It’s easy to pick and article and chop out what you want to get your version of the truth out, but I have many studies linked on my blog, which show sex offenders are LESS LIKELY to commit another sex related crime, so you can read the many and judge for yourself, instead of seeing a biased article and assuming it’s true. Not all sex offenders are like the 5% or less we see on the news daily. If all were as dangerous as the public thinks, we’d see dead kids all over the place, we’d be knee deep in dead kids, but we are not. So that alone kind of disproves some of this BS.

http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/p/recidivism-studies.html

We strongly support offender treatment in general and want to see programs expand. The bottom line is that money for treatment is declining and quality of existing treatment is questionable. There needs to be state-of-the-art strategies for offender-based programs based on proven research (Meta analysis). Until that happens beyond the Washington State Public Policy Institute, the public will not fully support treatment efforts.

We greatly appreciate your comments

In hindsight, we wish we hadn’t said it (even if true) simply because it detracts from the overall message, which is an examination of public health issues. The knee-jerk reaction is that we’ve watched “Reefer Madness” (an anti-marijuana film from the 1950’s) one too many times.

But there are multiple sources stating that marijuana is part and partial to all forms of crime, including violent crime.

OK, pot makes you passive and alcohol makes me passive. From that, do I deduce that alcohol has no connection to violent crime?

As to public health impacts, please see http://crimeinamerica.net/2010/03/02/more-on-marijuana-and-crime-crime-statistics/.

Just remember that marijuana can be and often is an addictive drug that can have a really negative impact on your life (something else that will seem counter-intuitive). If you can handle it without repercussions or harm to anyone else, fine. Just be careful; it’s backfired on a lot of people who believe that it’s harmless.

We appreciate your opinions.

I agree about the statement being made about public health. I am a user myself and would very much like to be informed about the dangers of smoking pot. I did a great deal of effort to inform myself about this and could only find things that make it negative because you smoke it. If you would use a vapouriser then you would probably get a totally different picture. I would very much like to read a full study on the long term effects of pot use.