Pubdate: Wed, 21 Oct 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: Ed Gogek
Note: Dr. Ed Gogek of Prescott is an addiction psychiatrist and 
author of "Marijuana Debunked: A handbook for parents, pundits and 
politicians who want to know the case against legalization."

WHY SWEDEN REJECTED POT LEGALIZATION

During last week's Democratic debate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 
said the United States should model its social policies on Sweden, 
Norway and Denmark - countries that provide free health care, free 
college and paid family leave.

But by saying he'd vote to legalize marijuana, Sanders made it much 
harder to convince Americans to adopt these programs.

Swedish history shows why.

In the 1970s, Sweden did what we're doing now: told police to ignore 
drug possession and only pursue serious crime. But drug abuse soared, 
so the country reversed course. Today, Sweden and its neighbors have 
some of the world's toughest drug laws, including tough marijuana laws.

None of the Scandinavian countries have decriminalized marijuana. Nor 
do they permit its medical use. An 84-acre autonomous district in 
Copenhagen is allowed to flout marijuana laws, but the rest of 
Denmark enforces them strictly.

This doesn't mean jailing drug users. Sweden uses the threat of jail 
to get substance abusers into treatment, and because crime is mostly 
caused by substance abuse, this policy prevents crime - so well that 
over the past decade the country has closed four prisons.

Tough marijuana laws also help keep Swedish socialism affordable, and 
that's why supporting legalization is a problem for Sanders. People 
already worry about what his programs would cost.

For example, a Rand Corporation report says California spends $110 
million yearly on schizophrenia hospitalizations caused by marijuana; 
for the whole U.S., that's over $1 billion per year. Marijuana also 
causes addiction and injuries from auto accidents, which are 
expensive problems to treat.

How can Sanders ask America to pay for free health care if he's 
promoting a marijuana policy that would make health care more expensive?

Research on postal employees, published in the Journal of the 
American Medical Association in 1990, found that marijuana users had 
more disciplinary problems, more absenteeism and higher turnover. A 
2012 study showed that marijuana users have less commitment to work. 
One company already left Colorado, citing employees who were too 
stoned to be productive.

Sanders wants the U.S. to require paid family leave and a high 
minimum wage. But if at the same time we legalize a drug that causes 
poor work performance, it could bankrupt businesses.

A University of Maryland study found that college students who used 
marijuana, even occasionally, studied less, skipped more classes, 
earned lower grades and were less likely to graduate. How can Sanders 
ask America to pay for free college, and then promote a drug policy 
that leads students to waste the experience?

Sanders deserves credit for promoting policies that would give 
American families the same financial security citizens in other rich 
countries enjoy. The Scandinavian programs he supports - free health 
care, free college, a living wage, good pensions and family leave - 
would greatly benefit most Americans.

However, it's hard to take seriously someone who would also increase 
the cost of these programs unnecessarily. By endorsing marijuana 
legalization, Bernie Sanders has made himself a less convincing 
salesman for the ideas he cares about most.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom