Pubdate: Tue, 31 May 2016 Source: Pueblo Chieftain (CO) Copyright: 2016 The Pueblo Chieftain Contact: http://www.chieftain.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1613 Author: Robert N. Alsever HEROIN AND POT When it comes to the war on marijuana in Pueblo, pot proponents claim we should worry about "real" drugs like heroin and prescription drugs- not marijuana. My answer: We do worry. I believe making marijuana legal has only fueled heroin use. Fifteen years ago physicians and hospitals were told they weren't managing pain adequately. Health care responded. What followed was a national prescription opiate epidemic. The Center for Disease Control reports prescription opioid abuse leads to a 40-fold increase in heroin use. Yet Colorado opiate prescriptions per 100 residents have decreased (CDC 2014). Our state weighs in at 70, compared with 120 to 140 for the Rust Belt and southern states. Still, Colorado ranks above average for heroin use and overdose deaths. Researchers in JAMA Internal Medicine hypothesized that in states where medical marijuana can be prescribed, patients can use pot for pain. If the claim that marijuana is effective in controlling chronic pain, shouldn't heroin use as a substitute for prescription opioids decrease? Instead, heroin use is increasing. Maybe, since the legalization of marijuana, the cartels have found marijuana is no longer profitable? In fact, they are shipping less, as marijuana drug seizures on the Southwest border have dropped and methamphetamines and heroin have surged, according to The Washington Post. Why take the risk of bulk transporting marijuana from Mexico with a decreasing U.S. market? As for a black market, Floridians and Illinois residents can move to Colorado and illegally grow it right in your Pueblo West neighborhood with Pueblo County's drug-friendly marijuana regulations, which have boosted marijuana use in adults and teens compounded by the consequent increased heroin use. Yes, we worry about real drugs like heroin and prescription drugs. We worry they indeed are fueled by another real drug - legal retail marijuana. It's time to put the marijuana experiment to a public vote! Robert N. Alsever, MD Pueblo - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom