LEGALIZE WITH CONFIDENCE

Don't Ignore The Real Effects Of Prohibition.

I respond to Ben Domenech's "Legalize With Caution" not because I
think that he has too low an opinion of marijuana, but rather because
- like many reluctant anti-prohibitionists - he underestimates the
harm done by marijuana prohibition.

Frankly, I was surprised that he defends the "gateway theory." I
still think that it was best described by Bill Buckley almost 30
years ago when he defended my call for conservatives to support the
legalization of marijuana in the December 6, 1972 issue of NR when he
called it "Post Pot Ergo Propter Pot."

"After That Therefore Because of That" is actually a textbook logical
fallacy. It is perhaps the worst of the prohibitionist arguments, but
it continues to confuse even people as bright as Mr. Domenech.

When Rich Lowry pointed out that most marijuana users do not use
cocaine, Domenech argues, "The more appropriate (number) to offer
would be the percentage of cocaine users who originally started out
smoking pot."

First, I cannot imagine anyone ever using hard drugs without having
first tried marijuana, but that is not always the case. Even if there
were such an absolute correlation, that would still not prove
causation. The Institute of Medicine Report points out that because
"underage smoking and alcohol use typically precede marijuana use,
marijuana is not the most common, and is rarely the first, "gateway"
to illicit drug use. There is no conclusive evidence that the drug
effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of
other illicit drugs."

As for Domenech's comment, "(I)magine if one out of every 100 hundred
coffee drinkers got cancer, and you'll see what I mean." Actually,
because coffee is so widely consumed, and cancer is such a major
cause of death, far more that one percent of coffee drinkers do get
cancer, but that is not causation. Post Starbucks Ergo Propter
Starbucks.

However, the more important point made by the IOM Report is that the
real-world connection between marijuana and hard drugs is that they
are sold in the same markets. "(I)t is the legal status of marijuana
that makes it a gateway drug."

The foundation of all Dutch drugs policies is what they call the
"separation of the markets," and that is one reason for their
cannabis-only "coffee shop" system. One result is that there are very
few young Dutch junkies. In other words, marijuana prohibition is
actually counterproductive and creates the "gateway" between
marijuana and hard drugs. Legalization would remove that connection.
Freedom works.

As for marijuana being "addictive" - the IOM report does not support
the dire description by Dr. Charles Schuster, former director of the
National Institute on Drug Abuse, a highly politicized prohibitionist
propaganda organization. Schuster himself has said that "the
likelihood of that occurring in people is much less than with drugs
such as cocaine and heroin."

The IOM report says that A distinctive marijuana withdrawal syndrome
has been identified, but it is mild and short-lived." Two prominent
British scientists recently wrote in the London Times that "For some
users, perhaps as many as 10 per cent, cannabis leads to
psychological dependence, but there is scant evidence that it carries
a risk of true addiction. Unlike cigarette smokers, most users do not
take the drug on a daily basis, and usually abandon it in their
twenties or thirties. Unlike for nicotine, alcohol, and hard drugs,
there is no clearly defined "withdrawal syndrome" - the hallmark of
true addiction - when use is stopped."

Dependence is not addiction. I know thousands of marijuana smokers,
some are such heavy users that they might be described as
"dependent," but I know of no non-medical users who have ever had
serious problems when they had to stop suddenly. People may become
"dependent" on anything that they really enjoy, but when they are
dependent on something illegal their problems are made worse by
prohibition, not helped. And that is the whole point.

Domenech should not worry that legalization will worsen the problems
that rightly concern him. On the contrary, the Dutch experiences with
tolerating marijuana use, and virtually all human experience with
freedom, tell us that coercion is usually counterproductive. He
should not fear that marijuana prohibition is somehow an exception.