crime
Pot-sniffing dogs role unclear with marijuana legalized
Deuce, a German Shepard with the Aurora Police Department, is sniffing around tables and a barbeque at a picnic area outside a police station. After a few minutes, he sits and fixes his gaze on a plastic trash can.
Medical Marijuana Industry News June 22, 2012
Uruguay Looks to Legalize Marijuana In Effort to Reduce Violence and Crime…
Efforts by Central American countries to convince the United States government to reconsider their rigid stance on marijuana has proved unsuccessful. America’s demand for marijuana has lead to a rise in cartel power and violence all over Central America. Both President Obama and Vice President Biden have been hammered by criticism from leaders in the region on recent trips. Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico has been very vocal regarding how United States drug laws are having a devastating impact on Central America. Leaders in Uruguay are taking the initiative and will not wait for United States to take action at a glacial pace. Uruguay’s Defense Minister Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro said this week that prohibition was causing “more problems than the drugs themselves.” Analysts believe this is only a start and that many nations will follow Uruguay’s lead.
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New Hampshire Governor Vetoes Bill To Legalize Medical Marijuana…
Recently New Hampshire lawmakers approved a measure that would permit medical marijuana. There has been momentum for such a program for several years as a similar measure was passed in 2009 only to be vetoed by Governor Lynch. He has done so again with the new 2012 bill however advocates and lawmakers are hoping they can gather enough votes to override the Governor’s veto. The bill passed by a wide margin in both New Hampshire’s House and Senate though it is still unclear if enough legislators would support overriding the governor’s veto.
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Two House Representatives Refuse to Let DEA Official Avoid Answering Marijuana Questions
Jared Polis (D-CO) is one of the nation’s most recognized marijuana supporters in Congress. Along with Barney Frank and Ron Paul (R-TX) Mr. Polis has certainly fought hard for marijuana patients. This week he grilled Michele Leonhart of the Drug Enforcement Administration during a Congressional hearing. As Ms. Leonhart was asked questions regarding marijuana, she seemed unwilling to elaborate as to why the federal government has marijuana classified as a schedule 1 drug. Steve Cohen (D-TN) also demanded straight forward answers from Leonhart Below you can find an excerpt of the exchange between Polis and Leonhardt:
POLIS: Is crack worse for a person than marijuana?
LEONHART: I believe all the illegal drug are bad.
POLIS: Is methamphetamine worse for somebody’s health than marijuana?
LEONHART: I don’t think any illegal drug is good.
POLIS: Is heroin worse for someone’s health than marijuana?
LEONHART: Again, all the drugs –
POLIS: I mean, either yes, no, or I don’t know. I mean, if you don’t know, you can look this up you should know this as the chief administrator for the Drug Enforcement Agency. I’m asking you a very straightforward question. Is heroin worse for someone’s health than marijuana?
LEONHART: All the illegal drugs are bad.
POLIS: Does this mean you don’t know?
LEONHART: Heroin causes an addiction that causes many problems that’s very hard to kick.
POLIS: Does that mean that the health impact is worse than marijuana, is that what you’re telling me?
LEONHART: I think that you are asking a subjective question.
Marijuana.net Will Be Attending the High Times Cannabis Cup In San Francisco this weekend…
There is no rest for the weary as marijuana.net will be taking the excitement from San Jose’s Hempcon with us to San Francisco and the 2012 High Times Medical Marijuana Cannabis Cup. If you are in the Bay Area come check us out on Saturday, Sunday, or both days. We will continue with our popular raffles and we encourage patients to learn more about which medication is right for them with a free one on one session with our strain master . We’ll also be showing off our comprehensive strain library and be providing education on the newest marijuana reform developments.
Medical Marijuana Causes Crime? Not so Fast says Study
One of the most popular criticisms by opponents of medical marijuana has to do with a perceived increase in local crime. Politicians and outraged community members frequently claim that marijuana dispensaries will increase local crime. Often, they seem reluctant to even accept the idea that this may not be the case even though nobody really knows the impact of dispensaries on crime as legalized marijuana is only in its infancy.
A new study recently published shows that the presence of dispensaries does not increase crime, at least in the Sacramento area. The July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs includes the results from a study conducted by University of California researchers. In Sacramento, there was no evidence that indicated that violent or property crime rose in neighborhoods with a higher concentration of marijuana dispensaries. Nancy Kepple, who was in charge of the research said the study was a “good first step” but cautioned that it “was not designed to address the bigger picture of how these dispensaries might be affecting neighborhoods.”
While the results are encouraging more research is clearly needed in other regions. Could this just be a phenomenon in Sacramento or will future research produce similar results? It may be important to realize that criminals are everywhere and that a marijuana dispensary may not be anymore motivating than robbing a bank. If someone is looking for an illegal quick money grab, perhaps the type of business is not their primary motivation. Many businesses keep cash on hand but we have not tried to shut down or drastically limit jewelry or department stores. Even if future research shows that marijuana dispensaries are attracting criminal activity, there will not be a level playing field until caregivers have access to banks. In short, dispensaries have no other discourse other than stockpiling cash. Since they likely will not have the same protection of a bank vault, criminals may target a dispensary simply because they know the money cannot be placed in a bank.
Social progression can be compared to Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Though this article will not attempt to dissect the entire theory, the basic premise of Einstein’s idea is that time and space are relative and not fixed. The speed of an object will appear slower for someone already in motion as opposed to someone standing still. If an individual’s thoughts are not progressing, but rather staying still, then new ideas will pass them by at a much higher speed than someone already moving forward. Opponents of reform may have a difficult time interpreting the changing world in front of them.
The India Hemp Drugs Commission
By the late 1800’s, the British Empire though no longer ruling the New World, was still firmly entrenched to the East and still held sway over the Middle East and India. The major reason for this was, of course, trade. The Indian subcontinent, highly populated, was both a source and a consumer of massive amounts of British resources and products. In order to exact as much revenue as possible from their colonial subjects, the British taxed many products. This included alcohol and other intoxicants. In 1790, the British crown started collecting those duties, expanding to Cannabis products in 1793, “No person shall manufacture or vend any such drugs (bhang, ganja, charas, and other intoxicating drugs) without a license from the collector of the zillah.” For many years the cannabis plant and its products were legally bought and sold throughout the Empire. As time marched on, various laws were passed limiting the scope of their sales. This stemmed from the unknown nature and effects of the plant. Even today scientists, doctors, and politicians seem baffled by everything that is known, and unknown about cannabis.
It was with little surprise in 1893 that the British House of Commons raised a formal inquisition into the truth of this plant and the preparations made from it. At this time, the British undertook perhaps the most exhaustive and scientific research of the cannabis plant of all time. Nixon’s Shafer Report of 1972, and even modern studies may come close, in scope, to the size of this undertaking. Over the course of nine months, many members of the medical and scientific community, stationed initially in Bengal but eventually encompassing all of India, looked into all cases of marijuana-induced disease, of mental, physical and moral concerns. This was a thorough investigation, involving testimony from civil and military sources, as well as merchants, commoners and professionals. Almost 1200 individuals were interviewed, their testimonies closely scrutinized and questioned in an effort to sort truth from opinion and superstition, so that the India Hemp Drugs Commission might gain an actual understanding of the benefits and threats posed by the hemp plant. The main thrust of the inquiries were designed to ferret out the consequences of the drug in terms of “adverse physical consequences, insanity, and the causation of crime.”
The British were particularly worried about the physical effects of cannabis preparations on their soldiers (Napoleon even outlawed hash amongst his own soldiers in Egypt). It was a very easy habit to get started on, especially with so many troops stationed throughout India. In India there were several popular ways to imbibe marijuana. It was often smoked out of a pipe or cigarette, or as charas (sticks or balls of hash). Also it could be prepared as a drink, called bhang, which was mixed with milk and other herbs and spices, occasionally with poppy as well. Also, it could be smoked with herbs of the Datura plant to induce strong hallucinations. This was mentioned several times in the report, with doctors commenting that it should be given separate investigation because its effects were far less beneficent in that preparation.
The inquiries were thorough in nature. Doctors sought to compare the effects of single use with that of moderate, consistent and heavy users. They were concerned with its effects on digestion, causation of dysentery, asthma, bronchitis and insanity. One thing became clear as the investigation continued; there was no consensus on the benefits or detriments of the plant. Some doctors touted its medicinal properties, while others decried it as a poisoner of mind and body. Some things don’t change. In the year 1894, 2344 patients were admitted to insane asylums. Of those, 222 were alleged to be caused by hemp. Carefully whittling down those numbers to 61 cases it was still unclear, “even in regard to the remaining 61 cases, it must be borne in mind that it is impossible to say that the use of hemp drugs was in all the sole cause of insanity, or indeed any part of the cause. The following considerations combine to demand caution and reserve in pronouncing an opinion on this point.” Statistically, less than 2% of the purported cases of insanity could be blamed on hemp, and even that two percent were suspect. The report’s conclusion, “The careful inquiry which has been made by the commission into all the alleged hemp drug cases admitted in one year into asylums in British India demonstrates conclusively that the usual mode of differentiating between hemp drug insanity and ordinary mania was in the highest degree uncertain, and therefore fallacious. Even after the inquiry which has been conducted, it cannot be denied that in some of the cases at least the connection between hemp drugs and insanity has not been conclusively established.”
Even in the field of physical effects the results were uncertain. No doctor could claim without a doubt that dysentery was caused by the herb, because there were so many other factors that attributed to the afflictions of people in India. Today, we know marijuana does not have that effect on the digestive system. We also know that unclean water sources are the major cause of most dysentery cases. In the case of asthma, most doctors were against the notion that cannabis was a cause. Although many agreed that smoking preparations could lead to asthma inflammation as well as other bronchial troubles. That is still a valid concern on the part of physicians today, and a logical point of debate in the field of medical marijuana. Doctors of the time relied heavily on cannabis preparations for medical benefits; even Queen Victoria was known to medicate with cannabis for relief from cramping and other menstrual discomforts.
In two of the three fields of the investigation, marijuana turned out to be beneficial, or at the least non-malignant. The final inquiries turned toward the effects of cannabis on the moral health of an individual. Is this plant responsible for turning otherwise healthy members of society into criminals? The report’s conclusion, “In respect to this relation to society, however, even the excessive consumer of hemp drugs is ordinarily inoffensive. His excesses may indeed bring him to degraded poverty which may lead him to dishonest practices; and occasionally, but apparently very rarely indeed, excessive indulgence in hemp drugs may lead to violent crime. But for all practical purposes it may be laid down that there is little or no connection between the use of hemp drugs and crime.”
Overall, many of the report’s authors were somewhat dissatisfied, not with the positive results (in our eyes) but with the lack of concreteness to the results. “Viewing the subject generally, it may be added that the moderate use of these drugs is the rule, and that the excessive use is comparatively exceptional. The moderate use practically produces no ill effects. In all but the most exceptional cases, the injury from habitual moderate use is not appreciable. The excessive use may certainly be accepted as very injurious, though it must be admitted that in many excessive consumers the injury is not clearly marked. The injury done by the excessive use is, however, confined almost exclusively to the consumer himself; the effect on society is rarely appreciable. It has been the most striking feature in this inquiry to find how little the effects of hemp drugs have obtruded themselves on observation. The large number of witnesses of all classes who professed never to have seen these effects, the vague statements made by many who professed to have observed them, the very few witnesses who could so recall a case as to give any definite account of it, and the manner in which a large proportion of these cases broke down on the first attempt to examine them, are facts which combine to show most clearly how little injury society has hitherto sustained from hemp drugs.” After a sustained effort, it was shown that most of the negative stories that pertained to cannabis use were the result of opinion, superstition and exaggeration. Anecdotal evidence rarely held up to scrutiny.
A more thorough scientific inquiry into the nature and effects of cannabis would have been a logical next step, but the science of the time was greatly lacking. Even with modern resources, doctors and scientists still are woefully ignorant of the scope of this plant. It would be beneficial to the medical marijuana cause if the results of this study were more widely known by today’s critics. This report has been buried, mostly by time. As opposed the Nixon-Shafer report of the 1970’s, which was deliberately hidden away because its results were exactly opposite to the political ends of its commissioners. It is most interesting that these studies are undertaken and then forgotten. As Winston Churchill said, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Here stands the world, more than 100 years after this commission’s report and still without any clear answers to the questions they asked.
Los Angeles: Crime on the Rise with Closing of Dispensaries
Many critics were fearful when the first U.S. marijuana dispensaries opened during the 1990s. Concerns of out of control cannabis use and street crimes were expected with the legalization of medical marijuana. These critics were correct in their concerns, if they were referring to what would occur after dispensaries were forced to close their doors.
A recent study conducted by the Rand Corporation, actually showed that crime has gone up in certain areas where marijuana caregivers and dispensaries were previously open. On streets with closed dispensaries, the study indicated that crime went up as much as 60% when compared to streets with still operating dispensaries. LAPD detective, Robert Holcomb, disputes these findings and the research methods used. He feels the link makes no sense.
This article will not attack his claim or verify why Rand Corporation found these results. The numbers do not lie, even if the reason for the findings is not yet 100 percent clear. The larger issue is our approach to law enforcement. In many cases, when a product in demand becomes unavailable, crime often ensues. Medication (which is how many view cannabis), food, and other necessities can result in crimes when people are desperately seeking them. There is one fact that has been unchanged since recorded human history. The competition for resources will always produce undesirable side effects.
The United States spends a large portion of its tax revenue on law enforcement. Feeding this machine no longer seems sustainable. A new and progressive approach to law enforcement is needed. Taking away products in demand that people are seeking has not served us well historically.
CBSLocal.com | Los Angeles | LAPD Veteran Study Linking Closed Pot Shops Violence Makes No Sense