The Florida Times-Union

March 27, 2008

Group advocates for medical use

By
Special to the Times-Union

JAX NORML Inc. is now organizing as an affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

The purpose of the group is to facilitate what we believe is a long overdue debate as to the efficacy of this country's long-standing criminal prohibition of marijuana and to advocate for the right of seriously ill patients to use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.

Twelve states have decriminalized marijuana since 1973. Twelve states now permit the medical use of marijuana.

Medical marijuana legislation and ballot initiatives are now pending in several states. A number of municipalities have enacted decriminalization ordinances. Possession of small amounts of marijuana is a ticketable offense, punishable only by a fine in these areas.

JAX NORML supports the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. We submit that the criminal prohibition of marijuana has been a dismal failure. Although the number of arrests has risen from 342,314 in 1992 to 829,629 in 2006, no significant decrease in availability or rates of usage followed.

In fact, marijuana is now the largest cash crop in the United States. The continuation of prohibition will result in nothing more than the wasteful expenditure of public funds and law enforcement resources, and the entanglement of otherwise law-abiding citizens in the already overburdened criminal justice system.

About 89 percent of marijuana arrests in 2006 were for nothing more than simple possession.

The laws, as they now stand, neither deter nor prevent anyone from accessing or using marijuana.

Moreover, the discordant state of the laws has led to tension between the federal and state governments, as federal law enforcement agencies have continued to prosecute seriously ill medical marijuana users under federal law.

In order to better inform the public and lawmakers, a bipartisan congressional commission should be formed to objectively study the issue and to make recommendations to the president and Congress.

Among the notable reports that support decriminalization of marijuana are the findings of the LaGuardia Commission (1944), the Institute of Medicine (1999) and the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (1972).

Any objective scientific inquiry will yield a similar result.

Lawmakers should follow the recommendations of any commission that may be empaneled to advise them.

FORD BANISTER,

president,

JAX NORML Inc.,

Jacksonville We submit that the criminal prohibition of marijuana has been a dismal failure.

This story can be found on Jacksonville.com at http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/032708/opl_261931473.shtml.