Press Release, Issued 09/29/99
James Gibson Calls for an End to Marijuana Prohibition

US Senate candidate James Gibson today announced his support for a system of regulation of marijuana, instead of the failed prohibition policies of the past. "Prohibition of marijuana has not worked any better than the prohibition experiment with alcohol did," said Gibson. "In spite of enormous resources devoted to the enforcement of prohibition, marijuana is readily available and widely used. What prohibition of marijuana has accomplished, as prohibition of alcohol did, is to increase the level and profitability of criminal activity."

Under a legal distribution framework, Gibson argues, we could more effectively keep marijuana out of the reach of minors. "Under prohibition, the black market has taken over marijuana sales. They don't pay taxes, they don't have to meet FDA regulations, and they don't have any problem selling to children. Most high schoolers will tell you that they can get marijuana more easily than they can get alcohol. By regulating marijuana with a license system similar to alcohol, we can better restrict access to minors.

"Marijuana is downright benign compared to hard drugs such as cocaine or heroin. It is important therefore to separate the marijuana distribution channel from the hard drug channel, so that marijuana users are not exposed to dealers that can also supply the more dangerous drugs."

Gibson, who has never used marijuana himself, didn't expect to arrive at this conclusion when he started looking at marijuana policy. "I was mainly interested in the potential benefits to Minnesota farmers of growing industrial grade hemp. My wife, a registered nurse, also stressed the importance of allowing AIDS and cancer patients suffering from treatment side effects to use marijuana. But when I looked at the huge economic and social costs of marijuana prohibition, and its utter failure to limit availability and use, I realized we had to chart a different course."

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