Pubdate: Thu, 08 Aug 2013
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2013 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author: Guillermo Martinez
Page: 13A

TAKE CAUTION BEFORE JUMPING ON MARIJUANA BANDWAGON

The pressure to legalize marijuana is growing.

Domestically two states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized the
recreational use if marijuana. Another 20 have approved its use for
medicinal purposes.

In Mexico the issue is growing in importance. For years Mexico has
been waging a war against those who grow and traffic the drug. The
government has killed thousands. Many more have died in internal wars
between the drug cartels for the best routes to the United States.

In Central America, the violence is also growing. As the pressure in
Mexico grows, the cartels have expanded the field to include many of
the small Central American republics.

Uruguayan President Jose Mujica has gone a step further. He is
planning to defend his government's marijuana licensing plan in a
speech to the United Nations. You read right. Uruguay. The government
of this small South American nation is preparing itself to being issue
licenses to grow, sell and smoke government- approved pot.

All the while the United States remains the top consumer for marijuana
in the world. Mexico and Central America grow and export the drug.
They provide the dead while American consumers smoke the product.

A recent story in The Washington Post said that important former
government officials in Mexico are saying: "enough." It is
unacceptable for Mexicans to have to put up with the violence while
American consumers enjoy their marijuana highs.

"Two former presidents  Ernest Zedillo and Vicente Fox, who both
vigorously fought drug trafficking and consumption while in office have 
concluded that this approach is doomed and that a better policy
would include decriminalizing marijuana use and commerce," the Post
said in an article written by Fernando Gomez Mont and Jorge G.
Castaneda, the first interior minister in the Vicente Calderon
administration, the second foreign minister for President Fox.

The debate is coming  if it has not started already. In Mexico the
reason is obvious. In the United States, the battle so far is limited
to the states. In Mexico the battle is now centered on the
decriminalization of the drug in Mexico City.

On one side are those who say marijuana is harmless. In Mexico the
proponents of the decriminalization in the nation's capital don't go
that far. What they say is the war on marijuana use would be batter
waged by doctors and not by the military and drug dealers.

The article writers believe the same could be said about consumption
of other drugs, but admit that for practical reasons they have to
limit their fights to the nation's capital and then only to marijuana.

The proponents of these measures, both in Uruguay, Mexico and
domestically, believe consumption of pot recreationally is no worse
that smoking a cigarette or drinking alcohol. They believe prohibition
did not halt the consumption of alcohol and laws making mandatory a
warning that smoking can be hazardous to your health have not stopped
people for drinking or smoking.

I can understand the Mexican position. It makes no sense for thousands
of Mexicans to die so Americans can buy and smoke pot. Even more so
nowthat two states have legalized growing the plant, selling pot and
smoking it.

The advocates say history is on their side. The young are no more
bothered by it than they are by gay marriage. They see these types of
issues as generational and believe in time both will be acceptable
throughout the nation. Let me, however, limit myself to pot. I have
not read the scientific evidence for either side, but I have seen
plenty of people begin by using pot recreationally, then see the
benefits of selling the drug to make their habit more affordable and
then with little notice they graduate to more potent, more dangerous
drugs like cocaine and crack.

Until science can prove that smoking pot is not more dangerous than
drinking or smoking, then I think we should use caution. Let's not
jump on the legalizing pot bandwagon, at least not yet.
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MAP posted-by: Matt