ONDCP Has Failed to Cut Marijuana Use, Misused Treatment Stats, New Report Shows
October 8, 2008
(Washington, N.Y.) The major U.S. government study of drug use shows that the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has badly failed to meet its own goals for reducing use of marijuana and other illegal drugs, according to a pair of new reports by George Mason University senior fellow Jon Gettman, Ph.D. In addition, ONDCP and its chief, “Drug Czar” John Walters, have misused treatment statistics to suggest that marijuana is dangerously addictive when the government’s own data suggest that arrest-driven treatment admissions have wasted tax dollars by treating thousands who were not truly drug-dependent.
Both reports and a summary of all the findings are available at http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr5/bcr5_index.html.
“The government’s own statistics demolish the White House drug czar’s claims of success in his obsessive war on marijuana,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. Kampia noted that during Walters’ tenure, ONDCP has released at least 127 separate anti-marijuana TV, radio and print ads and 34 press releases focused mainly on marijuana, in addition to 50 reports from ONDCP and other federal agencies on marijuana or anti-marijuana campaigns. “The most intense war on marijuana since ‘Reefer Madness,’ including record numbers of arrests every year since 2003, has wasted billions of dollars and produced nothing except pain and ruined lives.”
Gettman, who made international headlines in December 2006 with an analysis showing that marijuana is the top cash crop in the United States, noted the following in his new report:
- In 2007 there were 14.5 million current users of marijuana in the United States, compared with 14.6 million in 2002, while the number of Americans who have ever used marijuana actually increased.
- ONDCP has not come close to meeting its goal of reducing illegal drug use by 25 percent by 2007.
- There was a marked jump in the percentage of marijuana treatment admissions referred by the criminal justice system from 1992 to 2006, while just 45 percent of marijuana admissions met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria for marijuana dependence.
With more than 25,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol.
For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
####
Bruce Mirken,
MPP director of communications
415-668-6403 or 202-215-4205
Jon Gettman, Ph.D.
540-822-5739
Posted by News LI Editor · Filed Under Health
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2 Responses to “ONDCP Has Failed to Cut Marijuana Use, Misused Treatment Stats, New Report Shows”
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It is actually in the Drug Czar’s job description that he must do everything in his power to keep cannabis illegal. I guess to him that even means lying and distortion are okay. Every Drug Czar has done this. They will all go down in infamy as having cause kids to use hard core drugs. Because, kids try cannabis and find that is does none of the things that their scare tactics propaganda says it will do. Then, these same kids don’t believe that hard-core drugs really will addict or kill them. So, the Drugs Czars crying wolf all the time only puts the blood of our kids on their hands. Their lies and distortion have made them into murderers. So much for ever being able to trust our government when even the GAO refuses to investigate these liars who have caused untold amounts of suffering in our nation.
- Posted by: Gerald Moore
(From an online source)
The Drug Czar is required by law to lie…
Most people know that the “drug czar” — the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) — is an advocate for the government position regarding the drug war. But not everyone knows that he and his office are mandated to tell lies as part of their Congressional authorization.
According to Title VII Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998: H11225:
Responsibilities. –The Director– […]
(12) shall ensure that no Federal funds appropriated to the Office of National Drug Control Policy shall be expended for any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812) and take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance (in any form) that–
1. is listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812); and
2. has not been approved for use for medical purposes by the Food and Drug Administration;
Now, let’s take as a simple example, the issue of medical marijuana. If the government finds that marijuana Has “currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” or “accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision,” then by law, marijuana cannot remain in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, which would immediately legalize it for medical purposes.
But by law, the drug czar must oppose any attempt to legalize the use (in any form).
Therefore, despite the fact that there is extensive evidence of medical marijuana’s safety and effectiveness (including the fact that even the federal government supplies it to patients), and clearly the drug czar would know about all this information, he is required by law to lie about it.
The job description also means that since he must oppose any attempt to legalize, he has no choice but declare that the drug war is working, that legalization would fail, etc., regardless of any… facts.
- Posted by: Tell Your Children