Pubdate: Fri, 24 Feb 2006
Source: Amesbury News (Amesbury, MA)
Copyright: 2006 Community Newspapers Inc
Contact:  http://www2.townonline.com/amesbury/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3717
Author:  Rick Holmes, Guest Columnist
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Note: Rick Holmes is editorial page editor of the MetroWest Daily 
News and this column appeared originally in that paper on Sun, 19 Feb 2006.

SITTING IN: 40 YEARS OF REEFER MADNESS

Save us from politicians sending messages.

They were at it again last week, debating a bill  that would provide 
civil fines, instead of criminal records, for those 
caught  possessing small amounts of marijuana.

"That's the wrong message to send to our kids,"   Attorney General 
Tom Reilly said. "We have to keep them out of drugs."

State Rep. Karyn Polito, R-Shrewsbury, agreed,  saying the bill 
"sends the wrong message."

Let's get real: Politicians don't send messages,  especially to kids, 
who couldn't name their state representative if their iPods depended 
on it. For 40 years, politicians have been "sending messages" to 
kids  about the dangers of pot and for 40 years, the kids have been 
ignoring them.

State legislators and attorneys general don't send  messages; they 
pass laws and prosecute people caught breaking them. The law they 
have now says they can send you to prison for six months and fine you 
$500 for  possession of a single joint -- on top of your lawyer's 
fees, of course.

Another law makes anyone convicted of marijuana  possession 
ineligible for federal college loans or grants. Nice message they are 
sending: Anyone who smokes pot shouldn't be able to go to college.

Reilly is worried about sending messages to kids,  but the law he 
supports applies to adults as well. A federal study released last 
year found that 12 percent of adults in the greater Boston area had 
smoked  marijuana in the previous month. Twelve percent broke the law 
by choosing this  relatively benign alternative to a cocktail.

What message are the politicians sending to  millions of adults? That 
they can't decide for themselves which mild intoxicant  to enjoy. 
That their government believes they must be treated like children -- 
or  criminals.

The adults aren't listening to the politicians' message any more than 
the kids are. Some of them have been laughing at "reefer 
madness"  propaganda for 40 years, and the passage of time hasn't 
made it any  more convincing.

In fact, the aging of the baby boomers has given  science its first 
opportunity to measure the impact of long-term drug use. In a  recent 
review of the research, Time magazine reported that, while cocaine 
and heroin are as dangerous as originally thought, the so-called 
demon weed turned  out to be a lot less devilish than advertised.

"The popular image of the goofy, smoky slacker  notwithstanding, a 
2003 study in the Journal of the International  Neuropsychological 
Society found that even among regular users, there is no  proof that 
pot causes irreversible cognitive damage," Time writes.

Long-term use can affect memory, but those effects  fade if the user 
stops. Marijuana can be addictive for some, says psychologist  Peter 
Provet, president of Odyssey House. "But a lot of people who use pot 
don't  become addicts."

Forty years doesn't seem to have changed the  politics of drug laws. 
State legislators all seem to have this Nixon-era belief  that if 
they support any marijuana reform bill the voters will decide they 
are  hippies and the narcs will search their sock drawers.

But the voters are way ahead of them. Over the last  five years, 
voters in 26 Massachusetts districts have been asked in ballot 
questions whether they support a reform bill similar to the one now 
before the  Legislature. In every case, voters supported the reforms 
by a healthy margin.

The legislators in those communities typically  declare that they 
will ignore the wishes of the voters in their districts.  Something 
about sending a message, if I recall. Rep. Jim Vallee, D-Franklin, 
who was chairman of the criminal justice committee when his district 
supported  reform, said it probably didn't have the votes to pass, so 
he wouldn't allow his  committee to consider it.

But something has changed. Vallee's criminal  justice committee was 
eliminated and a new committee on mental health and  substance abuse 
was created. The new committee is concerned with getting  effective 
treatment to people who are addicted and ill. It approaches substance 
abuse as an issue of public health, not public morality. It's more 
interested in  helping people than in sending messages by locking them up.

That committee last week endorsed the  decriminalization bill, but 
given the wimpishness of the other legislators, it  may go no further.

Even this bill, which would change the penalty for  possession of 
less than an ounce of marijuana to a $250 fine, is a weak  compromise 
with common sense.

The common sense approach would recognize that, by  almost any 
measure, marijuana is no worse than beer. And the legitimate concerns 
about pot "purity, potency and abuse by children" could most easily 
be  addressed by treating it exactly like beer.

Kids have told me it's easier to get hold of pot  than alcohol. 
There's a reason for that: Alcohol is sold by liquor store owners who 
face heavy fines and lost business if they are caught selling to 
anyone  under 21.

There's also a reason why the jump to hard drugs is  easier for 
pot-smokers than drinkers: The man at the liquor store might want to 
talk you into a finer wine or fancier brew, but he doesn't stock 
cocaine or  crystal meth. Why not let him put some regulated, taxed 
marijuana in his humidor  along with the cigars?

But common sense and sound public policy go out the  window when 
politicians fall under the sway of reefer madness. They are too busy 
sending messages no one is listening to and locking up otherwise 
responsible  citizens.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman