Do you consider yourself fiscally responsible?
Are you interested in science-based policy instead of fearmongering?
Do you believe in social justice?
Are you interested in fixing our broken state budgets?
Have you heard of SAFER or Mason tvert?
If your answer to the last question is no (and I hope the first four answers were 'yes') then you should check out the new book from Mason Tvert, Steve fox, and Paul Armentano- "Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?"
Recent research supports their premise that cannabis is not only healthier for the individual than tobacco or alcohol, but also cheaper for society. Authot Paul Armentano gives his take, below the fold.
A recent study actually breaks down the cost per user to society:
Well now a new study, authored by researchers from the Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia at the University of Victoria and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse at the University of Ottawa has directly compared the societal costs of marijuana and alcohol, as well as tobacco, and the final tally isn't pretty.
Health-related costs per user are eight times higher for drinkers than they are for those who use cannabis, and are more than 40 times higher for tobacco smokers, according to the report, published in the British Columbia Mental Health and Addictions Journal.
It states, "In terms of [health-related] costs per user: tobacco-related health costs are over $800 per user, alcohol-related health costs are much lower at $165 per user, and cannabis-related health costs are the lowest at $20 per user."
The study further reported that "94 percent of social costs for cannabis are linked to [law] enforcement." Hmm, perhaps that explains why law enforcement consistently speak out against marijuana law reform; pot prohibition equals job security.
Personally, I find it ironic that cannabis is labeled dangerous and unhealthy. After all, law enforcement is the biggest threat to a pot smoker. [Was the twenty pounds I lost in prison on cannabis charges healthy? Were the LA meth-heads and gangsters as dangerous as me? haha]
At this point, whether or not you disagree with medical pot, you need to ask whether or not your tax dollars need be used to support a domestic war of terror
Right now, the best step to take is the same one the AMA recommended: get cannabis off the Schedule I list. We can fight, cry, moan, and scream about legalizing all we want, but POLITICALLY, the step to take is get weed to schedule III, even just II. That is a first step in breaking the prohibitionists. Their days are numbered...let us reduce that number.