Pubdate: Tue, 12 Jan 2016
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2016 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: Dale Guthrie

LEGAL-POT REVENUES WOULD BE DROP IN THE BUCKET FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

In response to Lisa Olson's Saturday My Turn supporting the 
legalization of marijuana. I honor her dedicated service as an 
educator. My grandmother, father and three sisters were all Arizona teachers.

My six children and I are products of Arizona schools. But on this 
issue, Ms. Olson is off the mark.

Our schools need increased funding. However $40 million in revenue 
would result in less than one-half-of-one-percent of the overall $10 
billion school budget in Arizona.

The largest cost to Arizonans will be paid in the future. We know 
from the Colorado experiment that adolescents' use of marijuana 
dramatically increased soon after the referendum passed.

We now have excellent research in youth which shows with increased 
use comes a higher incidence of psychosis, long-term adult addiction, 
an increase in the use of other illegal substances and decreasing 
odds of high-school completion.

But the most dramatic of all the science shows an average loss of 6 
IQ points with persistent use.

As a practicing pediatrician in Arizona for over 27 years, I am 
worried about these dangers to our children.

Dale Guthrie M.D., Mesa The writer is past president of the Arizona 
Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom