LEGALIZING POT WOULD HURT KIDS, AND HERE'S WHY

People who smoke pot - including a few friends of mine - are not going
to like this column.

But their desire to legally light up is less important to me than the
effect that legalization would have on kids.

For that reason, I hope Amendment 44 - the state ballot initiative
that would allow adults to legally possess up to an ounce of marijuana
- - fails.

If it passes in November it will allow adults to smoke without fear of
getting arrested. But the upshot is many young people will take it as
evidence that marijuana is not dangerous - something many already believe.

Young people often say that because marijuana comes from a plant, it
is "natural" and "organic," therefore not harmful. But it is toxic. If
it weren't there would be no high.

"Of course marijuana intoxication impairs intellectual functioning,"
says Dr. Harrison Pope, a Harvard professor of psychiatry who has
spent a decade researching the effects of marijuana use. "You don't
need brain scans to tell you that."

Heavy marijuana smokers are not only less academically accomplished,
they tend to have lower incomes than nonsmokers, Pope said. But he
said science cannot yet answer whether it's due to marijuana use or
whether people who choose to smoke marijuana tend to have lower
cognitive functioning and/or less drive to begin with.

Mason Tvert, campaign organizer of the ballot initiative, is correct
when he says that in many ways marijuana is a safer alternative to
alcohol. Studies have shown that drunks are prone to violence. But the
campaign's moniker, Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation, and
its acronym, SAFER, imply that marijuana is safe to use. It's not.

Although experts tell me there are no studies that show conclusively
that marijuana causes long-term damage to the brain, that only proves
how difficult it is to conduct these studies. Researchers can't
ethically test a control group by giving them marijuana, and
longitudinal studies of people who smoke marijuana on their own are
difficult and cost-prohibitive.

But for teens especially, the short-term effects on memory and
comprehension are enough to mean the difference between success and
failure, and between staying in school and dropping out.

"It can cause developmental delays that create a downward spiraling
effect," said Dr. Paula Riggs, a child psychiatrist who specializes in
addiction. "If you aren't learning, how do you graduate from high
school? If you don't graduate from high school, how are you going to
get a job or go to college?"

Passage of the law would not only send a message to our youths that it
is OK to smoke pot, it also could ultimately lead to more people in
the state possessing marijuana.

As it stands, marijuana addiction is the No. 1 reason kids are
referred for drug treatment, Riggs said. People who smoke every day
but say they are not addicted are in denial.

Experts say the studies are clear: The more access kids have to
marijuana, the greater the likelihood that they will use it.

Mark Kleiman, director of the Drug Policy Analysis Program at UCLA,
said research shows that when marijuana began being sold legally in
smoke shops in Amsterdam, teen use surged - even though it was illegal
for minors to possess or smoke the drug.

Richard Rawson, a psychology professor at UCLA, said that's true of
all drugs, including alcohol: Alcohol consumption was much higher
before and after Prohibition, partly because of its legality and
partly because of availability.

Tvert is right when he says that alcohol abuse is damaging. More
people die of alcohol- and nicotine-related illnesses than any other
diseases. It also can make people unruly and aggressive. But that's no
argument for legalizing marijuana.

Not when the minds of kids are at stake.