Acetone
marijuana's staunchest supporter would argue that a crime has never
been committed by a user while high. Yet, incredible as it seems, the burden of many
"proofs" of marijuana's criminal effects has been precisely the simple fact that it is
possible to locate crimes committed in conjunction with smoking marijuana. "Proof" by
enumeration is no proof at all. By examining an enumeration of crimes which were
committed under the influence of marijuana (even were this definitely known), it is
impossible to determine the "cause" of the event taking place, in this case the crime—or,
indeed, that marijuana has anything whatsoever to do with its commission. Yet "proof' by
enumeration is the most common method of "demonstrating" the causal connection
between marijuana and crime. Countless works written today rely on this method of
demonstration.13]
In its field manual, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs requested
district supervisors to obtain from state and local officials "reports in all cases... wherein
crimes were committed under the influence of marihuana." To illustrate the selective
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The Marijuana Smokers - Chapter 9
process involved in this request, imagine the impressive dossier that would result from a
request that reports be conveyed on anyone wearing a hat while committing a crime. A
case could then be made for the criminogenic effect of hat wearing. In fact, we might very
well collect not only more cases, but also even more gruesomely violent ones, since hat
wearing is more common than marijuana smoking in connection with crime (as well as in
conjunction with noncriminal activities).
The enumerative method is the most primitive technique of proof. It putatively links
two items causally that are, in fact, sometimes found together. No effort is made to
determine whether they are actually associated in any way other than would occur by
chance. We all use the enumerative method, at least to illustrate an argument. Examples
often dramatically pin down a stand which we take. It is impossible to bring systematic
data to bear on every point we make. However, it is surprising that in this crucial issue,
long debated, little attention has been given to the rigor of the method of analysis.
One thing that the enumerative method proves is that it is possible to commit a crime
under the influence of marijuana, just as it is possible to commit crimes without
marijuana. Most crimes, in fact, are committed without drugs in a normal mental and
physical state; no one has yet submitted this as proof that being "normal" is criminogenic.
Since we "know" that being normal doesn't induce crimes, we dismiss that argument and
rightly so. But if this method of reasoning is absurd and invalid, then equally so is the
attempt to link marijuana with crime by a case presentation, because both were
documented in precisely the same manner. It is only because we have decided beforehand,
before w
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