Pubdate: Sat, 13 Jul 2002
Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
Copyright: 2002 The Des Moines Register.
Contact: http://DesMoinesRegister.com/help/letter.html
Website: http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123
Author: Lee Rood

RELAXED ATTITUDES TOWARD MARIJUANA WORRY COURT OFFICER

Ed Nahas decided he had no choice but to recommend criminal charges against 
the young pot smoker after he asked a few questions this week.

"When was the last time you used?" the juvenile court intake officer asked.

"Yesterday," the Des Moines 15-year-old answered, exemplifying a casual 
attitude toward marijuana use that troubles Nahas and other authorities.

The boy's mother, still reeling from the teen's May 10 arrest, looked 
stunned, Nahas said.

"I use every day," he recalls the boy saying. "When I get out of high 
school, I plan to move to a country where it's legal, and I plan to smoke 
it every day."

The teen can add England to his list of safe places to smoke a reefer. 
Earlier this week, Great Britain joined a handful of other European 
countries to ease criminal penalties for marijuana use.

Although it's unlikely the United States will follow suit anytime soon, 
Nahas and local drug counselors say they have seen a shift in attitudes 
toward those in Europe. While many people still believe marijuana should 
remain illegal, they also have become more ambivalent about its widespread 
use and availability, Nahas said.

"The attitude is definitely more lenient," said the 25-year veteran of the 
juvenile court system. "Kids and parents do not take experimentation and 
use as seriously as they should."

That two promising University of Iowa athletes - football player Derreck 
Robinson and basketball player Sean Sonderleiter - were charged last week 
for pot possession is hardly surprising, just disappointing, drug 
counselors say.

Pot has long been America's classless, smokable drug of choice, second only 
to alcohol in usage. Authorities say arrests for marijuana dealing and 
possession remain relatively steady, even as new drugs rise and fade in 
popularity. When last surveyed in 1999, roughly 17 percent of youths 
nationally in sixth, eighth and 11th grades reported they had used pot at 
least once.

In Polk County, Nahas sees a steady 20 or so youths a month on 
marijuana-related offenses, only half of whom are formally charged.

"We're a little more lenient with pot than we are with methamphetamine or 
cocaine," he said. "I don't care if you're an A student, we're not going to 
give you a break if you get caught with those drugs."

Drug agents say the content of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is 
considerably higher today than in the 1960s and "70s, but the problems it 
produces still pale to other, harder drugs.

That's one reason British officials said they wanted to downgrade 
marijuana. Those who smoke and possess small amounts of pot will be 
ticketed instead of arrested under plans announced this week by government 
officials.

"The message to young people and families must be open, honest and 
believable," Home Secretary David Blunkett said in outlining the plan to 
the House of Commons. "Cannabis is a potentially harmful drug and should 
remain illegal. However, it is not comparable with crack, heroin and ecstasy."

Through much of this week, groups in America such as the National 
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws have praised the British 
policy shift, calling Britain's reclassification of cannabis "an honest and 
common-sense approach to refocus drug policy on those substances that cause 
the most harm."

Several European countries already have relaxed their drug laws for similar 
reasons. The Netherlands has legalized marijuana, while Luxembourg has 
ended jail sentences for marijuana possession. Spain and Italy do not jail 
people caught with drugs meant for personal use. Last year, Portugal 
adopted a law eliminating jail time for possession of small amounts of any 
illegal drug, according to The Associated Press.

In the United States, marijuana use is approved only for certain medicinal 
purposes.

Jesse Villalobos, a Des Moines human rights worker, said that regardless of 
one's view about marijuana, prison overcrowding, and the disproportion of 
minorities and poor people behind bars demand that policy-makers in this 
country take a closer look at alternative sentencing.

"People continue to be prosecuted for nonviolent crimes as opposed to the 
real criminals," said Villalobos, a regional program director for the 
National Conference for Community and Justice.

Many in law enforcement and politics, however, still believe America's war 
against drugs, including pot, should continue.

"Regardless of whether it's a losing battle, and, no, I don't think it is, 
I think it is a battle we need to continue to fight," Des Moines police 
Sgt. Bruce Elrod said. "The last thing I would want is for kids to think we 
don't care about what they do with drugs."

As for changing drug laws, he added: "Wherever we draw the line in the 
sand, people walk right up to that line."

Bert DuChene agrees. A daily pot smoker in high school, the 29-year- old 
Des Moines tattoo artist said softening drug laws is not the answer.

"Everyone I know smokes pot and they're so nonchalant about it," said 
DuChene, who no longer uses the drug. "My friends will try to argue that 
alcohol is so much worse . . . but several of them are just throwing their 
lives away."

Many parents fail to recognize the lost potential of youths who become 
regular dope smokers, said Janice Lane, director of Cornerstone Recovery, a 
youth treatment program run by Children and Families of Iowa.

"We see a lot of bright, I'm talking talented kids, and their motivation 
and commitment level just isn't there," she said. "Yet, the parents seem to 
think it's no big deal. . . . Kids create their history every day, but once 
you get those drugs in there, that all stops."
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