Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jun 2014
Source: Day, The (New London,CT)
Copyright: 2014 The Day Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.theday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/293
Author: Judy Benson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MARIJUANA-WARY: 'WE NEED TO STOP THIS TRAIN'

Where Pot Has Been Legalized, Group Warns of Tactics Formerly Used by 
Big Tobacco

New London - Calling on his audience to help "stop the next public 
health crisis from happening," Kevin Sabet, former senior drug policy 
adviser to the White House, said corporate interests are funding the 
push for legalization of marijuana, and that public misinformation 
and the assumption that there's no stopping the momentum for 
legalizing pot are playing into the quest by "Big Marijuana" to reap 
huge profits from this new market.

"That attitude of inevitability is the worst thing you could have 
right now," said Sabet, who formerly worked for the administrations 
of presidents George W.  Bush and Barack Obama before leaving in 2011 
to help found SAM, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, with former 
U.S.  Rep.  Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.  "We need to stop this 
train before it leaves the station.  We have a chance now to stop a 
third legal drug" that would compound the toll alcohol and tobacco 
are already taking on society.

Sabet, assistant professor in the University of Florida Department of 
Psychiatry and author of "Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths about 
Marijuana," spoke to about 100 public health, social service and 
education professionals Tuesday at Connecticut College.  Ledge Light 
Health District, the public health agency for five area towns, 
sponsored the event.

The talk came as the state's first medical marijuana dispensaries 
prepare to open this summer, the result of a 2012 law, and Colorado 
and Washington's recent legalization of marijuana for recreational 
use.  Sabet said there is ample evidence from Colorado that 
legalization was a mistake - Washington state's law has not yet taken 
effect - and that Connecticut and other states that could see 
lobbying by pro-marijuana groups in the future should take heed.

"In Colorado and Washington, they were up against three or four 
billionaires who invested $250 million" in pursuing their agenda, he 
said.  Comparing those interests to "Big Tobacco" - which he contends 
also wants to expand into the legal marijuana industry - he said the 
marijuana industry is targeting children and teens with edible 
products such as "Pot Tarts," "Ring Pots" and coupons for pot 
products with colorful packaging designed to appeal to youth.

"Do you think monkey skeleton grape soda with the marijuana leaf on 
the label is for your 85-year-old grandmother with cancer?" Sabet 
asked, showing a slide of the product.  "My favorite coupon is one 
for $1 off the purchase of your favorite joint if you show your ski pass."

The intent, he said, mirrors the tobacco industry's once-secret 
campaign aimed at youth, attempting to get teens addicted to 
marijuana and make them lifelong customers.  Contrary to popular 
misconceptions, he said, one in six teens and one in 10 adult pot 
users become addicted.

Sabet gave statistics showing an increase since legalization in 
Colorado of emergency room visits by children poisoned after eating 
pot-laced cookies and candy bars, an increase in traffic fatalities 
involving marijuana, more people seeking hospital treatment for 
marijuana addiction and a 30 percent increase since 2013 in workers 
testing positive for THC, the psychoactive active ingredient in 
marijuana, in Colorado Springs.  He added that medical marijuana has 
been legal in that state for several years, and that 74 percent of 
Denver-area teens have reported using someone else's medical 
marijuana half the time they have gotten high.  Connecticut, he 
added, should monitor its medical marijuana supply carefully to 
prevent diversion.

"The image of the marijuana user as a lazy hippy or a stoner on the 
couch has been changed to a dying 80- year-old," he said, but that 
profile fits less that 2 percent of medical marijuana seekers.  In 
actuality, he said, the experience in states where medical marijuana 
is legal show it has been going to "anybody with a pulse and a 
headache who's over 18."

Sabet opened his talk by emphasizing that the marijuana available 
today is much more potent than the marijuana many in the baby boomer 
generation smoked, the result of genetic modification that sharply 
increased the THC content.  It is also now being consumed through 
methods such as "dabbing" that further concentrates THC.

"The marijuana grown now is five times stronger than it was in 1960," he said.

He cited studies showing regular marijuana use decreases IQs and is 
linked to increased risk for developing schizophrenia, psychosis, 
depression and anxiety.

His group advocates research be put toward isolating the medicinal 
properties of marijuana and developing safe pharmaceuticals that can 
be given at specific doses by prescription, citing the drug Marinol, 
an oral mouth spray for cancer pain and multiple sclerosis 
symptoms.  Marinol, a synthetic form of THC that "doesn't get you 
high," is legal in Canada and Europe.

"Marijuana has medicinal properties, but you don't need to smoke it 
to get those properties," he said.  "Your doctor doesn't tell you to 
smoke opium to derive the benefits of morphine."

Sabet also sought to debunk misconceptions that legalizing marijuana 
would help reform the judicial system - fewer than 1 percent of those 
in prison are there solely for marijuana-related convictions - or 
that it would return significant sums of money to the legal economy 
that has been going to the black market.  Drug cartels, he said, make 
most of their money from extortion, heroine, cocaine and human 
trafficking and little from pot sales, he said, and street-level drug 
dealers in Colorado say legalization has actually helped their 
marijuana sales because demand has increased, and they can undercut 
the high prices being charged at the retail outlets.

SAM, founded 18 months ago, is trying to foster an "adult 
conversation" about marijuana that gets beyond the polarized debates 
that allow for only two alternatives, legalization or incarceration, 
Sabet said.

"We started this because we want to force people to think about this 
issue in a more nuanced way, in a way that doesn't fit on a bumper 
sticker," he said.

SAM has affiliates in 22 states, including Connecticut and Rhode 
Island.  John Daviau, president of the Connecticut Association of 
Prevention Practitioners, which is serving as this state's chapter, 
said his group is hoping for some revisions to the medical marijuana 
law, but is also gearing up for a future debate on legalization.  He 
said Connecticut is considered a "second-tier state" by legalization 
proponents, but he expects "Big Marijuana" interests may start 
lobbying the state after the gubernatorial election in November.

"This is about how these laws are going to affect our kids," he said. 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom