RELAXED ATTITUDES TOWARD MARIJUANA WORRY COURT OFFICER

Ed Nahas decided he had no choice but to recommend criminal charges against
the young pot smoker after he asked a few questions this week.

"When was the last time you used?" the juvenile court intake officer asked.

"Yesterday," the Des Moines 15-year-old answered, exemplifying a casual
attitude toward marijuana use that troubles Nahas and other authorities.

The boy's mother, still reeling from the teen's May 10 arrest, looked
stunned, Nahas said.

"I use every day," he recalls the boy saying. "When I get out of high
school, I plan to move to a country where it's legal, and I plan to smoke
it every day."

The teen can add England to his list of safe places to smoke a reefer.
Earlier this week, Great Britain joined a handful of other European
countries to ease criminal penalties for marijuana use.

Although it's unlikely the United States will follow suit anytime soon,
Nahas and local drug counselors say they have seen a shift in attitudes
toward those in Europe. While many people still believe marijuana should
remain illegal, they also have become more ambivalent about its widespread
use and availability, Nahas said.

"The attitude is definitely more lenient," said the 25-year veteran of the
juvenile court system. "Kids and parents do not take experimentation and
use as seriously as they should."

That two promising University of Iowa athletes - football player Derreck
Robinson and basketball player Sean Sonderleiter - were charged last week
for pot possession is hardly surprising, just disappointing, drug
counselors say.

Pot has long been America's classless, smokable drug of choice, second only
to alcohol in usage. Authorities say arrests for marijuana dealing and
possession remain relatively steady, even as new drugs rise and fade in
popularity. When last surveyed in 1999, roughly 17 percent of youths
nationally in sixth, eighth and 11th grades reported they had used pot at
least once.

In Polk County, Nahas sees a steady 20 or so youths a month on
marijuana-related offenses, only half of whom are formally charged.

"We're a little more lenient with pot than we are with methamphetamine or
cocaine," he said. "I don't care if you're an A student, we're not going to
give you a break if you get caught with those drugs."

Drug agents say the content of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is
considerably higher today than in the 1960s and "70s, but the problems it
produces still pale to other, harder drugs.

That's one reason British officials said they wanted to downgrade
marijuana. Those who smoke and possess small amounts of pot will be
ticketed instead of arrested under plans announced this week by government
officials.

"The message to young people and families must be open, honest and
believable," Home Secretary David Blunkett said in outlining the plan to
the House of Commons. "Cannabis is a potentially harmful drug and should
remain illegal. However, it is not comparable with crack, heroin and ecstasy."

Through much of this week, groups in America such as the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws have praised the British
policy shift, calling Britain's reclassification of cannabis "an honest and
common-sense approach to refocus drug policy on those substances that cause
the most harm."

Several European countries already have relaxed their drug laws for similar
reasons. The Netherlands has legalized marijuana, while Luxembourg has
ended jail sentences for marijuana possession. Spain and Italy do not jail
people caught with drugs meant for personal use. Last year, Portugal
adopted a law eliminating jail time for possession of small amounts of any
illegal drug, according to The Associated Press.

In the United States, marijuana use is approved only for certain medicinal
purposes.

Jesse Villalobos, a Des Moines human rights worker, said that regardless of
one's view about marijuana, prison overcrowding, and the disproportion of
minorities and poor people behind bars demand that policy-makers in this
country take a closer look at alternative sentencing.

"People continue to be prosecuted for nonviolent crimes as opposed to the
real criminals," said Villalobos, a regional program director for the
National Conference for Community and Justice.

Many in law enforcement and politics, however, still believe America's war
against drugs, including pot, should continue.

"Regardless of whether it's a losing battle, and, no, I don't think it is,
I think it is a battle we need to continue to fight," Des Moines police
Sgt. Bruce Elrod said. "The last thing I would want is for kids to think we
don't care about what they do with drugs."

As for changing drug laws, he added: "Wherever we draw the line in the
sand, people walk right up to that line."

Bert DuChene agrees. A daily pot smoker in high school, the 29-year- old
Des Moines tattoo artist said softening drug laws is not the answer.

"Everyone I know smokes pot and they're so nonchalant about it," said
DuChene, who no longer uses the drug. "My friends will try to argue that
alcohol is so much worse . . . but several of them are just throwing their
lives away."

Many parents fail to recognize the lost potential of youths who become
regular dope smokers, said Janice Lane, director of Cornerstone Recovery, a
youth treatment program run by Children and Families of Iowa.

"We see a lot of bright, I'm talking talented kids, and their motivation
and commitment level just isn't there," she said. "Yet, the parents seem to
think it's no big deal. . . . Kids create their history every day, but once
you get those drugs in there, that all stops."