Breaking News:Dangerous Delays: What Washington State (Re)Teaches Us About Cash and Cannabis Store Robberies [REPORT]

The Best and Worst of 2006?

The year is coming to an end, and it is time to look back at 2006. What did we achieve? What did we fail to achieve? What were the highlights and lowlights for drug policy reform this year? I'm thinking I'll make a pair of feature articles out of this and I hereby invite you to submit your nominations for the best and worst of the year. They can be events, they can be trends... Just off the top of my head, I would include the success of the lowest priority marijuana law enforcement initiatives and New Jersey's passage of needle exchange legislation last week among the highlights of the year. On the downer side, there is the failure of the statewide legalization initiatives in Nevada and Colorado and the failure of the medical marijuana initiative in South Dakota. The continuing methamphetamine mania as an excuse to continue to craft repressive, punitive legislation will probably also make the list. But let's not limit this to the United States. Certainly, there are things going on in the rest of the world that could be included. Perhaps the relative quiet in the Bolivian coca fields during the first year of Evo Morales' presidency is worth mentioning? Or the increasingly shrill shouts from England and Australia that marijuana is linked to mental illness? (And just what is it about that Commonwealth weed? I don't hear too many similar accusations here in the US, even though you would think John Walters and his ilk would be jumping all over it). What do you think needs to be mentioning in the year-end wrap-up? Do tell.
Location: 
United States
Permission to Reprint: This article is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license.
Looking for the easiest way to join the anti-drug war movement? You've found it!

RI MMJ Act 1/3/06

Rhode Island became the 11th state to allow medical marijuana, a major 2006 victory in drug policy reform. The RI Medical Marijuana Act became law on Jan 3 2006, when the General Assembly voted to override Governor Carcieri's veto of the legislation. For more, see ripatients.org

nominee for best of 06

There were at least 2 significant medical marijuana related studies this year. One found no connection between even heavy marijuana use and cancer, contrary to the researcher's expectation, and causing him to think something in cannabis protects against cancer, to balance out the damage that smoking it should cause. The other suggested a protective effect against Alzheimer's. I don't think these were the only important new studies, but am not sure. Case studies in California suggest an amazing variety of medical uses. Insomnia is one (wish I could get my mother to try it).

Regarding this marijuana and mental illness deal, the social and financial and legal stress of being considered a 'criminal' would readily account for the small increase in mental illness symptoms being claimed, even if the claims are being made honestly. Their past record ain't good in the honesty department.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <i> <blockquote> <p> <address> <pre> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <br> <b>

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Drug War Issues

Criminal JusticeAsset Forfeiture, Collateral Sanctions (College Aid, Drug Taxes, Housing, Welfare), Court Rulings, Drug Courts, Due Process, Felony Disenfranchisement, Incarceration, Policing (2011 Drug War Killings, 2012 Drug War Killings, 2013 Drug War Killings, 2014 Drug War Killings, 2015 Drug War Killings, 2016 Drug War Killings, 2017 Drug War Killings, Arrests, Eradication, Informants, Interdiction, Lowest Priority Policies, Police Corruption, Police Raids, Profiling, Search and Seizure, SWAT/Paramilitarization, Task Forces, Undercover Work), Probation or Parole, Prosecution, Reentry/Rehabilitation, Sentencing (Alternatives to Incarceration, Clemency and Pardon, Crack/Powder Cocaine Disparity, Death Penalty, Decriminalization, Defelonization, Drug Free Zones, Mandatory Minimums, Rockefeller Drug Laws, Sentencing Guidelines)CultureArt, Celebrities, Counter-Culture, Music, Poetry/Literature, Television, TheaterDrug UseParaphernalia, Vaping, ViolenceIntersecting IssuesCollateral Sanctions (College Aid, Drug Taxes, Housing, Welfare), Violence, Border, Budgets/Taxes/Economics, Business, Civil Rights, Driving, Economics, Education (College Aid), Employment, Environment, Families, Free Speech, Gun Policy, Human Rights, Immigration, Militarization, Money Laundering, Pregnancy, Privacy (Search and Seizure, Drug Testing), Race, Religion, Science, Sports, Women's IssuesMarijuana PolicyGateway Theory, Hemp, Marijuana -- Personal Use, Marijuana Industry, Medical MarijuanaMedicineMedical Marijuana, Science of Drugs, Under-treatment of PainPublic HealthAddiction, Addiction Treatment (Science of Drugs), Drug Education, Drug Prevention, Drug-Related AIDS/HIV or Hepatitis C, Harm Reduction (Methadone & Other Opiate Maintenance, Needle Exchange, Overdose Prevention, Pill Testing, Safer Injection Sites)Source and Transit CountriesAndean Drug War, Coca, Hashish, Mexican Drug War, Opium ProductionSpecific DrugsAlcohol, Ayahuasca, Cocaine (Crack Cocaine), Ecstasy, Heroin, Ibogaine, ketamine, Khat, Kratom, Marijuana (Gateway Theory, Marijuana -- Personal Use, Medical Marijuana, Hashish), Methamphetamine, New Synthetic Drugs (Synthetic Cannabinoids, Synthetic Stimulants), Nicotine, Prescription Opiates (Fentanyl, Oxycontin), Psilocybin / Magic Mushrooms, Psychedelics (LSD, Mescaline, Peyote, Salvia Divinorum)YouthGrade School, Post-Secondary School, Raves, Secondary School