LEGALIZING MARIJUANA NOT SOLUTION

I'm not suggesting that there's some widespread movement out there, but
there have been a fair number of calls, letters and e-mails -- enough to
indicate that there's something festering.

The basic argument that these folks express is that Hawai'i's crystal
methamphetamine epidemic is a direct result of overzealous enforcement of
marijuana laws. Green Harvest created the demand for ice labs, they cry.
They claim that if all the ice addicts were smoking dope instead, they'd be
mellow and non-violent, and we'd have a happy community. Some will go as far
as saying the only way to combat ice is to legalize marijuana.

No, seriously. There are people who truly ascribe to this. And these people
are actually functional enough to write e-mails and letters, though they
can't quite organize their thoughts enough to argue their point over the
phone. Wonder why.

They try to sound all compassionate and pono by bringing up medical
marijuana. Nothing like evoking the image of a person suffering through
chemotherapy to make a bad argument sound righteous. But how did we get from
crystal meth to cancer patients? Stick to the point. Can you stick to the
point? Why can't you stick to the point? Do you remember the point? And you
think you don't have a problem?

They argue that if alcohol is legal, marijuana should be legal. As if our
society doesn't have enough problems with alcohol. Fetal alcohol syndrome,
domestic violence, DUI. ... Yeah, it's legal, but that doesn't mean it's not
harmful.

Other points they try to toss in seem to sound like pitches directed toward
the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Cash
crop, they say. Diversified agriculture. Those comfy hemp shirts Woody
Harrelson likes to wear. There's never any acknowledgement of adverse
effects. Natural. Healthy. Crystal meth is synthetic. Bad.

Yes, crystal meth is particularly heinous and its effects on the human body
and behavior are different than those of marijuana. But a mind-altering
substance is a mind-altering substance, and saying that the way to beat an
ice habit is to smoke dope is like an alcoholic saying they will beat the
sauce by switching from Smirnoff to Bud. Loaded is loaded, and loaded isn't
functional. And being dysfunctional means that some other poor soul is
having to pull your weight in this world.

So what is the threat of this point of view? After all, it's just a bunch of
potheads making noise. It's not as though lawmakers are going to suddenly
take them seriously. They can't possibly garner any measure of legitimate
support in the community. The danger is to kids who might be naive enough to
believe that smoking pakalolo is harmless; that it's actually a good thing
because it's keeping them away from ice. The danger is to drug users who
don't need one more sliver of denial to keep them in their disease and out
of reality.