Study: Decriminalizing Marijuana Doesn’t Increase Use
Bruce Mirken at the Marijuana Policy Project Blog points to some revealing data from the National Research Council:
Our marijuana laws are designed to hurt people. To inflict injury. And it’s all based on the idea that less people will use marijuana if we do these horrible things to them. But if that isn’t true, then we’re ruining lives for no reason. There remains no excuse for continuing this.
The issue most extensively studied has been the impact of decriminalization on the prevalence of marijuana use among youths and adults. Penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use were significantly reduced in 11 states in the 1970s (Bonnie, 1981b). All of these laws preclude incarceration for consumption-related marijuana offenses, making the offense punishable only by a fine, and most also classify the offense in a category (typically a civil infraction) that does not carry the stigmatizing consequence of having been convicted of a crime— hence the term ‘decriminalization.’
Most cross-state comparisons in the United States (as well as in Australia; see McGeorge and Aitken, 1997) have found no significant differences in the prevalence of marijuana use in decriminalized and nondecriminalized states (e.g., Johnston et al., 1981; Single, 1989; DiNardo and Lemieux, 1992; Thies and Register, 1993). Even in the few studies that find an effect on prevalence, it is a weak one. …We’ve been placing marijuana users in handcuffs and taking them to jail. We’ve been stigmatizing them with criminal records and interfering with their job opportunities. We’ve been taking their children away. We’ve been revoking their financial aid for college. We’ve been taking away their hope for living a normal life and then claiming we’re trying to help them be normal.
In summary, existing research seems to indicate that there is little apparent relationship between severity of sanctions prescribed for drug use and prevalence or frequency of use, and that perceived legal risk explains very little in the variance of individual drug use. [NAP]
Our marijuana laws are designed to hurt people. To inflict injury. And it’s all based on the idea that less people will use marijuana if we do these horrible things to them. But if that isn’t true, then we’re ruining lives for no reason. There remains no excuse for continuing this.
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