Pubdate: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA) Copyright: 2013 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. Contact: http://www.timesdispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/365 Author: Richard Carchman Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n016/a05.html LEGALIZING POT WILL CAUSE MORE PROBLEMS EDITOR, TIMES-DISPATCH: In his Commentary column, "Glimmers of hope on the drug front," Neal Peirce touches on one dimension of the war on drugs: legalization of pot and the impact on criminal activity. There can be no doubt that such changes will decrease criminal activity, but what are the unintended consequences associated with this movement? It is remarkable how little attention is brought forward on the health consequences of such actions. Smoking pot is analogous to smoking any combustion product derived from organic material. These products of combustion are little different than smoking tobacco but have additional impact on the user with respect to impairment of complex tasks such as driving. After just completing a multigenerational war against tobacco, to set in motion an even more complex public health debacle simply considering the criminal dimension seems at a minimum to reflect a poor examination of this issue. RICHARD CARCHMAN. COLUMBIA - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom