Pubdate: Fri, 23 May 2014 Source: Providence Journal, The (RI) Copyright: 2014 The Providence Journal Company Contact: http://www.projo.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352 Author: Nicholas Zaller Note: Nickolas Zaller is an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University Medical School and a board member of Protect Families First. FOR KIDS AND PARENTS, MARIJUANA PROHIBITION HAS FAILED For decades marijuana prohibition has been one of the cornerstones of our ineffective and costly war on drugs. The sad irony, however, is that using criminal law to direct our police officers, prosecutors and judges to arrest and punish individuals for marijuana has failed to reduce its widespread availability and use. Despite criminal penalties, daily marijuana use has more than tripled among teenagers since the early 1990s. According to an annual survey from Columbia University, nearly half of all high school students know of someone in their school who sells drugs. Ninety-one percent of those teenagers know a peer who sells marijuana. By comparison only 1 percent knows of a classmate who sells alcohol. What this suggests to me is that it is time to think about a different strategy regarding marijuana policy in the United States - one that may actually have some impact on the ubiquitous availability of marijuana among kids. As a father, I find it deeply troubling that young teens have such ready access to the illegal marijuana market. About half of all high school seniors use marijuana at some point, and contact with illegal marijuana dealers exposes teens to an underground criminal market where other more dangerous drugs are available. Treating marijuana more like alcohol by creating a legal market for adults would allow us to separate marijuana from other illegal drugs and create more rigorous barriers to teen access, such as proof-of-age requirements. We have learned many successful prevention strategies for how to keep kids away from harmful substances, but criminalization isn't one of them. Rates of tobacco use among teenagers, for example, have plummeted in recent decades due to successful prevention efforts. Sadly, though, when it comes to marijuana, our concern for our children has been misguided into further hammering home an argument that has long been accepted: Drugs are bad for children. Do any of us need to read about another research study to conclude anything else? We know that there are health risks associated with marijuana use, which must be communicated widely and accurately. Negative effects on memory, perception and judgment can impact learning and driving skills. Repeated heavy use can lead to addiction and, while yet to be proven conclusively, heavy persistent use may have long-term effects on cognition. Yet with our continued resistance to fully discussing the repeal of marijuana prohibition, opponents of reform seem to equate support for a more structured and rigorous control policy for marijuana with a denial that marijuana is harmful for young people. The logic of concluding that individuals who promote regulation of marijuana are suggesting a wholesale endorsement of marijuana use for every child in the United States baffles me. Our current approach of marijuana prohibition undermines public health and safety by preventing regulation and allowing an illegal industry to thrive. But the fact that marijuana prohibition has failed does not mean we have to go for outright, laissez-faire legalization. Regulation means severe limitations on advertising, oversight of licensed businesses that produce and sell marijuana, punishments for those who sell to underage teens, and safety testing standards to ensure that users know that their marijuana does not contain toxic chemicals or other drugs. Fundamentally, it's about control. Both prohibition and laissez-faire legalization prevent us from controlling when, where, how and to whom marijuana is sold, but strict regulation ensures that we can responsibly control marijuana in a way that maximizes benefits and minimizes harms. The crucial point is that there are far more effective tools than criminalization to discourage marijuana use and prevent addiction. Why do we continue to invest the bulk of our resources in criminalization when there is overwhelming evidence that it doesn't work? Do we somehow think that one day the results will be different? Our resources need to be redirected to responsible regulation, credible education about risks, more longitudinal research studies that will allow us to more clearly understand the health risks associated with different levels of marijuana use, and treatment for those who need it. Another key to reducing the harms of marijuana use is strengthening community norms that distinguish between responsible and problematic use. We need a new public-health-based strategy to guide marijuana policy, not a renewal of "reefer madness" scare tactics. When we tell our children that they will meet certain doom and gloom after using marijuana, and then they try it and do not experience immediate consequences, we as adults lose credibility. How then will our children listen to us as we try to convey to them the very real marijuana-related health consequences? It's time we take a new approach to marijuana by responsibly regulating and controlling it. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom