Pubdate: Thu, 18 Oct 2012
Source: Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA)
Copyright: 2012 The Spokesman-Review
Contact:  http://www.spokesman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/417
Author: Edward Byrnes
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n494/a03.html

MARIJUANA FOES PEDDLE FEAR

This responds to the Oct. 2 editorial "Regulation, taxation of
marijuana worth a try."

Opponents of marijuana policy reform will argue that it is an
"addictive" or "gateway drug." A defining feature of addiction is the
presence of withdrawal symptoms, but there is no medical consensus
recognizing a cannabis withdrawal syndrome, without which asserting
addictiveness is disingenuous.

Those who claim marijuana is a gateway drug rely on surveys of users
of stronger substances that fail to sample the full population,
leading to assertions based on sampling error and causal fallacy. When
one examines population-based data from the National Survey on Drug
Use and Health, you find that in 2010, 11.3 percent of the population
ages 12 and older reported using cannabis and 0.2 percent of the
population ages 12 and older reported using heroin within the past
year, meaning that heroin use is at 2 percent the rate of cannabis
use. That spread refutes rather than supports the gateway assertion.

Reform opponents assert their authority, not reason. Voters should
question such authority, ask what the person personally gains from the
marijuana policy status quo, and vote based on evidence rather than
tactics rooted in authority and fear.

Edward Byrnes

Spokane
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MAP posted-by: Matt