Pubdate: Mon, 23 Mar 2015
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2015 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Seth Leibsohn
Note: Seth Leibsohn is the host of the Seth Leibsohn Show on KKNT and 
chairman of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy.

CONFUSION, CONCERN REGARDING MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

A state ballot initiative legalizing marijuana for recreational use 
may be on the Arizona ballot next year. A recent ASU Morrison 
Institute for Public Policy survey found that some 45 percent of 
respondents support such legalization.

To many of us who have studied the issue of marijuana and public 
health, these findings are nothing short of surprising.

Take a look at just five of many recent headlines about scientific 
studies examining the effects of marijuana on the brain, especially 
the teen brain:

Significant link between cannabis use and onset of mania symptoms 
(Science Daily, Feb. 10).

Marijuana can cause mental disorders, loss of intelligence, 20-year 
study (New York Daily News, Oct. 7, 2014).

The Adverse Health Effects of Marijuana Use (New England Journal of 
Medicine, June 4, 2014).

The brains of marijuana users are different, especially if they start 
young (Washington Post, Nov.10, 2014).

Pot studies suggest regular use is bad for teen brains (USA TODAY, 
Aug. 9, 2014).

Dozens of recent studies performed at a diverse range of institutions 
that include Northwestern University, Harvard University, King's 
College in London and the National Institute of Drug Abuse, an agency 
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have come to the 
same conclusion:

Marijuana is not safe. It is dangerous.

The ASU Morrison poll thus reveals an odd divergence from social 
trends away from dangerous behavior.

With all the concern society has recently shown over protecting our 
children's health and the nurturing of their brains - curbs on sugary 
drinks, the dietary structures of school lunches, safety of helmets 
in sports, campaigns against tobacco, increased efforts on early 
childhood education - it's simply shocking to see this race to 
legalize a substance far more damaging to the brain than sugar or 
tobacco or saturated fats.

Expanding access to marijuana, a substance that has been shown to 
cause psychiatric and psychological problems that not even a helmet 
or the arresting of childhood obesity can prevent, would nullify 
every effort aimed at increasing brain potential.

While the quest to legalize marijuana is aimed at laws that only 
allow adults to consume the product, it is a fallacy of experience to 
think use will be confined to adults.

Today, nearly 25 percent of our nation's high school students use 
tobacco and nearly 25 percent of 16- and 17year-olds and almost 45 
percent of 18-to 20-year-olds use alcohol.

The experience of our neighboring states tells the same tale with 
"medical" marijuana. Just last month, a CBS headline read: "Report: 
Medical pot is getting into LA school kids' hands." In Colorado, as 
one recent federal report found: "There was a 26 percent increase in 
youth (ages 12 to 17 years) monthly marijuana use in the three years 
after medical marijuana was commercialized (2009) compared to the 
three years prior to commercialization."

Our society is rife with youth challenges based on legal substance 
abuse, from tobacco to alcohol. We cannot now illegalize those 
substances - they are, as it were, out of the bottle.

What a sane society can do is say let's not add one more dangerous 
substance to the menu of problems our youth now face. And make no 
mistake about it: legalization, for any age group, is the handmaiden 
of adolescent use.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom