Pubdate: Fri, 14 Jun 2013
Source: News-Sentinel, The (Fort  Wayne, IN)
Copyright: 2013 The News-Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.news-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1077
Author: Andrea Neal

SOCIETY CAN'T DEEM CIGARETTES HEALTH HAZARD YET EMBRACE USE OF MARIJUANA

"For first time, majority in U.S. supports public smoking ban." That
was the headline in July 2011 as cigarette bans swept the country. In
2000, just one major U.S. city banned smoking at work sites,
restaurants and bars. As of last year, 60 percent of the 50 largest
cities did, including Indianapolis. Last July, Indiana became one of
38 states with smoke-free air laws.

"Majority now supports legalizing marijuana." That headline appeared
this spring amidst growing debate over liberalizing marijuana laws.
Although marijuana use is still against federal law, 26 states have
legalized medical marijuana, decriminalized recreational marijuana or
both. Indiana has flirted with the idea.

Senate Bill 580 this past session would have made possession of less
than two ounces of marijuana a Class C infraction punishable by
nothing more than a fine -- the same as a traffic ticket. The bill
died without a hearing; its author, Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage,
promised to reintroduce it next year. A WISH-TV/Ball State University
Hoosier Survey showed support for decriminalization at 53 percent.

What's going on? The Hoosier Survey and poll results from Gallup and
Pew Research Center suggest a severe case of schizophrenia on smoking.
Health advocates have succeeded in their marketing campaign against
Big Tobacco but have failed to gain the upper hand in the marijuana
debate. This is partly due to misinformation and partly due to
misrepresentation by activists.

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is
the most vocal group seeking to repeal marijuana restrictions. The
group says prominently on its website, "According to the prestigious
European medical journal, The Lancet, ‘The smoking of cannabis,
even long-term, is not harmful to health.'"

Since The Lancet said those words in 1996, however, it has published
numerous studies refuting the conclusion. In 2009, it wrote,
"Epidemiological, clinical and laboratory studies have established an
association between cannabis use and adverse outcomes . . .
(including) dependence syndrome, increased risk of motor vehicle
crashes, impaired respiratory function, cardiovascular disease, and
adverse effects of regular use on adolescent psychosocial development
and mental health."

Any smoking is bad for one's health. But on almost every measure,
marijuana is more dangerous than tobacco, comparable with alcohol in
its ability to impair judgment and to more-potent narcotics in its
lasting effects on the brain. The typical cannabis cigarette
"increases the smoker's risk of developing lung cancer by 20 times the
amount of one tobacco cigarette," says the British Lung Foundation,
which published a review of medical research in 2012.

Marijuana harms short-term memory and makes it difficult to learn and
retain information or perform complex tasks. It slows reaction time
and reduces motor coordination. Prolonged use is "associated with
lower test scores and lower educational attainment because during
periods of intoxication the drug affects the ability to learn and
process information, thus influencing attention, concentration and
short-term memory," said researchers M. T. Lynskey and W. D. Hall.

One reason commonly given for decriminalizing marijuana is to free law
enforcement to focus on serious crime and to reduce the number of
minor possession cases clogging the court system.

The argument is naive. The National Research Council has found that
the long-term marijuana use can alter the nervous system in ways that
promote violence. Further, legalizing drugs doesn't end illegal
activity connected with drug trade. Consider Amsterdam, where coffee
houses selling marijuana are commonplace. The city has been plagued by
drug trafficking, drug tourism and street crime.

Support for legalizing marijuana has risen 11 points since 2010, an
increase that can only be attributed to propaganda. Policymakers must
resist the urge to do the popular thing. Society can't deem cigarette
smoking a public health hazard and simultaneously embrace marijuana
smoking.

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Andrea Neal is adjunct scholar with the Indiana Policy Review
Foundation.
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