Pubdate: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 Source: Washington Post (DC) Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491 Author: T. Alan Ramsey Page: A14 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n542/a02.html UNMERITED CERTAINTY ON MARIJUANA In her June 25 op-ed column, "A scientist's view of pot myths," Ruth Marcus described Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as very concerned about the marijuana legalization experiments in Colorado and Washington state. However, Dr. Volkow reiterated several assumptions of dubious scientific validity. She claimed that alcohol is less dangerous than marijuana. The kindest thing one can say about that claim is that there is no scientific consensus that this is true. Dr. Volkow also said that there will be much greater exposure of people to marijuana if it is legalized. The liberalization of marijuana laws in several other countries leaves it uncertain whether there will be a significant increase in marijuana use or not. Dr. Volkow was correct to say that we don't entirely know the consequences of the legalization of marijuana. In that sense, Colorado and Washington are social laboratories from which we may gain more knowledge. However, any evaluation of the danger of a drug policy should include the many negative consequences that we know have resulted from a 40-plus-year war on drugs and the fact that marijuana use in our society has not decreased during that time. T. Alan Ramsey, Silver Spring - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom