Health

Teen tobacco use – warning. Cannabis – the jail experience.

by Brinna | March 2, 2009 at 01:20 pm

384 views | 1 Recommendation | 7 comments

As parents, you have to ask yourself, why is a substance like tobacco, which prematurely kills half of the people who use it, worth just a warning, whereas, possession of cannabis, which is non-toxic and causes no deaths, can land a teenager in jail.

This video of a 15 year old girl being beaten by police is a small example why you don’t want your children sent to jail, and a large indication of the collateral damage that the War on Drugs inflicts on our citizens.

You can change this by supporting the legalization and regulation of cannabis. And remember:

Prohibition drives the prohibited behavior from public view.
Therefore, that which is prohibited cannot be publicly regulated.
That which is publicly unregulated goes on with no public oversight.
What has no public oversight is generally ruled by self-interest.
What is ruled by self-interest does not necessarily have public interest at heart.
Ergo, only public regulation can hope to modify behavior consistently toward the public good.
Hence, regulate cannabis consumption, and keep our teens out of jail.

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jazzyzazzy

at 15:39 on March 2nd, 2009

Amsterdam has the right approach to smoking. Cafe culture, coffee with a spliff.The biggest drug dealers in the world are the pharmasutical companies that make billions from legal drugs. At the end of the day If people get pain relief or social pleasure from drugs.This will never change accept it we are a drug cultured society. Too many people in too many high positions of authority are hypocrits.So while they lock a teen up for puffin on a joint, The powers that may be, maybe snorting snowflakes up their nostrils just to have the energy to get through their hectic schedule.or give themselves a boost of confidence for their public speeches.I can always tell who has had a line of coke,their eyes are gittery and when they are really caning it their chins wag. As hash or grass, people do get pain relief.A think the real deal is simple.Live and let live.Everyone has their wee bit of poison administered daily one way or another.That applies to too much cream cakes Aclcohol chocolate and on and on it goes.

whatever!

Hermes (not verified)

at 16:03 on March 2nd, 2009

The story with cannabis cafes in Amsterdam is changing, some are being closed down especially if they are near schools. Amsterdam is trying to clean up its image by closing down the red-light district and the smoking cafes.

Brinna

at 17:07 on March 2nd, 2009

Mayor Job Cohen said the city (Amsterdam) would close about 20% of its cafes. Letters have been sent to 43 shops located within 250 yards of a high school, informing them they will have to close by the end of 2011 if they cannot successfully appeal the decision.

Another city, Eindhoven, said it would start issuing permits to cannabis growers in order to better regulate the trade – if the government approves.

The thing is, Amsterdam has been experimenting with working models of regulation. The who point of the above article is that regulation works, prohibition doesn't. Regulation is always a work in progress, but you have to begin somewhere.

jazzyzazzy

at 18:04 on March 2nd, 2009

It is well known by the public at large, that many residential properties with an attic or a spare room in their homes are filled with grass plants lighting and whatever else they need to grow the weed, for personal use. !However as for Amsterdam,the small cafe may well be rid of, bet they replace them in larger more elite premises. Seems to me that Amsterdam are actually going upmarket.

lefty_liberated

at 20:54 on March 2nd, 2009

This officer has a record of excessive force and shot someone during an arrest or something. No offense, but this video seems kind of out of context without some information about the officer.

lefty_liberated

at 03:40 on March 4th, 2009

Pot smuggling suspect hangs himself in Spokane Jail

Brinna

at 22:32 on March 18th, 2009

Unfortunately, Lefty, when our teenage children are thrown in jail for cannabis use, there is no guarantee what kind of an officer will escort our child to the cell, or what will be waiting there upon arrival. It only takes one idiot to mess up a life. The background of the officer in the video is irrelevant.

(Actually, it's not irrelevant. I should have made my point more clearly.)

The point, which your linked article makes as well, is that the consequences of the war on drugs is much more damaging than the drugs themselves.