Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jul 2015 Source: Marin Independent Journal (CA) Copyright: 2015 Marin Independent Journal Contact: http://www.marinij.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/673 Authors: Charles M. Collins, Don Carney, Jennifer Puckett Note: Charles M. Collins is president and CEO of YMCA of San Francisco, Don Carney is director YMCA Marin County Youth Court and Jennifer Puckett is coordinator YMCA Marin County Youth Court. LEGALIZING MARIJUANA IS BAD POLICY FOR YOUTHS It's pretty easy to get your hands on marijuana in Marin County high schools and middle schools. Sounds like a problem, right? But maybe we can fix it. How about we make it even easier for youth to get, but we raise money for programs to help them once they become dependent? Or we smoke it in front of them and tell them they shouldn't, because telling a teenager to "just say no" usually works for them, right? If this reasoning makes sense to you, then you'll be happy that Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom's Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy agrees with you. The commission concludes that since youth can already easily get pot, we should legalize it, and then spend a portion of the taxes to help youth who become dependent on the drug. There is nothing new in the commission's plan to limit youth access. It's a fact that more kids will experiment with marijuana and the age of first use will drop with legalization. In sharp contrast to the commission's belief is research in the field of prevention science. It's proven that limiting access protects youth. Adults who work with youth are consistently seeking ways to limit availability of alcohol; the same should be done for marijuana. But marijuana is harmless, right? It helps people with cancer, right? It's great for stress relief, right? What about the increase in potency? Does that make marijuana more dangerous? Colorado hospital admissions data documents the disastrous impact of increased potency.High grade pot will increase the number of youth who experience the onset of schizophrenia due to the substance by 100 percent. There are studies showing the possibility that early marijuana use might cause a dramatic and permanent drop in IQ points. Do you want to take that chance with your child's brain? Should this generation of students be our experimental guinea pigs? What about an eighth grader who tells us that he smokes before school every day, he tried to quit, but started again because he just never felt like himself. Do you want to tell him it's not dangerous? That it isn't addictive? That limiting his access is not necessary? What about the girl in his class who abstains because it's illegal, but she watches her friend's mom have a smoke after dinner and thinks that doesn't look too bad? But don't lament, once its legal we will have funding to help these kids. There is an alternative to legalization that still addresses adult needs, stops over-burdening our criminal justice system, and allows for advances in the study of marijuana for medical use. We can decriminalize instead of legalize. Decriminalization mitigates the legal damages without normalizing use and prevents big corporations from taking over of the marijuana market. We saw what happened with the tobacco industry, do we really want to create another corporate monster? We do not need a tax generated by legalization to address issues of marijuana use in our schools. The YMCA Marin County Youth Court in collaboration with the Novato Unified School District, Healthy Novato Initiative and the Novato Blue Ribbon Coalition for Youth have successfully worked together to reduce 11th grade 30 day use of alcohol and marijuana by 10 percentage points in only two years. The war on drugs and zero-tolerance school policies provided disastrous results. Legalization of marijuana will not rectify the damage caused by these failed policies. We need to have a serious discussion about the future of our youth and develop strong public health strategies that address marijuana's impact on the developing brains of young people. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom