Prohibition

This section of the website was created to keep people updated with the latest OCTA 2012 related coverage. It will continue to grow and evolve daily.

New Chapter Spotlight: Lewis & Clark College

One of SSDP's newest chapters, Lewis & Clark College located in Portland, OR, has jumped right into forming an active student group with a focus on reforming Oregon's marijuana laws.



West Coast activists prepare for 2012 campaign to legalize cannabis

In the midst of America's perpetual campaign cycle, President Obama and a handful of GOP hopefuls aren't the only ones getting ready for 2012.



Could Oregon be First to End Cannabis Prohibition? 'OCTA 2012' is Approved for Signatures

The petition drive could lead to ending the failed prohibition law.

A Speech to the California Judges Association 1995 annual conference

by Charles Whitebread, Professor of Law, USC Law School

Introduction

This session is going to be about the history of the non-medical use of drugs. Let me say that, because this is going to be a story, that I think it will interest you quite a bit. The topic is the history of the non-medical use of drugs and I think you ought to know what my credentials are for talking about this topic. As you may know, before I taught at the University of Southern California, I taught at the University of Virginia for fifteen years, from 1968 to 1981. In that time period, the very first major piece that I wrote was a piece entitled, "The Forbidden Fruit and the Tree of Knowledge - The Legal History of Marihuana in the United States". I wrote it with Professor Richard Bonnie, still of the faculty of the University of Virginia. It was published in the Virginia Law Review in October of 1970 and I must say that our piece was the Virginia Law Review in October of 1970. The piece was 450 pages long. It got a ton of national attention because no one had ever done the legal history of marijuana before. As a result of that, Professor Bonnie was named the Deputy Director of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse and I was a consultant to that commission.


View the entire speech or check out links to related documents: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/whiteb1.htm

Milton Friedman, 500+ Economists Call for Marijuana Regulation Debate; New Report Projects $10-14 Billion Annual Savings and Revenues

Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year, finds a June 2005 report by Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University.

The report has been endorsed by more than 530 distinguished economists, who have signed an open letter to President Bush and other public officials calling for "an open and honest debate about marijuana prohibition," adding, "We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods."

Chief among the endorsing economists are three Nobel Laureates in economics: Dr. Milton Friedman of the Hoover Institute, Dr. George Akerlof of the University of California at Berkeley, and Dr. Vernon Smith of George Mason University.


Read the full report, see the open letter, or view the entire list of endorsing economists: http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/

Marijuana Prosecutions For Year 2009 Near Record High -- Pot Arrests Now Comprise More Than One-Half Of All Drug Arrests Nationwide

Marijuana Arrests For Year 2009: 858,408


Source: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=8342