Media: David Borden in Televised Drug Legalization Debate

Submitted by David Borden on Fri, 07/25/2008 - 1:00am (Issue #544)

Politics & Advocacy

Media

Legalization

David Borden, Executive Director, StoptheDrugWar.org, Washington, DC
Deirdre Boyd, CEO, Addiction Recovery Foundation, London
host: Shahab Mossavat

part 1 of 3:

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part 2 of 3:

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part 3 of 3:

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Click here to view the full one-hour program on presstv.com. David Borden did not appear in the first half due to technical problems. PressTV is an English-language network based in Teheran, which airs across Europe and the Middle East.

references for statements made by David Borden:

Past-year prevalence of marijuana use among young people in the tolerant Netherlands about half as in nearby France:
The State of the Drugs Problem in Europe, 2007 report EMCDDA (page 41)
States with marijuana decriminalization have not seen resulting rises in use:
various studies including Institute of Medicine, Monitoring the Future, Connecticut Law Review Commission, others
Teen marijuana use declines in states with medical marijuana laws:
Marijuana Use by Young People: The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Laws
Substitution effect between marijuana use and alcohol use:
Substitution of Marijuana for Alcohol: The Role of Perceived Access and Harm, Journal of Drug Education, 2006
Average Age of Netherlands heroin addicts has been increasing (e.g. few young heroin addicts):
Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction
Opiates and cocaine were banned almost a century ago (1914) by the Harrison Narcotics Act:
Consumers Union Report on Licit and Illicit Drugs
Taliban earns $100 million in opium profits in 2007:
Drug War Chronicle citing UN Office on Drugs and Crime Chief Antonio Costa on BBC
Drug prohibition sends hundreds of billions of dollars per year in illicit revenues to the global underground:
UN World Drug Report, via Drug War Chronicle
The US homicide rate increased under alcohol prohibition and decreased following its repeal:
Schaffer Library alcohol prohibition section
Street price of cocaine (adjusted for purity and inflation) drops by 80% since 1980:
Rand Corporation, via Joint Economic Committee, US Senate

Video

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Anonymous (not verified)

Last comment by Boyd

how ridiculous is the crazy woman ... 'if criminals stopped dealing drugs, they'd go into people trafficking'.

If drugs were legalized, regulated, & taxed, the cost of the drug would still be below that necessary for a criminal to find the benefits outweigh the risks.

Drugs would be sold in regulated stores, removing them from the streetcorners, where the dealers with their 'bling' give the youngsters bad role models.

Right now, with regulated alcohol, it's easier for kids to get cannabis than alcohol. During Prohibition of Alcohol, kids were involved with almost all aspects of the trade and use. Only after Prohibition was Repealed did the childhood drinking stop, due to regulation.