SMPL

for cannabis offenses can greatly reduce the cost of this burden to Louisiana taxpayers.

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* Louisiana spends about $663 million a year to feed, house, secure and provide medical care to 40,000 inmates. Nearly a third of that money -- $182 million -- goes to for-profit prisons, whether run by sheriffs or private companies. 18,851 Louisians are arrested for a drug offense each year. Source: Times Picayune (nola.com) and the Drug Policy Alliance

→ SMPL knows that decriminalizing cannabis and restructuring the perverse incentives favoring the for profit prison system in our state shrinks the world’s largest (per capita) prison population while simultaneously strengthening our communities and our tax base.

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* Four decades after Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971 and $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars has been spent since then, the U.S. has the highest level of illegal drug use in the world. Though the US has only 5% of the world’s population, we house 25% of the planet’s prisoners. Still, there is no statistically significant relationship between marijuana arrest and use rates. Source: World Health Organization and Marijuana Policy Project

→ SMPL understands that the War on Drugs has been an abysmal and irresponsible failure of leadership that has cost our communities dearly in precious human and financial capital.

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* The U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not recognize the value of industrial hemp and permit its production. Canadian farmers are now growing more than 8.500 acres of organically-certified hemp crops. In 2013 there were 66,671 acres licensed for cultivation. China is the largest exporter of hemp textiles. Source: Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance and Hemp Industries Association

→ SMPL sees Louisiana’s huge potential for helping our hard hit farming communities while growing the business of hemp as it continues to produce healthy food and an incredible expanding array of environmentally friendly products.

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* Twenty states and DC have passed medical marijuana laws legalizing the use and production of medical marijuana for qualifying patients under state law. Marijuana prohibition thwarted research within the United States to uncover the best and most effective uses for marijuana as a medicine. This natural medicinal botanical is currently being used in the US to treat multiple sclerosis, cachexia, nausea, muscle spasms, glaucoma, chronic pain, spasticity and many other ailments. Source: Drug Policy Alliance and the Marijuana Policy Project

→ SMPL seeks to draft policies protective of medical marijuana patients and to end the state ban on its use so that all patients within Louisiana gain safe access to quality medicine and doctors can join in the collective national research into marijuana’s proven and promising medicinal benefits.

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* The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than 37,000 annual U.S. deaths, including approximately 1,475 in Louisiana, are attributed to alcohol use alone. On the other hand, the CDC does not even have a category for deaths caused by the use of marijuana. Source: SAFER (Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation) and the US CDC

→ SMPL is not inclined to buy into drug prohibition era hysteria or misinformation about the dangers of cannabis consumption. Instead, we realize that cannabis (though not risk free) is far safer than tobacco or alcohol and so advocate for a similarly regulated regime that keeps cannabis safe, standardized and out of the hands of minors.

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* Though 65% of Louisianans support medical marijuana, 56% support decriminalization and 49% said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate supporting a reduction in marijuana related penalties, a powerful stigma persists. Source: Public Policy Polling (PPP) Poll Results of 08/2013

→ SMPL will not relent until the democratic process prevails in this important campaign to sufficiently dissolve the stigma and inspire strength and courage in our elected officials who are casting votes determinative of drug law reform in Louisiana.