cannabisnews.com: D.A.R.E. Generation Wants Marijuana Legalized
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D.A.R.E. Generation Wants Marijuana Legalized
Posted by CN Staff on February 01, 2010 at 16:01:23 PT
By Jonathan Perri
Source: Los Angeles Times
USA -- D.A.R.E. America Chairman Skip Miller writes in his Jan. 28 Times Op-Ed article, "Don’t legalize marijuana," that his organization has been successful in its efforts to reduce illegal drug use in the U.S. by educating schoolchildren. Indeed, protecting young people has long been used to justify marijuana prohibition. But in reality, our drug laws have failed to stop marijuana use among American youth but have succeeded in punishing them with damning criminal records, loss of financial aid for college and removal from after-school activities. As a graduate of D.A.R.E., I know all too well about the shortcomings of this program and of America's war on marijuana.
The simple truth is that prohibition doesn't work, and regulation and education do. Most young people will tell you that marijuana is easy to buy despite nearly a century of prohibition that has cost billions of tax dollars and put thousands of people behind bars.Anti-drug groups such as D.A.R.E. refuse to acknowledge that today's marijuana prohibition causes the same problems as alcohol prohibition did in the 1920s. It's no wonder, then, that D.A.R.E. has been called ineffective by the National Academy of Sciences and, in 2001, was placed under the category of "ineffective programs" by the U.S. surgeon general. The Government Accountability Office reported in 2003 that there are "no significant differences in illicit drug use between students who received D.A.R.E. . . . and students who did not."The fact is that legalizing, taxing and regulating substances reduces the harm caused by those drugs. A University of Florida study provided statistically overwhelming evidence that raising taxes on alcohol reduces consumption.The Tax and Regulate initiative on California's November ballot would levy a tax of $50 per ounce on marijuana; the money raised would help fund drug-abuse and prevention programs.Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs on the planet, yet thanks to aggressive taxation in many areas and education efforts, cigarette use in the U.S. has declined sharply over the last few decades. We didn't have to arrest, incarcerate or impose prohibition to achieve those results; we merely had to tell the truth to young people about the very real harms caused by cigarette addiction while imposing taxes and age restrictions. The most recent Monitoring the Future Survey, which asks students about their drug use, shows that more 10th graders now use marijuana than cigarettes.Legalizing and taxing marijuana won't cure California's chronic budget woes. But should we really be cutting from education while spending all the money it takes to enforce our failed prohibition policies? Furthermore, the Tax and Regulate initiative would not allow the use of marijuana by people under 21. I certainly don't want more young people smoking marijuana. But some of the teens I helped as a substance-abuse counselor told me that it was easier to purchase marijuana inside their own schools than it was to buy beer or cigarettes from a convenience store. This is not what a successful policy looks like.Many Americans are coming around to this view. Depending on the poll, either a majority or near-majority of Americans say that marijuana should be taxed and legalized. Even the American Medical Assn. has called for the federal government to review its absurd classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, which puts cannabis right alongside heroin and PCP.D.A.R.E. can warn people all day about the harm associated with marijuana use. What it refuses to acknowledge is that these arguments only support ending prohibition. If marijuana is so dangerous, D.A.R.E. and its allies ought to support efforts to remove control over distribution from black-market drug dealers.It's time for D.A.R.E. to take a back seat to evidence-based drug prevention programs that don't use scare tactics. It's time to legalize marijuana.Note: Taxing and regulating has worked with cigarettes and alcohol. Why not try it with marijuana?Jonathan Perri is the Western regional director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy.Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)Author: Jonathan PerriPublished: February 1, 2010Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/hf4ihMjICannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by Paint with light on February 03, 2010 at 00:42:48 PT
sing to old war tune Over There
Over Dare....Over Dare....As we hit the dusty trail...As those cannabists go rolling along.Or vaporizing...or consuming edibles.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #10 posted by Hope on February 02, 2010 at 18:43:24 PT
Stan, the Man!
Slapping high five in the air!Outstanding!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #9 posted by runruff on February 02, 2010 at 15:22:41 PT
Or,
We jes' made fun of dem Dare folks over dare!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #8 posted by runruff on February 02, 2010 at 15:09:41 PT
Use Dare in a sentence?
If anyone is dumb for teaching this crap D'are!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #7 posted by FoM on February 02, 2010 at 14:42:54 PT
The GCW
Thank you so much for mentioning CNews.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #6 posted by The GCW on February 01, 2010 at 18:54:32 PT
Maybe We should thank DARE
"...Cowles ( http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n1019/a08.html?1063 ), like so many other cannabis prohibitionists asks, "What about the children and youth?" Well, after being lied to, deceived and harmed by America's ignorant cannabis laws, they have done their homework. Now, those children and youth of the last few decades are the very people who are voting in large numbers to halt the nonsense. The more cannabis prohibitionists brainwash lies to children and youth, the faster cannabis prohibition will end..."
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #5 posted by FoM on February 01, 2010 at 18:24:37 PT
PBS NewsHour
In the Weeds: Regulations Lag as Medical Marijuana GrowsREPORT AIR DATE: Feb. 1, 2010SUMMARYMedical marijuana is booming in Colorado. In Denver alone, there are more dispensaries legally selling the drug than there are Starbucks. But as medical marijuana use expands, regulation has struggled to keep pace.URL: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june10/marijuana_02-01.html
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on February 01, 2010 at 17:42:32 PT:
There's nothing like hearing the truth
from someone who's been told lies. It carries double the impact to hear those lies repudiated by someone who was intentionally programmed with those lies and expected to unthinkingly regurgitate them on command by those who inculcated those lies.DARE has been a miserable failure, and it was doomed to fail from its' inception because of those lies. And the liars who told those lies have no one to blame for that failure but themselves.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #3 posted by HempWorld on February 01, 2010 at 17:16:42 PT
DARE has succeeded in tripling the marijuana
use amoung young American AND it has succeeded driving a big portion of them into heroin, death and misery!And still its leaders think this is success!Bravo DARE! not
Legalize And Regulate All Drugs!
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on February 01, 2010 at 17:09:12 PT
Down with DARE
Down with DARE.My children need truth not half truths, lies and propaganda.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #1 posted by FoM on February 01, 2010 at 16:23:03 PT
Why Not Marijuana
I agree.
[ Post Comment ]
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