Pubdate: Sun, 23 Mar 2014
Source: Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY)
Copyright: 2014 Hudson Valley Media Group
Contact: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=READER08
Website: http://www.recordonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2544
Author: Steve Israel
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?233 (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition)

FEWER WOULD HAVE A CRIMINAL RECORD IF POT IS LEGALIZED

The eventual legalization of marijuana may seem inevitable. But that 
doesn't mean advocates on both sides of the issue have stopped 
fighting for and against it.

Those who oppose legalization see the increased use and acceptance of 
marijuana by young people as the primary reason it shouldn't be 
legalized. After all, in Colorado it's available in kids' candies 
like gummy worms, which can't legally be sold or consumed by anyone under 18.

"What you have is an incredible drop in the perception of young 
people who see marijuana as bad," says Ben Cort, a recovering drug 
addict who led the fight against legalization in Colorado and is now 
a director of the Colorado Center for Addiction, Dependency and 
Rehabilitation in Aurora, Colo. He cites a recent study that says 
less than 40 percent of all young people in Colorado see marijuana as 
a bad thing.

"It's legal and it's cool," is how they view it, Cort says.

Plus, the chances of a child under 18 getting addicted to pot are 
much greater than someone over 18, says Cort - 1 in 6, versus 1 in 11.

He uses this simple bit of logic to illustrate the dangers of legalization:

"If you have more people in the state getting high, you will have 
more addicts," he says, although Cort does stress that "the majority 
of people using it won't end up as addicts."

Greater cost to society

But the cost to society is much greater if marijuana isn't legalized, 
says a legalization advocate, retired New York City Police Department 
Detective Joanne Naughton, who worked undercover in narcotics. "You 
have a drug addiction, you can recover," says Naughton, a speaker for 
LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) who recently spoke at SUNY 
New Paltz, where a second offense for marijuana can result in 
expulsion. She advocates for "legalization, regulation and taxation." 
"You have a conviction, it's for life."

As for the legalization of marijuana meaning more kids who think it's 
cool to get high? "I say a kid can already get it easily whenever he 
wants to," she says. "But no one on the street is going to card you 
and ask you how old you are."

Plus, with more tax money for education, marijuana use among young 
people could actually decrease, she says, citing statistics for tobacco use.

"In 1965, 40 percent of American smoked. Today (with more education), 
it's 18 percent," she says. "And if we regulate it and license people 
who sell it, they will have an interest not to sell it to kids."

Whatever side you take in the marijuana debate, one thing seems 
certain: the march toward legalization is gaining momentum, in part 
because of its acceptance by politicians who write the laws, says 
Gerald Benjamin, Associate Vice President for Regional Engagement and 
Director of the Center for Research, Regional Education and Outreach 
at SUNY New Paltz.

He points out that legislators across the country are now taking 
stances to legalize marijuana by law - not just through popular referendums.

"It's evidence of politicians becoming more comfortable with it," he says.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom