Pubdate: Fri, 23 May 2014
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2014 The Providence Journal Company
Contact:  http://www.projo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352
Author: Nicholas Zaller
Note: Nickolas Zaller is an assistant professor of medicine at Brown 
University Medical School and a board member of Protect Families First.

FOR KIDS AND PARENTS, MARIJUANA PROHIBITION HAS FAILED

For decades marijuana prohibition has been one of the cornerstones of 
our ineffective and costly war on drugs. The sad irony, however, is 
that using criminal law to direct our police officers, prosecutors 
and judges to arrest and punish individuals for marijuana has failed 
to reduce its widespread availability and use.

Despite criminal penalties, daily marijuana use has more than tripled 
among teenagers since the early 1990s. According to an annual survey 
from Columbia University, nearly half of all high school students 
know of someone in their school who sells drugs. Ninety-one percent 
of those teenagers know a peer who sells marijuana. By comparison 
only 1 percent knows of a classmate who sells alcohol.

What this suggests to me is that it is time to think about a 
different strategy regarding marijuana policy in the United States - 
one that may actually have some impact on the ubiquitous availability 
of marijuana among kids.

As a father, I find it deeply troubling that young teens have such 
ready access to the illegal marijuana market. About half of all high 
school seniors use marijuana at some point, and contact with illegal 
marijuana dealers exposes teens to an underground criminal market 
where other more dangerous drugs are available.

Treating marijuana more like alcohol by creating a legal market for 
adults would allow us to separate marijuana from other illegal drugs 
and create more rigorous barriers to teen access, such as 
proof-of-age requirements. We have learned many successful prevention 
strategies for how to keep kids away from harmful substances, but 
criminalization isn't one of them. Rates of tobacco use among 
teenagers, for example, have plummeted in recent decades due to 
successful prevention efforts.

Sadly, though, when it comes to marijuana, our concern for our 
children has been misguided into further hammering home an argument 
that has long been accepted: Drugs are bad for children. Do any of us 
need to read about another research study to conclude anything else? 
We know that there are health risks associated with marijuana use, 
which must be communicated widely and accurately. Negative effects on 
memory, perception and judgment can impact learning and driving 
skills. Repeated heavy use can lead to addiction and, while yet to be 
proven conclusively, heavy persistent use may have long-term effects 
on cognition.

Yet with our continued resistance to fully discussing the repeal of 
marijuana prohibition, opponents of reform seem to equate support for 
a more structured and rigorous control policy for marijuana with a 
denial that marijuana is harmful for young people. The logic of 
concluding that individuals who promote regulation of marijuana are 
suggesting a wholesale endorsement of marijuana use for every child 
in the United States baffles me.

Our current approach of marijuana prohibition undermines public 
health and safety by preventing regulation and allowing an illegal 
industry to thrive. But the fact that marijuana prohibition has 
failed does not mean we have to go for outright, laissez-faire 
legalization. Regulation means severe limitations on advertising, 
oversight of licensed businesses that produce and sell marijuana, 
punishments for those who sell to underage teens, and safety testing 
standards to ensure that users know that their marijuana does not 
contain toxic chemicals or other drugs. Fundamentally, it's about 
control. Both prohibition and laissez-faire legalization prevent us 
from controlling when, where, how and to whom marijuana is sold, but 
strict regulation ensures that we can responsibly control marijuana 
in a way that maximizes benefits and minimizes harms.

The crucial point is that there are far more effective tools than 
criminalization to discourage marijuana use and prevent addiction. 
Why do we continue to invest the bulk of our resources in 
criminalization when there is overwhelming evidence that it doesn't 
work? Do we somehow think that one day the results will be different?

Our resources need to be redirected to responsible regulation, 
credible education about risks, more longitudinal research studies 
that will allow us to more clearly understand the health risks 
associated with different levels of marijuana use, and treatment for 
those who need it. Another key to reducing the harms of marijuana use 
is strengthening community norms that distinguish between responsible 
and problematic use. We need a new public-health-based strategy to 
guide marijuana policy, not a renewal of "reefer madness" scare 
tactics. When we tell our children that they will meet certain doom 
and gloom after using marijuana, and then they try it and do not 
experience immediate consequences, we as adults lose credibility. How 
then will our children listen to us as we try to convey to them the 
very real marijuana-related health consequences? It's time we take a 
new approach to marijuana by responsibly regulating and controlling it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom