NO LOGICAL REASON TO PUNISH ADULTS FOR USING MARIJUANA OVER ALCOHOL

Boo!

That's a preview of the strongest argument opponents of Amendment 44
- - the Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative - will put forth in
the last two weeks of the campaign.

Don't expect an open and honest discussion about the merits of making
marijuana possession legal for adults. Instead, expect every possible
scare tactic related to children you can imagine. Before our
opponents are done, you will think we are trying to make marijuana
part of the free lunch program at elementary schools.

And why are our opponents hiding behind children? Perhaps it is
because there is no logical reason to punish adults for making the
rational choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol. Here are just a
few reasons why:

. Alcohol is deadly; marijuana is not. According to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 20,000 Americans
die every year as the direct result of alcohol consumption. The
number for marijuana is zero. In addition, alcohol overdose deaths
are not just possible, but an all-too-frequent occurrence in
Colorado, as the on-campus deaths of students like Samantha Spady and
Gordy Bailey have made tragically clear. Marijuana, on the other
hand, has never caused an overdose death.

. Alcohol increases the likelihood of violent behavior; marijuana
does not. This is not a surprising statement to individuals who have
been around users of each substance. But it is also backed up with
statistics. For example, the U.S. Department of Justice has reported
the following about crime in the United States: "Two-thirds of
victims who suffered violence by an intimate (a current or former
spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend) reported that alcohol had been a
factor. Among spouse victims, three out of four incidents were
reported to have involved an offender who had been drinking." Every
objective study has concluded that marijuana use does not contribute
to violent or aggressive behavior.

. Alcohol is especially problematic on college campuses. Drinking by
college students, ages 18 to 24, contributes to an estimated 1,400
student deaths, 500,000 injuries and 70,000 cases of sexual assaults
or date rapes each year, according to a 2002 study commissioned by
the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Task Force on
College Drinking.

While these numbers are staggering, some statistics are even more
powerful when conveyed as percentages.

For example, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health
College found that nearly three-quarters (72 percent) of all college
female rape victims experienced rape while under the influence of alcohol.

Our opponents, including the top elected officials in the state, will
completely ignore these facts and recklessly defend a system designed
to punish people for using marijuana, which only pushes more people
toward alcohol.

To justify this irrational policy, our opponents will claim they are
protecting our kids. In doing so, however, they ignore even more statistics.

Marijuana is already "universally available" to teens. Our opponents
make it seem as if marijuana prohibition is needed to keep marijuana
away from kids. Yet today, 86 percent of high school seniors say it
is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get marijuana. Moreover, the
authors of the Monitoring the Future report on teen substance use
reported, "Marijuana has been almost universally available to
American high school seniors over at least the past 30 years."

Anti-marijuana propaganda is pushing kids toward a more dangerous
drug. As a result of anti-marijuana propaganda, 12- to 17-year-old
Americans believe smoking marijuana once or twice a week is more
dangerous than having five or more drinks at a time once or twice a
week, according to a federal government survey. Yet binge drinking
can kill these kids in one night; marijuana cannot.

For better or worse, alcohol and marijuana are a permanent part of
our society. Young people determined to use alcohol will probably
find alcohol, and those determined to use marijuana will probably
find marijuana. Nevertheless, reducing teen use of either substance
requires honest and open conversations with our kids.

Pushing adults (with our laws) and kids (with misinformation) toward
alcohol instead of marijuana is not a solution to the problem.
Rather, it is making societal problems worse.

Don't let our opponents scare you into maintaining the current,
failed system. Help reduce alcohol-related harms and make Colorado
safer by voting yes on Amendment 44.