T 202-483-8751 • F 202-483-0057 • E-MAIL NORMLFNDTN@AOL.COM
Internet http://www.norml.org
REPORT EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL SATURDAY, AUGUST 2, 1997

July 31, 1997

NORML Report Highlights Failures Of Marijuana Prohibition On
60 Year Anniversary Of The Marihuana Tax Act

"When compassion and justice are in conflict with current law, then the law must change."

          August 2, 1997 marks the 60 year anniversary of a failed and devastating American public policy: marijuana prohibition.  This Saturday, NORML will release a new 30 page report, Still Crazy After All These Years: Marijuana Prohibition 1937-1997.  This report explores in-depth the dismal failure of marijuana prohibition and the detrimental fiscal and social impact it wages upon America.

Did you know:

*  The Clinton administration is waging a more intensive war on marijuana smokers than any other presidency in history.  Marijuana arrests are up 60 percent since Clinton took office.

*  Law enforcement arrests a marijuana smoker every 54 seconds in America.  Over ten million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges since 1972 and police charged nearly 600,000 individuals with marijuana violations in 1995 alone.  More than 85 percent of these arrests are for possession, not sale.

*  Marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers at least $7.5 billion annually.

*  Despite massive increases in marijuana enforcement, marijuana remains the third most popular recreational drug of choice in America.  According to government figures, nearly 70 million Americans have smoked marijuana at some time in their lives.  Of these, 18 million have smoked marijuana within the last year, and ten million are regular marijuana smokers.

*  Marijuana offenders today may be sentenced to jail terms longer than those commonly served by violent criminals.

*  Marijuana prohibition disproportionately impacts minorities.  Blacks and Hispanics are over-represented both in the numbers of arrests and in the numbers of marijuana offenders incarcerated.

*  Marijuana prohibition makes no exception for the medical use of marijuana.  Between 1978 and 1996, 34 states passed laws recognizing marijuana's therapeutic value in the treatment of cancer, glaucoma, and other serious illnesses.  Yet, states remain severely limited in their ability to implement their medical use laws because of uncompromising federal prohibition.

          NORML board members Drs. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School and John P. Morgan of City of the University of New York (CUNY) Medical School will be available for comment this weekend and next week.  NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq. and Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation will also be available.  Copies of NORML's report are available upon request.

-- END --