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Washington, DC: Government claims regarding cannabis are misleading,
exaggerated, and undermine the administration's ability to effectively
educate the public on issues related to drugs and drug policy, concludes a
comprehensive report issued today by The NORML Foundation.
The report, entitled "The 2005 NORML Truth Report: Your Government Is
Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana," is a detailed examination and
rebuttal of the White House's more prominent allegations regarding
cannabis and cannabis policy.
Among the government's claims addressed in NORML's report:
* "Nationwide, no drug matches the threat posed by marijuana."
* "The addiction to marijuana by our youth exceeds their addiction rates
for alcohol ... and all other drugs combined."
* "Marijuana and violence are linked."
* "As a factor in emergency room visits, marijuana ... now surpasses
heroin."
* "Marijuana is not medicine, and no credible research suggests that it
is."
* "Smoked marijuana leads to changes in the brain similar to those caused
by the use of cocaine and heroin."
* "Marijuana legalization would be a nightmare for America."
NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said that the '2005 NORML Truth
Report', which relies on peer-reviewed science and federal statistics to
refute the government's anti-marijuana claims, and accuses the Bush
administration of ³purposely misrepresenting the available research in an
attempt to justify federal and state policies that result in the arrest of
more than 650,000 Americans annually on minor cannabis possession
charges."
He continued: "NORML believes there is nothing to be gained by
exaggerating claims of cannabis' harms. On the contrary, by overstating
cannabis' potential risk, America's policy-makers and law enforcement
community undermine their credibility and ability to effectively educate
the public of the legitimate harms associated with more dangerous drugs.
In addition, exaggerating the dangers associated with the responsible use
of cannabis results in the needless arrest of hundreds of thousands of
good, productive citizens each year in this country.
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy
Analyst or Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500.
HTML versions of the report are available at:
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5513
PDF versions of the report are available at:
http://www.norml.org/pdf_files/NORML_Truth_Report_2005.pdf
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