America has more political prisoners than any other nation on earth

[Jonathan50]

Since there is a massive amount of evidence that cannabis is considerably safer than alcohol as a recreational drug then the only possible explanation for the illegal status of cannabis is purely political.

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7040

Marijuana Arrests For Year 2005 -- 786,545 Tops Record High... Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 40 Seconds

September 18, 2006 - Washington, DC, USA

Washington, DC: Police arrested an estimated 786,545 persons for marijuana violations in 2005, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Uniform Crime Report, released today. The total is the highest ever recorded by the FBI, and comprised 42.6 percent of all drug arrests in the United States.

"These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor marijuana offenders," said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, who noted that at current rates, a marijuana smoker is arrested every 40 seconds in America. "This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources that diverts law enforcement personnel away from focusing on serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."

Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 88 percent some 696,074 Americans were charged with possession only. The remaining 90,471 individuals were charged with "sale/manufacture," a category that includes all cultivation offenses even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use. In past years, roughly 30 percent of those arrested were age 19 or younger.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

1. That's somewhat disingenuous.

While there probably *is* a fair amount of "evidence" that cannabis is safer than alcohol - the cannabis lobby has produced various dubious studies "showing" that it's completely safe - it's misleading not to mention that there's also (considerably more) evidence that for some usage patterns it isn't (a large binge of alcohol is more of a risk than a large binge of cannabis, but regular low-level responsible drinking is not a health risk, whereas it's generally, albeit not universally, agreed that long-term low-level cannabis use is a small one). It's certainly misleading to present it as a done deal.

I think that the comparison with tobacco is a more telling one - there, again, regular low-level use is a health risk, and more people than not seem to think that it's more of a risk that equivalent cannabis usage (although that's certainly not something universally agreed on).

I agree that cannabis should be legalised, but I worry that too many of its supporters are too willing to dismiss the - well-documented, although admittedly not terribly large - health risks it does pose.

[Jonathan50]

2. Studies say otherwise

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6630

Marijuana And Cancer Risk Not Strong, Study Says

August 4, 2005 - Lyon, France

Lyon, France: Moderate use of cannabis not does appear to be associated with an increased risk of tobacco-related cancers, such as lung or colorectal cancer, according to an epidemiological review published in the current issue of the journal Alcohol.

Following the review of two cohort studies and 14 case-control studies, authors concluded, "Results of cohort studies have not revealed an increased risk of tobacco-related cancers among marijuana smokers, possibly because few users smoke enough marijuana to elevate their risk to a detectable level."

Authors did acknowledge an increased risk of certain cancers in a handful of case-control studies, but noted that the results were inconsistent, "highly unstable," and may reflect researchers having controlled poorly for other drug use, including tobacco and alcohol.

A 1999 review by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine found "no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use."

[Donald Ian Rankin]

3. Look a bit deeper.

This is an area with lots and lots of conflicting claims; selective quoting of studies or review will not give an accurate picture of the state of scientific knowledge.

There *are* plenty of other studies, many of them reputable, that agree with the ones you cite, but they're significanly outnumbered by equally or more reputable disagreeing with it and claiming that marijuana use does increase risks of cancer and/or of mental health problems.

I posted a list of the first n studies on the subject that I could find on the internet, broken down into those that didn't and didn't regard cannabis as risky, on DU once. I'm afraid I can't find it, but if your google-fu is better than mine you may be able to. IIRC, the former outnumbered the latter by two to one or more, and generally had more scientific clout behind them.

It's still an open question to some extent, but if you were considering putting money on cannabis not being a risk factor for cancer I'd recommend getting pretty long odds.

[Jonathan50]

4. Alcohol is a risk factor for literally dozens of conditions, including cancer

http://web4health.info/en/answers/add-alcohol-longrun.htm

Those who often drink too much run a high risk of suffering physical damage. The level of damage depends on the amount. The organs that are used for the absorption and digestion of alcohol, like the stomach, the liver and the pancreas, are vulnerable. The brain also suffers from continuous abuse.

The liver is an important organ for the breakdown of alcohol. Excessive alcohol use can cause fatty degeneration of the liver, causing so-called fatty liver. Liver research has shown that probably more than half of the alcohol addicts have fatty liver. This can cause nausea, vomiting, lack of appetite, loss of weight and fever. After stopping alcohol use, the liver can recover from fatty liver.

The most known incurable liver disorder caused by alcohol abuse is liver cirrhosis. More.

Other frequent diseases of the organs are gastritis (infection of the mucous membrane of the stomach) and inflammation of the pancreas. Gastritis can cause stomach bleeding; inflammation of the pancreas causes lower absorption of nutrients, causing, among others, loss of weight.

Several investigations have found a relation between excessive alcohol abuse and cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus, especially with drinkers who also smoke. Heavy drinkers also run a higher risk of contracting cancer of the liver and the large intestine. Women who drink a lot have a higher risk of breast cancer.

Brain damage, like Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome ( more ) can occur.

The list of disorders caused by alcohol abuse is so long that we cannot mention them all.

[sweetheart]

5. but there's no question they are political prisoners

The imprisoned are 90% likely to be democratic voters, what kind of a party lets the
opposition imprison its voters and shift them to other districts to be counted as
minorities and headcount in prison-rural republican census, as happens with prisoners.

It is a severe betrayal of the principals of human rights to deny representation to,
and imprison removing the voting rights from, ones political opposition. That they
get away with it is a sick perversion of democracy, one that destroys the inner cities
with crime and gangs empowered with sales-turf, the entire war is systemically turning
all cities in to prisons.

You're always ruled by the people you conquor.

Rather than ruling the drugs culture, in an attempt to colonize it and imprison it, the
society has over decades become ruled by prison culture, prison gangs, gangs of guards,
gangs of prison entrepreneurs and slavemasters. And the drugs prison fear culture has
come to rule us entirely stealing away civil existance for the urban landscape, as the
gangs turn in and out of prison crime academies, people can't get jobs and turn to the
best paying subsidized markets. The hateful degeneration it has sponsored in our
civil existance seems akin to what has become of the US under bush... a wicked prison
guard with an criminal warden who calls himself president.

[Jonathan50]

6. Does anyone disagree with my point of view on this?

Or do you just not care?

[ieoeja]

7. I disagree

What percentage of those incarcerated for marijuana were trying to make a political point through their illegal activities? I'm sure a few would qualify (re: Tommy Chong's arrest for selling bongs), but I'd bet it would be a very small few.

The law may exist for purely political reasons. But I disagree with your definition of violaters of the law as political prisoners. "Prisoners of politics" perhaps, but not political prisoners.

Otherwise, Three-Strikes convicts would qualify as political prisoners. Everyone still in jail long after they would have gotten out under the pre-80s sentencing guidelines would qualify. All the minors sentenced as adults (something common today but almost unheard of pre-80s) would qualify. And so on.