October 7, 2010
For Further Information:
Mike Gray, Co-Chair, Common Sense for Drug Policy
323-650-7212, info@drugwarfacts.org
Fact-Based Resource for Media Covering Proposition 19,
California's Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010
Fact Sheet: http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/files/Marijuana-Facts-from-Drug-War-Facts.p…
Los Angeles, CA - Common Sense for Drug Policy has produced a special edition
of Drug War Facts for the media covering Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control,
and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 initiative in California. It is called
"Marijuana Facts on Drug War Facts" and can be found online in the Drug War
Facts Marijuana chapter at http://www.DrugWarFacts.org/cms/Marijuana.
"The debate on whether to tax and regulate marijuana should be a fact-based one
so that California can develop the most effective policy," said Mike Gray,
co-chairman of Common Sense for Drug Policy. "It is too easy when it comes to
marijuana for people to lose sight of what is true and what is false, what
is myth and what is reality.á We are providing this resource to the media to
make sure the debate remains elevated to fact-based information."
The special edition, edited by Mary Jane Borden, includes sections on: usage
rates, the effect of decriminalization on marijuana use, arrest rates, the
deterrent effect of criminalization, the cost of enforcement, and potential
tax revenues from legalization, among other issues. A few samples include:
Do criminal penalties deter marijuana use? Despite a federal ban and criminal
penalties that vary among the 50 states, 104 million Americans are estimated to
have tried marijuana at least once according to 2009 data, up by +10% from 95
million in 2002. SAMSHA, 2010.
- http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/NSDUH/2k9NSDUH/tabs/Sect1peTabs1to10.pdf
Does marijuana increase healthcare costs? "[D]irect alcohol-related health care
costs ($3,306.2 million in Canada) are over 45 times higher than the direct
health care costs of cannabis ($73 million)." Canadian Centre on Substance
Abuse, 2007.
- http://www.ccsa.ca/2007%20CCSA%20Documents/ccsa-011350-2007.pdf
Does marijuana cause cancer? "[W]e found no positive associations between
marijuana use and lung or UAT cancers ... Despite several lines of evidence
suggesting the biological plausibility of marijuana use being carcinogenic,
it is possible that marijuana use does not increase cancer risk ..." Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 2006.
- http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/15/10/1829.full.pdf
Drug War Facts provides facts, citations, and links to their sources without any
rhetoric or argument so that media covering Proposition 19 can do so based on
the facts, not on mistaken claims.á Produced by Common Sense since 1995, no
cited fact has been found to be inaccurate. Drug War Facts is consistently
updated throughout the year and periodically published. It is available
at http://www.DrugWarFacts.org.
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Common Sense for Drug Policy is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization
dedicated to reforming drug policy and expanding harm reduction. CSDP
disseminates factual information and comments on existing laws, policies and
practices. CSDP provides advice and assistance to individuals and
organizations and facilitates coalition building.