Drug War

State Marijuana Bills Are a Far Cry from Marijuana Freedom

by Laurence M. Vance March 7, 2022

Although many states and territories have legalized the medical or recreational use of marijuana, the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) with “a high potential for abuse,” “no currently accepted medical use,” and “a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision.” The possession ...

Marijuana Legalization vs. Marijuana Freedom

by Laurence M. Vance December 14, 2021

There is a difference between marijuana legalization and marijuana freedom. Since 1996, 36 states have legalized the medical use of marijuana. Since 2012, 18 states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. In addition, 27 states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The District of Columbia has done all three. The medical use of marijuana is legal in ...

The Case Against Drug Courts

by Laurence M. Vance November 2, 2021

A recent article in World magazine profiled Judge Michael Taylor and the Mississippi 14th Circuit’s drug court that he oversees. In “Sober-minded,” Kim Henderson makes the case that “drug courts can use a strict nexus between crime and punishment to offer addicts a chance to see the light.” Henderson informs us that “the nation’s first drug court convened in ...

Deserting the Drug War

by Matthew Harwood October 1, 2021

As you leaf through the first few pages of Dr. Carl L. Hart’s book Drug Use for Grownups, you come across a quote from the writer and social critic James Baldwin. It says: “If you want to get to the heart of the dope problem, legalize it.... a law, in operation, that can only be used against ...

Neither Necessary nor Proper

by Laurence M. Vance July 16, 2021

It was sixteen years ago last month that the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Gonzales v. Raich (2005), ruled that the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801) did not exceed the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause as applied to the intrastate cultivation and possession of marijuana for medical use. In this case, Angel ...

What Is Missing in the Arguments for Marijuana Legalization

by Laurence M. Vance June 14, 2021

The federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act with “a high potential for abuse,” “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States,” and “a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision.” The possession of even a small amount of marijuana can result in ...

The Real Gateway Drug

by Laurence M. Vance May 6, 2021

Although even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that marijuana is not a gateway drug, it is a standard claim of conservatives. In response to the question it raises, “Does marijuana use lead to other drug use?” the CDC says, The majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, “harder” ...

Taking the Good with the Bad

by Laurence M. Vance April 28, 2021

Marijuana freedom is a good thing. The taxation of marijuana is a bad thing. Unfortunately, owing to the greed of spendthrift politicians, it looks as though we will have to take the good with the bad or not at all. Now, this does not mean that smoking marijuana is “good.” It just means that the freedom to smoke marijuana — ...

The Continuing Disaster of the U.S. Drug War in Latin America

by Ted Galen Carpenter April 1, 2021

The following is a statement to the Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission: Charting a New Path Forward, Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, December 3, 2020: I wish to express my appreciation to the chairman and members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs for the opportunity to submit this statement. The Western Hemisphere Drug Policy Commission is ...

Republican Politicians Are Incorrigible Drug Warriors

by Laurence M. Vance March 15, 2021

The federal government considers growing, distributing, buying, selling, possessing, or using marijuana to be a criminal offense, punishable by fines and imprisonment. Possession of marijuana will get you a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a minimum fine of $1,000 for a first conviction. Yet there are fourteen states (plus the District of Columbia) where the recreational use ...

Marijuana Wins

by Laurence M. Vance February 1, 2021

Who really won the 2020 election? Was it Donald J. Trump or Joseph R. Biden? This is a question that will be argued for years to come. And because it is a highly partisan political question, it may never result in a satisfactory answer. There was one clear winner in the 2020 election, though, and it wasn’t Trump or ...

A Catastrophic Misconception and Omission

by Laurence M. Vance September 2, 2020

“Legalizing pot is a catastrophic mistake,” says self-proclaimed marijuana expert Kevin Sabet in an opinion piece in Newsweek. The fact that thirty-three states have legalized the medical use of marijuana and eleven states have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, all without catastrophic results, says otherwise. The only thing catastrophic is the misconception and omission in Sabet’s article. Sabet ...