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A study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology that calls for a “more balanced drug policy” from law enforcement and lawmakers asked the simple and profound question, ‘why do law and policy makers treat illegal drugs as if they were more harmful than the worlds most abused drug, alcohol?’
Jan van Amsterdam of the Laboratory for Health Protection Research in the Netherlands and psychiatrist Wim van den Brink said that law writers’ failure to recognize that ”alcohol abuse is more harmful for public health and society than illicit drug use” was “unjustified.”
The authors pointed out the fact that, in absolute numbers, alcohol abuse is vastly more prevalent in society as a whole than drug abuse. The overwhelming majority of people seeking health assistance for addiction problems are alcohol abusers. The report also reiterated what a study by the National Institutes of Health found, that alcohol is as addictive as heroin and crack cocaine.
The authors said that alcohol’s “high harm score” required that it be given a higher relevance in determining drug policy. The authors of the study called on legislatures to assume a balanced approach as they write laws, and highlight harm reduction instead of criminalization.
The Centers for Disease Control attributes 80,000 deaths each year to alcohol. Last year 800,000 people were arrested in the US for possessing cannabis.
8 Comments
Because they banned it once and it didn’t work, maybe?
Of course, legalized alcohol is the best argument for legalized cannabis.
The reason there is a difference in alcohol policy compared with other drugs is the same reason some people were required to ride in the back of the bus and drink water from separate outlets: Mindless Bigotry and Prejudice. And since alcohol is a drug which first attacks reasoning, it is the perfect elixer of violence against our better nature.
Warning: Our elected officials and lawmakers are heavy boozers. Be Afraid..Be Very Afraid..
The alcohol lobby is way too powerful. They don’t want anybody cutting in on their action. Follow the money,money,money! Also,you’re right, Magilla, they’re boozers, not so much potheads.
I’m both. Sometimes. What does that make ME?
Prohibitionists have always portrayed marijuana as the drug of choice of “undesirables”: Mexicans, African Americans, hippies, and slackers, in that order.
If alcohol contained the various beneficial cannibinoids in marijuana now being patented by both Big Pharmaceutical companies and also the Federal government, then I am sure the Powers that Be would be depriving us of alcohol. I know of one elder care facility that has substituted white wine for many clients’ prescription sleep aids, and anti-anxiety meds. So maybe alcohol prohibition will soon be back in vogue.
Follow the money and you see everything you need to know about government policy.
In a word: cool.
A fine upstanding American. No offense, OB. Spending my first 20 yrs. of adulthood drunk & stoned and the last 20 yrs. recovering has jaded me. Stone cold sober. Don’t hold that against me. Besides, I spent 12 party yrs. in Humboldt County, Cal. Anybody who knows pot can attest to the fact that once you experience Humboldt Homegrown, all else is second best. PEACE