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- Legaliz4 NORML is a non-profit organization dedicated to achieving legislative reform of the current marijuana laws, on both the state and federal levels. We do not advocate the use of marijuana. But we know of no medical, legal or moral justification for sending those to jail who do use it. We believe the present marijuana laws cause more harm to society than the substance * they seek to prohibit. As best stated by John Kaplan, Professor of Law, Stanford Law School, (author of Marijuana, The New Prohibition), the costs to society of the present system of prohibition are far greater than any benefits which might result from suppressing the use of marijuana. The current laws are severe, often im posing long prison terms for simple possession of marijuana. For sale and distribution, some states permit such * penalties as life imprisonment and even death. These laws have resulted from several decades of emotionalism and misinformation. Beginning in the 1930's, marijuana was erronenously dubbed "the killer weed" and was blamed for all sorts of violent crimes and deviant behavior. Out of this emotionally charged atmosphere grew the ill-conceived Federal Marijuana Tax Act and a welter of equally harsh state laws. By attempting to enforce the marijuana laws, significant segments of our law en forcement personnel and resources are diverted from areas where their need is greatest: violent crimes and the trafficking in drugs known to be harmful, such as heroin, cocaine and LSD. For example, in California there were 69,000 persons arrested for marijuana offenses in 1970 and 71,000 in 1971. Approximately one quarter of all that state's felony complaints were for violations of the marijuana laws. The ad dition of this number of cases to an already overburdened criminal court system complicates greatly the judicial processes and contributes significantly to the court backlog. And the growing financial drain on the state to enforce these laws, estimated by Kaplan at $72,000,000 for California in 0 UNTIVE RSITV UNT ON Veco>tate a pumpkin and ente PumpkiZn Contet to be hetd Ocobe1't 27 at 8:00 PM. Enttees wilU be judged on and o>tignalty. Pumpkinu wilU be s, RuaseU Hou. F marijua; 1968, means that other, more constru programs remain short of needed fun The estimated 24 million Americans have broken the law by smoking marij generally consider it the functii equivalent of drinking alcohol. They r< the fact that 80,000,000 fellow citizens f partake of alcohol - their recreational - but deny them the right to do some they believe to be less harmful - si marijuana. There are very convincing reasons alcohol is considered by many to presi far more serious health hazard marijuana. The President's Commissii Law Enforceqient of Justice, Task F Report: Drunkenness, 1967, estimated i are 6,000,000 alcoholics in the U. S. also found that 30,000 deaths and 1,000,000 severe injuries occur on the way each year associated with alcohc per cent of the people in state m hospitals are there because of alco consumption; and one-third of all ar are for drunkenness. Yet the society whole apparently feels this is a lev menace to the public health and we which can be accepted. Following th famous "great experiment", alc prohibition was ended. The drinkers an non-drinkers alike concluded that thi paralleled growth of organized ci violence, wholesale bribery and corru within the government, and the genera of respect for the law were worse thai evils associated with alcohol. It would be difficult to overstate parallels between the current prohit and the prohibition of alcohol undei Volstead Act. In both instances, I segments of the population openly viol the law. And those who break these lav so with the belief that it is the laws m are wrong - not their conduct. The ov( effects of continuing to enforce sucr popular laws tend to weaken respect fo law in all areas. The Tenth Staff Report of the Nat: Commission on the Causes and Prevei of Violence, a Presidential study gi PRESENTS: AT a it n the G4ea.t zt the Co6tuAme BalU on nea-tne4 , appea>a4nce Zi n the se on Octoboxt 23. ia Part 1 :tive came to this conclusion: ling. Until and unless evidence is forthcoming who of harmful or addictive effects of iana marijuana-and to date the evidence is all nal to the contrary-no rational basis exists sent upon which to resist arguments in favor of eelv modifying the Draconian statutes drug penalizing possession of marijuana. As long hing as tobacco and alcohol are lawfully sold noke "poisons", there is scant justification for absolutely prohibiting the sale and use of why marijuana. Moreover, the effect of this nt a heavy-handed prohibition in eroding than respect for law among young people in n on today's world may be widely un orce derestimated. here By breeding contempt and disregard for rhey the present legal system, the current laws ever are credited by many with increasing our ugh- growing crime problem in this country. A 1; 20 recent publication of the National Council ntal on Crime and Delinquency, a sixty-year-old iolic national service agency incorporated to ests promote the rehabilitation of juvenile and as a adult offenders, came to this decision: ,l of The present policy of the federal and state fare governments toward marijuana should be 3 in- amended. Existing research on its effects Dhol and acknowledged consequences of I the prohibition should be utilized to provide a un- more enlightened, rational and humane ime, approach to the problem. Insistence on ition proscription, the criminally severe loss penalties, and the harassment of marijuana the users by law enforcement are out of proportion to the issue's importance. the The National Commission on the Reform ition of Federal Criminal Laws, a Congressional the study group, recently concluded that the wrge current laws relating to marijuana render ated laws relating to more dangerous drugs less s do effective: hich ...(The recommendation to eliminate any r-all criminal penalty for simple possession of un- marijuana) is based on the view that the available evidence does not demonstrate significant deleterious effects of marijuana onal in quantities ordinarily consumed; that any tion risks appear to be significantly lower than oup, those attributable to alcoholic beverages; that the social cost of criminalizing a substantial segment of otherwise law abiding citizenry is not justified by the, as yet, undemonstrated harm of marijuana use. 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