The DEA: Four Decades of Impeding and Rejecting Science
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Just a Little Bit of History Repeating: the California Model of Marijuana Legalization and How It Might Affect Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Just a Little Bit of History Repeating: The California Model of Marijuana Legalization and How it Might Affect Racial and Ethnic Minorities ∗ Thomas J. Moran Table of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................... 557 I. When Marijuana Was Marihuana, the "Killer Weed" .................. 561 II. The Whitening of Marijuana ........................................................ 566 III. The Present Day Costs of Marijuana Prohibition ......................... 570 A. Generally, Marijuana Prohibition Has Not Worked .............. 570 B. The Cost of Prohibition on Minorities .................................. 573 IV. Is Legislation such as California’s Marijuana Control Act the Answer for Minority Communities? ...................................... 576 A. Productivity Concerns ........................................................... 578 B. What About Potency Regulation? ......................................... 579 C. The Money Drain from Minority Communities .................... 581 D. Federal Collateral Sanctions Would Still Exist with State Legalization .......................................................... 583 E. Will Legalization Predispose Minority Youth for Future Use? ........................................................................... 586 V. Conclusion ..................................................................................... 589 Introduction In January 2010, a California Assembly Committee passed Assembly Bill 390, entitled the Marijuana Control, -
Why Medical Cannabis Is Still out of Patients' Reach—An Essay by David
BMJ 2019;365:l1903 doi: 10.1136/bmj.l1903 (Published 1 May 2019) Page 1 of 3 Feature FEATURE BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.l1903 on 1 May 2019. Downloaded from ESSAY Why medical cannabis is still out of patients’ reach—an essay by David Nutt Cannabis has been used as a medicine for millennia, writes David Nutt, who charts its relatively recent prohibition, the effect on patients such as Billy Caldwell, and the failure of legal reform to make much difference David Nutt Edmond J Safra professor of neuropsychopharmacology Imperial College London, London W12 0NN, UK Cannabis is arguably the world’s oldest medicine, with evidence This report was relied on to control cannabis under the 1961 of such use from 3000 year old tombs in Egypt and Siberia. It United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and had a place in Indian and Chinese medical writing from nearly amazingly persisted as the international medical guidance on as long ago. It didn’t enter the UK until the late 1600s, but by cannabis until 2018, being used as the justification by the World the 1800s it was widely used, sold over the counter as an Health Organization for keeping cannabis a schedule 1 http://www.bmj.com/ alcoholic tincture for problems such as tetanus and seizures. Its controlled drug till then. Even more absurdly, the 1934 report efficacy more broadly became apparent, and the definitive has been lost, so we can’t explore its evidential base or overview was published in the Lancet in 1890 by John Russell reasoning.3 1 Reynolds. -
Up in Smoke: Removing Marijuana from Schedule I
UP IN SMOKE (DO NOT DELETE) 4/9/2018 12:38 PM UP IN SMOKE: REMOVING MARIJUANA FROM SCHEDULE I DAVID R. KATNER* I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 167 II. DESCRIPTION OF MARIJUANA AND PUBLIC OPINION .......................... 170 III. HISTORY OF MARIJUANA USES AND LAWS IN THE U.S. AND ABROAD ......................................................................................... 174 IV. CREATION OF SCHEDULES OF DRUGS ................................................ 177 V. EVOLUTION OF MEDICINAL APPLICATIONS OF MARIJUANA ............... 178 VI. ADDICTIVE? ........................................................................................ 181 VII. DISSEMINATED PROPAGANDA ABOUT MARIJUANA, AND LEGAL ARBITRARINESS .............................................................................. 184 VIII. RESCHEDULING MARIJUANA TO SCHEDULE II ................................ 190 IX. REMOVING MARIJUANA ALTOGETHER FROM FEDERAL REGULATION .................................................................................. 195 X. CONCLUSION........................................................................................ 202 I. INTRODUCTION Billions of dollars are spent each year arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating Americans convicted of possession of cannabis or marijuana.1 During the 1970’s, annual marijuana arrests ranged between 420,000 and 500,000 people each year.2 By 1995, there were roughly 600,000 marijuana arrests nationwide, with more Americans being imprisoned -
Drug Harms in the UK: a Multicriteria Decision Analysis
