Robert MacCoun

Robert MacCoun Studies Dutch Cannabis Use

-Miller-McCune, September 16, 2011 by Emily Badger
http://www.miller-mccune.com/health/the-dutch-can-handle-their-pot-36153/

“But mostly I think we can’t afford to ignore lessons form abroad,” MacCoun said. “We can’t afford to be provincial about this because we’ll never learn anything about how to make better policy unless we actually study countries that are trying different things.”

-Reason, September 16, 2011 by Jacob Sullum
http://reason.com/blog/2011/09/16/did-cannabis-cafs-make-the-net

“Cannabis consumption in the Netherlands is lower than would be expected in an unrestricted market,” MacCoun says, “perhaps because cannabis prices have remained high due to production-level prohibitions.”

-The Huffington Post, September 21, 2011 by Carly Schwartz
http://huff.to/nxDkBJ

“For me, that was the most tantalizing result,” he said. “The Dutch have actually come up with a way to regulate cannabis use while minimizing its harms.”

-East Bay Express, September 22, 2011 by David Downs
http://bit.ly/os87pb

It’s a trade-off, but the Dutch were probably thinking it’s a fair trade-off, because they initially set out to reduce hard drug use by separating the soft drug market from the hard drug market, and the data in the paper suggests that seems to have worked.

-High Times, September 24, 2011 by Mark Miller
http://hightimes.com/news/mmiller/7311

In fact, Prof MacCoun found that cannabis consumption in the Netherlands is actually lower than would be expected for a nation with defacto legalization, which he attributes to the high pot prices created by the coffeeshop’s “cannabis monopoly” that exists on the retail level, as opposed to outright legalization, which would inevitably drive prices lower due to increased production and competition.

-The Wall Street Journal, September 30, 2011 by Christopher Shea
http://on.wsj.com/pQLqmv

The United States figures are higher still, but “roughly equivalent” statistically, MacCoun writes—the main difference between U.S. and European-style prohibition being the use of prison as a deterrent: We incarcerate many more drug users.

Robert MacCoun Studies Dutch and US Cannabis Use

-San Francisco Business Times, September 13, 2011 by Steven E.F. Brown
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2011/09/13/legalize-it-says-uc-berkeley-study.html?page=all
“The available evidence suggests that the prevalence of cannabis use among Dutch citizens rose and fell as the number of coffeeshops increased and later declined, but only modestly,” MacCoun wrote…. “The Dutch system serves as a nuanced alternative to both full prohibition and full legalization.”

-The Fix, September 15, 2011 by Jennifer Matesa
http://www.thefix.com/content/coffee-house-study-crashes-gateway-theory9147
He added, “The theory in the Netherlands is that the gateway is more sociological—if I start hanging out with marijuana users, and we buy from street dealers, we’re going to start coming into contact with harder drugs. The study seems to support the Dutch theory that if you can separate the markets, you can reduce the gateway.”

Robert MacCoun Criticizes DEA’s Marijuana Decision

ABC News, July 12, 2011 by Courtney Hutchison
http://abcn.ws/nxvh8J

“The statement ‘it has no accepted medical use’ is simply wrong as a statement of fact,” said Rob MacCoun…. “There is now considerable evidence showing medical benefits, at or exceeding standards of evidence for many other pharmaceuticals. Prescribing physicians in over a dozen states clearly see an accepted medical value for their patients.”

Robert MacCoun Reacts to New Findings of Judicial Bias

Nature News, April 11, 2011 by Zoë Corbyn
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110411/full/news.2011.227.html

“It is hardly the first empirical demonstration of ‘extra-evidentiary bias’ in judges’ decisions, but it is a particularly striking one because the biasing factor is seemingly innocuous and so patently irrelevant to the case at hand,” says Robert MacCoun, who studies law and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Robert MacCoun Expects More Marijuana Ballot Initiatives

San Francisco Chronicle, November 3, 2010 by Pete Young and Mark Tannenbaum
http://bit.ly/cPRh7m

“The issue is not going to go away,” said Robert MacCoun…. “The next time around, we’ll see a proposal that’s more incremental and less radical—for example, legalizing home cultivation or setting up restricted access, like buyer’s clubs, rather than full-scale retail sales.”

Robert MacCoun Finds Marijuana Is Not a Gateway Drug

Time, October 29, 2010 by Maia Szalavitz
http://healthland.time.com/2010/10/29/marijuna-as-a-gateway-drug-the-myth-that-will-not-die/print/

The U.S.A 2010 Rand Institute report titled “What Can We Learn from the Dutch Cannabis Coffeeshop Experience?” found that there was “some evidence” for a “weakened gateway” in The Netherlands, and concluded that the data “clearly challenge any claim that the Dutch have strengthened the gateway to hard drug use.”

Robert MacCoun Thinks Prop. 19 Could Lower Pot Price, Increase Use

New Scientist, October 27, 2010 by Jim Giles
http://www.newscientist.com (requires registration; go to G:\Law School in the News\News Clips for article)

“We’re fairly confident that there will be a substantial price drop,” says Robert MacCoun…. Proposition 19 does not specify the taxes that will be levied on marijuana sales, and hence the prices users will pay, but the RAND authors are confident consumption will rise. “It could double,” says MacCoun.

Robert MacCoun Notes Disparities in Marijuana Arrests

The New York Times, July 19, 2010 by Jesse McKinley
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/us/20pot.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

“The arrest statistics are disproportionate with respect to African-Americans and disproportionate with respect to use,” said Mr. MacCoun. “And that’s very hard to justify in any way.” And while Mr. MacCoun said he was not certain that a ballot measure was the way to address that inequity, he said the positioning of Proposition 19 as a civil rights issue could be a potent selling point. “I don’t think it’s decisive for all voters,” Mr. MacCoun said. “But I think it’s an important argument, and I think it’s going to carry weight with some people.”