#politics

There are so many other ways that law enforcement can be put to good use rather than to persecute harmless farmers and shopkeepers who are abiding by State law. …there is little room left for debate as to the origin of the marijuana prohibition laws and how they were formulated as a tool to bludgeon…

So, how can we carry out the goal of doing more good than harm with drug policy? While full legalization is the goal for substances like psychedelics, decriminalizing the use of drugs—taking the issue of drug abuse out of the hands of law enforcement and into the health care system—is the first step to accomplishing…

It makes no sense for a government to claim to be protecting us from drugs while also allowing the most dangerous members of society to control the drug trade. The only way to damage the underground drug economy is to create an aboveground drug economy that wins on price, quality, legality, and convenience, thus taking…

An infamous Arizona pharmaceutical company that spent a half million dollars fighting the state’s marijuana legalization efforts has… received approval from the DEA for its synthetic substitute for the natural plant…the only other product manufactured by Insys, Subsys, is an oral form of the powerful painkiller fentanyl. Fentanyl, in its various forms, is responsible for…

Despite virtually eliminating all punishments for personal drug possession, rates of drug use haven’t skyrocketed like some predicted. As this chart shows, use had gone up slightly when measured in 2007 (a trend in line with other, similar countries), but has since gone back down. In fact, by two out of three measures, adult drug…

“If decriminalisation has any effect on behaviour, it is to make it easier for drug‑users to become non‑drug-users, because they can seek help to quit without risking prosecution and jail.” One option is to decriminalise the taking of drugs by adults, converting it from a problem of crime into a problem, where it exists, of…

The committee that crafts Oregon’s pot policies has proposed legislation that requires marijuana businesses to destroy customers’ personal information, such as names, addresses and birth dates, gathered for marketing purposes, within 48 hours. ​ The measure is scheduled for its first hearing Tuesday. It must pass the full Legislature and be signed by the Democratic…

“Members of a newly formed bipartisan “Cannabis Caucus” are preparing to introduce a slew of legislation — including resurrecting bills from sessions’ past — and aiming to develop a united front to further congressional action on cannabis.” Polis’ 2015 bill is one of 25 marijuana-related measures introduced in the past two years that likely will…

“The purpose of the course was to develop student understanding of how the war on drugs “impacts young people, decimates communities, swells the ranks of the juvenile justice system, and negatively impacts school learning and discipline.” On my campus, a major barrier I saw to recruitment [for SSDP] was the stigma attached to drug policy…