The epidemic of drug addiction and overdoses gripping Vermont, and our country at large, cries out for reform. We must change the perception that jail is an effective treatment for the disease of drug addiction, and give mental health issues the attention and funding they deserve, an opinion I know many Vermonters share. But the legalization and commercialization of another addictive drug - - marijuana - is precisely the wrong way to address this critical problem. Legalization has nothing to do with whether we lock up pot users, and everything to do with making money. [continues 707 words]
Last week, President Obama announced a multipronged effort to address the epidemic of addiction to prescription opiate painkillers in this country. This is long overdue and, unfortunately, like most action on addiction and mental illness, comes after the problem has reached Stage 4 - and is that much harder to treat - when it could have been diagnosed and treated at Stage 1, or perhaps even prevented altogether. I bring a unique perspective to this issue, one I would prefer I did not have. For 10 years, I sat on the House Appropriations Committee, overseeing every federal agency charged with addressing this subject. And during much of that time, I was addicted to prescription opiate painkillers myself. [continues 858 words]
To the Editor: Re "The Perils of Smokeless Tobacco" (editorial, April 23) and "It's Time to Regulate E-Cigarettes," by David A. Kessler and Matthew L. Myers (Op-Ed, April 23): We applaud your editorial and Op-Ed essay for highlighting the rise in electronic cigarette use among high school students and for condemning the tobacco industry for aggressively targeting kids. Unfortunately, the noxious tactics of Big Tobacco - flavored products, colorful packaging, kid-friendly advertising - are not limited to the marketing of e-cigarettes. They also characterize the commercialization of marijuana in states like Colorado, where pot has been legalized. Attempts to ban edible marijuana products that target youth, such as "Pot Tarts" or "Pot Lollipops," have been met with fierce opposition from a burgeoning marijuana industry eager to hook kids early, and ensure a steady stream of future profits. [continues 95 words]
To the Editor: By focusing on changes in California marijuana use since 1996, and then citing a controversial study called into question by some leading think tanks and experts in marijuana policy, "Few Problems With Cannabis for California" (front page, Oct. 27) does not reflect the growing reality of marijuana as a public health and safety threat in that state. First, the important year to look at in California isn't when the medical marijuana initiative passed - 1996 - but rather when it was implemented in the form of "dispensaries," around 2004. And since then there has been a rise in marijuana use and marketing. [continues 177 words]
In Congress, I voted many times to allow access to medical marijuana. Those votes reflected my early, uneducated views. I never looked too closely -- I didn't realize "medical marijuana" was the Trojan horse for legalization. When I woke up after the 2012 election, two states had voted to legalize marijuana. That day I also "woke up" to how naive I had been. I should have realized, without the facts, and without public policy experts, you wind up with a vacuum where anecdote and opinion become public policy. [continues 659 words]
To the Editor: Re "Racially Biased Arrests for Pot" (editorial, June 16): By focusing on the racial disparity of marijuana arrests, and then citing growing public support for full legalization of the drug, your editorial was shortsighted. For one, racial disparity can be found across numerous violations - not just those involving drugs. Second, legalization would exacerbate, not reduce, racial disparities in both our criminal justice and health care systems. We can expect the legal marijuana industry to target minorities in the same way the alcohol and tobacco industries do today. There are eight times as many liquor stores in poor communities of color versus upper-class white areas. Additionally, even though they use drugs at roughly the same rate as whites, African-Americans are more likely to need treatment because of reduced access to health care and social supports. Communities of color will bear the brunt of marijuana legalization. [continues 63 words]
Colorado residents are holding their breath for President Obama's announcement regarding recently passed measures legalizing marijuana. Whatever the decision is, it is sure not to end the debate about marijuana, especially since some Colorado counties are banning marijuana operations already. And marijuana use and sales remain illegal under federal law. Sadly, this debate has been mainly confined to two very simplistic notions of policy: incarceration and legalization. These words have dominated the marijuana policy discussion over the past decade. And they are both wrong. They represent a false dichotomy that overlooks more complex and promising solutions in favor of simplistic and risky ones. [continues 584 words]
The Queen Elizabeth Raiders senior boys rugby team is facing disciplinary action from the ruling body of provincial high school athletics. Moreover, a possible one-year probation period could apply to all Raider teams -- a fate the school will learn later this week. Tomorrow, the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association's board of reference-sanctions will meet to decide what penalty, if any, is warranted for QE's default of its last game at the recent OFSAA double-A championship tournament in Belleville. [continues 681 words]
