US Senators Chuck Grassley and Diane Feinstein have been using false statistics about young people in Colorado in order to send a message to US states everywhere.
One of the most interesting US policy debates going on in recent years may just be the debate about legalization of marijuana. Why exactly is this debate so interesting? Because it raises fundamental questions about the power of the federal government and the sovereignty of US states.
As of right now, marijuana is still classified as an illegal drug in the United States. That is true at the same time that certain states, such as Colorado, have recreationally legalized marijuana. Essentially, what that means is that entire states are defying the law of the federal government, raising the question of how much power they really have over the sovereignty of states.
The way this debate will move forward is uncertain, but several lawmakers are not letting the power of the US government go lightly. Lawmakers have been using false statistics to continuously advocate for keeping marijuana illegal and sending states a message that they are, indeed, breaking the law.
Grassland and Feinstein have mentioned a study that marijuana use among young people in Colorado which states that recreational use has increased since it has become legal:
“When comparing the two-year average before and after legalization, current marijuana use among 12-to-17-year-olds increased by 20 percent…while the national average decreased by 4 percent”, states Senator Diane Feinstein.
This study was conducted by Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. Notable issues exist with this methodologies, including the fact that marijuana use in this age group was already increasing by about 20% per two years. Additionally, according to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, there is no way to determine, because of the very small sample size of the study, that the number reflected in this study is accurate.
According to the director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, “we’ve always had a high use rate among youth and adults. It’s something we’ve had to contend with, whether or not marijuana is legal. So that’s not news. it’s easy to get misled by numbers if you don’t understand what’s behind those numbers.”
Recently, an aide of the Nixon administration has admitted that prohibition of marijuana began as an attempt to put “hippies and black people” in jail.
By Olivia Walker – DontComply.com
4 Comments
BrooklynChickLovesLiberty
82 and sill in office? F’cking quit or die already!!! The rest of us want to move FORWARD, you ignorant rotten bags of dust.
kevin_hunt
Dinosaur drug warrior Politicians like Grassley and Feinstein need to be voted OUT OF OFFICE.
malcolmkyle
When fascism came to the USA it was not simply labelled “Made in Germany” or marked with a swastika, it was not even called fascism. It actually had many names, like Prohibition, War on (some) Drugs, DEA, CIA, Nixon, Kleiman, Sabet, Sembler, Fay, Frum, Hassan, Feinstein, Grassley, Chabott, Peterson, Sessions, Schuette, Scott, Volkov, Wasserman Schultz, Leonhart, ….
Prohibition has finally run its course; the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, users and non-users worldwide, have been destroyed or severely disrupted; many countries that were once shining beacons of liberty and prosperity have, through scientific ignorance and blind political fanaticism, become repressive smoldering heaps of toxic hypocrisy and a gross affront to fundamental human decency. It is now the duty of every last one of us to insure that the people who are responsible for this shameful situation are not simply left in peace to enjoy the wealth and status that their despicable actions have, until now, afforded them. Former and present Prohibitionists should not be allowed to remain untainted or untouched by the unconscionable acts that they have viciously committed on their fellow human beings. They have provided us with neither safe communities nor safe streets. We should provide them with neither a safe haven to enjoy their ill-gotten gains nor the liberty to repeat such a similar atrocity.
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