https://msc.realfiedbook.com/?book=0825306981
In this book, Kevin Sabet argues that the United States should not legalize pot with all of its attendant social costs, nor damage the future prospects of pot smokers by prosecuting and jailing them. Rather, he contends that we should shift our emphasis to education about the newly revealed health dangers of pot use. We should also invest seriously in interventions and treatments targeted to those users who find they are unable to quit on their own. We do not need to penalize people for smoking small amounts of marijuana, saddling them, for example, with criminal records that hinder employment or access to social assistance. And for the truly sick who do not respond to traditional medications, the beneficial components of marijuana should be made safely available through doctors and pharmacies. Before we go ahead and legalize marijuana, we ought to try these kinds of evidence-based reforms first. In the Obama Administration, Sabet and his colleagues at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) determined that a policy of marijuana legalization would pose too many risks to public health and public safety. They asked themselves, "Do the benefits of legalization outweigh the potential risks?" This book contains the information they used to get their answer.