Pubdate: Mon, 13 May 2013
Source: Times, The (Trenton, NJ)
Copyright: 2013 The Times
Contact:  http://www.nj.com/times/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/458
Author: Mary Pat Angelini
Note: Mary Pat Angelini is the New Jersey General Assembly Republican 
deputy conference leader. She represents the 11th District.

LEGALIZING MARIJUANA WOULD SEND THE WRONG MESSAGE TO KIDS

As someone who shapes public policy and works to keep children 
healthy, safe and drug-free, I'm often asked to explain my opposition 
to legalizing marijuana.

It's best explained with a twist on the iconic "Field of Dreams" 
phrase: "If you build it, they will come." When it comes to 
marijuana, the facts show that "If you legalize it, young people will 
use and abuse it."

It's seems obvious that more people will use a substance deemed legal 
and presumably safe by government than they will use an illegal and 
presumably dangerous one. This logical conclusion has serious 
consequences for young people.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which is funded by the 
federal government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration, released a study earlier this year that proves that 
the less dangerous young people consider a particular substance, the 
more they use it.

Between 2007 and 2011, the percentage of adolescents who perceived 
great risk from smoking marijuana once or twice a week decreased from 
54.6 percent to 44.8 percent. At the same time, young people who 
smoked marijuana in a given month increased from 6.7 percent to 7.9 percent.

Those numbers reflect a time when policy makers in New Jersey and 
several other states were debating medical marijuana. When then-Gov. 
Jon Corzine and the Democrat-controlled Legislature legalized 
marijuana for medicinal purposes, I predicted it was the first step 
toward legalizing dangerous drugs. This is an instance in which I 
wish I were wrong.

Three years ago, the message to children was that marijuana can be 
medicine for some. Today, the message has devolved further to say: 
It's OK to smoke it.

As some continue to push for legalizing marijuana regardless of 
medicinal circumstance, young people will continue to think it's 
safe. The number of young users in New Jersey will shoot through the 
roof if New Jersey ever sanctions the use of an illicit and dangerous drug.

This is sending the wrong message to young people. Marijuana is an 
addictive drug that often leads users to use other illegal drugs and 
down a path toward a number of medical and social problems.

The science is clear: Marijuana can cause disinterest in activities, 
lower grades and isolation. It affects the brain, heart and lungs. 
Teen users have an increased risk of schizophrenia and depression and 
suicidal thoughts. And they are more likely to engage in delinquent 
and dangerous behavior, whether it's unsafe sex or driving under the influence.

Studies have shown that children in treatment facilities are more 
likely to have abused marijuana than any other drug - alcohol included.

If those are the consequences, why on Earth would government send the 
incorrect message by legalizing this drug?

I have many friends on the other side of this debate and their most 
compelling argument is relieving the courts from being bogged down by 
drug offenses.

There are better ways to accomplish this, such as our landmark 
bipartisan mandatory drug court program that will allow nonviolent 
offenders to get the treatment they need.

Under Gov. Christie's leadership, our focus has been on helping 
people break free from addiction to dangerous substances.

Instead of changing the law and ignoring a problem, we have changed 
our approach to help people reclaim their lives.

Another note about the national survey gives me hope that we can 
teach children to lead healthier lives: As marijuana use increased, 
binge drinking decreased, because the message has been sinking in 
about this hazardous behavior.

Instead of building a ball field that teaches young people it's OK to 
put a harmful substance in their bodies, we can build one where the 
first base is the correct message that marijuana is dangerous and not 
part of a healthy future.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom