Pubdate: Wed, 09 Nov 2011
Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Copyright: 2011 C.E.G.W./Times-Shamrock
Contact:  http://www.metrotimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1381
Author: Thomas E. Page
Referenced; http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n644/a01.html

EXPERT TESTIMONY

In Higher Ground (Nov. 2), former Detroit Police Chief Ike McKinnon 
says, "I can't think of anybody who has died from marijuana." I also 
can't think of a case where somebody died from an overdose of LSD. 
The problem with marijuana, and LSD for that matter, is its effect on 
thinking and behavior. And it's this behavioral toxicity, such as 
impaired ability to pay attention while driving, that's the real 
problem with marijuana. The only reason marijuana is used in the 
first place is because it has a primary effect on the brain, the 
central nervous system. After all, people don't use marijuana because 
they like to have bloodshot eyes. The central nervous system effects 
include impaired attention, impaired depth perception, amotivation 
and more. Knowing these effects, I certainly do not want my doctor, 
dentist, police officer, child-care worker or professor to use marijuana.

And frankly, to suggest that almost all the "problems and violence" 
associated with drug use result from the laws is indicative of 
pharmacological ignorance. Stimulants, such as cocaine and 
methamphetamine mimic the body's activation of the sympathetic 
nervous system. It's this system that's responsible for the body's 
fight-or-flight response. In fact, they are correctly termed 
"sympathomimetics." These drugs cause the user to feel that they are 
in danger. But the user is responding to the drug, and not the 
environment. And people who feel threatened, feel paranoid, are 
dangerous and often violent. PCP ("angel dust") has similar effects.

Like Ike McKinnon, I also am a retired police officer. I also know 
and respect Dr. Michael Whitty. (In the interest of full disclosure, 
Mike Whitty was one of my U of D professors many years ago.) But when 
it comes to drug legalization, including that of marijuana, 
professors McKinnon and Whitty are wrong.

- -Thomas E. Page, M.A., drug recognition expert emeritus, retired, Los 
Angeles Police Department, Detroit.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom