18 Milestones That Led To Our Marijuana 'Tipping Point'

At a recent speech in Denver, Drug Policy Alliance executive director Ethan Nadelmann declared that we've hit "the tipping point" on marijuana policy.

With Colorado and Washington getting ready for the first ever legal, regulated, recreational marijuana retail market for adults in the U.S.; with a majority of Americans recently saying for the first time in U.S. history that marijuana usage should be made legal; with acoalition of conservative Mormon mothers fighting for safe access to medicinal cannabis for their children -- it's hard to to disagree with him.

Although much of this is recent history, it has been a long road to what very well may be the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in America. Here's a look back at the major milestones that helped bring the United States to its "tipping point."

1. A long, long time ago, a plant grew on planet Earth.

The cannabis plant has a long history. It's widely believed that humans' first contact with the plant was roughly 10,000 years ago in China, where some of the earliest archeological evidence of hemp first originated.

For thousands of years, the Chinese used it to make rope, paper, clothing and medicine. During the second century A.D., Chinese surgeon Hua T'o even used cannabis as an anesthesia.

2. America's founding fathers were quick to celebrate its benefits...

In the 17th century, American farmers were required by law to grow hemp in Virginia and the other colonies. George Washington andThomas Jefferson grew hemp, and Benjamin Franklin owned a mill that is rumored to have used hemp paper. Meanwhile, his own newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, espoused the benefits of the crop for multiple uses. For hundreds of years in the U.S., hemp was used to make rope, sails, lamp oil and clothing, until production dropped to zero in the late 1950s over anti-drug sentiment and competition from synthetic fibers.

3. ...and so were our Mexican neighbors.

In the late 1800s, marijuana was sold in many over-the-counter medicinal products. During the Mexican Revolution in 1910, Mexican immigrants fleeing their home country to the U.S. began introducing the recreational use of marijuana to American culture. Early prejudices about the Spanish-speakers became associated with marijuana use and crime, and the seeds to various stigmas about the drug were planted.

4. The "Summer of Love" brought smoking pot into the mainstream...

George Harrison pays a surprise visit to San Francisco's famed Haight-Ashbury district on Aug. 8, 1967. (AP Photo)

As the good vibes from the "Summer of Love" spread out from San Francisco, the 1960s counterculture movement blossomed and marijuana use among the anti-establishment became the norm. Led by poet-activist and "Marijuana Newsletter" publisher Ed Sanders with beat poet Allen Ginsburg at his side, the 1960s saw one of the first ever organized public protests against restrictive marijuana laws. Though the event itself was dubbed "LeMar" (Legalize Marijuana), it later formed the basis for the California-based pot reform group Amorphia.

5. ...and policy organizations came on board.

Oregon became the first state to reduce the penalty for marijuana possession in 1973, and that same year, The Shafer Commission recommended that small quantities of marijuana should be legalized. President Richard Nixon ultimately rejected the advice of the commission.

But the early 1970s still saw the creation of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law (NORML), a Washington D.C.-based lobby dedicated to drug policy reform; the People's Pot Conference, the first political pro-reform conference; Cheech & Chong, a comedy duo whose material revolves around drug use and much more. Marijuana had begun to go mainstream.

6. High times called for High Times.

Acceptance for marijuana use grew in America by the mid-1970s, and the plant even got its own lifestyle magazine. Called High Times, the debut issue was published in 1974 and sold 45,000 copies. High Times is exclusively devoted to the promotion of pot culture and the drug's legalization to this day.

7. One man fought for his right to use medical marijuana -- and won.

Glaucoma sufferer Robert Randall smoking marijuana he was prescribed legally to treat his illness. (Photo by Terry Ashe//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Robert Randall became America's first legal medical marijuana patient in 1975, growing the plant himself in Washington, D.C., and using it to treat his glaucoma.

8. San Francisco became the first city to allow medical use...

Leave it the home of the "Summer of Love" to become the first city to pass an ordinance that gave medical patients access to marijuana. In 1991, in a historic first, San Francisco did just that.

9. ...the rest of California soon followed its lead...

Dennis Peron, leader of the campaign for Proposition 215 and founder of the Cannabis Buyers Club, right, smokes a marijuana cigarette next to Jack Herer, of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1996, in San Francisco. (AP photo)

Voters passed a ballot initiative in California that legalized the cultivation, possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes.

10. ...and so did 20 other states.

Since 1996, 20 other states and the District of Columbia have followed California's lead, each passing some form of medical marijuana law.

11. Over the same time period, studies emerged showing cannabis can help fight cancer...

A pair of scientists in San Francisco found that a compound derived from marijuana could stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer. A more recent study from the UK found that compounds derived from marijuana can kill cancerous cells in individuals with leukemia.

12. ...and help treat epilepsy.

After using cannabis oil to treat her debilitating seizures, six-year-old Charlotte Figi saw her seizures fall from around 300 a week to just three over an eight-month period.

13. Then in 2012, the impossible happened...

People attending an Amendment 64 watch party celebrate after a local television station announced the marijuana amendment's passage in Denver, Colo. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

On Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2012, voters in both Colorado and Washington approved ballot measures that legalize marijuana for recreational use for adults in each state.

The first recreational marijuana shops will open in both states in 2014.

14. ...and the government said, "yes you can-nabis!"

Attorney General Eric Holder (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

The United States government took a historic step back from its long-running drug war in August, when Attorney General Eric Holder informed the governors of Washington and Colorado that the Department of Justice would allow the states to create a regime that would regulate and implement the ballot initiatives that legalized the use of marijuana for adults.

15. Hemp laws expanded to unlikely states...

A commercial hemp field.

Kentucky, a state not exactly known for embracing hippies or marijuana culture, legalized industrial hemp production in early 2013. North Dakota and West Virginia also have hemp laws on the books.

16. ...and the crop sprouted in U.S. soil once again.

Colorado farmer Ryan Loflin harvests hemp on his farm in Springfield, Colo. Loflin planted 55 acres of several varieties of hemp alongside his typical alfalfa and wheat crops. (AP Photo/P. Solomon Banda)

Farmers in Colorado made history in 2013 when they harvested a hemp crop -- the first in the United States since 1957.

17. Marijuana is now largely considered to be "the next great American industry"...

A marijuana grow facility.

Cannabis business is "the next great American industry," CEO Troy Dayton of The ArcView Group said during a recent investor meeting in Denver that resulted in over $1 million poured into startup marijuana businesses in Colorado.

A study in November showed that legal marijuana is among the fastest-growing markets in the United States, and it's poised tooutpace the expansion of the global smartphone market.

18. ...and a clear majority agrees.

For the first time in U.S. history, more than half of Americans think that marijuana usage should be made legal, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans now back legalizing marijuana. That represents an eight-point increase from the previous record of 50 percent in 2011, and a 10-point increase from November 2012, just after Colorado and Washington voted for legalization.

More here.

Clube de socialites americanas quer legalizar a maconha

Uma nova pesquisa de opinião sugere que a maioria dos americanos apoia a legalização da maconha.

A enquete da empresa de consultoria Gallup diz que 58% dos americanos apoia o fim das restrições ao uso da droga - comparado com 12% em 1969, quando a pergunta foi feita pela primeira vez.

Em reuniões, mulheres experimentam tipos diferentes de maconha

No ano passado, dois Estados americanos - Colorado e Washington - votaram por legalizar o uso recreativo da droga mesmo que ele ainda seja proibido pelo governo federal.

Na Califórnia, a maconha medicinal já é legalizada, mas parte da campanha para aumentar a disponibilidade da droga, ampliar seu uso medicinal e finalmente legalizá-la está sendo feita por um setor inesperado da sociedade.

As mulheres do Clube da Maconha de Beverly Hills se descrevem como "da alta sociedade". Elas usam a droga por razões médicas e dizem querer dar "uma nova face" à luta pela legalização.

Sua fundadora, Cheryl Shuman, diz ter sido inspirada pela socialite nova-iorquina Pauline Sabin, que nos anos 30 fez uma campanha contra a proibição de álcool no país.

Já há estudos científicos que comprovam os benefícios medicinais da droga, mas há outros que investigam como o uso pode prejudicar a saúde.

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Drogas ficaram mais puras e baratas nos últimos 20 anos, diz estudo.

Uma pesquisa realizada no Canadá revelou que as drogas tornaram-se mais baratas e mais puras ao redor do mundo nos últimos 20 anos, sugerindo um "fracasso" dos esforços para conter a produção, consumo e tráfico de entorpecentes.

O estudo do International Centre for Science in Drug Policy (Centro Internacional para a Ciência em Políticas de Drogas) foi publicado na revista científica British Medical Journal Open e avaliou programas de contenção e vigilância de governos de diferentes países.

De acordo com os responsáveis pela pesquisa, os governos deveriam passar a considerar o uso de drogas um aspecto de saúde pública, e não um assunto para a Justiça.

"Nós deveríamos procurar implementar políticas que colocam a saúde e a segurança no topo das nossas prioridades, e considerar o uso de drogas como um aspecto de saúde pública, ao invés de um problema para a Justiça criminal", diz Evan Wood, um dos responsáveis pelo estudo.

"Com o reconhecimento do improvável sucesso dos esforços para reduzir o fornecimento de drogas há uma necessidade clara para aumentar o tratamento do vício e de outras estratégias para diminuir de forma efetiva os danos relacionados ao uso de drogas", complementa.

Preços, pureza e disponibilidade

De forma geral, os números compilados pelo centro canadense mostram que entre 1990 e 2010 os preços das drogas caíram, enquanto a pureza e a potência aumentaram.

Na região andina (Peru, Bolívia e Colômbia) a apreensão de folhas de coca aumentou em quase 200% entre 1990 e 2007, mas isso não levou a uma grande redução do consumo de cocaína em pó nos Estados Unidos, colocando em xeque as políticas públicas focadas na contenção do fornecimento de entorpecentes.

Na Europa, o preço médio das drogas à base de ópio e da cocaína, reajustados de acordo com a inflação e o grau de pureza, diminuíram em 74% e 51% respectivamente entre 1990 e 2010.

Além disso, as drogas estão mais puras e mais disponíveis ao redor do mundo.

Os números do relatório mostram que houve um aumento significativo em diversos países com relação à apreensão de cocaína, heroína e maconha, conforme os registros governamentais desde 1990.

Para o centro baseado em Vancouver, a análise mostra que o foco baseado na contenção do fornecimento e criminalização tem falhado, e que outras estratégias, como a descriminalização, deveriam ser apreciadas.

Polêmica

A divulgação do estudo ocorre dois dias após um policial britânico de alto escalão ter dito que drogas como cocaína, crack, ecstasy, LSD e metadona deveriam ser descriminalizadas, e que os usuários deveriam receber cuidado e tratamento, ao invés de serem vistos como criminosos.

Para Mike Barton, a descriminalização eliminaria os rendimentos dos traficantes, destruindo seu poder. Outro aspecto positivo seria a criação de um "ambiente controlado", em que medidas para lidar com o assunto poderiam ser mais bem sucedidas.

Em resposta, o governo britânico disse que as drogas eram ilegais por serem perigosas. "Nós devemos ajudar os indivíduos que são dependentes com tratamento, ao mesmo tempo em que devemos garantir que a lei proteja a sociedade através da interrupção do fornecimento e do combate ao crime organizado que está associado ao comércio de drogas".

Entre os especialistas ouvidos pelo International Centre for Science in Drug Policy está o ex-presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso, que nos últimos anos vem defendendo novas estratégias para lidar com o assunto.

"Em resposta a um estudo como este, os governos em geral dizem que ‘as drogas são perigosas e por isso devem ser mantidas ilegais", diz.

"O que eles não consideram é que assim como esta e outras pesquisas já sugeriram, as drogas são mais danosas à sociedade, aos indivíduos e aos contribuintes – precisamente pelo fato de serem ilegais. Alguns países europeus já tomaram passos para descriminalizar várias drogas, e estes tipos de políticas também deveriam ser exploradas na América Latina e na América do Norte", avalia.

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Os deserdados da terra

• Longe de termos uma epidemia de crack, temos uma epidemia de abandono: 40% dos usuários de crack estão em situação de rua, vivendo um quadro de extrema privação social
• ARTIGO - JULITA LEMGRUBER

A pesquisa recém-divulgada da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz sobre o perfil e o número dos usuários de crack no país é um importante alerta e chega em boa hora: o Senado está prestes a votar um projeto de lei que coloca o Brasil na contramão da história do ponto de vista da política sobre drogas, sacramentando a internação compulsória do dependente químico e aumentando a pena mínima para o tráfico, que passa a ser mais alta do que aquela para homicídio.

A pesquisa é um alerta, em primeiro lugar, porque revela números com precisão jamais vista. A partir de um sofisticado método (NSUM) que estimou o número de usuários, estejam eles onde estiverem, a partir de visitas domiciliares com 25.000 entrevistados, chegou-se à cifra de 370.000 usuários de crack e outras formas similares de cocaína fumada no país (www.fiocruz.br). Este número equivale a 0,8% da população das capitais brasileiras, ou seja, menos da metade do indicado por outros levantamentos exclusivamente domiciliares, com utilização de amostras muito reduzidas. Ademais, os que defendem os resultados de pesquisas anteriores ao rigoroso estudo da Fiocruz seguem afirmando que o Brasil vive uma epidemia de crack, quando não temos séries históricas confiáveis, utilizando metodologia efetiva para avaliação de populações não domiciliadas, como faz o NSUM. A situação detectada, embora grave, está muito distante do quadro de caos que se tentava difundir e que serve de justificativa para estratégias equivocadas e ultrapassadas na área das políticas sobre drogas.

Além da pesquisa domiciliar, a equipe da Fiocruz realizou também, em todas as regiões do país, levantamento dos locais utilizados por usuários de drogas como o crack e similares, superando em muito análises anteriores que se limitavam a estudos com algumas dezenas de pessoas, sem representatividade estatística. Justamente a partir desse levantamento é que se tem a dimensão da tragédia brasileira: longe de termos uma epidemia de crack, temos, como já se disse, uma epidemia de abandono. 40% dos usuários de crack estão em situação de rua, vivendo um quadro de extrema privação social. Uma população sem alternativas ou perspectivas, para quem a droga é a única fonte real de prazer, como lembra Carl Hart, professor da Universidade de Columbia. Em resumo, estamos diante de um relevante problema de saúde pública entre os “deserdados da terra” (como definiu Francisco Inácio Bastos, coordenador do projeto e pesquisador sênior da Fiocruz) e não entre pessoas encontráveis em seus domicílios, por meio de métodos tradicionais.

A pesquisa é, também, um alerta para aqueles que acreditam em internação compulsória e outros métodos medievais para tratamento dos usuários problemáticos de drogas. Na pesquisa da Fiocruz, 80% dos usuários, revelaram desejar tratamento, o que não quer dizer que as pessoas desejem ser privadas de sua liberdade e internadas em comunidades terapêuticas, em sua maior parte mantidas por grupos religiosos que fazem da adesão aos rituais e à prática da “fé” a estratégia de uma suposta “cura”. Precisamos investir recursos públicos, sobretudo, no atendimento e tratamento em meio livre.

Nunca é demais repetir: a grande maioria de usuários de drogas lícitas e ilícitas não desenvolve dependência e jamais vai precisar de tratamento porque faz uso recreacional. Apenas 9% dos que usam maconha, 17% dos que usam cocaína, e 15% dos que usam álcool se tornam dependentes. Aliás, é bom lembrar que nos Estados Unidos, além dos 22 estados que já legalizaram o uso medicinal da maconha, há outros dois que legalizaram o uso recreacional dessa substância: Colorado e Washington. Quando o país que levou o mundo a uma fatídica e genocida guerra às drogas começa a mudar de rumo, vale ficar atento.

Julita Lemgruber é socióloga e coordenadora do Cesec/Ucam

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MDMA could be effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder – study

Illegal drug commonly known as ecstasy reduces PTSD symptoms, doesn't harm memory and concentration, or induce drug abuse, researchers find

         

Soldiers often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from active service in conflict zones. Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

MDMA (the illegal drug ecstasy) may provide long term benefits as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a study which looked at its use alongside psychotherapy.

