Pubdate: Thu, 18 Jun 2015
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2015 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Ej Montini

PROSECUTOR FIDDLES WITH THE FACTS ON MARIJUANA DEATHS

If you happened to read a guest column in Tuesday's Arizona Republic 
by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk ("Safe pot? Tell that to the 
62 kids who died") you might have come away believing marijuana use 
killed 62 kids in Arizona in 2013. Polk has no real proof of that, of 
course, hedging her bet with the word "associated." All her essay 
proves is that Polk wants to be like ... me.

The Yavapai prosecutor is serving as vice chairman of Arizonans for 
Responsible Drug Policy and is doing everything she can to make the 
case against marijuana legalization. She's not making that argument 
in a hall of justice, however, but in the court of public opinion, 
where (as I well know) a bland set of facts can be made palatable 
with a heaping helping of spiced baloney.

In her essay, for example, Polk writes, "In 2013, marijuana use was 
associated with the tragic and needless deaths of 62 children in Arizona."

Wow. That's a pretty startling figure. I mean, if marijuana killed 62 
kids don't you think that might have made, you know, the news? Here's 
the deal. Polk uses as a reference a report by the Arizona Child 
Fatality Review Program. The report notes that 811 children under 18 
died in Arizona in 2013. How they died is then broken down. 
Mistreatment. Prematurity. Drowning. Firearms. Motor Vehicles. And so 
on. The report also notes the number of deaths that had some relation to drugs.

It says, "The CFR program defines substance use as associated with a 
child's death if the child, the child's parent, caretaker and/or if 
the person responsible for the death, during or about the time of the 
incident leading to the death, used or abused substances, including 
illegal drugs, prescription drugs, and/or alcohol."

So, it's not necessarily the child who is using drugs. And it's often 
a combination of substances. That's why Polk says marijuana is 
"associated" with 62 deaths. What does "associated" mean?

According to the report, "Although substance use is a known risk 
factor in child fatalities, it is important to remember the term 
associated is used because it is not always clear if or how the 
substance use had a direct or contributing effect on the fatality incident."

So, maybe the drug contributed, maybe it didn't. Not the kind of 
evidence Polk would present in a courtroom. The report adds, 
"Although there was a rise in associated marijuana use over alcohol 
in 2013, this may not be indicative of a new trend as the reported 
percentages of these two substances fluctuate from year to year. It 
was also usually a combination of some of these substances and not 
just one, which played a part in the fatality incident."

What? We can't totally trust the numbers? Polk concludes her essay, 
"It is unconscionable to experiment with legalization on Arizona's 
youth. Those 62 children whose lives were snuffed out in 2013 would 
certainly agree."

So, not only can those who are opposed to legalization fiddle with 
the facts, they can also speak for the dead?

And here I thought it was stoners who were supposed to lose touch with reality.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom