NEWSHAWK: Chris Clay  London Free Press 
CONTACT:  
PUBDATE: June 14, 1997

LEGALIZING POT IS A BAD IDEA

There are many reasons marijuana remains unlawful, not the least of which
are health concerns.

By Karl N. Burden (The writer is the chief executive officer of Concerns,
Canada, a nonprofit organization specializing in substance abuse.)

The battle cry of the drug legalization lobby is: Take the profit out of
the illicit drug trade, that will solve all our problems.  It seems a
reasonable argument, until we look at the havoc caused by the two drugs
we've already legalized, alcohol and tobacco.

Tobacco kills 35,000 Canadians every year, alcohol 19,000.

Since alcohol sales were legalized at the end of prohibition, both
percapita consumption and profits associated with its manufacture have
soared.  Did legalizing alcohol stop illegal activities? The Liquor Control
Board of Ontario recently stated: "smuggling and bootlegging are not new
phenomena but, except for the Prohibition era of the 1930's, they have
never been as widespread as they are today."

We've made major mistakes with tobacco and alcohol, why should we do the
same with marijuana? As a child I was taught that two wrongs don't make a
right. Such wisdom seems applicable here.

Society will be different if we legalize marijuana or other "street" drugs.

Consider the implications of legalizing marijuana, Canada's third most
popular drug.  Almost immediately the tobacco industry will expand into a
new product line.  This will lead to slick advertising designed to increase
sales, and brand preference.

Removing its "illegal" status will send a strong message to our youth that
marijuana is not dangerous.  How dangerous is marijuana? It produces 50 per
cent more tar than the strongest tobacco brands, tar that contains in
excess of 150 complex hydrocarbons, including carcinogens such as
benzoapyrene.  According to the Ontario Addiction Research Foundation,
benzoapyrene retained in the lungs from one "joint" is equivalent to five
tobacco cigarettes.  Thus, two or three cannabis joints a day carry the
same risk of lung damage as a pack of tobacco cigarettes.

But that's only the beginning.  THC, the active ingredient in marijuana
which produces the high, is fat soluble.  Smoking pot just on weekends
nevertheless causes a build up of THC in the fatty tissues of the body,
particularly the brain. 

As a specialeducation teacher in the late '70's, I was charged with the
impossible task of teaching teens suffering from shortterm memory loss
because of their cannabis use.  Even simple instructions were forgotten
moments after they were given.  Many chronic users in their mid 20's are
physically developed, but mentally and psychologically, they are still in
their early teens.

Scientists at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, have demonstrated
that marijuana impairs cognitive functions and may cause irreversible
memory problems.  They found that both the speed with which information is
processed and the ability to concentrate are impaired, factors which spell
disaster for adolescents preparing for their future careers.

STRONG DRUG: Few people realize what has happened with the strength of the
marijuana.  Pot is anything but a soft drug.

Safety on our roads and highways is a major concern, especially for youth.
A research team led by psychiatrist Jerome Yesavage found the skill of
aircraft pilots impaired a full 24 hours after smoking a single joint.

Those who believe we need to legalize marijuana because of its medical
benefits should read the report from the International Drug Strategy
Institute prepared by Eric A. Voth, M.D.  Voth concludes: "Under the false
and dangerous claim that smoking marijuana offers significant benefits to
those suffering from a variety of tragic ailments, the drug culture seeks
to use bogus medical applications of smoked marijuana to gain public
acceptance."

Psychiatrist Robert Dupont, founder of the National Institute on Drug Abuse
in the U.S., reversed his position on drug decriminalization in the early
'80's.  Dupont is today one of the strongest voices in opposition to the
prolegalization lobby.

Many prominent Canadian and U.S. educators, doctors and addiction workers
believe legalizing drugs would make harmful, psychoactive and addictive
substances affordable, available and marketable.

The violence associated with the illegal importation of cigarettes into
Canada is proof that legalizing other drugs would not eliminate illegal
trafficking nor reduce the violence associated with it.

But most important of all, legalizing drugs would remove the social stigma
attached to illegal drug use.  It would make our young people think it's
okay to use them.  And nothing could be farther from the truth.

 

Beside the article, the sidebar reads:

DEADLY DRUG

* .5 per cent was the average strength in analysis by Health Canada of
drugs seized by police in 1975

* 4.2 per cent is the average strength in 1993

* 23.7 per cent is the highest strength analyzed

* 38 per cent of blood samples taken from 1,441 impaired or dead drivers
across Canada contained marijuana

* 45 per cent of reckless drivers believed to be impaired by alcohol found
tested positive for marijuana, according to a roadside study in the New
England Journal of Medicine