Ie the masses)
Marijuana & Drugs: A comedic perspective.
Medical Marijuana: Why it is needed.
FACTS
Deaths per year resulting from alcohol: 100,000
· Deaths per year resulting from tobacco: 430,000
· Deaths per year resulting from aspirin: 180- 1000
· Deaths per year resulting from legal drugs: 106,000
· Deaths that have ever occurred in direct result of Cannabis: 0 (that's right zero)
. Cannabis does have the disadvantage of producing onset of schizophrenia in those with a disposition. While it does also have many adventageous effects such as free thinking / focus and heightened state of awareness. This hightened state, allows true insigt.
HEMP FACTS:
· Farming 6\% of the continental U.S. acreage with biomass crops (Hemp) would provide all of America's Energy needs.
· Biomass can be converted into methane, methanol, or gasoline (which could eliminate our ties with the Middle East) at a cost comparable to petroleum and hemp is much better for the environment.
· Hemp fuel burns clean. Petroleum causes acid rain due to sulfur pollution.
· The use of Hemp Fuel does not contribute to global warming
FACT
· Hemp seed can be pressed into nutritious oil, which contains the highest amount of fatty acids in the plant kingdom. Essential oils are responsible for our immune system responses, and can clear the arteries of cholesterol and plaque.
· The byproduct of pressing the oil from hemp seed is a high quality protein seed cake. It can be used to bake into cakes, breads and casseroles. Hemp seed protein is one of mankind's finest, most complete, and available-to-the body vegetable proteins.
· A Vegan or vegetarian can get all of the days required protein from a handful of hemp seed.
FACT
· Hemp is the oldest cultivated fiber plant in the world.
· Low-THC fiber hemp varieties developed by the French and others have been available for over 20 years. It is impossible to get high from fiber hemp. Over 600,000 acres of hemp is grown worldwide with no misuse problem.
· One acre of hemp can produce as much usable fiber as 4 acres of trees or two acres of cotton.
· Trees cut down take 50-500 years to grow, while hemp can be cultivated in as little as 100 days and can yield 4 times more paper over a 20 year period.
· Until 1883, from 75-90\% of all paper in the world was made with cannabis hemp fiber including that for books, Bibles, maps, paper money, stocks and bonds, newspapers, etc.
· Hemp paper is longer lasting than wood pulp, stronger, acid-free, and chlorine free (Chlorine is estimated to cause up to 10\% of all Cancers).
· Hemp paper can be recycled 7 times, wood pulp 4 times.
· Hemp particleboard may be up to 2 times stronger than wood particleboard and holds nails better.
· Hemp is a softer, warmer, and more water absorbent, than cotton and doesn't stretch out.
· Half of the U.S. pesticides are used to treat cotton, while hemp has a natural pesticide.
FACT
· Almost any product that can be made from wood, cotton, or petroleum (including plastics) can be made from hemp. There are 25,000 known uses for hemp.
· For thousands of years virtually all good paints and varnishes were made with hemp seed oil and/or linseed oil.
· One acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees, making hemp a perfect material to replace trees for pressed board, particle board, and concrete construction molds.
· Heating and compressing plant fibers can create a practical, inexpensive, fire-resistant constructions material with excellent thermal and sound-insulating qualities.
· In 1941 Henry Ford built a plastic car made of fiber from hemp and wheat straw. Hemp is biodegradable, as synthetic plastic is not.
FACT
· Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp. Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic.
The capitalist system in conjunction is wholy corrupted and keeps the majority (which is actually societies power minority) subservient and second class to the rich and political powers that be.
We could have a world where everyone is equal, everyone is fed, No one is in poverty.
Money could be directed towards education of all. The human race could focus on the real issues, such as destruction of our planet, extinction of animals and the poison that is deeply rooted in our cultures and societies. (Attain true evolution of our species). A society where everyone has an equal chance at life, the chance to reach their full potential, and no one need be destitute. I guess I'd call it a utopia. Legalisation would provide greater control, taxes can be spent on thourough research. The war on drugs is wrong. Have'nt we learnt anything over the last 200 years (let alond million or so years since our evolution began!)The war on drugs like religion, is simply a tool of the wealthy and subsequent influential to control us all. (.Ie the masses)
Marijuana & Drugs: A comedic perspective.
Medical Marijuana: Why it is needed.
FACTS
Deaths per year resulting from alcohol: 100,000
· Deaths per year resulting from tobacco: 430,000
· Deaths per year resulting from aspirin: 180- 1000
· Deaths per year resulting from legal drugs: 106,000
· Deaths that have ever occurred in direct result of Cannabis: 0 (that's right zero)
. Cannabis does have the disadvantage of producing onset of schizophrenia in those with a disposition. While it does also have many adventageous effects such as free thinking / focus and heightened state of awareness. This hightened state, allows true insigt.
HEMP FACTS:
· Farming 6\% of the continental U.S. acreage with biomass crops (Hemp) would provide all of America's Energy needs.
· Biomass can be converted into methane, methanol, or gasoline (which could eliminate our ties with the Middle East) at a cost comparable to petroleum and hemp is much better for the environment.
· Hemp fuel burns clean. Petroleum causes acid rain due to sulfur pollution.
· The use of Hemp Fuel does not contribute to global warming
FACT
· Hemp seed can be pressed into nutritious oil, which contains the highest amount of fatty acids in the plant kingdom. Essential oils are responsible for our immune system responses, and can clear the arteries of cholesterol and plaque.
· The byproduct of pressing the oil from hemp seed is a high quality protein seed cake. It can be used to bake into cakes, breads and casseroles. Hemp seed protein is one of mankind's finest, most complete, and available-to-the body vegetable proteins.
· A Vegan or vegetarian can get all of the days required protein from a handful of hemp seed.
FACT
· Hemp is the oldest cultivated fiber plant in the world.
· Low-THC fiber hemp varieties developed by the French and others have been available for over 20 years. It is impossible to get high from fiber hemp. Over 600,000 acres of hemp is grown worldwide with no misuse problem.
· One acre of hemp can produce as much usable fiber as 4 acres of trees or two acres of cotton.
· Trees cut down take 50-500 years to grow, while hemp can be cultivated in as little as 100 days and can yield 4 times more paper over a 20 year period.
· Until 1883, from 75-90\% of all paper in the world was made with cannabis hemp fiber including that for books, Bibles, maps, paper money, stocks and bonds, newspapers, etc.
· Hemp paper is longer lasting than wood pulp, stronger, acid-free, and chlorine free (Chlorine is estimated to cause up to 10\% of all Cancers).
· Hemp paper can be recycled 7 times, wood pulp 4 times.
· Hemp particleboard may be up to 2 times stronger than wood particleboard and holds nails better.
· Hemp is a softer, warmer, and more water absorbent, than cotton and doesn't stretch out.
· Half of the U.S. pesticides are used to treat cotton, while hemp has a natural pesticide.
FACT
· Almost any product that can be made from wood, cotton, or petroleum (including plastics) can be made from hemp. There are 25,000 known uses for hemp.
· For thousands of years virtually all good paints and varnishes were made with hemp seed oil and/or linseed oil.
· One acre of hemp produces as much cellulose fiber pulp as 4.1 acres of trees, making hemp a perfect material to replace trees for pressed board, particle board, and concrete construction molds.
· Heating and compressing plant fibers can create a practical, inexpensive, fire-resistant constructions material with excellent thermal and sound-insulating qualities.
· In 1941 Henry Ford built a plastic car made of fiber from hemp and wheat straw. Hemp is biodegradable, as synthetic plastic is not.
FACT
· Presidents Washington and Jefferson both grew hemp. Americans were legally bound to grow hemp during the Colonial Era and Early Republic.
Marijuana: An academic approach.
Professor of Pharmacology and co-author of Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts, John Morgan explains why marijuana should be legalized for the safety of the community.
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