Pubdate: Sun, 04 Oct 2015
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
Copyright: 2015 The Cincinnati Enquirer
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/aeNtfDqb
Website: http://www.cincinnati.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/86
Author: Sylvia Sieve Hendon
Note: Judge Sylvia Sieve Hendon is the presiding judge of Ohio's 
First District Court of Appeals.

JUDGE: CASE SHOWS MARIJUANA NOT HARMLESS

"I feel like no one can get me - I am a zombie. I have special powers 
. nobody can kill me. ... They can shoot at me, but I still keep 
goin'. I'm powerful and can see the future."

Script from a bad sci-fi movie? I only wish. This is a quote from a 
youth charged with felonious assault with a firearm - a crime that 
has become routine on my docket as I preside by Supreme Court 
assignment in the Hamilton County Juvenile Court.

By his own admission this boy first used marijuana at age 12 and has 
used regularly and heavily since that time - and even admits he was 
able to access it while in court-ordered placements. He claims to 
have a "secret method" to beat urine screens and considers himself 
absolutely "addicted to weed."

As with most of his delinquent peers, that isn't the only problem. 
 From marijuana usage he introduced alcohol and now mixes a 
combination of weed, pills and alcohol to get to his desired feeling, 
"like no one can get me." He particularly favors "lean" - a 
combination of codeine mixed with soda and sugar as in candy, and 
says he "loves" how he feels and "cain't stop."

His addiction is so overpowering, he once discontinued prescribed 
antibiotics because they were "messing with" his illicit drugs of 
choice, thereby putting his physical health in extreme jeopardy. The 
professional who examined this boy for the court uncovered no 
underlying psychiatric disorder or mental health issue which is so 
often the explanation given for aberrant delinquent behavior. This 
youth is motivated solely by his overwhelming addiction and the 
accompanying results of it. In his own words he boldly boasts he 
"intends to resume use as soon as he is able."

His 48 contacts with the Juvenile Court by age 17 - beginning with a 
serious felony at the age of 12 and including three separate and very 
expensive placements for treatment and rehabilitation at taxpayer 
expense - find him now facing transfer to the adult court.

Why tell this story when it differs really so little from what I've 
seen during my 35 years - on and off - in the juvenile justice system?

This youth's graphic description of his journey from marijuana use to 
more sophisticated drugs of choice highlights the imperative need 
that we as a society do not become so mesmerized by the arguments 
that marijuana is really not a problem, that we accept its routine 
use as part of our way of life in Ohio.

Marijuana is not a harmless substance. Increased usage, even if 
legal, will increase the need and cost of treatment. Marijuana 
supporters like to compare it to alcohol. Apparently there is some 
intellectual disconnect in that reasoning, since alcohol abuse 
accounted for nearly 60,000 OVI cases in 2013 and countless tragic 
consequences such as broken families, lost employment and, most 
tragic, vehicular homicides.

The imposition of a lengthy prison sentence may interrupt one 
defendant's hellish dependency, but he has told us in no uncertain 
terms that he intends to resume his addiction as soon as he can. The 
next time he is feeling his "super powers" and his invincibility, you 
or someone you love may be on the receiving end as his helpless victim.

Excerpts from the psychological examination prepared in accordance 
with Juvenile Rule 30, Relinquishment of Jurisdiction to Adult Court, 
are used with the express permission given in open court by the 
youth, his mother and legal guardian, his defense counsel and his 
court-appointed guardian adlitem.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom