ABC News Coverage of Calif. Marijuana Brings Out "Reefer Madness"
By "Radical" Russ Belville
(ABC News) Pastor Ron Allen of Sacramento is one of the leaders of a coalition of cops and clergy who say legalizing marijuana will lead to the use of harder drugs and only cause more problems for society.
For Allen, this is also a personal crusade. He was a crack cocaine addict for seven years, and he says it all started with marijuana.
So, Pastor Allen, you have to admit that marijuana and crack being illegal did absolutely nothing to stop you from trying them, right?
And you’d have to admit that using marijuana put you into contact with people who sold crack, right?
I’m curious, Pastor Allen, if you have ever had an alcoholic drink, and if so, why you aren’t campaigning to reinstate alcohol prohibition?
Passage “would devastate California to the fullest extent. … This is the worst thing that California could ever try to do,” Allen said.
“To legalize marijuana with our kids, we are going to see more dropouts, we are going to see more crime, we are going to see more thefts, and we are going to see our kids just hanging out on the corner,” he said.
Boy, it’s a good thing that we’re not proposing to legalize marijuana for our kids, huh? This is a proposal for adults 21 and over, Pastor. What we have now is dropouts, crime, thefts, and kids hanging out on the corner, kids that say year after year that marijuana is easier for them to get than alcohol.
Pastor Ron ought to look at the data regarding California’s experience with limited medical legalization. From 1999-2006, teen past month use of marijuana dropped by -1.19%, from the #22 state and above national average in teen use in 1999 to the #32 state and below the national average in 2006.
Advocates say taxing marijuana could generate $1.4 billion in revenue for California every year, and save the state tens if not hundreds of millions dollars more in enforcement costs.
But any tax revenue derived from legalizing marijuana would be “blood money,” Allen said.
“They would have to have new smokers and new smokers would be our youth and our next generation,” Allen said.
“And the money that they are talking about gaining on taxes, they are not telling us on how much more the parents will spend on funerals, on how much more the kids are going to spend in the emergency room,” he said. “It will exceed those taxes.”
So somehow, there is going to be more than $1.4 billion in funerals and medical costs due to people smoking legal marijuana. These numbers are very easy to calculate. All you need to do is take all the cannabis smokers in California now, some 2.3 million people who use annually, divide that by the money they and their families spent on medical bills and funerals due to the marijuana smoking, and you have the base number that a California marijuana smoker costs per year. Then divide $1.4 billion by that base to project how many more new pot smokers there would have to be to eat up all the tax revenues.
Hmm, that’s a problem, because marijuana is non-toxic and causes few medical bills and no funerals (not counting people shot over marijuana because it is illegal). Division by zero is impossible. We’ll have to think of this another way.
Let’s suppose that the same 2.3 million Californians smoke pot after legalization as before. Let’s pretend that those 2.3 million somehow eat up the $1.4 billion in tax revenues. That works out to $608 that each pot smoker would have to cost California per year in funerals and medical costs (and lost productivity, crime, and whatever other crazy non-marijuana-related causes you’d like to add) in order to make pot legalization revenue-neutral.
But that’s not really fair, because if we make these assumptions, then we’d have to assume the pot smokers are costing $608 each now as we’re bringing in $0 tax dollars and spending $426 per smoker in law enforcement costs. So realistically, there would have to be an increase in the number of pot smokers in order for a net loss to be realized.
Let’s say pot smoking goes up by half following re-legalization – quite a stretch, because that means for every two pot smokers now, there’s one who really wants to but won’t until it is legal. The current 2.3 million smokers allegedly cost $608 each, but we’re saving $426 each by not arresting them, so the current smokers will cost a net $182 each. That’s $418 million. Then the new 1.15 million pot smokers will cost the full $608, so that’s $699 million. So in this insane scenario of Pastor Allen’s, even with pot smoking increasing by half, we’ve only used up $1.117 billion of the $2.1 billion in taxes (since the tax revenues would go up by half, too.)
So even with a completely wild-ass guess of $608 in health costs per cannabis user and the well-documented $426 in law enforcement costs per cannabis user and an implausible 50% increase in cannabis users, California still comes out about a billion dollars ahead. California comes out even farther ahead when realistic estimates of health costs are used, like Canada’s recent study that showed a cannabis user cost Canada $20 each per year, not anywhere close to $608.
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I graduated nursing school in 1977, worked rehab for years and with personal injury attorneys. LEGAL drugs , like the ones the docs prescribe for nerves, pain, depression , etc., are much more lethal, easier to get, and much more abused than pot, more addictive, and are being sold, RIGHT NOW , at your local school for $5 a tab, or more.
Its a shame this crack-head preacher has a voice, while potheads remain underground because of idiots like him. He and those like him want to control the world and fear the imaginary "reefer madness."
Apparently, he's not read the literature on medical marijuana and the relief it has given cancer patients, who are forced to become criminals to ease the pain of terminal disease.
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Marijuana should be legalized. I used it for several years before quitting in 1982. I have suffered no long term problems and have no desire to try it again. Probably the biggest negative effect from pot is being arrested for using it (and lung damage). I remember an old Sat Night Live skit where police busted in on some people smoking pot and shot them dead. Then Dan Aykroyd, one of the cops, says something like "There you have it. Another Marijuana related death ".
"But any tax revenue derived from legalizing marijuana would be “blood money ,” Allen said."
Blood money is what you call money gained from killing someone, you know like hitmen. To compare the two is absurd.
"“And the money that they are talking about gaining on taxes , they are not telling us on how much more the parents will spend on funerals,"
Well considering it's impossible to overdose on weed my guess will be $0.00.
The World Health Organization Documents Failure of U.S. Drug Policies:
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/90295 /
I’ve never understood why most clergy go against what the Bible has to say on the subjects of marijuana and smoking in general. They claim to hold the Bible as the word of God, sacred and above all else but all you have to do is read the Bible for yourself and you’ll see the flaws in anti-marijuana and anti-smoking doctrine. Most Christian leaders I’ve heard speak on the subject of smoking were referencing tobacco . They noted that the Bible says God lives in the hearts of Christians and that makes the body of each Christian the temple of God. The Bible also says that you should not defile the temple of God. That’s true the Bible does say those things. However, all you have to do is read the Bible for yourself and you’ll see that Jesus Himself is quoted repeatedly as saying NOTHING THAT ENTERS INTO A PERSON THROUGH THEIR MOUTH DEFILES THE PERSON. It also says that God created everything and called His creation good. The Bible even plainly says that God gave every green herb that bears seed to man and a host of other references that prove God created marijuana and gave it to man. Also, almost every time God shows up in scripture smoke is mentioned, if God hates smoke, why does He surround Himself with it? God commanded incense to be burned in the Church, there goes any evidence that God saw second hand smoke as a problem. The Bible even says God blew smoke out of his nostrils and that the prayers of the saints are carried to heaven on smoke. Don’t take my word for it, download a free copy of the King James Bible from the internet . Most Bible software lets you search the Bible quickly and find every reference to what ever word or phrase you’re interested in. Search for the words “smoke” and “defile”. I think you’ll draw the same conclusions I did. I’ve had preachers tell me the medical evidence about smoking tobacco being harmful (defiling) is proven beyond any doubt. I show them some of the verses below and ask them whether they put their faith in medical science and man or in God and the word of God.
What’s wrong with the drug war :
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You may find other Bible references but here are some of the most interesting ones I found :
Ge:1:1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Ge:1:11: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Ge:1:12: And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Gn:1:29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat .
Ps:104:14: He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
Ps:104:15: And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.
Eze:34:29: And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
Mt:15:10: And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
Mt:15:11: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Mt:15:17: Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
Mt:15:18: But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
Mk:7:18: And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
Mk:7:19: Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?
Mk:7:20: And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.
Mk:7:21: For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
Mk:7:22: Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
Mk:7:23: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Mk:7:15: There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
Mk:16:17: And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mk:16:18: They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
1Tm:4:1: Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
1Tm:4:2: Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
1Tm:4:3: Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
The Holy Bible (KJV)
Believe it or not there is an organization of clergy with members from mainstream denominations that are against the drug war : http://www.csdp.org/news/news/clergydvd.htm
What’s wrong with the drug war:
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pot smoker or not- everyone dies ; so the cost of funerals is illogical in this argument.
I hope that the people of California pave the way for re - legalization of marijuana .
Pastor Allen needs to look again at himself and why he turned to crack. He also needs to read up on some studies. I do not know of anyone that smokes pot that would or could commit a crime just to smoke. It is better than smoking cigarettes and definitely better than drinking alcohol .
I believe that there is a great deal to be gained by legalizing pot. Forget about the tax revenue bump and the increase/decrease in users, etc... The greatest impact I can see is the huge dent this would put in the pockets of drug dealers! Not only would they not see any revenue from selling pot, but people who try pot and stop there would never be introduced to the underground culture surrounding this community of low-lifes. I have SEVERAL friends who, when we were younger, went to get some pot and came back with something 'new'... "Hey! Look what else I got! Maybe we should try this too!"
I've never seen anyone leave the liquor store also carrying a gram of coke or some heroin . Yes... Marijuana is a 'gateway drug', but only because it is illegal ! If legalized, it would be no more a gateway drug that beer !
Marijuana use was more rampant in the 70's than it is today. I saw first hand alcoholics switching to Pot. Alcohol abuse went down when pot use increased. I also saw first hand the Pot users were much better off abusing pot than alcohol .