Pubdate: Tue, 16 Jun 2015
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2015 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Authors: William J. Bennett and Seth Leibsohn
Note: William J. Bennett was the nation's first drug czar, the 
secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 and is the co-author of 
"Going to Pot: Why the Rush to Legalize Marijuana Is Harming 
America." Seth Leibsohn is a radio host in Phoenix and chairman of 
Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy.

PUBLIC OPINION GOING TO POT

William J. Bennett and Seth Leibsohn: Not So Fast on Legalizing Marijuana

Twenty years ago, drug dealers were seen for what they were - 
criminal and dangerous elements in our society. They were shunned by 
the mainstream. People who sold marijuana were considered losers, in 
the business of harming our children. Parents warned their kids to 
stay away from those known to use drugs.

Thanks to the marijuana lobby, what was once scorned is hyped and 
celebrated - even as the drug has become more potent, with THC, the 
intoxicating chemical, present at much higher levels than in the 
1990s. Dealers run state-sanctioned dispensaries, lobby to further 
legalize their product and receive positive media coverage when doing so.

The dangers have gone up and the stigma has gone down. Many in the 
Republican Party are aiding and abetting in this social collapse. 
Recently, two prominent California Republicans, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher 
and Rep. Tom McClintock, have taken the lead in helping reverse the 
long-standing consensus between both parties that marijuana, and 
other drugs, should remain illegal. A few of the potential 2016 
Republican candidates for president are forcefully against 
legalization, but most have been all over the map on this issue.

Yet it is no more a Republican Party or conservative value than it is 
a Democratic Party or liberal value to help legalize, and thus expand 
the use of, a dangerous product.

Mario Cuomo, the late Democratic governor of New York, spoke out 
forcefully against legalization. Former Rep. Patrick Kennedy follows 
in his footsteps today. Over the years, others who have opposed 
legalization include Republicans Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, 
George W. Bush, Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer and Jack Kemp, and 
think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, the Hudson Institute and 
the Claremont Institute. As Reagan said in 1986, "Drug abuse is not a 
so-called victimless crime." Indeed, it is not. We wish more of our 
current elected officials understood that fact.

The science is overwhelmingly clear that marijuana use is harmful to 
human health, particularly among children and young adults. As the 
American Medical Association stated in 2013 when it came out against 
legalization: "Current evidence supports, at minimum, a strong 
association of cannabis use with the onset of psychiatric disorders. 
Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to harm." A 2014 study in the 
journal Current Addiction Reports found that regular pot use (defined 
as once a week), especially among teenagers and young adults, can 
lead to cognitive decline, decreased IQ , and poor attention and 
memory. This backs up a growing number of studies with similar 
findings, including a lengthy 2014 report in the New England Journal 
of Medicine, and another report from the same year by Northwestern 
Medicine and Massachusetts General-Harvard Medical School, showing a 
link between the recreational use of marijuana and significant brain 
abnormalities in young adults.

If conservatives believe the efforts to contain marijuana use have 
been too expensive or burdensome on our law enforcement and 
corrections systems (as is often claimed), we ask them to simply look 
at the numbers and costs associated with enforcement of the legal 
product they compare it to so often, alcohol.

According to the FBI, arrests and imprisonments for alcohol and 
liquor violations (DUIs, drunkenness and liquor law violations) 
exceed arrests and imprisonments for all drug violations combined - 
by nearly 500,000. Marijuana possession accounts for 40 percent of 
the drug violations. Why? One is legal and available, and one is 
still - mostly - illegal and less available.

As for any claim of unconstitutionality, there is no argument against 
the legal barring of marijuana that does not also apply to heroin, 
cocaine and meth. That is why some of the more honest proponents in 
the legalization movement will admit that marijuana legalization is 
but a first step toward the legalization of all drugs.

Abraham Lincoln said government's "leading object is to elevate the 
condition of men ... to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all." 
Overseeing or encouraging more marijuana use is the last thing a 
government trying to elevate the condition of men and clear the path 
of laudable pursuits would do. At stake is the safety of our youth, 
and that should be one thing both major parties can agree is precious.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom