“Medical Marijuana – Yes or No”
Join us for a discussion with Drs. Kevin Sabet and Jeffrey Miron, as they address the Walden Forum at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 2. This Walden Forum will be held at the New Wayland High School Auditorium, 264 Old Connecticut Path.
Drs. Sabet and Miron will talk about Question 3 – Yay or Nay on Medical Marijuana. That’s the issue before Massachusetts voters in November. This is an opportunity for us to discuss what many have been unwilling to address – an effective medical marijuana law. The Secretary of State announced in July that an initiative to allow medical marijuana in Massachusetts has been approved and will appear on the November ballot. The initiative would allow qualifying patients to use and purchase marijuana “produced and distributed by new state-regulated centers or… to grow marijuana for their own use.”
Drs. Sabet and Miron will each have 30 minutes to discuss their respective views on the issue followed by a civil Q&A as the audience engages the speakers with their questions.
Dr. Sabet (Nay) says, “Medical marijuana is certainly a complex issue. No one wants to see their loved ones suffer needlessly, and there is a good case to be made that federal law enforcement should focus their limited resources on major drug producers and distributors. Unfortunately, however, the issue of medical marijuana goes beyond simple compassion. Medicines in the United States are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), not a popular vote. So it is troubling that some states have decided to bypass that system in favor of one that is manipulated by political agendas.”
Dr. Miron’s (Yay) perspective: Over the past several decades, numerous states have decriminalized or medicalized, and many others are considering full legalization. The situation is similar across Europe and several Latin American countries as well. Dr. Miron does not take a position on the medicinal value of marijuana; that should be a question for medical professionals, he believes. But, he argues that from a consequential perspective, it is difficult to defend a ban on medical marijuana or recreational marijuana; both should be legal. Standard economic reasoning shows that drug prohibition is likely to cause numerous undesirable consequences and is almost certainly inferior to alternative policies for addressing the social costs created by drug use. This talk will present the economic arguments for drug legalization – both medical and recreational – and discuss the evidence pertaining to this analysis as well. An important theme will be that even if drug consumption is undesirable – in the sense that consumption causes harm to innocent third parties – prohibition is probably the worst possible approach for addressing these harms.
Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D. has a doctorate in public policy analysis from Oxford University with emphasis on drug policy, drug prevention, drug enforcement, and legalization. A resident of Cambridge, he is the President of the Policy Solutions Lab and also serves as Director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida, where he is an Assistant Professor. He served in the Obama Administration from 2009-2011 as Senior Advisor at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Dr. Sabet has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and books. He is a frequent contributor to editorial pages and the news media, including the Washington Post, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, Al Jazeera, the BBC, and many more. His recent New York Times and Los Angeles Times op-eds have earned him a “Five Best Columns” distinction from The Atlantic. He is also currently serving as one of five Americans on the Hemispheric expert panel charged to draft the “Report on Drug Policy for the Summit of the Americas,” organized by the Organization of American States.
Jeffrey Alan Miron, Ph.D is an American economist. He is Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. Dr. Miron has previously served on the faculties of the University of Michigan and Boston University. He has been the recipient of an Olin Fellowship from the National Bureau of Economic Research, an Earhart Foundation Fellowship, and a Sloan Foundation Faculty Research Fellowship. He has studied the effects of drug criminalization for fifteen years, and argues that all drugs should be legalized, not just marijuana, and is author of the book Drug War Crimes: The Consequences of Prohibition. Dr. Miron has published more than 25 articles in refereed journals and 50 op-eds in CNN.com, nytimes.com, forbes.com, and other outlets. Dr. Miron’s commentary on economic policy has appeared on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, NPR, Bloomberg, and Fox television, BBC radio, and in dozens of others around the world.
This Walden Forum is presented in cooperation with WaylandCares.Org – Promoting Healthy Youth Decision Making.
About the Walden Forum – The Walden Forum is a free public series that brings people together to talk, listen and learn from one another in a civil environment. It fosters discussion about important ethical, religious, political, scientific, social and other topics in a live-forum setting. Featuring dynamic world-class speakers on great topics throughout the year, the Walden Forum is a non-religious community program supported by First Parish in Wayland and others. For more information go to www.waldenforum.org or write to info@waldenforum.org.
