Pubdate: Mon, 06 Jan 2014
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2014 Washington Post Writers Group
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/GXIzebQL
Website: http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Author: Ruth Marcus, Washington Post Writers Group

THE PERILS OF LEGALIZED POT

WASHINGTON  Marijuana legalization may be the same-sex marriage of 
2014  a trend that reveals itself in the course of the year as 
obvious and inexorable. At the risk of exposing myself as the 
fuddy-duddy I seem to have become, I hope not.

This is, I confess, not entirely logical and a tad hypocritical. At 
the risk of exposing myself as not the total fuddy-duddy of my 
children's dismissive imaginings, I have done my share of inhaling, 
though back in the age of bell-bottoms and polyester.

Next time I'm in Colorado, I expect, I'll check out some Bubba Kush. 
Why not? They used to warn about pot being a gateway drug, but the 
only gateway I'm apt to be heading through at this stage is the one to Lipitor.

Still, widespread legalization is a bad idea, if an inevitable 
development. Washington state is the next to light up, in a few 
months. A measure is heading to the ballot in Alaska this year, along 
with measures in Oregon and California. As with gambling  also a bad 
idea, by the way  more states are certain to feel the peer pressure 
for tax dollars and tourist revenue.

I'm not arguing that marijuana is riskier than other already-legal 
substances, namely alcohol and tobacco. Indeed, pot is less 
addictive; an occasional joint strikes me as no worse than an 
occasional drink. If you had a choice of which of the three 
substances to ban, tobacco would have to top the list. Unlike pot and 
alcohol, tobacco has no socially redeeming value; used properly, it 
is a killer.

So the reason to single out marijuana is the simple fact of its 
current (semi-)illegality. On balance, society will not be better off 
with another mind-altering legal substance. In particular, our kids 
will not be better off with another mind-altering legal substance.

As the American Medical Association concluded in recommending against 
legalization last November, "Cannabis is a dangerous drug and as such 
is a public health concern." The association added: "It is the most 
common illicit drug involved in drugged driving, particularly in 
drivers under the age of 21. Early cannabis use is related to later 
substance use disorders."

And this point, for me, is the most convincing: "Heavy cannabis use 
in adolescence causes persistent impairments in neurocognitive 
performance and IQ, and use is associated with increased rates of 
anxiety, mood, and psychotic thought disorders." Please do not argue 
that Colorado's law, like those proposed elsewhere, bans sales to 
those under 21. Hah! I have teenage children. The laws against 
underage drinking represent more challenge to overcome than barrier to access.

The more widely available marijuana becomes, the more minors will use 
it. And it's not as if the kids need encouragement. By the time they 
have graduated from high school, nearly half have tried smoking pot; 
16.5 percent of eighthgraders have.

More alarming, the number who perceive great risk from regular use 
has been plummeting, from 58 percent to 40 percent among 
12th-graders, according to a study funded by the National Institute 
on Drug Abuse.

And for those who trumpet tight controls on sales to minors, a third 
of 12th-graders who live in states with medical marijuana and who 
have used the drug in the past year report that one source is another 
person's prescription. Another 6 percent have their own Rx.

Throwing people in jail for smoking pot is dumb and wasteful. Given 
changing public attitudes  for the first time last year, a majority 
of Americans supported legalization  Colorado and Washington are apt 
to be the vanguard states, not the outliers.

If this doesn't make you nervous, you are smoking something. Maybe even legally.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom