Overview
The National Marijuana Initiative is one of three national initiatives within the federal HIDTA program. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has established HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas) task forces all over the country, to respond to both regional and national drug threats. The NMI’s purpose is to educate both the public and policy makers on issues surrounding marijuana.
Vision
Every citizen deserves the truth about the health risks, public safety implications, and environmental impacts of marijuana cultivation and usage. Accordingly, the vision of the National Marijuana Initiative is to put forth unbiased, scientific, and fact-based information about marijuana. This site is intended to assist young people, parents, and anyone else interested in the ongoing marijuana discussion by communicating the most vital, relevant, and timely facts about marijuana. There is a lot of information floating around about marijuana and it is often difficult to separate fact from fiction. This site provides facts from the most knowledgeable professionals in every field impacted by marijuana, including scientists, the medical community, law enforcement, educational experts, and environmentalists.
Mission
The National Marijuana (NMI) Initiative improves the capabilities of the 28 High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas nationwide in carrying out the National Drug Control Strategy objectives of disrupting domestic trafficking and production of, and reducing demand for, marijuana and derivative products by:
- Enhancing information-sharing, enforcement, treatment, and prevention activities and
- Educating and advising policy-makers on current research findings, law, and public policy.
Consistent with this mission, NMI convenes criminal justice, medical, and scientific expertise that:
- Supports the objectives of the HIDTA program through the training of participants, exchange of research findings, and sharing of best practices and emerging trends, particularly with respect to domestic production on public lands and Native American lands;
- Enables the HIDTAs and their communities to improve public safety, health and welfare through informed, evidence-based policy development and establishment of priorities;
- Provides empirical knowledge that contributes to the ongoing development and successful implementation of the National Drug Control Strategy with respect to marijuana;
- Coordinates with public lands agencies to pursue enforcement of laws that impact public safety and environmental well-being.