Pubdate: Mon, 08 Nov 2010 Source: Providence Journal, The (RI) Copyright: 2010 The Providence Journal Company Contact: http://www.projo.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352 SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS? More states, such as Rhode Island, now allow cultivation of marijuana plants for what are supposed to be medicinal purposes. But law-enforcement and other officials are expressing increasing concern about how much of this stuff is being misused ---- sold to people who simply want to get high, and not for treating any ailment, except perhaps boredom. And in fact, because these plants are so easy to grow, probably a lot will be misused. But concern about the expanded sale of pot could tie up police when they should be thinking about other things. Better for them not to worry too much about it, or at least no more than they do about much more serious substance-abuse problems. And as more and more people realize that decriminalizing pot won't destroy the republic, they'll accept the idea of fully legalizing and taxing marijuana, like tobacco and booze, taking business away from drug lords who wreak such havoc. Alcohol remains the biggest social menace among mind-altering drugs because of the combination of its physical effects and the pervasiveness of its use. That is not to say, of course, that, especially as measured in drug overdoses, the opiates (especially heroin) and cocaine are not big menaces, too. A new study in the British medical journal The Lancet ranked alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine as producing the worst public-heath and social effects, with marijuana, ecstasy and LSD far lower. Wim van den Brink, a professor of psychiatry and addiction at the University of Amsterdam, who commented on The Lancet's study in that journal, told the Associated Press: "What governments decide is illegal is not always based on science. Drugs that are legal cause at least as much damage, if not more, than drugs that are illicit." That has long been obvious to many medical experts, but a powerful political ideology and wishful thinking prevent many people from accepting it. Alcohol has such a powerful place in our culture that it blinds many policymakers to how much worse it is than, for example, marijuana. Some people will abuse "medical marijuana." But government shouldn't devote much of its tight resources to policing it. They'd do better to crack down on drunk driving. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt