Tell Attorney General: Stop Comparing Marijuana Use to Heroin Addiction!

About 13,000 Americans died from heroin overdoses in 2015, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. In the same year, just like every other year, not one single person overdosed on marijuana. But Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently stated that heroin addiction is only slightly worse than marijuana use.

Extensive research suggests that legalizing marijuana has led to decreases in opioid overdoses, but Sessions declared, "[I] am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana — so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that's only slightly less awful."

Marijuana use is not beyond criticism, but comparing it to heroin use is ignorant and dangerous. When young people hear that marijuana is "life-wrecking" and then realize its effects are relatively mild, they may ignore warnings about drugs that really are deadly and addictive.

Please sign the petition to urge the Attorney General to rescind his statements about marijuana use and look at peer-reviewed research before making decisions and statements about drug policy.