Bensinger Interview – Part 1

Bensinger Interview – Part 1 – In Part 1, Mr. Bensinger says marijuana “is not a safe and effective medicine.” After our pressing the point about the vaporized cannabis point, Mr. Bensinger said he thought there was “a couple of interesting research projects,” one of them being Sativez. Sativex contains cannabinoids but in liquid, not in a gaseous vapor form. The former DEA chief then returned to the subject of his enthusiasm for the medical applications of medicines extracted from the cannabis plant available in pill or patch form. Mr. Bensinger said, “Marijuana has 60 percent more cancer-causing agents than tobacco,” referring by the term “marijuana” to “smoked marijuana” — not vapor, patch or pill forms. Despite Washington state and Colorado’s legalizing referenda, and legalization proponents’ confidence that criminalization romanticizes rebellious behavior, Mr. Bensinger says he is confident that criminal penalties — “whether it’s just a trip to see a judge or a temporary arrest” — “does make a tremendous difference in the number of people using.” We referenced our 2007 interview with Mason Tvert, a Colorado-based and (now) Marijuana Policy Project-affiliated activist who spearheaded a successful pro-legalization Denver referendum. Mr. Bensinger praised Washington and Colorado for their “good protections” limiting legal cannabis use to those over 21 years of age. But he said “the biggest segment” of the people who use marijuana “are 18- and 19-year-olds.” Those young, still-illegal users, he …