The Numbers Are In

DESPITE 70+ YEARS OF CRIMINAL PROHIBITION, MARIJUANA IS HUGELY POPULAR

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has once again
released their annual survey on "drug use and health" - you know, the
one where representatives of the federal government go door-to-door
and ask Americans if they are presently breaking state and federal
law by using illicit drugs. The same survey where respondents have
historically under reported their usage of alcohol and tobacco -
these two legal substances - by as much as 30 to 50 percent, and
arguably under report their use of illicit substances by an even
greater margin. The same survey that - despite these inherent
limitations - "is the primary source of statistical information on
the use of illegal drugs by the U.S. population." Yeah, that one.

So what does the government's latest round of 'statistical (though
highly questionable) information' tell us? Nothing we didn't already know.

Despite 70+ years of criminal prohibition, marijuana still remains
widely popular among Americans, with over 102 million Americans (41
percent of the U.S. population) having used it during their
lifetimes, 26 million (10 percent) having used it in the past year,
and over 15 million (6 percent) admitting that they use it
regularly. (By contrast, fewer than 15 percent of adults have ever
tried cocaine, the second most 'popular' illicit drug, and fewer than
2 percent have ever tried heroin - so much for that supposed 'gateway
effect.') Predictably, all of the 2008 marijuana use figures are
higher than those that were reported for the previous year - great
work John Walters!

Equally predictably, the government's long-standing prohibition and
anti-pot 'scare' campaigns have done little, if anything, to dissuade
young people from trying it. According to the survey, 15 percent of
those age 14 to 15 have tried pot (including 12 percent in the past
year), as have 31 percent of those age 16 to 17 (a quarter of which
have done so in the past year) - percentages that make marijuana
virtually as popular as alcohol among these age groups. By age 20, 45
percent of adolescents have tried pot, and nearly a third of those
age 18 to 20 have done so in the past year. And by age 25, 54 percent
of the population has admittedly used marijuana.

Question: Does anyone still believe that marijuana prohibition is
working - or that all of these people deserve to be behind bars?

For too long, advocates of prohibition have framed their arguments on
the false assumption that the continued enforcement of said laws
"protects our children." As the numbers above illustrate, this
premise is nonsense. In fact, just the opposite is true.

The government's war on cannabis and cannabis consumers endangers the
health and safety of our children. It enables young people to have
unregulated access to marijuana - easier access than they presently
have to alcohol. It enables young people to interact and befriend
pushers of other illegal, more dangerous drugs. It compels young
people to dismiss the educational messages they receive pertaining to
the potential health risks posed by the use of "hard drugs" and
prescription pharmaceuticals, because kids say, "If they lied to me
about pot, why wouldn't they be lying to me about everything else, too?"

Most importantly, the criminal laws are far more likely to result in
having our children arrested, placed behind bars, and stigmatized
with a lifelong criminal record than they are likely to in any way
discourage them to try pot.

In short, what the results from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use
and Health is simple and consistent; in fact, we say it all the time:
Remember prohibition? It still doesn't work!