Government Data Refute the Notion That Overprescribing Caused the ‘Opioid Crisis’

Yet millions of pain patients have been force-tapered to ineffective dose levels, and thousands of them are dying of medical collapse or suicide, while the DEA continues to persecute their doctors for trying to help them. It is time to evict the DEA from doctors’ examination rooms.

https://reason.com/2024/04/15/government-data-refute-the-notion-that-overprescribing-caused-the-opioid-crisis/

Ohio: Ask Your Lawmakers to Respect Voters’ Legalization Law

After you type in your contact info, a draft letter will appear for you to review, edit, and submit.

https://www.mpp.org/takeaction/actions/ohio-ask-your-lawmakers-to-respect-voters-legalization-law/

Would certifying Issue 2 destroy Ohio values?

Would certifying Issue 2 destroy Ohio values?  No, it would not.  In fact, one could conclude that with the passage of issue 2, Ohio would return to core American values of personal freedom and responsibility.

Building on the values of our nation’s founders shouldn’t scare the citizens and families of Ohio.  After all, the values taught within your family are up to you, and not through authoritarianism of your government.  The stigma of marijuana consumptions has changed immensely over the last few decades, and the choice to consume is completely personal.  The harms of marijuana prohibition have had an enormous impact on our society and destroyed families through mass incarceration of Americans, for many times, victimless crimes.

The war on drugs has been incredibly harmful to our community.  Although I suspect it’s called the “war on drugs” to convey the image of a evil drug dealer in a crime movie make no mistake, like any war, it has impacted, and continues to impact co-workers, neighbors, and family members.  It doesn’t sound so fun to support if it’s called “the war on your uncle and cousins.”

In the year 2022 there were 208,192 people arrested for marijuana possession according to the FBI’s crime data explorer.  The real numbers may be even higher, as not all agencies throughout the country report data to the FBI.

Many of us personally know how some of the existing marijuana possession laws can cause a life to spiral and ruin family structures.  Once someone’s record is stained by drug charges, the path to gaining employment and decent housing can become nearly impossible, thus thrusting many into the black market and shadows of our society and economy beginning a horribly viscous cycle.

While I believe that there are many other factors of the drug war, and criminal justice reforms need addressed,  I hope that those who are tasked with serving and protecting their neighbors can focus on harmful and violent crimes in our communities.   I understand that issue 2 is an important step in the right direction, making a simple step forward within the constraints of a ballot initiative.

I encourage everyone to vote yes on Issue 2 on Tuesday November 7th.  Let’s make a move against the recent onslaught against our rights and take a step towards returning to American values.  Let’s take one step towards the American ideals of personal privacy, liberty, and freedom.  Vote yes!

Sincerely,

Joshua A Umbaugh

Chair

Libertarian Party of Montgomery County Ohio

https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/arrest

The Drug Exception to the Second Amendment

Conservatives have been slow to recognize the threat that drug prohibition poses to gun rights and other civil liberties.

What does that position say about the NRA’s understanding of the Second Amendment? If trivial offenses such as pot smoking are enough to strip someone of the constitutional right to armed self-defense, that right is subject to legislators’ whims, a proposition that the NRA passionately rejects in other contexts.

https://reason.com/2023/03/12/the-drug-exception-to-the-second-amendment/

The AMA Said Trust Your Doctor on Smoking

Money blinds objectivity. When money drives decisions, controverting evidence is ignored, dissenting voices are ridiculed, open debate is suppressed, talking points are distributed, conclusions are delayed, and people die from a product with liability protection.

Washington Has Been Much More Successful Than California in Displacing the Black Market for Pot

Lighter regulation is one likely explanation.

California’s striking failure to shift consumers from illegal to legal dealers is largely due to a combination of high taxes, onerous regulations, and local retailing bans. While Washington has a relatively high retail marijuana tax (37 percent, plus standard sales taxes), in other respects the state has made it easier for licensed suppliers to compete with illegal sources.

https://reason.com/2022/11/14/washington-has-been-much-more-successful-than-california-in-displacing-the-black-market-for-pot/

What We Knew In the Early Days

We certainly live in an age of short attention span but many these signs and warnings came weeks or months before the world locked down and they chronicled the damage as it was happening. Why all this came to be completely ignored remains the burning question. 

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Will Soon Open Alongside Florida Circle K Stores

Greater access is a good step overall in ending the drug war. The more people are able to purchase marijuana from a credible source like a retail establishment, rather than illegally on the black market, the fewer people risk being sent to jail or consuming a contaminated product.

https://reason.com/2022/10/20/medical-marijuana-dispensaries-will-soon-open-alongside-florida-circle-k-stores/

Oregon’s Drug Decriminalization Needs to Go Further

Prohibition encourages violence because illicit suppliers cannot use the legal and judicial systems to resolve disputes. Prohibition also incentivizes high potency products because traffickers can more easily conceal these from law enforcement.

https://www.cato.org/blog/oregons-drug-decriminalization-needs-go-further