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DOWNSIDE TO LEGALIZED MARIJUANA

States that have enacted or considered enacting laws decriminalizing marijuana use should also consider the impact that will come from more people using the drug, and the problems that may come with that.

Maryland has essentially decriminalized the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, but usually there are efforts each year to totally decriminalize it, such as was done in Colorado or Washington state.

According to a survey report from the University of Maryland's Center for Substance Abuse Research, among high school students surveyed, 16 percent who said they didn't use marijuana said they would be likely to try it if the drug was legalized.

The CESAR report highlighted too that two-thirds of the teens surveyed who already use marijuana said they would be more likely to use it.

While it is positive that only 16 percent of those surveyed who don't use marijuana said they would be likely to try it if it were legalized, the reality is that the percentage likely would be higher because, if it were legal, it would be more readily available and more socially acceptable.

But like any drug, marijuana serves to impair the individual who is using it.  Problems that arise from over use of alcohol, from driving under the influence to an increase in violence or assaults, have been well documented over the years and alcohol abuse continues to be a big problem both here and across the nation.  Last week, the state police even launched a new initiative, the State Police Impaired Driving Effort, or SPIDRE, to combat alcohol-related accidents.

Our court system already has far too many cases involving impaired drivers, as well as those charged with crimes related to their alcohol or drug use.

While it can be argued - and has successfully been argued in at least a couple states - that the nation's war on drugs is a miserable failure and resources are wasted chasing down low-level pot consumers, the other side to that argument is that by keeping marijuana illegal, it does serve to keep use lower than it would be if the drug was illegal.

States, including Maryland, may find that the resources spent enforcing marijuana laws could better be spent elsewhere, but if those resources are merely shifted to prosecuting an increase in other violations related to use of the drug, then we end up with no real savings, and potentially more lives lost to drug abuse.