Delinquency Quotes
La Guardia had seen some Federal officials claim that marijuana was a very dangerous drug leading to insanity, violence and murder if used. See {624434} and {590692} . However, none of the “dangers” had been verified by science and medicine/ La Guardia was the first public official who asked scientists to study the substance and let people know the real danger if any. The report was a major contracdiction to the federal propaganda that had been issued, and even continued to be after this study by the prestigious New York Academy of Medicine. It has been known for a long time that marijuana was relatively harmless when compared with other drugs such as heroin, cocaine, alcohol and tobacco. At the time the government officials had lied to the public grossly exaggerating the negative effects of marijuana. And scientific research was prohibited in most cases until the 21st century. And the evidence is now available that while marijuana does not have the very dangerous effect that was claimed, it is not benign either. Marijuana has an effect on the brain—especially of youth who are still developing—that is not totally understood. And there is a definite negative relationship between the extent of marihuana smoking student grades. Also we know now that marijuana impedes social development as well as intellectual. The causality is not clearly established however. It is possible that the poorer students and those less socially skilled have little success and use marijuana. With the exception of many adults who claim that marihuana helps them tolerate cancer drugs and other pain, there is no other benefit that has been found. Youngsters can think they are “cool” but that is about it on the plus side. On the negative side, marijuana is not the most dangerous drug one can take, but it is certainly not harmless.
As this quotation demonstrates, this problem has plagued America for a long time. In terms of crimes committed, for example, General Electric Corporation has committed more crimes than any other criminal enterprise, but it thrives despite this and the penalties are seen as just a slap on the wrist when they do get caught but they do not even get prosecuted for many of their crimes like most large corporations and rich individuals who commit crimes. The people who go to jail are usually the lower level or middle level criminals and the kingpins, the ones with the control and the money, rarely even get prosecuted. In the Great Recession, the largest banks in America committed tens of thousands of serious crimes by forging signatures and making false claims on legal documents. Not a single executive ever went to jail or was even given a suspended sentence. The banks paid small fines.
