Pubdate: Fri, 27 Jun 2014
Source: Republican & Herald (PA)
Copyright: 2014 Pottsville Republican, Inc
Contact:  http://republicanherald.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1047
Author: Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post
Page: 10

SOME NOT TURNED ON BY LEGAL POT

BETHESDA, Md. - From her perch as head of the National Institute on 
Drug Abuse, Nora Volkow watches anxiously as the country embarks on 
what she sees as a risky social experiment in legalizing marijuana.

For those who argue that marijuana is no more dangerous than tobacco 
and alcohol, Volkow has two main answers: We don't entirely know, 
and, simultaneously, that is precisely the point.

"Look at the evidence," Volkow said in an interview on the National 
Institutes of Health campus here, pointing to the harms already 
inflicted by tobacco and alcohol. "It's not subtle - it's huge. Legal 
drugs are the main problem that we have in our country as it relates 
to morbidity and mortality. By far. Many more people die of tobacco 
than all of the drugs together. Many more people die of alcohol than 
all of the illicit drugs together.

"And it's not because they are more dangerous or addictive. Not at 
all - they are less dangerous. It's because they are legal. ... The 
legalization process generates a much greater exposure of people and 
hence of negative consequences that will emerge. And that's why I 
always say, 'Can we as a country afford to have a third legal drug? 
Can we?' We know the costs already on health care, we know the costs 
on accidents, on lost productivity. I let the numbers speak for themselves."

As Colorado and Washington state approve the sale of marijuana for 
recreational use and other states consider following suit, Volkow 
said, the notion that legalization represents a modest, cost-free 
move is dangerously overblown. The evidence on the supposed safety of 
marijuana is far from clear enough to take this leap.

"I think that what we are seeing is a little bit of wishful thinking 
in the sense that we want to have a drug that will make us all feel 
good and believe that there are no harmful consequences," she said. 
"When you are intoxicated, your memory and learning are going to go 
down. When you are intoxicated, your motor coordination is going to 
go down. When you are repeatedly using marijuana, there is an 
increased risk for addiction. And if you are an adolescent and you 
are taking marijuana, there is a higher increased risk for addiction 
and there is also a higher risk for long-lasting decreases in 
cognitive capacity - that is, lowering of IQ."

Adolescents are a chief focus of Volkow's worry, to the extent that 
when I observe that tobacco use is clearly worse for teens, she 
challenges that easy assumption.

"Nicotine does not interfere with cognitive ability. So if you are an 
adolescent and you are smoking marijuana and going to school, it's 
going to interfere with your capacity to learn. So what is worse, as 
an adolescent right now? To have basically something that is 
jeopardizing your development educationally or to smoke a cigarette 
that when you are 60 years of age is going to lead to impaired 
pulmonary function and perhaps cancer? ... I would argue that you do 
not want to mess with your cognitive capacity, that that is a very 
large price to pay."

Legalization advocates counter with two contradictory arguments: that 
marijuana is already readily available to teenagers who want it, and 
that the new laws impose strict controls on sales to minors. Volkow 
is unconvinced, arguing that the evidence suggests that the already 
large number of teenagers who have tried marijuana by the time they 
graduate from high school will only increase.

Volkow, 58, has never smoked pot and she isn't tempted now that it is 
legally available in some places. "I'm not going to negate that I am 
curious," she said. "But I am terrified about doing anything that 
would interfere with my cognitive capacity. ... I have too much 
respect for my brain."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom