Pubdate: Sat, 13 Dec 2014
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2014 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Samuel T. Wilkinson, Special to the Washington Post
Note: Samuel T. Wilkinson is a resident physician in psychiatry at 
the Yale School of Medicine.
Page: A9

POT BUSINESS MIMICKING BIG TOBACCO

Marijuana May Follow in Footsteps of Cigarette Industry in Luring New Users

Last month, people voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana in 
Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia. As the movement toward 
marijuana legalization continues, lawmakers and policy experts are 
looking to the experiments in Colorado and Washington for guidance. 
We should not overlook, however, valuable lessons from our experience 
with another legal drug: tobacco.

In the late 19th century, the landscape of tobacco consumption was 
very different than it is today. Tobacco use was much less prevalent, 
and cigarettes accounted for a tiny portion of consumption.

Yet by the mid-20th century almost half of U.S. adults smoked, with 
major consequences for public health. Despite important health policy 
achievements since, cigarette smoking remains a major contributor to 
the top causes of death in the United States, including 
cardiovascular and lung diseases, as well as cancer.

This drastic rise in the prevalence of smoking can be attributed to a 
number of successful business strategies.

Hand-rolling of cigarettes, a technique that limited production 
potential, was supplanted by machine manufacturing.

Changes in the chemical composition and curing process of cigarettes 
made them more flavorful as well as more addictive.

Aggressive marketing techniques sought to build a larger consumer 
base. Advertisements often featured doctors in an effort to quell 
public fear over smoking-related health concerns; other campaigns 
targeted children or adolescents, who represented potential lifetime customers.

Finally, the industry created powerful lobbying groups to protect 
their profits from regulations aimed at curbing consumption.

Alarmingly, marijuana businesses are now mimicking many of Big 
Tobacco's successful strategies.

New methods of consuming marijuana (such as vaporization) are said to 
represent a healthier way to get high - though little research 
supports this claim - encouraging individuals to consume more 
marijuana in one sitting.

The percentage of tetrahydrocannabinol (the euphoria-inducing 
compound associated with many adverse health effects) in marijuana is 
much higher than it was a few decades ago.

Just as tobacco companies featured doctors in advertisement 
campaigns, marijuana advocates have appealed to medical authority by 
successfully lobbying in many places for the approval of "medical 
marijuana" for a plethora of conditions, even when little or no 
scientific evidence supports its use.

While it is laudable that Colorado has placed restrictions on 
marijuana advertising, it is also disturbing that the marijuana 
industry quickly mounted powerful legal efforts to challenge these 
restrictions in court.

The formula for success in profiting from a legal drug is simple and 
has been clearly outlined by Big Tobacco: Identify a product with 
addictive potential, aggressively market it to as large an audience 
as possible, develop technical innovations to allow for and promote 
increased consumption, and deny or minimize potential costs to human 
health. The marijuana industry is poised to copy this formula, with 
dire consequences.

Important lessons can also be drawn from the Netherlands, where 
marijuana has been decriminalized since 1976.

Following decriminalization, the Dutch government strictly enforced 
guidelines prohibiting advertising and transactions above a certain 
quantity (to discourage mass production and distribution).

For about a decade, marijuana consumption rates remained stable. 
However, in the mid-1980s, waning enforcement of these guidelines 
coincided with a drastic increase in both the commercialization of 
marijuana and rates of consumption. The overriding lesson from the 
Netherlands is that it was commercialization, not decriminalization 
itself, that led to sharp increases in use.

If we are intent on legalizing marijuana for recreational use, 
lessons from the tobacco industry and the Dutch marijuana experiment 
suggest that we do so in a way that does not pit corporate incentives 
against the interests of public health.

Similar to efforts in Uruguay, production and distribution should be 
done solely by the government so as to ensure that there is no 
corporate incentive to entice more people to consume marijuana in 
larger quantities. Advertisements in all media venues should be 
banned, or as stringently regulated as allowed by law.

While the health effects of marijuana are generally not as severe as 
those of cigarette smoking, the consequences - including addiction, 
psychosis and impaired cognitive abilities - are nonetheless real.

Notably, these effects are most pronounced in children and 
adolescents. Claims that marijuana legalization will make it easier 
to prevent use by minors are not backed by scientific or historical 
evidence. The most prevalent drugs consumed by teenagers are those 
that are legal: alcohol and tobacco.

This should give us pause to consider the optimal way to legalize 
marijuana - and indeed whether other states should consider legalization at all.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom