A Truce On Drugs?
http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2012-12-10/truce-drugs
Last month residents of two states -- Washington and Colorado -- voted to decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. The new laws put the states at odds with the federal government and raise questions about whether, or how, the Obama administration will react. The new approach is also bringing conversations about the broader "war on drugs" back to the fore. We consider American's changing attitudes towards illegal substances, and how the new state laws are affecting the country at home and abroad.
Guests
Benjamin Wallace-Wells
Contributing Editor, New York Magazine and Rolling Stone
Peter Reuter
Senior Economist, Rand Corporation; Professor of Public Policy and Criminology, University of Maryland
Comments
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I wish the media and other experts would stop calling it "pot". The name for this plant is Cannabis Sativa or if you must use slang Marijuana. The word pot has many negative connonations and it does not help to advance the cause of legalization to keep referring to it as such. Cannabis or marijuana should be the preferred terms for this plant and any other slang like "dope" or "pot" needs to be phased out of our language. Thank you Kojo for this fascinating topic!
HB
I'm a recovering heroin addict (52 days sober today) and I fully support the legalization of marijuana, but feel harder drugs, narcotics, should remain illegal. However, the way offenders are handled needs reform. Rather than putting a heroin addict in jail (where they will go through withdrawal or find drugs in prison, which isn't hard), they should be put into a 60-90 day inpatient rehabilitation facility. Treatment rather than incarceration is the way to reduce the use and abuse of these types of drugs. I was a heroin addict for 10 years and I know that if I had been given the opportunity of rehabilitation for an extended time (not just the "standard" 30 days), I may have been able to kick the drug much sooner.
Thank You