Pubdate: Wed, 02 Jan 2013
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2013 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Richard Roper
Note: This column appeard opposite Cathy Young's Prohibition
Infringes On Liberty And Diverts Resources That Could Fight Real 
Crime column under the heading Which Way on Marijuana?

LEGALIZATION MOVEMENT IS GAMBLING WITH OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURES

The recent successful efforts to legalize recreational marijuana use
in Colorado and Washington have placed an imprimatur of increased
societal acceptance on the use of the drug, particularly among young
people. I question if legalization advocates appreciate the incredible
temptations that children's impressionable minds already face from the
many vices that threaten to derail their social and educational
development.

We are facing the real possibility of more state-based legalization
efforts, coupled with free-market, competitive forces bent on
increasing supply and demand. It has long been anticipated that
broad-based legalization would lead to mass marketing by major tobacco
companies, which have the expertise, financial incentives and
infrastructure to do so. These companies recognize they stand to make
billions in profits from legalization, and getting users hooked at an
early age assures a likely lifetime of consumption.

While some state legislators anticipate an influx of tax revenue
following legalization of marijuana in those states, the potential
revenue is rarely balanced against the other tangible costs to
society. A study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse &
Alcoholism shows that the total cost of alcohol-related problems
approaches $200 billion annually. The federal government pays about
half of that cost, while collecting only $8 billion annually in
alcohol tax revenue.

So for every dollar the government collects in alcohol taxes, it
expends far more for such things as treatment for alcohol-related
health troubles, long-term rehabilitation, unemployment costs and
welfare. Marijuana is second only to alcohol in terms of dependence or
abuse among all drugs. Does that seem like a model to emulate?

A recent Rand Corp. study found that the deployment of free-market
investment after legalization resulted in marijuana prices falling by
as much as 80 percent. And this is not your hippie grandfather's
marijuana: Today's weed has tripled in potency during the past 15
years. This high-grade marijuana leads to increased chances for
addiction and other mental health risks. With thousands of
alcohol-related traffic fatalities already occurring each year, do we
truly want more folks, including teenagers, driving stoned on our
crowded highways?

There is no question that marijuana can operate as a gateway to harder
narcotics. A National Institute for Drug Abuse study found that very
few high school students use other illegal drugs, such as cocaine or
methamphetamine, without first trying marijuana. In fact, the majority
of illicit drug users start with marijuana as teenagers.

Legalization also is no panacea against drug-related violence. Drug
cartels and street dealers are criminals through and through. They
will not magically wither away with marijuana's legalization. These
cartels already have expanded into human trafficking and other
criminal activities as increased border enforcement and a Mexican
government crackdown threatens their profit margins. To the detriment
of our children, these traffickers simply will double down on targeted
marketing of cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, ecstasy and heroin.

When Mexican drug traffickers marketed potent heroin to teenagers in
the urban Dallas-Fort Worth area this past decade, I personally saw
the devastating aftershocks through a trail of addicts and dead
bodies. One need only meet a mother who lost her teenage daughter to a
heroin overdose in order to appreciate the powerful, destructive force
of illegal narcotics.

Addressing drug-abuse problems is best handled not by arresting our
way out of the problem, but by relying on a comprehensive approach
consisting of prevention, enforcement and treatment programs. Under
this model, overall drug use dropped significantly from historic highs
in the early 1990s through 2007.

By legalizing marijuana, we are gambling with our children's futures.
Why add to the already serious alcohol and prescription drug abuse
problem by legalizing yet another powerful narcotic drug that is so
addictive? Why risk sacrificing the health and well-being of our
children at the altar of purported personal liberty and self-pleasure?
They deserve better.

Richard Roper is the former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of
Texas. He is co-chair of the North Texas Crime Commission and a
partner at the law firm of Thompson & Knight LLP. 
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