DON'T BELIEVE THE MARIJUANA HYPE

In a Jan. 8 essay in the Register titled "Better off legalizing
marijuana," Ronald Fraser of the DKT Liberty Project, a
Washington-based civil liberties organization, advocated the
legalization of marijuana in Alabama as well as the rest of the nation.

He used data developed for the National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws.

On the surface, the idea of adding marijuana to the revenue stream
may seem appealing. People tend to like the idea of "sin" taxes.

But marijuana is not as "harmless" as tobacco or alcohol -- and the
use of those substances can be extremely detrimental. Baby boomers
who used to smoke pot and didn't become addicts tend to think of it
as a "safe" drug, but today's marijuana makes the marijuana of
the'70s look like ultra-light beer.

The average THC levels have risen from less than 1 percent in the
mid-1970s to more than 8 percent in 2004, and some marijuana can have
a THC level of 20 percent or even higher.

Smoking a joint deposits about three to five times more tar into the
lungs than one filtered tobacco cigarette.

Marijuana smoke also contains 50 to 70 percent more carcinogenic
hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke, and produces high levels of an
enzyme that converts certain hydrocarbons into malignant cells.

But health issues aside, Fraser's argument tries to sell the idea
that enforcement is too costly, and that everyone would benefit if
marijuana was legalized and taxed. He asserts that this would result
in better control of underage access/use, and more quality control.

As we noted, however, today's marijuana is stronger. As for the
question of underage access: Despite the laws regulating alcohol, we
still see an alarming number of underage drinkers. Effecting change
in that area has only come with increased education and enforcement.

Talk to a narcotics officer and you will hear that very few people
who abuse cocaine or heroin started with those drugs. Almost all of
them started with marijuana.

Does that mean a person who smokes marijuana will automatically move
on to harder drugs? No, but the Journal of the American Medical
Association reported that marijuana-using twins were four times more
likely than their non-marijuana using siblings to use cocaine and
crack cocaine, and five times more likely to use hallucinogens such as LSD.

Further, the younger a person is when he or she first uses marijuana,
the more likely it is that marijuana will go on to other drug use.
One study found that 62 percent of the adults who first tried
marijuana before age 15 were likely to go on to use cocaine.

In contrast, only 1 percent or less of adults who never tried
marijuana used heroin or cocaine.

The worst thing that marijuana does to young people is destroy their
enthusiasm. They get to where they have no interest in doing anything.

If they play ball, they'll eventually quit. If they're on the student
council, they'll start failing academically. They won't want to work.

All in all, despite the professed economic advantages of legalizing
marijuana, experience tells us there are far greater risks.