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I
understand the arguments for the legalization of marijuana: It can
generate tax revenue. It can reduce illegal supply and demand. It can
strip power from cartels and lessen crime across and at our borders. And
it isn't so dangerous as other illegal drugs or alcohol.
President
Barack Obama even claimed one of those arguments when he recently told
New Yorker Editor David Remnick, "As has been well-documented, I smoked
pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very
different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through
a big chunk of my adult life."
Obama
explained, "(Smoking marijuana is) not something I encourage, and I've
told my daughters I think it's a bad idea, a waste of time, not
very healthy." But then he added, "I don't think it is more dangerous
than alcohol."
With
the president entering the cannabis conversation ring, debate has
intensified around the nation. But what's the truth in the
alcohol-vs.-marijuana dispute?
CNN
recently reported on some extensive studies and evidence surrounding
the topic, especially in comparing use, addiction, withdrawal and the
effects on using motorized vehicles. Let me summarize those and cite
some others. (Next week, I will discuss in greater detail how alcohol
and marijuana compare in their effects on our minds, bodies and
relationships.)
According
to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol
remains the leading addictive substance consumed in the U.S. But
according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, marijuana is
categorized as a Schedule I
substance -- in the same classification as heroin, LSD and Ecstasy. The
National Institute on Drug Abuse points out that 9 percent of marijuana
users will become addicted to it. (By comparison, about 20 percent of
cocaine users become addicted.) More than 4 million people abused pot or
had an addiction problem with it in 2011, according to Fox News.
Alcoholics
can suffer from the following withdrawal symptoms: depression, anxiety,
insomnia, headaches, fever, nausea and even seizures. And CNN's chief
medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, explained, "There is clear
evidence that in some people, marijuana use can lead to withdrawal
symptoms, including insomnia, anxiety and nausea." The National
Institute on Drug Abuse added that the drug is linked to "school
failure" and that high doses "can cause psychosis or panic when you're
high," according to Fox News.
Of
course, we
know the dangers of drinking alcohol and driving. Similarly, a recent
study published in the British Medical Journal showed that marijuana
users who drove within three hours of smoking nearly doubled their
chances of causing a crash compared with sober drivers. And the American
Society of Addiction Medicine just released a statement saying the drug
"impairs memory, motor function and respiratory health when smoked --
and can be addictive."
To
say marijuana isn't so dangerous as alcohol is like saying a plain
doughnut isn't so bad for us as a glazed one. The point is what?
Wouldn't it simply be better to ditch the doughnuts from our diets and
try whole-wheat toast with organic peanut butter and sliced bananas as a
more nutritious way to start our days?
It
suffices to say here that justifying the use of one drug because it's
not so dangerous as another drug is weak reasoning
in any book and bad grounds for justifying usage of either of them. And
such a statement coming from a sitting president of the United States
is simply reckless leadership run amok.
As
far as why the president gave his pro-marijuana comments to The New
Yorker, I think Donald Moorse, a Portland, Ore., medical marijuana
dispensary owner, hit the cannabis nail right on the head: The
president's views "will influence people throughout the country. I think
that's why he made the comments."
And
how does the president justify his pro-marijuana stance? He believes
that if marijuana is legalized, fewer young blacks and Latinos will be
imprisoned.
Obama
said about the legalization of pot in Washington and Colorado: "It's
important for it to go forward because it's important for society not to
have a situation in which a large portion of people
have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get
punished."
And
he explained who those "select few" are when he said: "Middle-class
kids don't get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do. And
African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and
less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh
penalties."
Fox News summarized
that "the president echoed the argument that pro-legalization advocates
often make, stressing the cost to society of locking up minor drug
offenders."
So
let me get this straight: If pot is legalized, we pay less to
incarcerate minor drug offenders by unleashing and increasing major pot
smokers and smoking in every stratum of society as if there will be no
price to pay -- personal, monetary or otherwise -- in doing so?
No
wonder the Drug Free America Foundation said on its website this past
week about Obama: "His laissez-faire attitude about legalization has
drug policy and prevention experts scratching their heads in confusion
as to why the President will not give clear guidance on this important
issue."
The
foundation went on to say, "President Obama is surrounded by ... myriad
... experts who have voiced serious concerns about the harms of
marijuana and rejected legalization, so either he is seriously
ill-informed about the issue or is completely ignoring warnings from his
highly-esteemed advisers."
Fox
News also noted that Obama's own Office of National Drug Control Policy
"lists a range of negative health and mental consequences from the
drug, including schizophrenia, lower IQ ('as much as an 8 point drop')
and higher risk of heart attack."
More double talk and more double standards from the White House. How shocking.
Remember
the days when presidents modeled and espoused healthy living, beginning
by denouncing drug use rather than justifying it?
Maybe
it's time we fight all addictive drugs instead of making excuses for
using them. Maybe it's time we teach and model for young people that
life can be good enough on its own merit without altering reality by
drug use.
I'm
not here making a case for or against the medicinal use of marijuana.
However, it's very difficult for me to believe that America, average
healthy Americans and particularly our younger generations are going to
be better off with pot's legalization.
I'm
all for freedom, but when liberty turns into licentiousness, it's time
to reconsider why we're doing what
we're doing. Just because we can doesn't mean we should. And if that's
the case, what other illicit passion is going to be next in the lineup
of legalization?
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