Pubdate: Sat, 29 Mar 2014
Source: Patriot Ledger, The  (Quincy, MA)
Copyright: 2014 GateHouse Media, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.patriotledger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1619
Author: Steve Israel

PROS AND CONS OF ALLOWING SALE AND USE OF MARIJUANA

Supporters of legalizing marijuana cite dramatically higher public
support, but opponents warn that there are consequences that should
make states think twice about bringing the drug out from the underground.

Ben Cort, a recovering drug addict, and Joanne Naughton, a retired New
York City police detective, comer down on opposite sides of the debate
over legalizing marijuana. Colorado Center for Addiction, Dependency
and Rehabilitation; John Meore, for the Middletown (N.Y.) Times
Record-HeraldBen Cort, a recovering drug addict, and Joanne Naughton,
a retired New York City police detective, comer down on opposite sides
of the debate over legalizing marijuana.

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 young people view marijuana, 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, vs. 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 stresses that "the majority of people
using it won't end up as addicts."

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 Law Enforcement Against Prohibition who 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 Americans 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."
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