Thursday, July 30, 2009

Why not prohibit smoking? CNN.com: Commentary: Why not prohibit smoking? by Tony Newman Excellent OpEd comparing the status of tobacco with prohibited drugs to demonstrate the inherent stupidity of using criminal prohibition as a tool for attacking drug abuse or drug dangers. Instead of giving teens "reefer madness"-style propaganda, we have treated young people with respect and given them honest education about the harm of cigarettes, and we have been rewarded with fewer young people smoking today than ever before. Although we should celebrate our success and continue to encourage people to cut back or give up smoking, let's not get carried away and think that prohibition would eliminate smoking. We need to realize that drugs, from cigarettes to marijuana to alcohol, will always be consumed, whether they are legal or illegal. Although drugs have health consequences and dangers, making them illegal -- and keeping them illegal -- will only bring additional death and suffering. [Thanks, Lawson] 9:15:32 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Mexico wants U.S. to 'persecute' marijuana offenders Funny. I thought we were already doing that. MEXICO CITY (AFP) -- Mexico's attorney general said the United States had insufficient resources and infrastructure to clamp down on marijuana trafficking, after meeting the US anti-drug czar. Mexico's increasingly powerful drug traffickers operate throughout the United States and beyond as well as in Mexico. "We frequently see insufficient resources and infrastructure to persecute those who carry out small-scale or fragmented marijuana trafficking in the United States," Eduardo Medina Mora said at a joint news conference with the US Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, in Mexico City. "One of our biggest concerns is that the United States doesn't give up, and that it increases persecutions of crimes related to the trafficking of marijuana from Mexico to the United States," Medina Mora said. [emphasis added] U.S. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske merely nodded with incomprehension due to his limited vocabulary. 8:03:02 AM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []