Mr Ainsworth said;
“I have just been reading the Coalition Government’s new Drugs Strategy. It is described by the Home Secretary as fundamentally different to what has gone before; it is not. To the extent that it is different, it is potentially harmful because it retreats from the principle of harm reduction, which has been one of the main reasons for the reduction in acquisitive crime in recent years.

However, prohibition has failed to protect us. Leaving the drugs market in the hands of criminals causes huge and unnecessary harms to individuals, communities and entire countries, with the poor the hardest hit. We spend billions of pounds without preventing the wide availability of drugs. It is time to replace our failed war on drugs with a strict system of legal regulation, to make the world a safer, healthier place, especially for our children. We must take the trade away from organised criminals and hand it to the control of doctors and pharmacists.

As drugs minister in the Home Office I saw how prohibition fails to reduce the harm that drugs cause in the UK, fuelling burglaries, gifting the trade to gangsters and increasing HIV infections. My experience as Defence Secretary, with specific responsibilities in Afghanistan, showed to me that the war on drugs creates the very conditions that perpetuate the illegal trade, while undermining international development and security.

This is a significant development for sensible drug reform in the UK. This would be roughly the British equivalent of someone like Donald Rumsfeld or Colin Powell calling our war on drugs a total disaster and advocating for it to be replaced with a system of legalization and regulation.

At first glance, some might think Smith is genuinely concerned about marijuana use and its impact on public safety. Yet it’s hard to take him at his word when he is in fact receiving money from the alcohol industry, which produces, distributes and promotes a far more harmful substance.

If Smith is so concerned about public safety he should be thrilled that more Americans are making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol when they relax and recreate. Unlike marijuana, alcohol use contributes to domestic violence, sexual assaults, and other serious problems. If promoting public safety is his motive, it’s time he explained his reason for preferring adults use alcohol — a substance whose use alone kills more than 30,000 Americans per year — instead of marijuana, which has never resulted in a single death in history.

Another explanation for Smith’s anti-marijuana action could be his ties to the booze industry, which appears to be working to keep marijuana illegal and protect its status as the nation’s sole legal intoxicant. Late last week it was discovered that the alcohol industry is financing a campaign to defeat a marijuana legalization initiative in California, resulting in headlines nationwide and sparking outrage and action amongst supporters of marijuana policy reform.

According to OpenSecrets.org, Smith has received at least $20,000 from the beer, wine, and liquor industry this campaign cycle, including a $10,000 donation from the National Beer Wholesalers Association, a $5,000 contribution from the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, and $5,000 from Constellation Brands Premium Wine and Spirits Company.

With marijuana legalization becoming increasingly popular, it appears the alcohol industry and its good friends in Washington are beginning to recognize that marijuana legalization is imminent. So it would make sense for them to protect their turf by bashing marijuana and those who support making it legal, and working to scare the public into thinking marijuana is just too dangerous to make legal. (It should also be noted that some alcohol companies are speaking out to ensure consumers know they are NOT part of the anti-marijuana efforts.)

If that’s the fight Big Alcohol wants to pick, so be it. It has an increasingly uphill battle, but the industry has every right to take on the growing movement to reform marijuana laws. But as for Lamar Smith, he should come clean and explain what his motivation is for attacking marijuana policy reform and calling for increased enforcement. If it’s his concern for public safety, he’s a hypocrite who needs to stop and think about the impact of laws that drive Americans to drink by outlawing a safer alternative. And if it’s his ties to booze money, it’s simply unethical.

Mason Tvert is executive director of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) and coauthor of "Marijuana is Safer: So why are we driving people to drink?"

• Some politicians or law enforcement types who think it is in their best interest to oppose cannabis reform.
• People who have not read the initiative and have been relying only on hearsay and urban legends (or who misunderstand the language in the initiative).
• Those with investments in the medical marijuana industry who are more concerned about losing money if the price of cannabis goes down or if CA residents no longer have to pay MediCann $200 to get a doctor’s note saying it’s ok for them to use medical marijuana.

Below are parts of a post from Opposing Views that includes a debate going on between Chris Conrad, NORML and Dragonfly de la Luz. Dragonfly is the author of a blog called "Stoners Against Prop 19" in which she states mountains of misinformation and lies that were quickly and easily refuted by Chris Conrad and Russ Belville at NORML.

Dragonfly: Nowhere in my article do I claim that marijuana is more legal when it’s decriminalized. I said it is more legal now because it IS legal now. Marijuana has been legal in California since 1996.

NORML: Really, I’ll have to mention that to the 78,514 Californians arrested in 2008 for marijuana offenses.  In fact, marijuana IS NOT legal in California and since 1996 a handful of Californians have only been exempted from criminal prosecution under Prop 215 (except, of course, Eugene Davidovich, Donna Lambert, James Stacy, Jovan Jackson, Felix Kha, and a whole bunch of other people who thought they were legal under Prop 215 yet still ended up in a courtroom and behind bars for a time).  . . .
Specifically in Prop 215:

…patients and their primary caregivers who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction.

Which means that criminal prosecutions and sanctions for marijuana still exist.  Shorter: it ain’t legal.

You really have to read the whole thing to believe this nonsense. She even goes so far as to speak on behalf of Jack Herer, a man who died months ago. We’re assuming she hasn’t seen the statement that the Herer family released calling on people like Dragonfly to stop using Jack Herer’s name to spread lies about Prop 19.

Unfortunately, Jack passed away before Prop 19 made the 2010 ballot; so many people think he would still oppose it. We don’t believe that, and we ask that everyone stop saying he would cling to that position as we move toward the Nov. 2 vote.

As his family, we want the world to know that the last thing Jack Herer would want is for Californians to vote to keep Cannabis illegal. He was smart and had the political savvy to know that once a measure is on the ballot, the time for bickering has passed. That is why he campaigned for Prop 215 despite its shortcomings. That is why, were he able, he would now be telling voters to rally around and Vote Yes on Prop 19.

Dragonfly calls herself a marijuana activist because she "travel(s) the world, find(s) the best ganja, smoke(s) it, and write(s) about it for pot magazines."

I’m sorry Dragonfly, that’s not called activism, that’s called partying. And while you’re busy partying, nearly 900,000 people are being arrested for marijuana charges every in this country and about 10% of those arrests are coming from California.

Step aside and let the real activists do our work.

OK. It’s just regular pot. But in the wake of Prop 8′s overruling, SaveCalifornia is putting their homophobic frustrations toward defeating Prop. 19, California’s marijuana legalization initiative.

The LGBT and marijuana legalization movements have a great deal in common. Extremism, misinformation and bigotry have made it difficult for both drug users and homosexuals to be open and come out about their lifestyles. And to be frank, whether it’s marijuana or a penis, what right does the government have to tell me what I can’t put into my own body if I don’t harm anyone else?

Yesterday, SaveCalifornia debuted their anti legalization commercial on YouTube (with comments disabled of course) and new website, StopProp19.com. The new commercial has some frightening "facts" and black and white images aimed at making pot look almost as scary as a gay couple adopting a child.

This video is ripe with misinformation and exaggerations.

Marijuana use causes cancer

A NIDA funded study published in 2006 (the largest case control study ever done on this) looked at the association between marijuana use and cancer and "unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer." Dr. Donald Tashkin who headed up the study even used subjects who had smoked over 22,000 joints.

"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."

Now here’s the real kicker for you. In 2003 The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services was granted a patent on cannabinoids as… antioxidant and neuroprotectants. That’s right. The U.S. government in all its drug war glory has a patent on the active and inactive ingredients in marijuana as something that protects your brain (and other) cells!

Marijuana is the #1 cause of addiction for teens in rehab

First of all, isn’t that in itself a glaring testament to the failure of marijuana prohibition? This stuff has been illegal for almost a century and over $10 billion dollars is spent enforcing marijuana laws every year. If the current laws are so successful why do teens have such easy access to pot that it’s the #1 cause of addiction? Most importantly, that statement is a distortion because it doesn’t take into account how many of these kids are getting treatment not because they need it but because they are being coerced after getting arrested with a joint. If you had the choice between having a drug arrest on your record or saying you’re an addict and going to treatment – which would you choose?

The gateway theory… Won’t even waste your time here.

Then there are the claims made about the actual initiative. That it will allow marijuana to be sold in grocery stores and that highway accidents will increase. If passed, Prop 19 wouldn’t allow pot to be sold in grocery stores – it would allow counties to decide if and how they will regulate the sale and taxation of marijuana (and most counties will do no such thing). Even if a county allowed grocery stores to sell it, Safeway isn’t going to risk going head to head with the feds so they can sell weed. Driving under the influence remains illegal under Prop 19 and there is a strong argument against pot related accidents increasing based on studies and data.

And will teen marijuana use go up? It’s possible. But Prop. 19 doesn’t legalize marijuana for teens. It legalizes if for adults over 21 and creates laws against the sale of cannabis to a minor by an adult similar to the way we regulate alcohol sales.

Now I’m not saying pot is good for anyone (the government can do that with their patent), but SaveCalifornia’s claims about marijuana legalization are as valid as their claims against same sex marriage.

First, Jane Hamsher went on CNN to discuss the campaign alongside No on Prop 19 spokesman, Tim Rosales. Rosales claims, "They’ve tried it in Mexico, uh, they’ve seen an explosion in drug violence…"

First of all, Mexico has never legalized marijuana. What they have done is decriminalize the personal possession of small amounts of all drugs. Decriminalization is not legalization. Furthermore, decriminalization was a response to the explosion of drug violence that was already occurring thanks to drug prohibition here in the U.S. and was intended to allow law enforcement to focus more on cartels than users. Rosales goes on to say that legalization would give cartels a platform to sell marijuana. Scott Morgan easily debunks that statement over at the Speakeasy blog.

Then there is the Bishop Ron Allen from Sacramento, California who SSDP’s Aaron Houston had the pleasure of debating. The Bishop has more difficulty keeping his composure and controlling the words that come out of his mouth than Rosales did. He claims that both Mexico and the UK have tried legalizing all drugs – something that would probably surprise the UK chapters of SSDP.

This is all pretty basic information. You don’t need to be a sociologist or policy wonk to find out whether or not entire countries like Mexico or the UK have legalized drugs. But I guess the requirements for managing an anti-legalization campaign or becoming a spokesperson against sensible drug policy reform are pretty low. You just have to be a good liar or a raving lunatic.

Stop lying about Prop 19 and marijuana legalization.

The recent passage of Arizona’s Immigration law was triggered by a drug-related shooting.  The war on drugs is the other side of the immigration coin, as Markos says:

There are two broken policies here — the immigration system, which desperately needs reform, and the drug war, which is costing people their lives and essentially turning Mexico into a narco state in order to irrationally keep people from smoking freakin’ weed.

The immigration problem is not going to be solved until the war on drugs stops.  Thanks to everyone who entered the contest and displayed their amazing creativity to help bring it to an end.  Please help us choose the final first, second and third place winners for our contest:

Final Round – Name That Pot Campaign

We’re down to the final round of voting in our contest to name Firedoglake’s marijuana legalization campaign.

Use the form below to vote your 3 favorite campaign names.

Cast your vote here

Tonight is the second round of semi-final voting for FDL’s “Name Our Pot Campaign” contest.  We had a lot of fun last week coming up with slogans in the comments, and in the fine FDL tradition, there were over 800.  The third round of semifinal voting will start tomorrow night, and on Thursday the top  4 vote getters for each night will advance to the final round.

Next week we’ll announce first, second and third place winners — in addition to launching our new campaign page.

It’s tempting to to roll around in stoner humor, but it’s also important to remember that our antiquated marijuana laws continue to have a tragic impact on people’s lives.  Relics of the culture wars, they were borne out of fear, hippie-hating and racism.  They fill our prisons and exacerbate immigration issues on the boarders, and seriously ill people pay a terrible price for simply wanting access to something they believe helps them:

Quadriplegic faces jail time for using medicinal marijuana

Thursday, April 22, 2010

John Haring was a 24-year-old truck driver in Ohio when a kid pulled out in front of his 18-wheeler on March 21, 1989. He rolled his rig trying to avoid him.

The cab’s roof collapsed onto Haring’s forehead. He dislocated his C6 vertebrae and fractured C7. Soon he regained the use of his arms and hands — but not his fingers, and not his legs.

“It’s like taking a 24-year-old man and sticking him back in a baby’s body,” he said.

The accident robbed him of mobility, not the ability to feel pain. He was prescribed narcotic painkillers and muscle-relaxers, later antidepressants.

“We didn’t want to be around him when he was on the narcotics,” said his mother, Melissa Morrow, 66. “No one wanted to be around him.”

A therapist showed Haring another — albeit illegal — way to cope. “He told me if I ever wanted to survive I had to get off these pills,” he said. “We left the hospital and burnt that night. Pretty much I’ve been smoking ever since.”
Haring started growing his own marijuana in his Clearwater home.

Smoking pot allowed him to live his life, he said. He could drive his pickup and earn extra money hauling boats and classic cars. He had relationships again. Five years ago, he had children of his own, twins Logan and Sonona.

“I can stand up and fight or give up,” Haring said. “Marijuana wants me to fight. The pills want me to give up.”

But it looks like he may have to give up. Haring has been arrested twice in as many years for cultivating marijuana. He was caught with 41 plants in 2007 and three times that many in 2009.

In 2007, Haring told the police he sold marijuana for extra money, but he was never charged with that offense.

Haring is now facing nine months in jail as a result of his latest arrest. In 2004, quadriplegic Jonathan Magbie died on day four of a 10 day sentence after pleading guilty to possession of marijuana. The DC jail was not equipped to handle inmates with his medical problems and disabilities. Magbie said that marijuana helped him ease his chronic pain.

It’s time to take our drug laws out of the dark ages. We appreciate everyone’s support and participation in helping us come up with a slogan for a campaign we hope will have a significant impact.

You’re allowed to vote once in each seminfinal round.

Vote here