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End the 'War' But Not the Fight Against Drugs

Reducing the market for drugs is the shortest route out of the $193 billion in costs society incurs each year from them

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"Fighting drug addiction is more akin to our efforts against cancer"

OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER (PART 1):

Federal researchers implanted several types of cancer, including leukemia and lung cancers, in mice, then treated them with cannabinoids (unique, active components found in marijuana). THC and other cannabinoids shrank tumors and increased the mice's lifespans. Munson, AE et al. Antineoplastic Activity of Cannabinoids. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Sept. 1975. p. 597-602.

OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER, (PART 2):

In a 1994 study the government tried to suppress, federal researchers gave mice and rats massive doses of THC, looking for cancers or other signs of toxicity. The rodents given THC lived longer and had fewer cancers, "in a dose-dependent manner" (i.e. the more THC they got, the fewer tumors). NTP Technical Report On The Toxicology And Carcinogenesis Studies Of 1-Trans- Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol, CAS No. 1972-08-3, In F344/N Rats And B6C3F Mice, Gavage Studies. See also, "Medical Marijuana: Unpublished Federal Study Found THC-Treated Rats Lived Longer, Had Less Cancer," AIDS Treatment News no. 263, Jan. 17, 1997.

OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER (PART 3):

Researchers at the Kaiser-Permanente HMO, funded by NIDA, followed 65,000 patients for nearly a decade, comparing cancer rates among non-smokers, tobacco smokers, and marijuana smokers. Tobacco smokers had massively higher rates of lung cancer and other cancers. Marijuana smokers who didn't also use tobacco had no increase in risk of tobacco-related cancers or of cancer risk overall. In fact their rates of lung and most other cancers were slightly lower than non-smokers, though the difference did not reach statistical significance. Sidney, S. et al. Marijuana Use and Cancer Incidence (California, United States). Cancer Causes and Control. Vol. 8. Sept. 1997, p. 722-728.

OOPS, MARIJUANA MAY PREVENT CANCER (PART 4):

Donald Tashkin, a UCLA researcher whose work is funded by NIDA, did a case-control study comparing 1,200 patients with lung, head and neck cancers to a matched group with no cancer. Even the heaviest marijuana smokers had no increased risk of cancer, and had somewhat lower cancer risk than non-smokers (tobacco smokers had a 20-fold increased Lung Cancer risk). Tashkin D. Marijuana Use and Lung Cancer: Results of a Case-Control Study. American Thoracic Society International Conference. May 23, 2006.

malcolm kyle of NY 1:46AM July 10, 2012

The "drug war" is more akin to cancer. It has grown and metastasized and consumed treasure and lives far too long.

Time for a radical procedure. Time to restore literal "liberty and Justice" in our society.

Richard P Steeb of CA 11:44PM July 09, 2012

It is unethical to dissuade people to use a drug (cannabis) that is twice as safe as alcohol.

It is unethical to refuse regulating cannabis: a regulated drug is safer than an unregulated drug.

Let's take the view that we're never going to stop people from consuming cannabis. So how do we make it safer? Regulations!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T2cAFRAX3Gs

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21592732

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16612464

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20218784

Annette of SD 8:32PM July 09, 2012

Kevin, how does it feel to sell yourself?

Mike Parent of NH 6:57PM July 09, 2012

When it comes to cannabis, Dr. Sabet and the ONDCP have achieved NOTHING. Seventy years of prohibition, 850,000 arrests a year, $40 Billion annual cost to taxpayers - and the result? Cannabis is easier for kids to obtain than alcohol!

What a complete waste of OUR money!! And if that isn't bad enough, our country's illegal cannabis suppliers brutally murder more than 10,000 people a year as they fight for profits and market share. Dr. Sabet and the ONDCP are responsible for these deaths as they NEVER stop to ask themselves if cannabis should even be illegal.

As a country, the ONLY reason we're forced to keep cannabis illegal is because we signed into the United Nation's "Single Convention" treaty and it forbids us from ever legalizing cannabis. We like to think that we make our own decisions, but when it comes to cannabis the UN doesn't allow us to do that. No matter what harm it causes, no matter how little benefit it gives, the UN will NEVER allow us to legalize adult cannabis sales and will also NEVER stop to ask itself if cannabis should even be illegal! Are we the greatest country in the world or are we a lapdog for the United Nations?

jway of VA 6:36PM July 09, 2012

Kevy Sabet proudly claims to know what works to end drug dependence, without offering so much as a shred of evidence that his way actually works. Worse yet, he must ignore mountains of evidence of the drug war's damage to society, which most of us can no longer ignore.

The adults are talking now, Kevy. Little boys like you need to be quiet.

free radical of CA 5:26PM July 09, 2012

We,the people,can reduce the criminals selling marijuana for income by over 60% in one year and do more damage to the cartels and criminal organizations than Kevin and his employers have spending over a trillion dollars and killing hundred of thousands of people during the last 40 years and we don't need tax dollars,guns,prisons or law enforcement to do it..we can do it with a watercan and a hoe.

Kevin,,are you still trying to talk people into opening the commercial treatment centers necessary for our government to attempt there"Treatment instead of Incarceration scam?

claygooding of TX 4:28PM July 09, 2012

Kevin Sabet is soooo right.

It makes even bettr sense when we remember he is going to include alcohol into the re-education efforts.

When ordinary folks wake up in the can, the War will really warm up !

Shonymous 3:01PM July 09, 2012

I've followed your career. You really are a shill.

Jud of FL 2:46PM July 09, 2012

"George Washington law professor Jeffrey Rosen once wrote about these interventions, "The relative simplicity of the solutions, it turns out, is at the core of their radical potential."

Seeing as we're going down the "quote" route, here's some more.

"Why use up all our forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down,if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of hemp"

~Heny Ford

"If the People let the Government decide what food they eat and what medicines they take,their bodies will soon be in the sorry state as the souls of those who live under tyranny

~ Thomas Jefferson

"A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very princibles upon which our government was founded"

~ Abraham Lincoln

(i like this one)

"Make the most of the Indian hemp seed and sow it every where"

~ George Washington

"We shall, by and by ,want a World of hemp for our own consumption"

~John Adams#

There are tons more,but i have to finnish with this one.

"I inhaled frequently,that was the point"

~Barack Obama

In a World that seems to be filled with war and bad news,why not give a little rest bite to the people,if Adults choose to use cannabis instead of alcohol, for what ever reason..let them do it.

It should be down to the people to make the decision of making cannabis legal or keeping it ilegal. Thats what i call Demoracy.