Book Review
Saying Yes

By Jacob Sullum
Reviewed by Bill London
from the January 2004 Newsletter

In the 1930’s, marijuana was outlawed because anti-drug crusaders convinced legislators that smoking pot changed normal folks into homicidal maniacs. In the anti-drug crusade of the 1960’s, marijuana was blamed instead for changing normal folks into lazy, immoral weaklings. By the 1980’s, marijuana was just another illicit drug, a first step that lead inevitably to brain-scrambling.

Which version of marijuana’s powers is correct? If you read Jacob Sullum’s book, Saying Yes, you’ll learn that the answer is none of the above.

The book is a reasoned and reasonable discussion of the hypocrisy and irrationality of America’s War on Drugs. Instead of focusing on the billions of dollars wasted in the drug war, or the thousands of young lives shattered by imprisonment through drug convictions, Sullum looks at the philosophical underpinnings of the modern crackdown on illegal drugs like marijuana, cocaine and heroin. And he asks “why?”

For example, why do the drug warriors assume that Americans can’t use the illegal drugs responsibly? Sullum lists page upon page of statistics and studies showing that alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine are more harmful to both the user and the society, but their continuing legality is based upon what is assumed to be “responsible personal use.” Then he shows with more studies that the great majority of users of illegal drugs today are quite able to use those drugs responsibly.

If you want to step behind the double standards that decide which intoxicants are OK and which are not, this is a good place to start.

Saying Yes is available at the Moscow’s public library or at BookPeople in Moscow.

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