Articles Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis David J Nutt, Leslie A King, Lawrence D Phillips, on behalf of the Independent Scientifi c Committee on Drugs Summary Background Proper assessment of the harms caused by the misuse of drugs can inform policy makers in health, Published Online policing, and social care. We aimed to apply multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) modelling to a range of drug November 1, 2010 DOI:10.1016/S0140- harms in the UK. 6736(10)61462-6 See Online/Comment Method Members of the Independent Scientifi c Committee on Drugs, including two invited specialists, met in a DOI:10.1016/S0140- 1-day interactive workshop to score 20 drugs on 16 criteria: nine related to the harms that a drug produces in the 6736(10)62000-4 individual and seven to the harms to others. Drugs were scored out of 100 points, and the criteria were weighted to Neuropsychopharmacology indicate their relative importance. Unit, Imperial College, London, UK (Prof D J Nutt FMedSci); UK Expert Adviser to the European Findings MCDA modelling showed that heroin, crack cocaine, and metamfetamine were the most harmful drugs to Monitoring Centre for Drugs individuals (part scores 34, 37, and 32, respectively), whereas alcohol, heroin, and crack cocaine were the most harmful and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), to others (46, 21, and 17, respectively). Overall, alcohol was the most harmful drug (overall harm score 72), with Lisbon, Portugal (L A King PhD); heroin (55) and crack cocaine (54) in second and third places. and Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Interpretation These fi ndings lend support to previous work assessing drug harms, and show how the improved scoring Science, London, UK and weighting approach of MCDA increases the diff erentiation between the most and least harmful drugs. -
Illegal Drug and Marijuana Law
Illegal Drug and Marijuana Law Kreit_5pp.indb 1 7/12/19 6:42 PM Kreit_5pp.indb 2 7/12/19 6:42 PM Illegal Drug and Marijuana Law Alex Kreit Professor of Law Thomas Jefferson School of Law carolina academic press Durham, North Carolina Kreit_5pp.indb 3 7/12/19 6:42 PM Copyright © 2019 Alex Kreit All Rights Reserved ISBN 978-1-61163-789-2 e-ISBN 978-1-5310-1205-2 LCCN 2019944022 Carolina Academic Press 700 Kent Street Durham, North Carolina 27701 Telephone (919) 489-7486 Fax (919) 493-5668 www.cap-press.com Printed in the United States of America Kreit_5pp.indb 4 7/12/19 6:42 PM To my mother, Sonia Spindt, for always being there for me. Kreit_5pp.indb 5 7/12/19 6:42 PM Kreit_5pp.indb 6 7/12/19 6:42 PM Contents Table of Cases xix Preface xxv Acknowledgments xxix Introduction xxxv Chapter 1 • Drugs and Drug Use 3 A. What Is a Drug? 3 Drug Abuse in Amer i ca: Prob lem in Perspective, Second Report National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse 4 B. Perspectives on Substance Use, Abuse and Addiction 7 John Barleycorn Jack London 8 The Ethics of Wine Drinking and Tobacco Smoking Leo Tolstoy 10 PiHKAL: A Chemical Love Story Alexander Shulgin and Ann Shulgin 14 Caring for Ms. L — Overcoming My Fear of Treating Opioid Use Disorder Audrey M. Provenzano, M.D., M.P.H. 15 Facing Addiction in Amer i ca: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health U.S. -
Downloaded Popular in Europe, and the “Rave” (An All Night Dance Party) from the Web [4]
The Open Forensic Science Journal, 2011, 4, 20-24 20 Open Access A Historical Review of MDMA Steven B. Karch* Berkeley, California 94705, USA Abstract: In less than 50 years the number of MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or Ecstasy) users in the United States has gone from zero to nearly three million. For all of its popularity, very little is known about MDMA’s probable mechanism of action, or the mechanisms by which it causes death and disability. Even less is known about this drug’s checkered past, including dangerous plans by various government agencies to “weaponize” MDMA, and misleading research sponsored and propagated by the U.S. government. Recently, evidence has begun to emerge that MDMA may cause valvular heart disease and possibly myocardial disease as well. These issues have not yet appeared on the media radar. For that reason, an historical review of this fascinating drug was undertaken here. Keywords: Ecstacy, Shulgin, history, MK-Ultra, psychoactive, serotonin, empathogen, myocardial fibrosis, neurotoxicity. MDA, Club drugs, Raves. INTRODUCTION as a precursor compound, and never even evaluated MDMA’s basic physiologic properties until years after the Estimates of the United Nations suggest that in North patent for MDMA was actually awarded. America there are approximately 2.6 million MDMA (3,4- Methylenedioxymethamphetamine or Ecstasy) users, mostly Fifteen years passed before Merck made any effort to in the United States. The annual prevalence of MDMA use systematically evaluate MDMA’s pharmacologic effects in within the general U.S. population is approximately 0.9%, animals. The first experiments were carried out in 1927. -
Mind Medicine Australia’S Submission to the Royal Commission Into Victoria’S Mental Health System
SUB.0002.0029.0347 Mind Medicine Australia’s Submission to The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System 5th July 2019 “...My hope is that we will engage in mature, evidence-based discussions about how best to fund and deploy psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies to augment existing approaches to the treatment of mental illness. I hope that governments will have the courage to put the welfare of their citizens ahead of their fear of controversy ‒ and that our politicians will deploy their considerable skills and positions of influence to nurture a balanced and objective understanding amongst the public.” ‒ Dr Simon Longstaff AO, Leading Australian Ethicist and Executive Director of The Ethics Centre Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System | Mind Medicine Australia SUB.0002.0029.0347_0002 Level 1, 10 Dorcas St Southbank, VIC 3006 Australia 5th July 2019 The Commissioners The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System Dear Commissioners We live in one of the wealthiest countries and we have one of the best medical systems in the world. Yet despite the high calibre of our medical practitioners and institutions, and the enormous associated system costs, we also have one of the highest rates of mental illness in the world, and the situation appears to be getting worse. Simply doing more of the same, or making only incremental changes to the current system, is not going to solve this problem and relieve the suffering of so many Victorians. To create positive change, we have to broaden the tools available to our medical practitioners and qualified therapists in this area. -
The Rise and Decline of Cannabis Prohibition the History of Cannabis in the UN Drug Control System and Options for Reform
TRANSNATIONAL I N S T I T U T E THE RISE AND DECLINE OF CANNABIS PROHIBITION THE HISTORY OF CANNABIS IN THE UN DruG CONTROL SYSTEM AND OPTIONS FOR REFORM 3 The Rise and Decline of Cannabis Prohibition Authors Dave Bewley-Taylor Tom Blickman Martin Jelsma Copy editor David Aronson Design Guido Jelsma www.guidojelsma.nl Photo credits Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum, Amsterdam/ Barcelona Floris Leeuwenberg Pien Metaal UNOG Library/League of Nations Archives UN Photo Printing Jubels, Amsterdam Contact Transnational Institute (TNI) De Wittenstraat 25 1052 AK Amsterdam Netherlands Tel: +31-(0)20-6626608 Fax: +31-(0)20-6757176 [email protected] www.tni.org/drugs www.undrugcontrol.info www.druglawreform.info Global Drug Policy Observatory (GDPO) Research Institute for Arts and Humanities Rooms 201-202 James Callaghan Building Swansea University Financial contributions Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP Tel: +44-(0)1792-604293 This report has been produced with the financial www.swansea.ac.uk/gdpo assistance of the Hash Marihuana & Hemp Museum, twitter: @gdpo_swan Amsterdam/Barcelona, the Open Society Foundations and the Drug Prevention and Information Programme This is an Open Access publication distributed under (DPIP) of the European Union. the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which of TNI and GDPO and can under no circumstances be permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction regarded as reflecting the position of the donors. in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. TNI would appreciate receiving a copy of the text in which this document is used or cited. -
Update of the Generic Definition for Tryptamines
ACMD Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Chair: Professor Les Iversen Secretary: Zahi Sulaiman 2nd Floor (NW), Seacole Building 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF Tel: 020 7035 1121 [email protected] Norman Baker MP, Minister for Crime Prevention Home Office 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF 10 June 2014 Dear Minister, In December 2013, you commissioned the ACMD to begin a regular review of generic definitions under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, with the aim of capturing emerging new psychoactive substances. These drugs are variants of controlled drugs and fall outside the existing scope of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. The ACMD has considered evidence available on tryptamines in the context of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and I enclose the Advisory Council’s advice and an expanded definition for tryptamine compounds with this letter. The ACMD’s NPS Committee has firstly reviewed previous research and existing controls to identify those tryptamines now seen to evade the existing controls. The ACMD has also reviewed data provided by the Home Office’s early warning systems and networks, clinical toxicology, prevalence and neuropharmacology in arriving at the expanded generic definition. This expanded generic definition will bring drugs such as alpha-methyltryptamine (AMT) as well as 5-MeO-DALT within the scope of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. These are highly potent hallucinogens which act on the 5HT2A receptor, in the same way as LSD. The ACMD therefore recommends that the tryptamines covered by the proposed expanded generic definition in this report, are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) as Class A substances. -
Designer Drugs: a Review
WORLD JOURNAL OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES Chavan et al. World Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences SJIF Impact Factor 5.210 Volume 4, Issue 08, 297-336. Review Article ISSN 2278 – 4357 DESIGNER DRUGS: A REVIEW Dr. Suyash Chavan,MBBS*1 and Dr. Vandana Roy2 1MD, Resident Doctor, Department of Pharmacology, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. 2MD, PhD Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi. ABSTRACT Article Received on 25 May 2015, Designer drugs‟ are psychoactive substances that mimic the effects of Revised on 16 June 2015, other banned illicit drugs but evade detection by law enforcing Accepted on 07 July 2015 agencies. This is because of modifications in the structure of the original psychoactive molecule. Originally developed as a way to *Correspondence for evade existing drug laws in the late 1960s, the synthesis and use of Author designer drugs has increased dramatically. They are advertised with Dr. Suyash Chavan innocuous names and are sold mostly over the internet, discreet outlets MD, Resident Doctor, Department of and at entertainment clubs. Victims may exhibit symptoms similar to Pharmacology, Maulana the effects of the illegal drug that these synthetic drugs mimic, Azad Medical College, however, the exact culprit drug is not detected due to structural New Delhi. modifications in the new drug. Overdose of these drugs may lead to serious adverse effects that can be life threatening. Understanding the pharmacology and toxicology of these agents is essential to facilitate their detection and to provide better medical care for patients suffering from adverse effects due to their consumption. -
Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws
Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws by Jon Gettman, Ph.D. The Bulletin of Cannabis Reform www.drugscience.org September 5, 2007 Lost Taxes and Other Costs of Marijuana Laws Executive Summary Government reports indicate that the nation's marijuana laws cost taxpayers $41.8 billion annually. This calculation is based on (a) a reconciliation of estimates of the annual supply of marijuana in the United States and estimates of its overall value and (b) Office of Management and Budget (OMB) data on the share of the Gross Domestic Product diverted by regulatory taxes to US Government budgets. Government reports from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Library of Congress, and other sources indicate that the supply of marijuana in the United States is 14,349 metric tons, or 31.1 million pounds. Various price indexes from public and private sources produce a retail price of $7.87/gr or $3,570/lb, setting the overall retail value of the illicit marijuana market at $113 billion. The Office of Management and Budget reports that local, state, and the federal government receipts represent 28.7% of the gross domestic product as tax revenue. The diversion of $113 billion from the taxable economy into the illicit economy deprives taxpayers of $31.1 billion annually. According to the Uniform Crime Reporting Program of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, marijuana arrests consist of 5.54% of all arrests. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that total criminal justice expenditures in the United States in 2004, for example, were $193 billion. -
An Economic Analysis of Marijuana Policy Note
University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Connecticut Law Review School of Law 2009 The Need for Change: An Economic Analysis of Marijuana Policy Note Cynthia S. Duncan Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/law_review Recommended Citation Duncan, Cynthia S., "The Need for Change: An Economic Analysis of Marijuana Policy Note" (2009). Connecticut Law Review. 39. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/law_review/39 CONNECTICUT LAW REVIEW VOLUME 41 JULY 2009 NUMBER 5 Note THE NEED FOR CHANGE: AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF MARIJUANA POLICY CYNTHIA S. DUNCAN The Controlled Substances Act was enacted in 1970. Since that time, billions of dollars have been spent enforcing marijuana prohibition and millions of individuals have been arrested. Despite these efforts, there has been little to no success in controlling the availability of marijuana. Federal and state efforts to reduce marijuana production and use through prohibition have been ineffective, and those efforts have been far less than equitably applied across economic and racial divisions. Given the costs associated with prohibition and the meager results obtained thus far, it is time to rethink the national policy of prohibition and consider abandoning the nearly forty-year-old model. Thirteen states have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, and many more states have greatly reduced the penalties for possession. Decriminalization carries with it many of the same societal costs associated with total prohibition and does nothing to dismantle illegal trafficking operations. Legalization, on the other hand, would eliminate the criminal supply network and would also remove the direct and collateral sanctions that currently fall so harshly upon minority and low-income marijuana users.