Under legislation signed into law in 1996 states may deny cash aid (e.g., welfare, etc) and food stamps to anyone convicted of felony drug charges. More recently, Congress passed amendments in 1998 to the Higher Education Act which denies federal financial aid to any student with any drug conviction, even for a single marijuana cigarette.5.
R. Keith Stroup (executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) asserted that "State and federal marijuana laws also have a disparate racial impact on ethnic minorities". The fact is Blacks and Hispanics who make up only 20 percent of the marijuana smokers in the U.S., but they comprised 58 per cent of the marijuana offenders sentenced under federal law in 1995.2.
Critics claim that marijuana is a "gateway drug" but there is no conclusive evidence that the effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent use of other illicit drugs. Statistically, for every 104 Americans who have tried marijuana, there is only one regular user of cocaine, and less than one user of heroin.3 .
For those minority of marijuana smokers who do graduate to harder substances, it is marijuana prohibition -- which forces users to associate with the illicit drug black market -- rather than the use of marijuana itself, that often serves as a doorway to the world of hard drugs. The more users become integrated in an environment .
where, apart from cannabis, hard drugs can also be obtained, the greater the chances they will experiment with harder drugs.6.
Marijuana legalization proponents use the example of the Netherlands in their favor. In Holland, where politicians decided over 25 years ago to separate marijuana from the illicit drug market by permitting coffee shops all over the country to sell small amount of marijuana to adults, individuals use marijuana and other drugs at rates less than half of their American counterparts. 3 .
Substantial research exists regarding marijuana and addiction.