Marijuana 88 decriminalization

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). NORML s Testimony on Marijuana Decriminalization Before Congress (1999) Keith Stroup, Esq, 1999. http //www.norml.org. 

Johnston,L.D. etal. 1981. Marijuana decriminalization The impact on youth 1975— MmitoringdieFuture. (Occasional Paper 13) University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, mi. 

Lloyd Johnston, Patrick O Malley, and Jerald Bachman, Marijuana Decriminalization The Impact on Youth, 1975-1980, Monitoring the Future Oeeasional Paper 13. Ann Arbor, MI Institute for Social Research, 1981, pp. 

Critics tend to argue that decriminalization is just legalization in disguise. Nevertheless, support for legalization—at least for marijuana—appears to he slowly growing. 

The organization NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws) is founded by Keith Stroup. Its objective is to decriminalize the use of the drug. 

Drugs in Schools, Sports, and the Workplace Medical Use of Marijuana Legalization and Decriminalization of Drugs Harm Reduction Strategies... 

Zimmer, Lynn, and John P. Morgan. Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts A Revietv of the Scientific Evidence. New York Lindesmith Center, 1997. Provides a comprehensive overview of what is known about marijuana from the scientific literature and applies it to current policy issues such as medical use and decriminalization. 

NORML is one of the nation s oldest drug policy reform organizations. Its focus is to change public opinion so as to achieve the repeal of laws against marijuana use. It believes that responsible use rather than prohibition is the proper way to deal with the drug. NORML has played an important role in decriminalizing minor marijuana offenses in 11 states and in lowering penalties elsewhere. 

Despite President Nixon s stance, in 1973, Oregon became the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Ten more states quickly followed, although specific legal definitions and penalties associated with decriminalization varied from state to state. In 1975, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the possession of marijuana for personal use by adults at home was protected by a constitutional right... 

The decriminalization and legalization of marijuana are intricately woven into the medical marijuana movement. Essentially, it is a debate over the value of marijuana s medicinal properties compared with the risks posed by its use. NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, has been in the forefront of this 30-year controversy since they first petitioned in 1972 to move marijuana to a Schedule II category. NORML and other proponents of medical marijuana maintain that when compared with drugs such as heroin and cocaine, marijuana is not only safe but holds great potential as a prescription drug. 

As part of its support for the legalization of medical marijuana, NORML advocates the complete decriminalization of marijuana, a step that would remove all penalties for the private possession and the responsible use of marijuana by adults. Under this scenario, private marijuana users, including those with serious medical conditions, would not be arrested, but large-scale commercial sellers would still be violating drug laws. NORML also calls for the development of a legally controlled market for marijuana in which adult consumers could buy marijuana for personal use from safe, legal sources. 

Some states that decriminalized small amounts of the drug for personal use recriminalized it by the 1990s. As a result, the number of people in prison for marijuana possession increased greatly.,—... 

Millions of arrests have been made for marijuana law violations. It has been estimated that if marijuana were decriminalized or legalized, yearly arrests would be reduced by 500,000.,2 For some users and pushers, there is "revolving door" justice in which they are in and out of the criminal justice system quickly. For others, marijuana possession means real time in prison. 

After the enactment of the CSA there followed a period of uncertainty as the use of illicit drugs increased. Because of conflicts between the philosophy of enforcement and that of treatment or toleration, a presidential National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (NCMDA) was established in 1972. Its task was to report within a year on marijuana, its highest priority, and within 2 years on drug abuse in general. The committee s first report recommended that possession of small amounts of marijuana should be decriminalized (i.e., a finable offense not subject to incarceration). The final report appeared in March 1973 and reconfirmed its original recommendation. Despite these recommendations, President Nixon remained opposed to decriminalization. 

The election of Jimmy Carter as President in 1976 ensured a continuation of tolerance to drug use, particularly marijuana. In March 1977, the Special Assistant for Health Issues to the President, and high officials from the DEA, the State Department, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), NIMH, the Customs Service, and the Justice Department appeared before the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control to argue for the decriminalization of marijuana. The President himself repeated a similar theme before Congress later that year. 

It is the character of Kennedy s friends rather than his own low personal standard of morality that explains why as a leader of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee he has come forward as the leading sponsor of federal legalization of marijuana and why he has given his approval to decriminalization of heroin "for experimental purposes." The job of the Kennedy dynasty is to usher in British dope and the criminals who distribute it — through the front door. 

As its first public act, the Dmg Abuse Council issued a widely circulated report advocating the decriminalization of marijuana, a tenfold increase in methadone (synthetic heroin) clinics, and the British system of legalized government-sponsored heroin addiction. Following the release of that report, the Kaiser Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund established a matching fund that more than doubled the annual revenues available to the Dmg Abuse Council to push dmg legalization. 

Javits s links to Lansky and Vesco surfaced in yet another context in October, 1978. After a several ton marijuana bust off the coast of Massachusetts, the defendants were represented in court by James Lawson, the head of the state chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). NORML is the principal public lobby for the decriminalization of marijuana and addictive drags in the U.S. Sitting on its Advisory Board is Sen. Jacob Javits. Evidence surfaced in the course of the trial that the front money for the captured marijuana shipment had been provided by Meyer Lansky and Robert Vesco. (7)... 

Later that year, the outgoing Ford Administration eased the previous federal stand against decriminalization, encouraging discussion of this issue for the first time in a policy statement from the Strategy Council on Drug Abuse. Ford s chief advisor on drugs, Robert DuPont, stated that marijuana was less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and urged decriminalization of limited home production. 

Dr. Peter Bourne. Bourne prescribed Quaaludes for an associate and to protect her identity used a phony name for her. Bourne was forced to resign. No sooner had the dust settled than Hamilton Jordan, Carter s chief of staff, was charged with having snorted cocaine at a NORML party during the presidential campaign. This case dragged on and on. The Carter administration s early intention to decriminalize marijuana faded. 

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