Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jun 2005
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2005 Boulder Weekly
Contact:  http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Wayne Laugesen
Cited: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/
Referenced: the SAMHSA report 
http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k5/MJageSMI/MJageSMI.cfm
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Marijuana - Popular)

POT CITY, USA

They don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee, but we smoke it by the bushel
in Boulder. And here's a statistic anyone can believe: Boulder County
ranks second in the nation for per capita pot smoking, falling in just
behind Boston.

Who, with a straight face, can challenge the high believability factor
of this new statistic? If anything, the survey's in error for ranking
us second rather than first. Yet, here's what the lead paragraph in
the Rocky Mountain News said:

"Boulder County showed the second-highest rate of marijuana use in a
federal report that left some local officials scratching their heads
Thursday."

They scratched their heads? We have hydroponics stores that thrive,
and it's not so people can grow tomatoes in the basement. We have
citizens getting wealthy blowing glass pipes and crafting colorful
bongs. We have unemployed hippies in million-dollar homes equipped
with grow lights-people who scratch their heads when asked: "So what
do you do for a living?"

We're a pot-smoking party town, and the only shame is in ranking
second rather than first.

The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration shows that 10.33 percent of Boulder County respondents
admitted to pot use in the past month. Boston was at 12.16 percent.
Locations with the least pot smoking are likely suspects: Northwest
Iowa, at 2.28 percent; northeast Iowa, at 2.53 percent; southeast
Texas, at 2.59 percent; and central Iowa at 2.63 percent. The Muskogee
area came in just below average, with 3.46 percent of respondents
admitting to recent marijuana use.

If Boulder Mayor Mark Ruzzin really scratched his head in response to
the drug report, he did so skillfully. He told News reporter Berny
Morson that the city and the University of Colorado probably have a
better idea of actual drug use in our community than the feds do. It
was a comment that allowed readers to believe that the federal report
may be wrong, whether ranking us high or low.

I asked the mayor if he truly questioned the validity of the
report.

"My real point was that between Boulder County, CU and the school
district we have a pretty good sense of what's going on in terms of
alcohol and drug abuse," Mayor Ruzzin said.

I told him that despite my frequent criticism of Boulder, it's an
enviable place that attracts visitors and new residents from all over
the world. I said property values and prosperity are high, our streets
are clean and we're not overrun with crime.

"If Boston and Boulder-two very well-educated, enviable locations-are
number one and two, then perhaps this survey tells us that pot isn't
so bad," I argued.

"I wouldn't disagree with you at all," Mayor Ruzzin said. "We're not
likely to form a task force or a committee to address the marijuana
issue."

I called former Mayor Paul Danish, who moved to Boulder in 1960 and
spearheaded our slow-growth and open-space initiatives. I told Danish,
who's also a former county commissioner, that local officials
reportedly "scratched their heads" upon hearing that Boulder ranks
second in pot smoking.

"Give me a break," Danish said. "We're number two because we try
harder."

"Do you have a history of using marijuana?" I asked.

"I have smoked marijuana, and I've smoked enough of it that I can
comment intelligently about it, and that's as far as I care to go on
that subject."

Danish has a long history of fighting an intelligent and articulate
battle against the drug war. I told him that perhaps this new
government survey will be a good thing in his efforts, as some of the
most productive and enviable places on earth seem to have the highest
percentage of pot smoking.

"Yes, we're number two, and we seem to be producing a lot of wealth in
this community by our own creativity," Danish said. "If you drive on
the east side of 47th street and knock on any door, you'll see the
21st century being invented. That's not bad for a town that's number
two in marijuana use. It makes you wonder: How would we be doing if we
weren't high on pot? Probably not as well."

In early June, just before the first-ever pot ranking was released,
USA Today pointed out that Boulder-Longmont took first place on
another list: We're the most educated metro area in the United States,
with 52.4 percent of the population holding at least a bachelor's
degree. Danish said knowledge and education may go hand-in-hand with
our high number of pot smokers.

"We're a very tolerant, highly educated community, and it's a fairly
widely held understanding in Boulder that the most dangerous thing
about marijuana is the fact you might get arrested for it," Danish
said.

"We know that 10 percent of those who use alcohol are clinically
addicted, but the government has spent 60 years arguing the question
of whether it's even possible to get addicted to marijuana," Danish
said. "If we ask the question 'which drug is likely to lead to violent
behavior?' we know that alcohol wins the gold medal. We know that
alcohol figures into at least half the violent crime in this country,
and more if you look only at the domestic-violence statistics. So why
are we having this argument?"

The new pot report was intended to send shock waves through the
communities that top the list, causing mayors and health directors to
form committees and throw money at the problem. It'll backfire,
because the top 10 comprise a who's who of America's most literate,
functional and productive places.

But we do need a task force, Mayor Ruzzin. The task? How to beat
Boston in 2006.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake