ARGUMENTS FOR LEGALIZING DRUGS AIRED AT POLICY FORUM

NEW HAVEN -- Cliff Thornton said drugs have had a devastating effect on the
American landscape. They have caused the death and incarceration of
numerous people and they have torn apart families.

On Saturday at Yale University, Thornton, of the social conscience group
Efficacy, proposed a solution: legalization and regulation of drugs and
treatment of those with drug dependencies.

"The majority of people in our prisons are serving time on drug charges,"
Thornton said. "When someone in our country has a drug addiction, our
solution is to lock them up. We don’t get them treatment. We send them to
prison."

Thornton was one of the panelists Saturday at a discussion hosted by the
Connecticut Cannabis Policy Forum. The panel’s primary focus was the
legalization of marijuana.

Mike Gogulski of CCPF said that while the group does not advocate the use
of marijuana, it proposes that marijuana be a legalized, regulated drug
that adults have the option to use.

Gogulski said that more than 100 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln was
part of the temperance movement. But rather than advocate outlawing
alcohol, he said anti-alcohol advocates should use persuasion.

"Lincoln said persuasion was the proper tool to get people not to do
something which you believe is harmful to them," Gogulski said. "But today,
we tell people they shouldn’t do something because it’s bad for them. Then
we tell people if they do use drugs, we’re going to arrest them, take away
their rights and lock them away."

Thornton said if America would use the money it now spends on the drug war
on treatment, many of society’s problems could be solved.

"I don’t think just legalizing marijuana will solve our problems. We have
to treat drug addiction and the problems it causes," he said. "Arresting
people for drug use has done nothing to solve the problems in America."

A teacher at the forum who gave his name as Will Smith said one of the
problems with America’s prohibition on marijuana is that it is more
accessible to teens than alcohol.

"In a regulated market, we would have people checking IDs [for those buying
marijuana] like we do for alcohol," Smith said. "The reason marijuana is so
popular with kids is because it’s much harder to get a drink than it is to
get a joint."

Smith said he preferred not to use his real name for fear of losing his
teaching job.

Gogulski, a data communications engineer from Hamden, said he is aware of
the possibility of retaliation for his views. He could be targeted by law
enforcement or lose his job.

"That’s the way it works. The opposite side has a very easy way of taking
out the opposition if they so choose," he said. "But law enforcement in
most communities has higher priorities to deal with."

Gogulski said the next open discussion would be July 10.

For more information, call 787-7157 or access the CCPF Web site at
www.ccpf.org.