PRO & CON: SHOULD MARIJUANA BE LEGALIZED IN CONNECTICUT?

Yes, Laws have created a black market

Cliff Thornton

The question should be phrased, "Should marijuana prohibition be
replaced with reasonable regulation after 60 years of failure?"

Nationally, it costs over $7.5 billion yearly to prohibit marijuana.
If these resources were redirected toward education, job creation,
public health initiatives, and research, we would begin to see our
society take strides forward.

Laws to control marijuana have become increasingly draconian since
1937 to the point of a death penalty in some cases. What actually
happens with prohibition is that we lose all control. Almost 11
million Americans have been arrested since 1965 for breaking
marijuana laws. Every minute another is arrested. This does not
dissuade people from using pot. Millions use it moderately, holding
jobs and being otherwise "good citizens." They are not impaired and
do not ever use "hard" drugs. We arrest them, end their ability to
continue to earn a living, pursue life and liberty, and pay taxes.

These laws were passed as kneejerk reactions. They were not results
of scientific information or empirical discussion. By classifying pot
as a schedule I narcotic, all research was disallowed. Science was
replaced with scare stories and distortions. They have backfired. Has
anyone noticed that marijuana was never a social problem before 1937?
Our laws have created the black market that has steadily increased
the seductiveness of pot with each new crop of teens for 60 years.

The black market also created the pusher who has an undeniable
incentive to find new users. Marijuana is the top cash crop in the
United States! Most of the marijuana consumed in the United States is
grown here in high-tech, innovative ways not imported.

Marijuana laws have engendered disrespect for our legal system. They
clog our courts and interfere with police ability to control the
predatory criminals who really threaten us. The laws actually add to
the allure of smoking pot to defiant youngsters.

Those in business understand they must be goal oriented and
continually check their accomplishments to succeed. The measurement
of success for law enforcement should be whether the laws have
decreased drug abuse, related health problems, crime, violence and
corruption. Obviously, none of these things have happened since 1937.
To consider the numbers of people arrested and the tons of marijuana
confiscated as proof of success is insane! For us to pour more and
more money into failed policies is insane! It's big government at its worst.

If we were willing to look at the model in Holland objectively, we
would see a real success story. Since 1976, they have strongly
discouraged the use of heroin, cocaine, etc., and decriminalized the
sale of marijuana. They realize the drug does not cause antisocial
behavior; but the growth of an illegal subculture does. There is
little corruption. They do extensive research, and use hemp for
fabric, paper, and many other products of daily use. Use of hard
drugs has declined dramatically as has youthful experimentation. As
Bernhard Scholten, an Amsterdam Police Department Foreign Affairs
spokesperson says, "It's better to have all this in the open so we
can keep an eye on it." Marijuana has been used by people for
thousands of years for medical purposes, spiritual enhancement, and
pleasure. It is not physically addictive. Almost 70 million Americans
have used it at least once. Approximately 30 million use it
regularly. (Of course, absolute figures are impossible to obtain).
Wouldn't it make more sense to have it under control and taxed? Did
anyone ever hear of a marijuana dealer asking for ID?

Previous cultures believed they were saving society by destroying
people they didn't understand. The war on marijuana will end when the
taboo of open discourse ends and people are given the facts. When we
stop jailing people in wheelchairs, dying of AIDS or cancer, we will
recognize how cruel we have been. It will be as unfathomable as the
17th century horrors in Salem. Will our descendants look back on us
as narrowminded witchhunters or wise and humane reformers?

Cliff Thornton, President
Efficacy
a Connecticut-based organization
advocating education and open
discussion of drug policy reform

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No, Legalization would harm children

Stanley A. Twardy Jr.

The case for marijuana legalization may appear to offer a simple
solution to a complicated problem. Legalization advocates want us to
believe that our nation's drug policies are a failure, that the
medical benefits of marijuana far outweigh any possible risk and that
legalizing drugs will reduce violent crime.

The facts tell a different story. America's drug policy can hardly be
called a failure when illegal drug use has been cut in half. Cocaine
use has fallen by 74 percent over the past decade.

While we still have a long way to go, legalization will send us in the wrong
direction. Further, legalization will send a harmful message to children,
and increase health care costs.

The dangers of the national marijuana legalization movement have been
demonstrated most dramatically among youth. The message that it is a
harmless, medically useful drug has unfortunately seeped into the hearts and
minds of children.

After many years of decline, marijuana use by eighth-graders has tripled in
just the past fine years. Four percent of fourth-graders now say they have
tried marijuana, and marijuana related medical emergencies in 23-to-17-year-olds have tripled.

Marijuana is not a harmless drug. The National Institute on Drug
Abuse has found that the marijuana used today is between five and 10
times stronger than it was 20 years ago. The latest research shows
that it changes the chemistry of the brain in much the same way as
drugs such as cocaine do.

According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, children
who use marijuana are 85 times more likely to use cocaine.

Further, evidence indicates that marijuana is significantly more
carcinogenic than cigarettes. It is ironic that we are debating the
legalization of marijuana at the same time the nation has publicly
acknowledged the dangers of cigarettes, which do not have the other
harmful side effects of marijuana.

Where illegal drugs are involved, it is them, not their sale, that
is most associated with violent crime. U.S. Department of Justice
statistics indicate that six times as many homicides, four times as
many assaults, and one and a half times as many robberies are
committed under the influence of drugs as are committed to get money
for drugs.

Substance abuse already costs America's businesses more that $100 billion
annually ($1.4 billion in Connecticut alone.)

Drug users, 75 percent of whom are employed, account for three times as many
absences and five times as many workers' compensation claims. Their medical
costs are 300 percent higher, and they are far less productive than
non-drug-using employees.

Prevention, not legalization, is the answer. For every young
person we can keep from ever trying drugs, we can save criminal
justice and health care costs, and we can also save lives and dreams.

Our focus should be on education and treatment not legalization.

Stanley Al Twardy Jr., a former U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, is
vice-chairman of Drugs Don't Work, a public-private partnership for
drug prevention.