MARIJUANA SAPS INITIATIVE, AMBITION AND RESPONSIBILITY

I attended a rough junior high outside of San Jose, Calif., a school
where the stoner girls at my ceramics table carved "Joe Elliot" into
their forearms with wood screws to prove Def Leppard allegiance.

In eighth grade my friend started hanging out behind the portables
with the stoners, which was weird because she was the school's star
softball pitcher. She could swing her arm around so fast that I
thought it might dislocate and fly off toward the bleachers.

She smoked pot before school every day. Before long she started
missing practice, which didn't matter once her grades failed and she
couldn't play softball. She had spent years perfecting that pitch.

My friend and I attended different high schools, but I saw her at the
end of freshman year at the mall, about 20 pounds heavier, with
greasy hair and dirty clothes. I asked a guy from her school what had
happened, and he just said, "Burn out."

Gateway drug marijuana is now legal, used medicinally in Washington
and 12 other states, with 15 states pending legislation for its
medicinal use.

With California's new over-the-counter cannabis sales, marijuana
dispensaries have appeared like pox. The Durango Herald reported Nov.
8, that in Los Angeles, dispensaries now outnumber Starbucks Coffee
shops, and almost match the number of public schools.

It's real life reefer madness.

With the legalization of medical marijuana, its legal distribution,
and the federal government's pledge not to prosecute medical pot
users, stoner society might have legitimized its panacea. Or, it
might have found reason enough to claim fibromyalgia; not all those
doobie cafe patrons have cancer, debilitating pain, or even a
legitimate illness.

Most users likely work. If demand is so high that comedian Jay Leno
framed a whole joke segment around the new medical marijuana industry
on Dec. 3, then Californians can expect to encounter a lot of high
workers.

Drivers, too.

Lawsuits now encumber California's Department of Motor Vehicles for
revoking the licenses of people with medical marijuana permits.

Cannabisnews.com posted Dec. 12 that Washington state ranks second on
the nation's list of marijuana outdoor grows, and advocacy groups
work tirelessly toward approbation of dispensaries wherever medical
marijuana is legal. Washington state is on the short list.

Making marijuana easier to obtain puts society at risk, especially
when used under false pretenses of pain or illness.

I learned this first-hand in Colorado, living next door to a user who
couldn't even leave the house to light up. Her kids lay around stoned
second-hand, and had to fend for themselves at meal times. Their
grandmother fought for custody. Marijuana saps initiative, ambition
and responsibility from its smokers.

The psychoactive compound in cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC)
impairs the brain's body movement coordination (cerebellum), learning
and memory (hippocampus), higher cognitive functions (cerebral
cortex), and other abilities with effects lasting one to three hours
when inhaled. Eaten, marijuana's effects can last much longer.

Consider marijuana's effects on workers who multitask, or who
safeguard others. How about the staff at your child's day care? Bus
drivers? Construction workers?

No one wants their ER phlebotomist to smoke a joint before an IV
start, but if Washington state follows California's lead in
legalizing dispensaries, health care facilities - and all businesses
- will have to drug test workers with frequent signs of fatigue and
red eyes.

Some users insist their senses, coordination, reflexes and mental
acuity are not compromised by the drug, demanding that science and
observation are biased.

People frequently insist the same when their friends take their car
keys to avoid a DUI.

For compelling information about marijuana's effects, visit the
National Institute on Drug Addiction's Web site:
www.nida.nih.gov/researchreports/marijuana/Marijuana3.html.