A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.”
US President Abraham LincolnSpeaking to the Illinois House of RepresentativesDecember 18, 1840

LIMITATIONS

While some data in this report (e.g., arrest and seizures) accurately reflect the relevant law enforcement statistics, other data are based on estimates derived from non-random samples (e.g., price and potency estimates) and therefore may not perfectly reflect annual averages, which are likely to vary from state to state. Further, while there is a body of scientific evidence demonstrating many potential harms of cannabis use, there is also an emerging literature documenting various medicinal applications of cannabis. This literature is beyond the scope of this report which is focussed on policies related to recreational cannabis use. Finally, the data for the US federal anti-drug budget as reported by the US Office of National Drug Control Policy were truncated at 2002 because of changes in reporting of the budget.


“[M]arijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.”
William F. Buckley, Jr.US conservative author and commentator