Pubdate: Sun, 12 May 2013
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2013 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Ed Gogek
Note: Ed Gogek is an addiction psychiatrist and board member of Keep 
AZ Drug Free, a group that opposes drug legalization and 
medical-marijuana laws.

POT LOBBY'S TALKING POINTS MASKING HIDDEN DANGERS

A recent Liberty Mutual survey found that most teenagers believe they 
drive better, or at least no worse, high on marijuana. Research shows 
the opposite, that smoking pot impairs driving and can be as deadly 
behind the wheel as alcohol, but teens don't read scientific journals.

Apparently, neither do the pundits who repeat pro-marijuana talking 
points even when those points have been proved wrong.

The latest is syndicated columnist Froma Harrop, proclaiming 
legalization will boost state-tax revenue ("Marijuana sales sprouting 
taxes, savings for Colo.," Opinions, April 30).

The marijuana lobby sold legalization to Colorado and Washington 
state with this same promise, that taxes on pot would fill state 
coffers and fund education. But experts now say legalization will 
cost those states money.

A study by the Colorado Futures Center, a Colorado State University 
think tank, concluded that "the costs of regulating recreational 
marijuana - plus possible extra costs for law enforcement, public 
health and human services - may exceed the tax revenue from the 
recreational marijuana industry." No one should be surprised. 
According to a Rand Corp. report, taxes on alcohol cover less than 10 
percent of alcohol's cost to society. Why would pot be different?

Harrop also says states will save money spent on arrests, 
prosecutions and incarcerations of pot smokers - another pot lobby 
talking point that's also untrue. This should be obvious; police in 
America don't go looking for pot smokers. They almost always find pot 
when arresting someone for another crime.

Three-fourths of all prison inmates are substance abusers, according 
to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia 
University, and many smoke pot. But most of them got arrested for 
crimes they committed because they were drunk or high, and that 
includes violent and property crimes. Even if drugs were legal, 
they'd still be in prison.

Selling drugs gets people locked up, too, but possession - almost 
never. According to the Arizona Sentencing Report, fewer than 100 of 
Arizona's 40,000 inmates are in prison solely for drug possession, 
and most of those pleaded down from a more serious charge.

Besides, history shows that when drugs are legal, use and abuse 
increase. Since drug abuse causes most crime, legalization would 
actually increase criminal-justice costs.

The marijuana lobby position that legalization will keep pot out of 
the hands of kids is equally wrong. Kids have no trouble getting 
legal alcohol. And data from the National Survey of Drug Use and 
Health shows teen marijuana use is 30 percent higher in "medical" 
marijuana states.

America has the choice between legalizing drugs, which would promote 
drug abuse and cost states money, or maintaining tough drug laws, 
which prevent crime and protect the next generation. The marijuana 
lobby is on one side of this debate. Good research is on the other.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom