Should the U.S. Legalize Marijuana?

• “Yes”

  

  “Industrial Use”

• “Objection”

  

  “Hemp is a Distracting, Silly Issue in a Field That Needs Answers”
  

Hemp is a Distracting, Silly Issue in a Field That Needs Answers

Dr. Kevin Sabet

Drug Policy Consultant

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Recommend (0) Comments (6)

Industrial hemp distracts us from the very serious drug problems we face everyday.  As Professor Mark Kleiman (a fan of gifting marijuana rather than having a commercial market for it) puts it:

"Some years ago a man named Jack Herer wrote a book called The Emperor Has No Clothes, which spins an Elders-of-Zion-level fantasy about how cannabis prohibition was a plot by the wood-pulp industry to destroy a competitor for paper and of DuPont to destroy a competitor for nylon, and a typical New Age pipe dream about how using hemp for fiber, fuel, and food will improve your health and save the planet. The book is really a disgusting piece of trash, but it obviously meets some deep psychological needs, and it's been adopted as the Bible by a population known as "hempsters," whose insistence that their campaign for hemp has nothing to do with the drug issue is made somewhat harder to believe by the fact that whenever you meet one he turns out to be stoned."

- (http://www.samefacts.com/archives/_/2003/07/hemp_again.php)

I think Kleiman's comments speak for themselves. Hemp is a distracting issue which really has little to do with modern drug control policy, and rates low on the list of pressing issues that need to be confronted immediately.

Next Argument

"Yes" NORML

• Remember Prohibition? It Still Doesn’t Work.
  40
• Humanity’s Medicine Chest
  27
• It’s the Economy, Stupid!
  29
• Industrial Use
  27

"No" Dr Kevin Sabet

• It is a Myth That 'Everybody is Doing It.'
  5
• Where Legalization Has Flourished, Drug Use Has Increased
  5
• Experts Agree That Marijuana Contributes to Mental Illness
  3
• Marijuana Use Can Be Addictive, While Also Damaging the Lungs
  2
• It is a Myth That Small Time Marijuana Users are Crowding our Prisons
  3
• Legalization Advocates Never Answer The Hard Questions
  4
• There are Ways To Make Current Policy Better
  1

"No" David Evans

• Marijuana Use Poses Severe Health Risks
  1
• Marijuana is Addictive
  0
• Use of Marijuana Leads to Other Drugs
  0
• Marijuana Use Contributes to Crime
  0

Most Objections

• Marijuana Use Poses Severe Health Risks
  1
• Marijuana is Addictive
  0
• Use of Marijuana Leads to Other Drugs
  0
• Marijuana Use Contributes to Crime
  0
• Remember Prohibition? It Still Doesn’t Work.
  40
• Humanity’s Medicine Chest
  27
• It’s the Economy, Stupid!
  29
• Industrial Use
  27
• It is a Myth That 'Everybody is Doing It.'
  5
• Where Legalization Has Flourished, Drug Use Has Increased
  5
• Experts Agree That Marijuana Contributes to Mental Illness
  3
• Marijuana Use Can Be Addictive, While Also Damaging the Lungs
  2
• It is a Myth That Small Time Marijuana Users are Crowding our Prisons
  3
• Legalization Advocates Never Answer The Hard Questions
  4
• There are Ways To Make Current Policy Better
  1

Legalize Marijuana?

• Yes
• No

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