Pubdate: Sun, 04 Mar 2001
Source: Deseret News (UT)
Copyright: 2001 Deseret News Publishing Corp.
Section: Viewpoint, Page AA05
Contact:  30 East 100 South., P.O. Box 1257, Salt Lake City, UT 84110
Website: http://www.desnews.com/
Author: Deroy Murdock, Scripps Howard News Service
Cited: Lindesmith Center -- Drug Policy Foundation  http://www.drugpolicy.org/
Lester Grinspoon http://www.rxmarihuana.com/

GOVERNMENT'S POLICY ON DRUG USE STINKS

The deli at one end of my block in Manhattan sells Budweiser, Guinness
and 23 other brands of beer. It also offers three varieties of cigars
and 30 brands of cigarettes. Adults legally can buy these
mind-altering items.

A pharmacy fills the other corner. I recently asked its druggist how
many psychoactive substances she sells. She handed me product
information leaflets for 27 pharmaceuticals. Xanax helps people
"feeling keyed up or on edge." Wellbutrin eases "feelings of guilt or
worthlessness." Ritalin wrestles hyperactivity despite the difficulty,
she says, that kids suffer getting off of it. This pharmacy even
carries morphine, a potent opiate sedative. With a doctor's blessing,
these items could be legally yours.

And yet, geographically bracketed by Molson and morphine, any resident
of my apartment building who merely possessed a marijuana cigarette
would be a criminal subject to arrest.

This is absurd. Ethan Nadelman of the Lindesmith Center -- Drug Policy
Foundation, www.lindesmith.org, calls this government discrimination
among substances "the War on Some Drugs."

Nadelman last week addressed Altered States of Consciousness, a New
School University conference on alternatives to today's disastrous
drug policy. Participating scholars and analysts recognized that,
since antiquity, humans have used fluids, herbs and powders to expand
their minds, for everything from sacrament to amusement.

"Some people use drugs for serious reasons," says Lester Grinspoon, a
Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor. "People see marijuana as
an enhancer of creativity, as an enhancer of sexual activity and even
eating. It's not just for fun." And yet as Viagra sales boom, cops
bust those who use marijuana or ecstasy as aphrodisiacs.

Beloved and distinguished artists have used drugs to boost
expressiveness. Among many things, jazz legend Louis Armstrong is
remembered for smoking marijuana almost daily throughout his
influential career. Marijuana and LSD filled the Beatles' skies with
diamonds. Several huge hits they produced while so inspired appear on
their album, "1," currently Earth's top-selling title.

Many cannot handle their drugs, of course. Addiction killed guitar
virtuoso Jerry Garcia and be-bop innovator Charlie Parker, among others.

Nonetheless, other potentially lethal activities remain perfectly
legal.

NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt Sr. last month fatally plowed into a
concrete wall at 180 mph, widowing his wife and aggrieving his four
children and millions of racing fans. The lawbreakers in this tragedy,
however, were those who saw the crash on TV while stoned.

Three other NASCAR drivers died competing last year. Non-professional
athletes have died, too. According to the Centers for Disease Control,
parachuting killed 38 Americans in 1998, while diving into pools
caused 57 deaths. That year, 142 bicyclists died in
non-traffic-related mishaps. Pleasure boating accidents took 729 lives
in 1999. How dare government permit such carnage?

Though less dramatic, there were 19,515 non-traffic, alcohol-related,
fatalities in 1998, even as Alcoholics Anonymous treated roughly 2
million problem drinkers. Meanwhile, the brewing industry alone
legally sold $60 billion worth of beer that year. Tobacco-related
diseases lawfully kill some 430,000 Americans annually.

What about illegal drugs? Opiate abuse killed 3,141 in 1998, CDC
reports. Psychostimulants ended 166 lives while hallucinogens caused
three deaths.

Mortality aside, America legally encourages other addictive
activities. Thirty-seven state governments operate lotteries while
Gamblers Anonymous helps 25,000 Americans beat compulsive betting.
Overeaters Anonymous and Debtors Anonymous assist people who cannot
stop dining and spending. Why no War on Wendy's? Why no Debt Czar to
cut up maxed-out credit cards?

"The reasons people use drugs are as varied as there are individuals,"
says the Lindesmith Center's Deborah Small. "Some do it for
self-medication. Some for enlightenment and others because they want
to have fun."

America needs a wholesale attitude adjustment on this matter.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake