NO EASY ANSWERS FOR A TOUGH TOPIC

In the classic play "Inherit the Wind," written 45 years ago by Jerome
Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, there is a memorable exchange of lines by a
couple of lawyer characters.

Drummond (played by Spencer Tracy in the film version) asks Brady (played
by Fredric March) a question to which Brady responds, ""I do not know."

So then Drummond asks, ""What do you think?"

Brady answers, ""I do not think about things that (pause) I do not think
about."

And Drummond asks, ""Do you ever think about things that you do think about?"

Those few lines sum up a common human trait. Some things are just easier
not to think about. In fact, the more complicated and difficult something
is, the easier it is not to think about.

Could there be a better way?

Here is a current example: How much do most of us think about the way we
are combating drug problems in our town and all across this great land? Or
think about all the prisons we are building? Or about the big percentage of
our population being locked in them? About how effective this approach has
been? Whether there might be better ways of dealing with drug problems?

G. Alan Robison has thought quite a lot about these things. He is a
professor of pharmacology at the University of Texas-Houston Health Science
Center and founding president of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas. He said
some of his earliest thinking was sparked by a laboratory experiment he was
involved in back in the '60s, when he was an associate professor of
pharmacology at Vanderbilt.

The researchers were trying to determine how much tetrahydrocannabinol it
took to kill a bunch of rats. Tetrahydrocannabinol is the active ingredient
of marijuana.

Al said he kept increasing the doses but never killed rats with it. He has
killed rats with coffee. Killed rats with tobacco. Killed rats with booze.
But not marijuana. The stuff just wasn't lethal.

Something else to think about occurred in the early '70s, Al said, after he
had come to UT-Houston as the first head of pharmacology.

He was on the admissions committee. Most of the applicants were from
UT-Austin, where, Al said, ""it had been estimated back then that roughly
80 percent of the kids up there had smoked pot at least once in their life."

A couple of those who wanted in medical school had been busted. At that
time getting caught with pot was a felony. Anyone convicted of a felony in
Texas couldn't practice medicine.

One thought leads to another

Al said he thought about those rats he hadn't killed. Then he thought about
how easy it was for young kids to buy cigarettes out of vending machines.
And how a person could buy all the booze he wanted at the corner store.
Then he thought about those college kids hit with felonies for marijuana.

""There was just something crazy about that," he said. Some other people --
people who had influence and power -- thought about the situation, too. And
the offense was changed to a misdemeanor. Al said those students were
allowed into medical school and have been practicing medicine for many
years. Al said he has continued thinking about drug problems, and the
public response to them, and there is much that he would like others to
think about, too.

One thing led to another and now the Drug Policy Forum of Texas has set a
public meeting for next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Physics Amphitheatre at
Rice University. Panelists will focus on the question: Should doctors or
police lead the war on drugs?

Main speaker will be Kevin Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy
and former executive director and chief counsel of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Also scheduled is Lee Brown, who sounds like an entire panel all by himself
- -- former federal drug czar, former New York police commissioner, former
Houston chief of police, and currently a professor at Rice University.

Other panelists include UTHSC Vice President Tom Burks, Assistant Chief Art
Contreras of the Houston Police Department, Texas Southern University
President James Douglas, and UT School of Public Health Professor Malcolm
Skolnick.

Sounds like a lot to think about.