Newt Gingrich (see his Wikipedia article) proposed a bill in 1995 to give the death penalty for importing 2 ounces of cannabis. He introduced it in 1996 as H.R. 4170 (Drug Importer Death Penalty Act of 1996) to the House of Representatives.
Gingrich on Marijuana - See the discussion of H.R. 4170 and importing "100 usual dosage amounts." Life imprisonment without parole for the first offense, and the death penalty for the second offense.
Photo to the top right: Newt Gingrich at West Georgia College (which later became the University of West Georgia). According to his Wikipedia article Gingrich was professor there from 1970 to 1978. He left when he was denied tenure. The image source says: "That's not Austin Powers dressed for a job interview... it is Newt Gingrich as a young professor at the University of Georgia." Lol. A comment says: "Short sleeved shirt (?) and a suit : not a good look....."
He reserved special ire for Republicans, most recently calling former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "aliens, not conservatives. They never met a bloated police state they didn't like."
USA: Over 7.2 million persons on probation or parole, or incarcerated in jail or prison, at yearend 2006. About 3.2% of the U.S. adult population, or 1 in every 31 adults. Larger chart with detailed source info: [6]. Latest data: [7]. See template.
Incarceration rates for adult males in U.S. jails and prisons by race and ethnicity. On June 30, 2006, an estimated 4.8% of black non-Hispanic men were in prison or jail, compared to 1.9% of Hispanic men of any race, and 0.7% of white non-Hispanic men. Image and data sources. More info: The Drug War causes the high U.S. incarceration rates. See template.
Cigarette Ingredients - Chemicals in Cigarettes. Tri-County Cessation Center. "The list of 599 additives approved by the US Government for use in the manufacture of cigarettes is something every smoker should see. Submitted by the five major American cigarette companies to the Dept. of Health and Human Services in April of 1994, this list of ingredients had long been kept a secret. ... While these ingredients are approved as additives for foods, they were not tested by burning them, and it is the burning of many of these substances which changes their properties, often for the worse. Over 4000 chemical compounds are created by burning a cigarette – 69 of those chemicals are known to cause cancer." See: Wikipedia: Tobacco harm reduction.
"In October 2008 the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) became the first medical organization in the U.S. to officially endorse tobacco harm reduction as a viable strategy to reduce the death toll related to cigarette smoking." [14][15]Joel Nitzkin: "So if we can figure that the nicotine in the e-cigarettes is basically a generic version of the same nicotine that is in prescription products, we have every reason to believe that the hazard posed by e-cigarettes would be much lower than one percent, probably lower than one tenth of one percent of the hazard posed by regular cigarettes." [16][17]
Quotes in the image to the left (and in the text below) are from the U.S. government's landmark 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. The full text of the report is available for free online at the above link, and is searchable. The table of contents by chapter is on the right side. Quotes below are followed by their references. Emphasis added.
Page 109: "Indeed, epidemiological data indicate that in the general population marijuana use is not associated with increased mortality. 138"
- 138. Sidney S, Beck JE, Tekawa IS, Quesenberry CP Jr, Friedman GD. 1997a. Marijuana use and mortality. American Journal of Public Health 87:585—590.
Page 107: "When heavy marijuana use accompanies these symptoms [amotivation], the drug is often cited as the cause, but no convincing data demonstrate a causal relationship between marijuana smoking and these behavior characteristics. 23"
- 23. Chait LD, Pierri J. 1992. Effects of smoked marijuana on human performance: A critical review. In: L Murphy and A Bartke, Editors, Marijuana/Cannabinoids: Neurobiology and Neurophysiology. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Pp. 387—424.
Page 119: "There is no conclusive evidence that marijuana causes cancer in humans, including cancers usually related to tobacco use."
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Compare the IOM report quotes to this quote about tobacco:
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