Pubdate: Fri, 21 Oct 2011
Source: Beacon-News, The (Aurora, IL)
Copyright: 2011 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Contact:  http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3800
Author: Denise Crosby

AMERICANS SAY LEGALIZE POT; EXPERTS SEND WARNING

OK, all you cannabis-smoking, weed-loving readers out there: Here's 
your chance to tell me I'm way too square.

The fact that more Americans than not now believe we should legalize 
marijuana - 50 percent to 46 percent, according to a recent Gallup 
poll - seems to indicate we'll one day be able to bop into the 
closest Jewel and pick up our evening's mood-altering joint along 
with our mood-altering bottle of Jack Daniels.

Legalization makes dollars and sense, say bunches of people: Think of 
all the jail cells that will be freed up, or the tax revenue that 
will pour in. Not to mention Betty and Bernie Baby Boomer can smoke 
their mary jane in the comfort of the family room without worrying 
about those nosy square neighbors calling the cops.

Stephanie Willis, addictions expert at Linden Oaks Hospital in 
Naperville, is not surprised by the poll numbers. These days in our 
community, she says, it feels as if everyone uses marijuana.

"The stories are so rampant - people use with their boss, their 
parents, their neighbors, their golf buddies," she says. "Even those 
using harder drugs get to the point where they will tell you that 
everyone they know at least smokes pot, even their sober friends."

I'm just not convinced, especially after talking with Willis and 
other experts, that legalization is the way to go.

Mike Moran, executive director of Breaking Free - an addictions 
counseling service in Aurora and Naperville - agrees it could mean 
extra funds for anemic government coffers. But what will the human 
price be? he asks.

"We've legalized alcohol, we've legalized tobacco. But the cost of 
those in terms of lost productivity, health care and what it does to 
people's lives is huge," Moran says.

And by legalizing yet another addictive substance and making it more 
readily available, we'll just add another layer of problems.

Based on past experience, I guarantee I'll hear from some of the 
above-mentioned readers who insist their wacky tobacky isn't 
addictive. Except the research says differently. I won't throw 
numbers at you: Instead, go to www.nida.nih.gov/pdf/tib/marijuana.pdf 
for some startling facts released this month by the National 
Institute on Drug Abuse. And if you don't believe the stats, ask 
those who encounter this drug's addiction up-close.

"We know better," says John Reese, assistant professor of human 
services at Waubonsee Community College. "We see it all the time."

And it's not necessarily your parents' grass, either.

Baby boomers assume marijuana today is like pot in the '60s and '70s, 
notes Willis. But instead of a mild depressant high, more are 
experiencing the paranoia and psychotic effects. Instead of the 
question being "should we legalize marijuana," we need to instead ask 
"What are we putting in our bodies?" she adds.

"There just is not any accountability. If we say legalizing will help 
control it, that mentality didn't work with opiates, which have led 
people to abusing heroin." Also, you may buy one type of marijuana, 
she cautions, "but you don't really know what you are getting."

Willis also worries the attention now focused on the topic is 
"desensitizing our culture," thus making legalization of pot seem more normal.

"The drumbeat is changing," agrees Moran. "The outcome will be interesting."

I guess the good news, at least for these experts, is they will 
always have jobs. The bad news: There just won't be any money to pay them.

"We are struggling to fund the addictions we have now. Legalize 
marijuana, and we will only have more," says Reese. "That is insanity."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom