Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jun 2012
Source: Durant Daily Democrat (OK)
Copyright: 2012 Durant Daily Democrat.
Contact: http://www.durantdemocrat.com/pages/send_letter_to_editor
Website: http://www.durantdemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5104
Author: Brittany Snapp

CONFERENCE HELD ON THE 'HARM' OF MARIJUANA USE

On Thursday, representatives from Health Advocates Rejecting 
Marijuana (HARM), spoke to an audience at the conference center at 
Choctaw Casino in Durant about the danger and prevention of marijuana 
use. The conference was hosted by the Bryan County Turning point Drug 
Free Community Coalition and the Wichita Mountains Prevention Network.

The goals of HARM are "to decrease the accessibility/ availability of 
marijuana-related paraphernalia and to minimize messages that 
encourage, normalize or trivialize marijuana use" and "to reduce 
marijuana use by youth, to lessen the problems associated with the 
accessibility and use of marijuana by youth and to change the 
perception that marijuana is harmless."

During the conference, the following five policy campaigns were 
discussed in-depth: head shop policy, retailers policy, special 
events and outdoor venues policy, dispensaries policy and media 
normalization. John Byrom, co-facilitator of HARM, and Rebecca 
Hernandez, a policy co-chair, spoke to the audience about marijuana 
use in San Diego County, California. In 1996, California passed a law 
legalizing the use, possession and cultivation of marijuana by 
patients who possess a "written or oral recommendation" from a 
physician that he or she "would benefit from medical marijuana."

Byrom said he actively protested the law and has been fighting 
against marijuana use in California ever since. Hernandez became 
involved working against marijuana use when she was employed at a San 
Diego high school working with at-risk high school students. She said 
she saw how drugs and alcohol were negatively affecting their lives 
and futures.

"We're losing a whole generation of kids to drug use," she said. 
During the presentation, the team spoke about different initiatives 
of the organization and how they have worked to stop the prevalence 
of the glamorization of drug use in society. They showed pictures of 
clothing, shoes, belts, bags and other items found in major stores in 
California. Pictures and clips of sound and video were also viewed 
that showed how HARM has been actively fighting marijuana use in San 
Diego County.

Hernandez said, "We need to stand up to the bully. We're going to 
lose our nation if we let people like that [advocates of marijuana 
use] move forward and that's why we're sharing what's going on in 
California with other states."

Byrom urges residents of Southeastern Oklahoma to take a stand 
against marijuana use and work to prevent its prevalence in the community.

"You can stop it and that's what's great. You can stop it from 
growing to the point of California and you can be the prevention. You 
have the ability because it hasn't taken hold here; it's nothing 
compared to California. If you can stop it before it happens, that's 
the whole idea of prevention. "

According to Gwynn Busby, Wichita Mountains Prevention Network 
regional coordinator, marijuana use was chosen as a priority issue in 
Bryan County because of the high rate of admission into treatment 
with marijuana designated as the drug of choice. Southeastern 
Oklahoma State University's arrest records show 100% of drug arrest 
for students 18 and over at the university had marijuana included 
with other drugs that were confiscated. Slightly over one-third of 
the Bryan County Court's cases are related to marijuana charges. 
These charges include: possession, intent to sell, cultivate, and 
paraphernalia.

Bryan County plans to adopt HARM as a county-wide marijuana 
prevention initiative. For more information about HARM in Bryan 
County, contact Gwynn Busby at (580) 490-9021, ext. 102.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom