LEGALIZING MARIJUANA REMAINS A BAD IDEA

It took a couple years, but the truth has finally emerged regarding
the real purpose behind the medical marijuana campaign.

Tim Beck, the chair of the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care
and one of the leaders in the fight to make medical marijuana legal
in Michigan, has admitted on statewide television that his goal is to
legalize marijuana use in Detroit and, eventually, all of Michigan.

Throughout the campaign in 2008, proponents of the medical marijuana
ballot initiative argued this was a carefully crafted proposal aimed
at helping those few who suffered from intractable pain. Instead, the
proposal has been nothing short of a nightmare for state and local
authorities to sort through. Employers in Michigan who want a
drug-free workplace are being sued by those who are smoking dope,
even though marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. Law
enforcement personnel, already stretched thin by budget cuts and
rising levels of crime, are caught in the middle.

And, far from limiting the usage of marijuana to a small, select
group of patients, the pot industry has become one of the fastest
growing industries in Michigan. State government is receiving more
than 1,000 medical marijuana patient applications each week. And less
than two years after the ballot proposal was approved, there are more
than 8,000 so-called caregivers in Michigan -- people who grow and
harvest marijuana plants.

Pot shops are literally sprouting up everywhere. One in Lansing is
less than 100 feet from a Catholic middle school, and often those who
attend night classes at the pot shop park in the church and school's
parking lot.

Now comes the push to completely legalize marijuana. But as we argued
in 2008, legalizing drug use was a bad idea then, and it is even a
worse idea now, with the economy continuing to tank.

* 24.5 percent of federal and 29 percent of state prison inmates
reported being under the influence of drugs when committing violent offenses.

* 75 percent of children in foster care are placed there because of a
parent's substance abuse.

* More than 60 percent of domestic violence offenders have substance
abuse problems, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

And make no mistake, the push is on not just to legalize marijuana,
but a much broader range of currently illegal substances. Beck and
other proponents of legalizing drugs argue that police dollars could
be spent more productively elsewhere. And, Beck argues that state
government could put a tax on marijuana to generate more revenue and
help close the yawning budget deficit.

But the facts are clear: getting high on drugs is not a victimless crime.

Families, spouses and children suffer. More drug usage results in
more crime. And if state government cannot find a better way to
balance the budget than legalizing drugs, then Michigan is in far
worse shape than even we imagined. Legislators need to act now to
stop marijuana legalization.