The research was a follow up to an earlier study published last year in which a group of 12 patients with chronic treatment resistant PTSD were given MDMA, and compared with another group of eight patients who were not, during and after psychotherapeutic treatment for their PTSD.

The new paper, which is published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, has followed up all but one of the original participants, up to six years after they were treated with MDMA. The researchers found that their PTSD symptoms remained reduced, they didn't go on to abuse drugs, and there was no harm to memory and concentration after the treatment.

PTSD can be debilitating to those who suffer from it and there is a need for more effective treatment options. Some people vividly relive traumatic events in their past via uncontrollable flashbacks or nightmares; often those suffering from it will avoid anything linked to the traumatic event, which can lead to difficulties in daily life (if a person was assaulted while shopping for example, they may be unable to cope in crowded places afterwards).

In the original study, people were given MDMA up to a maximum of three times, and in a therapeutic setting (including extended therapy sessions involving overnight stays), so short term effects of the drug could be monitored, and long term harms would be unlikely. The people recruited for the study were those who had already received conventional treatment for PTSD, which had been unsuccessful. Although the number of people in the study was very small, they found that both groups' symptoms improved over time – those who received MDMA as well as psychotherapy showed a greater improvement up to two months after the end of treatment.

The follow up paper shows that improvements to most of the participants in the short term persist in the longer term; at least three years after treatment. Two participants relapsed after the end of the trial, and three did not answer the questionnaire, meaning the treatment was still not completely successful for everyone. This is not unusual in treating complex mental health problems. After the end of the initial study, all participants in the placebo group were offered further therapy with MDMA, and all but one accepted, so there is no longer a comparison group. This means it's harder to tell whether the participants would have got better anyway.

There's also another reason for caution. When running experiments that begin with an extremely ill population, as this study does, an improvement over time is highly likely due to an effect called 'regression to the mean'; if you only investigate people at one end of a spectrum, they are more likely to move back towards the middle of the spectrum, regardless of the treatment they receive.

Currently, sufferers are treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, the drugs often used to treat depression), and with psychotherapy including cognitive behavioural therapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy.

While these treatments are the best available at the moment, they are not that effective. Clinical trials of psychotherapy have shown that roughly a quarter of PTSD sufferers who enrol for treatment fail to complete it, and even for those who finish their treatment, recovery is not guaranteed.

Before it was made illegal, MDMA was sometimes used by psychotherapists to aid therapy sessions. People who use MDMA describe it as inducing euphoria and decreasing fear, but also report remaining clear headed and alert, unlike after using other drugs and alcohol. Psychotherapeutic techniques can involve asking patients to revisit their traumatic event in a safe environment, in order to try and eliminate the excessive reaction to the memories. In PTSD, the fear response to these memories can sometimes be so great that patients are unable to revisit them, even in the safety of a therapy session. If MDMA does reduce feelings of fear, but does not affect clear headedness, it could be a very useful tool for psychotherapists to help put patients at ease before they have to remember their trauma.

But MDMA is not without harms. Short term effects of use can include hyperthermia (the opposite of hypothermia; the body heats up) and dehydration. Researchers initially assumed this was because MDMA was often used at raves, where people danced in hot rooms and didn't drink, but experiments in lab conditions have shown these short term effects too. Also, there is evidence (although not all studies agree) that long term use can have damaging effects on memory, increase depression and anxiety, and lead to liver and teeth damage.

This is only a pilot study, it will need to be repeated with larger numbers of patients. But doing these kinds of studies using illegal recreational drugs can be very difficult.

Professor David Nutt's TV show 'Drugs Live' earlier this year was also attempting to investigate MDMA and PTSD, and he suggested there are difficulties in obtaining funding for conducting research into uses for illegal substances. As Mark Stokes pointed out recently, turning to TV to fund these experiments doesn't always make for brilliant science. This study was funded by a group called the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, rather than a more traditional research fundingbody. In the current climate of austerity and spending cuts for science, it is hard to tell whether studies that examine uses of illegal drugs are being selectively less funded, or whether all areas of science are being forced to look to more unorthodox sources for money.

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