Negative Space: legalization
- The Case for Legalization
- Ethan A. Nadelmann compares modern prohibition with alcohol prohibition: more laws and more enforcement generate more crime.
- Drugs Around the World
- Links to information about the drug war outside the United States.
- A Final Comment
- Throughout the report, the commission continually discusses that because of the unfairness and disproportionality of the laws against marijuana, they would even recommend going even further away from punitive laws than they’re already recommending, were it not for the “social realities”. The social realities being, the public does not yet support at greater than 50% the legalization of marihuana.
- Legalize Dope
- William F. Buckley notes that with prohibition comes unregulated sales; products adulterated with true poisons if they’re even the desired product at all, and wildly varying degrees of purity.
- Marihuana and Social Policy
- They noted that, if this were alcohol, we already know that its prohibition is unconstitutional. The right to be let alone is “the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” Recommendation: personal, private use no longer a crime; casual distribution no longer a crime.
- Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding
- Raymond P. Shafer, chaired. the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse. They submitted their official report to Congress on March 22, 1972. Whereupon, like most official inquiries that were given the freedom to investigate, it was completely ignored: it recommended lightening or outright removing sentences for marijuana use.
- Prohibition law reform
- An archive of efforts at reforming prohibition laws.
- Prohibition Politics
- The politics of prohibition, from alcohol to marijuana. Includes “Why End Prohibition?” and “The Pocket Guide to Recreational Drugs”.
- Thinking About Drug Legalization
- James Ostrowski writes about the horrible things that will happen after legalization: organized crime gets a huge pay cut, violent criminals go to jail longer, street violence drops.
- Toward a Sane National Drug Policy
- Rolling Stone tackles the drug issue with an article by Ethan Nadelmann and Jann S. Wenner in Rolling Stone, May 5, 1994.
- Using (Recreational) Drugs
- Links to web pages about the drug war and prohibition.
- Why Not Try Decriminalization?
- Richard Cohen draws the obvious parallel to worries about the drug trade with similar worries during alcohol prohibition.
More Information
- What Conservatives think about California Proposition 19
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“If someone wants to smoke marijuana or someone wants to eat too many cheeseburgers, that’s their right.”
- Drug Reform Coordination Network
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Over the years I’ve watched DRCNet grow into an incredibly useful resource in the field of drug law reform. “The world’s leading drug policy newsletter... raising awareness of the consequences of drug prohibition… DRCNet supports rational policies consistent with the principles of peace, justice, fr
eedom, compassion and truth. Each of these has been compromised in the name of the Drug War.”
- Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding•
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This official investigation into drug use, abuse, and laws in 1972, appointed by Richard Nixon, recommended that personal possession of marijuana no longer be an offense. It was, of course, completely ignored, just like all of the other “official investigations” over the years.
