In all, the study (PDF) found that 28.7 percent of students surveyed by the commission admitted to using marijuana at least once. The figure represents a minor drop from 29.9 percent in 2010.
Medical marijuana legalization took effect in Arizona in 2011.
MATTHEW CHARLES CARDINALE of Atlanta Progressive News reports on the launch of Georgia C.A.R.E. Project. Be sure to subscribe to their news service and send a news tip.
“If they can decriminalize crimes such as theft, burglary, and forgery–they did enact legislation to drop the penalties–then certainly they can look at marijuana laws and lower the penalties for that,” Bell said.
“Decriminalize it, medicalize it, I’m open to almost any form of reform,” Bell said.
Bell said he wants the Legislature in 2013 to create a special committee to study the issues of marijuana law reform, to report back for action during the Legislative Session in 2014.
“A person who smokes marijuana does not commit a crime against another person, it’s a victimless crime. It’s a crime against the government,” Bell said.
A diverse group of activists and organization held a news conference yesterday to kick off the Campaign for Access, Reform & Education (Ga C.A.R.E. Project) a campaign to reform Georgia’s antiquated marijuana laws.
Should you go to prison if you smoke pot in Georgia? One group argues emphatically that you should not. A campaign to decriminalize marijuana in Georgia was launched Monday at the State Capitol.
All News 106.7‘s Connie Cummings reports that the Georgia Campaign for Access, Reform and Education (CARE) held news conference to urge state lawmakers to include reforming Georgia’s marijuana laws as they reform the criminal justice system. One member of that group, James Bell, says the state effort to stop filling prisons with non-violent offenders should include marijuana laws.
Atlanta, GA — Members of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Georgia State University announce support for Georgia’s newest Marijuana Law Reform efforts. Students will stand in solidarity with fellow Georgia marijuana law reformers at the Capitol this Monday during the unveiling of the GA C.A.R.E. Project.
The Georgia Campaign for Access, Reform & Education or GA C.A.R.E. Project, will host a press conference at the Georgia state capitol Monday, December 17 – 11am to announce the campaign’s mission.
Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) is an international grassroots network of students who educate their peers, parents, and policymakers about how the drug war has failed our generation and our society. SSDP mobilizes and empowers young people to participate in the political process, pushing for sensible policies to achieve a safer and more just future, while fighting back against counterproductive drug war policies, particularly those that directly harm students and youth.
###
The local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Peachtree NORML) has joined the coalition of groups pushing marijuana law reform in Georgia.
Peachtree NORML and Georgia Moms for Marijuana are proud to announce that we will be joining with other marijuana reform groups in Georgia to begin the conversation of law reform and help to educate the voting public. We will join a press conference at the Georgia State capitol Monday, December 17th – 11AM to announce the campaign’s mission.
Sharon Ravert, Executive Director of Peachtree NORML and Public Relations Officer of Moms for Marijuana International, said “It is time to talk. We need to look at the dangers and harms that we have caused to our family structure in our efforts to keep drugs out of our communities. Now is the time to work together to reform our laws. Prohibition didn’t work before and is not working now; it has accomplished no notable positives. Mothers and fathers are talking about this at their dinner tables; it is time to talk about it in our State house. Parents are beginning to see that drug laws are more harmful than marijuana ever has been or ever could be.” Continue reading
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition is an international organization of criminal justice professionals who bear personal witness to the wasteful futility and harms of our current drug policies. Our experience on the front lines of the “war on drugs” has led us to call for a repeal of prohibition and its replacement with a tight system of legalized regulation, which will effectively cripple the violent cartels and street dealers who control the current illegal market.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says marijuana should be treated like alcohol because the government’s war on drugs has failed.
The outspoken evangelical Christian says he has never smoked marijuana, and he is not encouraging it. But he says the war on drugs is costing taxpayers billions of dollars and people should not be sent to prison for marijuana possession.
This 47% has to do with marijuana legalization; 83% back medical marijuanaForty-seven percent support legalization of marijuana, and forty-seven percent oppose it, according to a CBS News poll.
Two-thirds of Republicans oppose legalization, while 51 percent of Democrats support it. Legalization support is actually highest among independents at 55 percent.
Fifty-nine percent of Americans think decisions on marijuana laws should be left to the states, with only 34 percent giving final call to the federal government.
Support for medical marijuana is far less controversial at 83 percent, with even 76 percent of Republicans backing its usage. But Americans have their doubts about the effectiveness of medical marijuana laws.
