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In
1970, in response to marijuana use by middle-class
white youth, American Congress authorised the Shafer
Commission: The National Commission of Marijuana and
Drug Abuse; former Governor Raymond Shafer of Pennsylvania
heading 12 members, among whom were 4 physicians,
2 lawyers and 4 members of Congress. The conclusion,
$1 million later, was that marijuana policy had become
more damaging to American society than marijuana and
the Commission recommended retaining prohibition against
marijuana cultivation and sale, but to eliminate state
and federal criminal penalties for possession and
use. These recommendations were endorsed by mainstream
organisations: the American Bar Association, the American
Medical Association, the National Council of Churches,
to name a few. Around the same time, government-appointed
Commissions in Britain, Canada, Australia and the
Netherlands came to the same conclusions.
Jimmy
Carter said: Penalties against a drug should not be
more dangerous to an individual than use of a drug
itself . . . Then along came Ronald Reagon, followed
by George Bush, and the War on (everything including)
Drugs became entrenched in American society along
with propaganda, punitive laws, hysteria and tens
of thousands of people incarcerated for marijuana
offences.
The
book Marijuana Myths Marijuana Facts takes
each common assertion attributed to marijuana and,
in non-emotive, factual language, backed by copious
references, research data, graphs and figures, delivers
information to balance the claims and to warn of the
dangers, as well as to dispel myths. Recognising that
it is counter-productive to foist extreme views on
readers, whether it is total prohibition or complete
relaxation, I recommend this book as a tool to be
read by people seeking data and education on marijuana.
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