Drug Czar: Marijuana And Crime Go Hand In Hand.

[greenbuddha]

 

 

 

US: Crime, Pot Go Hand In Hand, Official Says

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URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n223/a01.html

Newshawk: http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

Votes: 0

Pubdate: Fri, 24 May 2013

Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)

Copyright: 2013 Mcclatchy Newspapers

Contact:

http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html

Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/

Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154

 

 

CRIME, POT GO HAND IN HAND, OFFICIAL SAYS

 

Marijuana is the drug most often linked to crime in the United States, the U.S. drug czar said Thursday, dismissing calls for legalization as a "bumper-sticker approach" that should be avoided.

 

Gil Kerlikowske, White House director of national drug-control policy, said a study by his office showed a strong link between drug use and crime. Eighty percent of the adult males arrested for crimes in Sacramento, Calif., last year tested positive for at least one illegal drug. Marijuana was the most commonly detected drug, found in 54 percent of those arrested.

 

The study found similar results in four other cities: New York, Denver, Atlanta and Chicago. Among the cities, it included examinations of 1,736 urine samples and 1,938 interviews with men who were arrested.

 

Researchers found that pot was the most popular drug used by men who had been arrested in all the cities, ranging from a low of 37 percent in Atlanta to a high of 58 percent in Chicago. Chicago also had the highest overall positive test results, with 86 percent of the men found to have at least one drug in their bloodstream.

 

Cocaine ranked as the second most commonly found drug in all the cities, with the exception of Sacramento, where methamphetamine was No. 2, detected among 40 percent of those arrested.

 

Saying that drugs are fueling much of the crime in the U.S., Kerlikowske used the study to make a pitch for more treatment.

 

He said that while more than 60 percent of those arrested in the study had tested positive for at least one drug, 70 percent of the arrestees had never received any drug or alcohol treatment. As a result, he said, U.S. drug policy should be approached from a public health standpoint, not just as a criminal justice issue.

 

"That means addressing those factors that contribute to drug offenses, factors that all too often include the disease of addiction," Kerlikowske said in a speech at the Urban Institute, a public policy research center in Washington. "It means abandoning simplistic bumpersticker approaches, such as boiling the issue down to a 'war on drugs' or outright legalization."

 

Backers of the growing movement to legalize marijuana were quick to criticize the study.

 

"The drug czar should be ashamed of himself for attempting to deceive the American people in this manner," said Steve Fox, national political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, a pro-legalization group in Washington. "We could release a study tomorrow showing that 98 percent of arrestees in the United States drank water in the 48 hours before they engaged in criminal behavior. Does that mean that water causes crime?"

 

 

 

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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom

[+washtenaut]

Mr Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project should have pointed out that evidence of cannabis use can remain in the body for weeks.  That means that any arrested individual is being tested for their cannabis use over the past few weeks. 

 

The tests for other drugs are only checking for use over the past few days or in some cases, hours.  It is terribly misleading to imply that cannabis use increases crime rates.  We don't hear of many crooks arrested while trying to maintain their cannabis habit while we hear of that all the time with other, harder and more addictive drugs.

 

I do like the drug czar's words given toward treatment programs and not simply arrests.  Baby steps I guess.

[solabeirtan]

" No authority has the right to prohibit an individual to use a substance that

 

can only hurt him. Jailing or killing someone "for their own good" is the worst

 

moral failure that can arise for a State. A government should not prohibit

 

voluntary intake of drugs or alcohol without violating the fundamental freedom

 

of the people." ....

Edited May 27, 2013 by solabeirtan

[phaquetoo]

As a rule people do not steal to use weed! as a rule, but youngsters in school who havent grown a consious yet will steal just to steal!

 

and wash you are right, they are doing these urine screens and the crack they did or heroin is gone in 3 days the weed is there for a long time, Im not kidding, I put my self into intensive out pt therapy, I went to meetings 3 hrs a day 5 days a week plus did A.A and N.A, It took me over 8 weeks to be completely clean from mj, I stopped using the day I got in the class, I went in the class to quit drinking mainly to save my 1st marriage, I did take it serious, I guess my 1st ex didnt lol, my first ex!!! (i have 3 ex's) im not gonna marry this one, maybe we can grow old together!

 

people who are on crack or crank or what ever you want to call the meth will steal from their own kids to get their fix, and yes they smoke pot also, crack, heroin, meth, narcotics lead to weed use!  when they cant get their fix it is easy to find a joint, every one they know has weed, but most normal people dont have drugs! and weed is not a drug in my mind, alcohol is way more of a drug than any of them, and alcohol leads to smoking weed, I say cut out the middle man and make weed legal and make the rest ilegal, leo will stilll have people to mess with and pts wont have to worry about the riff raff!

 

Peace

Jim

[Chauncy Gardner]

Apparently the government is getting desperate in its attempts to stop marijuana legalization. This statistic quoted by Berliowski and then his use of it to link marijuana and crime is so blatently unscientific that I have to believe that he knows he is comparing apples to oranges. They simply have no more excuses or lies to trot out in favor of prohibition.

 

Do they fear the repercussions that will arise when street gangs and Mexican drug cartels no longer have a source of income?

[solabeirtan]

Apparently the government is getting desperate in its attempts to stop marijuana legalization. This statistic quoted by Berliowski and then his use of it to link marijuana and crime is so blatently unscientific that I have to believe that he knows he is comparing apples to oranges. They simply have no more excuses or lies to trot out in favor of prohibition.

 

Do they fear the repercussions that will arise when street gangs and Mexican drug cartels no longer have a source of income?

 

What they are getting in Mexico is vigilantism from the citizens who are Totally fed up with the abuse of  Government and Street Gangs in that order.

 

Sad thing is these are Manufactured crises/atrocities with a not so Hidden Agenda. 

Edited May 28, 2013 by solabeirtan

[pic book]

pizzza and crime go hand in hand...they must, cuz there ain't no pizzerias delivering at night in detroit.   wah.