Category Archives: Drug Policy

Writers respond with letters about nationwide marijuana legalization

Kevin Sabet, PhD, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, wrote about The High Price of Federal Marijuana Legalization for the Wall Street Journal on August 25, 2021. In the letter, he signaled strong objections to Senator Schumer’s Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA).

This week two important letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal followed. Dr. Eric Voth wrote a letter published in the paper on Aug 31, followed by William Bingham’s letter on Sep. 1.

Dr. Voth’s letter:

What Proponents of Legal Marijuana Forget to Mention

There exists clear medical evidence of the harms of increasing access to weed.

     The letter supporting marijuana legalization from Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (“Decriminalizing Marijuana Doesn’t Address the Problem.” Aug 27)  completely ignores the medical consequences, suffered throughout the nation, of enhancing access to marijuana.

      There exists clear medical evidence of increased psychiatric difficulties with marijuana use, including violence, psychosis, schizophrenia, manic episodes, worsening depression and suicide.  Traffic fatalities increase with marijuana law liberalization, and now there is clear evidence for increased opiate overdoses linked to enhanced marijuana availability.

     Other medical consequences such as uncontrolled vomiting episodes (Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome) and cardiac complications are becoming recognized, as marijuana becomes far more potent than the ditch-weed of 40-to-50 years ago.  This carnage underpins a huge, well-organized marijuana industry that seeks to profit on the suffering of the public, exactly as we saw with the tobacco industry.

     I hope the federal efforts to legalize marijuana will wake people up to serious consequences of marijuana will wake people up to the serious consequences of marijuana use, and states will start rolling back or, at minimum, tightening marijuana statutes.  

                                                          Eric A. Voth,

The International Academy on the

                                                                          Science and Impact of Cannabis

                                                                                                                                Fairfax, Va.

(Read our description of Dr. Voth’s organization, IASIC)

William Bingham’s letter:

No Hiding from Marijuana After Federal Legalization

       I strongly oppose legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level.  (The “High Price of Federal Marijuana Legalization” by Kevin Sabet, op-ed, Aug. 25)   It should be treated as an opiate, such as codeine, and be made available only by prescription.  Both are mind-altering addictive drugs.

        In California, where cigarette advertising is tightly restricted, I have seen attractive billboards advertising marijuana dispensaries in plain view of underage kids riding in cars.  This creates ab awkward situation, but it is perfectly legal.  And because it is legal, companies face legal difficulties in firing employees who use marijuana on the job or at lunch breaks.  Marijuana use affects job performance because it is mind- altering. 

         If difficulties arise at the state level, a family or business can always move to another state.  If marijuana is legalized at the federal level, there will be no escape. 

                                                                    William B. Bingham, Fountain Valley, Calif.

Let us think before we leap. 

Libertarians were wrong about marijuana legalization

By Aron Ravin  This article appeared in the National Review on August 14, 2021.

At the outset, I’d like to lay my cards out on the table: I despise weed.  I think that I reeks, that it’s a waste of money and time.  I dislike cheap euphoria, and I think getting high promotes escapism.  Forever a nudnik, I do not, and do not plan to, partake in the devil’s lettuce.

Nevertheless, many people whom I respect and consider my friends are more open to Miss Mary Jane than I. So I take their arguments seriously when we discuss the issue of legalization. Some of the most common ones, which I’ll discuss at more length below, appear tenable on the surface, if not particularly convincing. Others that have tended to exist on the periphery of the debate — e.g., concerns about a nanny state and the problems of disproportionate sentencing — are much more compelling. Continue reading Libertarians were wrong about marijuana legalization

Drug Policy Alliance should have no influence over policy

The normalization and continued promotion of drug use kills people, harms individuals and harms society. The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) turned people against the “War on Drugs,” a term the government stop using in 2009. The DPA aims for legalizing all drugs, but now uses the term “decriminalization,” disguising their true goals.

DPA wishes to protect drug dealers so that they may never be charged with homicide if a person dies. A press release of November 2017, staked out DPA’s position against drug-induced homicide laws, claiming that “An Overdose Death is not Murder.”

For parents, whose children died after buying pills through dealers, friends or acquaintances, it’s a bitter pill to swallow: the DPA claims their children were already drug users, and no one should be held responsible for death.

Continue reading Drug Policy Alliance should have no influence over policy

The Devil’s Playbook MEETS Big Weed in 420 reveals

The cannabis industry follows the devil’s playbook on a daily basis in states that have legalized it.  After much trial and error,  Colorado may put caps on its pot industry.

Two New Exposés of Big Weed

On April 20, Kevin Sabet’s new book, Smokescreen, went on sale across the country.  The publisher picked a symbolic date, 420.    In 2018, Sabet began to hear from whistleblowers, including Colorado regulators forced by higher-ups to look away.  (Disclaimer: Sabet would not endorse the title of this blog, as we tend to be harder-edged than he is.)


Producer and Director Sean Morrow, a journalist with NOW THIS News covered Big Weed in his podcast recorded on April 20. Morrow typically looks at the funders of political, corporate, and lobbying interests, part of a series called “Who is.”  (Now This News brands itself as a progressive news source targeting millennials.) Continue reading The Devil’s Playbook MEETS Big Weed in 420 reveals