Pubdate: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 Source: Issaquah Press (WA) Copyright: 2012 Issaquah Press Contact: http://www.issaquahpress.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5255 Author: Derek Franklin LEGALIZING MARIJUANA People Should Know Risks, Full Story Many have seen TV ads supporting marijuana legalization and I-502. However, some risks of legalization are largely unknown and local residents deserve the full story. "The claim that legalization and tight regulation will mean that youth will use less is bogus, because we don't have the experiment," according to co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, Rosalie Pacula. Marijuana is already the No. 1 reason Washington youths enter drug treatment - we should not experiment on Washington kids. Legal marijuana, often compared to legal alcohol, would cost significantly more than it would bring in. Nationally, alcohol brings in only 6 percent of its actual social costs through taxes and fees. Marijuana is the most prevalent illegal drug detected in impaired drivers, fatally injured drivers, and motor vehicle crash victims. Between 2000-2011, no one in Washington was sent to jail solely because they possessed marijuana for personal use. Of those arrested with marijuana-related charges as one of their offenses, 42 percent were under age 21 and would still be arrested under I-502. A recent Duke University study found that smoking marijuana regularly before age 18 predicts a permanent eight-point loss in IQ, even after prolonged abstinence. The American Medical Association and Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs already oppose legalization. I-502 is a bad deal for Washington. Derek Franklin Sammamish - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom