I invite anyone who doesn't know about the complications prohibition on (Marijuana) has caused society to read this fine book.

We truly live in a double standard world where alcohol, a known depressant and killer of millions of people including my own father is a legal substance, while a substance like marijuana, which has never directly killed anyone in known history and is actually known to make people more peaceful and Responsible remains illegal and in schedule I (schedule I is reserved for the most deadly drugs which are considered to have no medical value).

Studies show that Marijuana doesn't kill brain cells (alcohol causes severe brain damage), has been proven to be non carcinogenic and possibly have cancer curing properties (alcohol causes head, neck, stomach and liver cancer as well as cirrhosis), is not physically Addictive but only mentally like shopping, playing games and listening to music (alcohol is severely physically addicting ask your local Alcoholic) and the gateway theory has been pretty much discredited along the lines that if such is true alcoholics started their long journey into alcoholism drinking milk and if anything has actually escalated a marijuana user to use other drugs is the case of marijuana being illegal and dealers pushing their (products).

This information is just the tip of the iceberg and if you really want to know the "Truth" you owe it to yourself to read this book!

Many thanks to Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, Mason Tvert, Leap and S.A.F.E.R. for helping release a truly informational book that will have people talking and thinking about our Draconian Laws regarding this Substance.

This may be the most important book on weed you may ever read. It compares the benefits and risks of alcohol versus marijuana and argues that the latter is much safer if one is to choose one or the other. It argues also that our current marijuana laws are literally causing people to drink more than they would if marijuana were legal, and most important, that this is the argument that is most likely to win people over in the fight for legalization. They even show how this argument was instrumental in the successful battle for legal weed in the state of Colorado.

I believe it, I buy into these arguments. All of them. However I feel that the authors glossed over the issue of whether people might possibly or even frequently partake of BOTH, at the same time, if both were legal. I personally know many people who have been stoned and drunk at the same time. I would have wanted to see more data showing that this is not a big issue. I really think that is a small issue, in other words, marijuana is more of a substitute for rather than a supplement to alcohol. The arguments in favor of MJ if it is mostly a substitute are indeed persuasive, alcohol directly kills many people quickly, marijuana kills none, alcohol can make you violent, MJ makes you docile, if anything, marijuana is less addictive, alcohol causes more car crashes, the list goes on. And the book does cite some interesting examples of substitution at work, in particular a World Cup soccer match where the officials announced a hands off policy on weed, and as a result, a lot of people smoked rather than drank at the game, and there was no violence.

My overall view is still 5 stars, no question. If you want to raise the roof about the marijuana laws in your state (unfortunately, mine is NC), this is your manual.

As long as the reader understands that this book is biased towards marijuana legalization, this is an excellent book and gives a good historical review as well as a review of current available data. I think that a great follow-up read is Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know. After reading both and doing a bit of online research, I believe that the federal government should turn the matter of legalization or at least decriminalization over to the states. At the same time, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) should either remove marijuana from the Drug Schedule or at least lower its current position as a Schedule 1 drug. Even cocaine and methamphetamine along with ritalin are in Schedule 2. (There are 5 schedules with drugs deemed the most dangerous and having no medical use put into Schedule 1.) As it now stands, both nicotine and alcohol have caused more dependency and/or addiction than marijuana, neither have shown any better medical uses than marijuana, AND NEITHER IS EVEN ON THE DEA DRUG SCHEDULE!

Much has been written about the cost of drugs on society and in particular, the unrestricted dissolution of all our civil rights with this disingenuous and deadly War on drugs, specifically Cannabis funded by Oxycontin, Marlboro and Budweiser; fueled by our sensationalist media and impotent government, as unquestioned truth.

The actual truth is far more inconvenient and more bizarre than any of us could have imagined. Here is this story.

This book explains and highlights our society's unabashed approval of the marketing and consumption of toxic substances and similar demonization of "The most therapeutically beneficial plant on earth" according to a retired DEA judge.

It also contains a section on addressing the most commonly disseminated myths about Cannabis.

A MUST for any Cannabis-Activist. I have, personally, found it invaluable-well worth the price of admission.

This book is in 3 parts, each more relevant than the last.

Steve Fox, Paul Armentano and Mason Tvert with an utterly eye-opening foreword by former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper, deliver a straight forward, factual reckoning of this insanity we call a drug war.

They examine, but do not criticize, enlighten and not preach; which is difficult as their subject matter is so highly relevant to all of us...right now. They allow the reader to draw her own conclusions about these issues.

Our country is in "death-spiral" type of affair with tobacco and alcohol, fueled by Wall Street and Madison avenue-we are truly being driven to drink. Despite the mountains of overwhelming scientific studies on the role of Cannabis and Human health, and considering that our "Office of National Drug Control Policy", (ONDCP) is funded by the Tobacco, Pharmaceutical and Alcohol industries-this book should be on everyone's "must read" list.

They are telling our children it is NOT O.K to do drugs, but it IS O.K. to use THEIR drugs.

I can unequivocally state that I have not read a more engaging, sincere and factual book in many years.

I highly recommend it to ANY teacher for a class on the subject.

Don't Bogart that book my friend! Pass it over to me.

Review by Fred Mallach

Marijuana is SAFER: So why are we driving people to drink?

By Steve Fox, Paul Armentano, Mason Tvert

Foreword by Norm Stamper, former Chief of the Seattle Police Department

Paperback: 240 pages

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing; 1 edition (August 24, 2009)

If you have kids heading back to high school, college or university you need to read this book. If you are a young person, you need to read it even more.

Over the years, one question that I have asked parents was; "Would you rather have your children drink alcohol or smoke marijuana?" Depending on their answer I knew what their position was towards legalization.

The authors of `Marijuana is SAFER: So why are we driving people to drink?' have written a timely handbook or primer on the history of pot politics to the present push towards legalization.

Each year more than 35,000 Americans die from the direct result of alcohol consumption. Every fall the number of US students dying from the misuse of alcohol increases. In 2001, there were an estimated 1,700 alcohol-related unintentional-injury deaths among college students and others aged 18 to 24. It's also estimated that each year approximately 600,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are unintentionally injured while under the influence of alcohol.

The authors take us from the start of prohibition over 70 years ago to the present day. The writing is interesting and factual without getting bogged down in too much detail. They explain how `reefer madness' shaped the public's perception of pot and how Nixon declared the `war on drugs' in the 1970's.

As a primer there is a section on how marijuana affects the body. Surprisingly, recent studies have shown that regular marijuana smokers have a lower incidence of cancer than non-smokers.

The title of the book `Marijuana is SAFER' refers to the SAFER campaigns started in Colorado in 2005. SAFER means `Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation'.

The premise of the SAFER campaign was that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol and that adults should have a choice. It started at two universities to reduce the stigma and penalties of using marijuana when compared with using alcohol.

In a referendum in November of 2005, the citizens of Denver voted to eliminate all penalties for the adult possession of marijuana.

The track record for alcohol is not good. Not only do 35,000 people die in the US per year from the direct consumption of alcohol, alcohol-related health care costs are 45 times that compared to marijuana-related health care costs. That's right, 45 times!

As a society grappling with increased health care costs the argument to legalize marijuana has never been stronger.

The authors dispel the myth that marijuana is more harmful than alcohol or the same as alcohol, and they make a case for allowing a choice.

After reading this book, if I were to ask, "Would you rather have your children drink alcohol or smoke marijuana?" you might answer differently.

Now read the book, and pass it on!

Fred Mallach

Victoria

The extensive footnoting in each chapter gives this book a credibility which prohibitionists will find difficult to challenge. It presents a swathe of evidence showing that, contrary to much of the media spin, cannabis is indeed safer than alcohol. The book thoughtfully outlines a fresh frame of reference in which the regulated legalization of cannabis would not be adding another vice (after all, the 'vice' is already prevalent) but providing a safer alternative than getting rotten on alcohol.

The book systematically takes apart the sacred articles of faith held by prohibitionists, showing that prohibition creates more problems than it solves and that law reform would not produce the 'tsunami of drug abuse' prohibitionists always predict.

Highly recommended and very readable.

This book is very informative, it tells the true story of why marijuana is illegal, it outlines the fact that even though alcohol is more dangerous and kills more people it is legal and the penalties for the use of marijuana have become outdated. The comparison makes you see the truth that they have targeted marijuana for reasons that have nothing at all to do with it's actual level of danger. The studies they talk about show that people fear it simply out of lack of knowledge and what it actually does to the body and mind. They have demonized a completely natural growing plant that has nothing added to it, but allow chemical drugs that destroy peoples health to be handed out by physicians daily. The whole thing makes no sense to me. Read this book and you will get a better understanding of the truth about this plant.

This book delivers a powerful blow to the failed policy of marijuana prohibition. It not only lays out the comprehensive data on how marijuana compares to alcohol in terms of addictiveness, toxicity, impairment, death and injury toll (safer on all counts), etc. but also compares the systems for regulating the two drugs (alcohol is taxed and regulated -- i.e., legalized, and marijuana is prohibited (that is, its regulation is left up to street dealers and cartels)). The authors reference their sources and come at the issue with a very measured approach that examines policies from the stance of how well they achieve their stated goals, and whether their stated goals make sense given the facts about each drug's safety record. Send this book to your doubting friends and relatives as a basis for a more informed conversation on the topic.

A most informative and much needed book. Highlights the glaring inconsistencies throughout society as we push people towards alcohol yet demonise the far less harmful plant!