No Logical Reason to Punish Adults for Using Marijuana Over Alcohol [Colorado OpEd]

[I.M. Boggled]

Author: Mason Tvert
Note: Mason Tvert is the campaign director for Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) and the lead proponent of Amendment 44 in Colorado, U.S.A.
>>>>>>>>
NO LOGICAL REASON TO PUNISH ADULTS FOR USING MARIJUANA OVER ALCOHOL

Boo!

That's a preview of the strongest argument opponents of Amendment 44 - - the Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative - will put forth in the last two weeks of the campaign.

Don't expect an open and honest discussion about the merits of making marijuana possession legal for adults.
Instead, expect every possible scare tactic related to children you can imagine.
Before our opponents are done, you will think we are trying to make marijuana part of the free lunch program at elementary schools.

And why are our opponents hiding behind children?
Perhaps it is because there is no logical reason to punish adults for making the rational choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol.

Here are just a few reasons why:

. Alcohol is deadly; marijuana is not. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 20,000 Americans die every year as the direct result of alcohol consumption. The number for marijuana is zero. In addition, alcohol overdose deaths are not just possible, but an all-too-frequent occurrence in Colorado, as the on-campus deaths of students like Samantha Spady and Gordy Bailey have made tragically clear. Marijuana, on the other hand, has never caused an overdose death.

. Alcohol increases the likelihood of violent behavior; marijuana does not. This is not a surprising statement to individuals who have been around users of each substance. But it is also backed up with statistics. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice has reported the following about crime in the United States: "Two-thirds of victims who suffered violence by an intimate ( a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend ) reported that alcohol had been a factor. Among spouse victims, three out of four incidents were reported to have involved an offender who had been drinking." Every objective study has concluded that marijuana use does not contribute to violent or aggressive behavior.

. Alcohol is especially problematic on college campuses. Drinking by college students, ages 18 to 24, contributes to an estimated 1,400 student deaths, 500,000 injuries and 70,000 cases of sexual assaults or date rapes each year, according to a 2002 study commissioned by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Task Force on College Drinking.

While these numbers are staggering, some statistics are even more powerful when conveyed as percentages.

For example, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health College found that nearly three-quarters ( 72 percent ) of all college female rape victims experienced rape while under the influence of alcohol.

Our opponents, including the top elected officials in the state, will completely ignore these facts and recklessly defend a system designed to punish people for using marijuana, which only pushes more people toward alcohol.

To justify this irrational policy, our opponents will claim they are protecting our kids. In doing so, however, they ignore even more statistics.

Marijuana is already "universally available" to teens. Our opponents make it seem as if marijuana prohibition is needed to keep marijuana away from kids. Yet today, 86 percent of high school seniors say it is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get marijuana. Moreover, the authors of the Monitoring the Future report on teen substance use reported, "Marijuana has been almost universally available to American high school seniors over at least the past 30 years."

Anti-marijuana propaganda is pushing kids toward a more dangerous drug. As a result of anti-marijuana propaganda, 12- to 17-year-old Americans believe smoking marijuana once or twice a week is more dangerous than having five or more drinks at a time once or twice a week, according to a federal government survey.
Yet binge drinking can kill these kids in one night; marijuana cannot.

For better or worse, alcohol and marijuana are a permanent part of our society.
Young people determined to use alcohol will probably find alcohol, and those determined to use marijuana will probably find marijuana.
Nevertheless, reducing teen use of either substance requires honest and open conversations with our kids.

Pushing adults ( with our laws ) and kids ( with misinformation ) toward alcohol instead of marijuana is not a solution to the problem.
Rather, it is making societal problems worse.

Don't let our opponents scare you into maintaining the current, failed system. Help reduce alcohol-related harms and make Colorado safer by voting yes on Amendment 44.

 

[I.M. Boggled]

Author: John Suthers
Note: John Suthers is Colorado's attorney general.
Note: Opposing OPED
'No Logical Reason to Punish Adults for Using Marijuana Over Alcohol'
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

RELATIVE SAFETY OF DRUG AN INCORRECT AND IRRESPONSIBLE ARGUMENT

The proponents of Amendment 44 base their assertion that possession of marijuana should be legalized on the premise that it is a safe alternative to alcohol.
That message is both incorrect and irresponsible and I hope the voters of Colorado will reject it.

Our American society is plagued by moral relativism, and the campaign in support of Amendment 44 is a classic example of it.
They suggest that society should condone the harm brought on by marijuana intoxication because, in their view, it is surpassed by the harm brought about by alcohol intoxication.
That is an irresponsible message, particularly for our children.

When small amounts of marijuana were legalized for adults in Alaska between 1978 and 1990, the National Household Survey of Drug Use in America showed that by the late '80s 52 percent of Alaskan teenagers used marijuana. That was almost three times the rate of marijuana use by teenagers in the rest of the nation. That was part of the reason that marijuana was recriminalized in Alaska in 1990. In the Netherlands, the "coffee shop" legalization of marijuana resulted in use of marijuana by Dutch teenagers nearly tripling in just eight years.

Marijuana is not the benign drug that proponents of Amendment 44 portray it to be. In 1981, the tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC ) content in marijuana was 1.83 percent, which rose to 5.62 percent in 2003. ( THC is the hallucinatory chemical that is the principal and most active ingredient in marijuana. ) The THC content of high-grade marijuana rose from 6.58 percent in 1981 to 14.1 percent in 2003.

Corresponding to the increased potency of the THC content in marijuana was a sixfold increase in emergency room admissions because of marijuana use during the decade of the '90s, even though the number of marijuana users remained relatively the same. Between 1992 and 2002, there was a 162 percent increase in treatment admissions for marijuana use as the primary substance of abuse. Today, 62 percent of teens in drug treatment are there for marijuana use.

The proponents of Amendment 44 contend that the law is not a deterrent to illicit drug use. In fact, the National Household Survey indicates that many of our citizens, including our children, are deterred from drug use because it is against the law. Sixty percent of teenagers who do not use drugs indicate that the primary reason they do not do so is because it is illegal. The adverse impact on their health is the second most frequently cited reason.

The proponents of Amendment 44 have also recklessly created a significant legal issue. Under current law the transfer of less than an ounce of marijuana from someone over the age of 18 to someone over the age of 15 is deemed possession of marijuana and not distribution. So in legalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana for people over 21, the proponents are unwittingly advocating legalization of the transfer of less than an ounce of marijuana from someone over 21 to anyone over 15. Their retort is that such activity could still be prosecuted under the felony offense of "contributing to the delinquency of a minor." But I assure you that a creative defense attorney will make the argument that the voters, if they pass Amendment 44, specifically directed that such activity be legalized.

Despite the claims of critics to the contrary, the battle against drug abuse in the United States can claim significant success. In 1979, the National Household Survey indicated that 14.1 percent of Americans had used an illicit drug in the last 30 days. This year that number will likely be between 6 percent and 7 percent. A 50 percent reduction in illicit drug use in America is not something that you read about on editorial pages very often. We have also reduced teenage use of marijuana by 20 percent in the last four years.

This is simply not the time to raise a white flag and give up the battle against drug abuse in Colorado.
We need to send a very clear message to our children, and that message is that the only safe alternative to intoxication is sobriety.

 

[I.M. Boggled]

D.A.R.E. just ain't workin'...

D.A.R.E. just ain't workin'...

Safety First:
A Reality-Based Approach to Teens, Drugs, and Drug Education
The project was dedicated to parents and educators.
We advocate abstinence while providing a "fallback" strategy addressing those teens who said "sometimes," or "maybe," or even "yes" to alcohol and other drugs.

Our position was clear:

* Regarding alcohol and other drugs, in order to eliminate the possibility of potential problems, abstinence is the wisest choice for teens.

* Conventional prevention programs, providing misinformation and utilizing scare tactics, are ineffective because they have failed to gain the confidence of young people.

* Teens, whether we like it or not, will make their own decisions about alcohol and other drug use.

* Everyone needs honest, science-based drug education because America is a drug culture (using alcohol, over-the-counter substances, and prescription drugs, as well as illegal drugs), and we all will have to deal with a wide array of legal and illegal substances throughout our lifetimes.

* Safety should be the end result of any program or approach.

&

Beyond Zero Tolerance
which is a comprehensive, cost-effective approach to high school drug education and student assistance that is all about helping teenagers by bolstering the student community and educational environment.
This unique approach combines education, interaction, assistance when needed, and restorative practices.
...
The goal of the project is to provide educators with tools for implementing humane and effective drug education, at minimal cost and using their own faculty.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=17435

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
D.A.R.E.: THE NEVER-ENDING FOLLY
Good Intentions Don't Make Up For Fact that the D.A.R.E. Program Doesn't Work and Never Has
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=17437

 

[Allusive]

It is amazing how they can completely ignore the facts, I mean like they don't even exist.

When small amounts of marijuana were legalized for adults in Alaska between 1978 and 1990, the National Household Survey of Drug Use in America showed that by the late '80s 52 percent of Alaskan teenagers used marijuana.

Even if that is true, how many of them used alchohol!?

Alcohol isn't even scheduled! lol, the insanity.