Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jun 2014
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2014 The Tribune Co.
Contact: http://tbo.com/list/news-opinion-letters/submit/
Website: http://tbo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Page 6
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n497/a11.html
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n495/a09.html

NOT YOUR PARENTS' MARIJUANA

It was easy to dismiss marijuana use in the closing decades of the 
last century as a harmless pastime that, while illegal, was less 
destructive than alcohol and not as addictive as cocaine or other harder drugs.

But medical studies now getting attention in advance of the November 
referendum on medical marijuana in Florida are painting a far 
different picture of the effects of marijuana on brain development 
and its potential addictiveness.

Though the amendment on the November ballot would limit the 
legalization to medical uses, voters should still consider the 
studies when deciding whether to support the measure. In the two 
states where marijuana is now legal for recreational use - Colorado 
and Washington - voters had approved medical marijuana years earlier.

As the Tribune's Jerome R. Stockfisch reports, the nation's drug czar 
has published a paper reinforcing the medical studies that warn of 
serious consequences from smoking the highly potent forms of 
marijuana grown today.

According to the paper by Nora Volkow, director of the National 
Institute on Drug Abuse, the detrimental effects can be particularly 
damaging to adolescents, who are at a greater risk of impaired brain 
development. The paper says marijuana poses an addiction risk, leads 
to harder drugs, is linked to anxiety and depression, increases the 
risk of dropping out of school and impairs driving.

The paper points out that the potency of marijuana has increased 
fourfold since the 1980s and can hardly be compared to the less 
harmful drug millions of pot smokers used decades ago.

The paper says an increase in emergency room visits and automobile 
wrecks related to marijuana use may be linked to the higher potency.

Of course, Florida's proposed amendment limits the legal sale of 
marijuana to people suffering from "debilitating medical conditions" 
such as cancer and AIDS. If approved, it will restrict sales to those 
approved by a doctor. But citizens should note that the drug czar's 
paper concludes by saying a general loosening of marijuana policies 
can be expected to bring an increase in use.

And opponents point to Colorado and Washington, where the passage of 
medical marijuana in 2000 and 1998, respectively, were followed by 
the passage of recreational marijuana laws in 2012.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a leading Florida 
Democrat, angered the pro-amendment forces by coming out against the 
proposal. The amendment is being backed by a major Democratic 
supporter, lawyer John Morgan. Democratic gubernatorial candidate 
Charlie Crist, a former employee of Morgan's, says he will vote for 
the amendment.

But Wasserman Schultz says she fears the amendment is written too 
broadly and will be open to abuse by people obtaining a doctor's note 
for conditions that don't merit marijuana use. She questions whether 
the state has the regulatory capacity to prevent the abuses.

Those are valid concerns that both sides of the amendment will 
address in the coming months. We think the greater concern is that 
marijuana has evolved far beyond the substance that influenced a 
cultural revolution and is instead a powerful drug that is 
particularly hazardous to teenagers.

Voters should be aware of the studies before casting their ballots.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom