DON'T LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

The City Council's vote Tuesday to shut hundreds of so-called medical
marijuana dispensaries across Los Angeles was a welcome move, but the
larger battle over pot has just begun.

Across the country, lawmakers and residents of cash-strapped states are
edging ever closer to legalizing -- and taxing -- marijuana. In
California, the first state in the nation to pass a medical marijuana law,
backers of an initiative to legalize the drug expect to gather enough
signatures to qualify the measure for the November ballot. And a Field
Poll last year showed more than half of California voters would support
such a move.

Two beliefs drive this push to make pot legal: that new tax revenue will
stave off deeper budget cuts and that marijuana is a relatively benign
drug. Neither is true.

Legalization almost certainly would bring with it additional substance
abuse in the state, and the long-term public costs associated with that
would vastly exceed the relatively modest amount of new revenue legal weed
might bring in. Baby boomers who hazily recall their own experimentation
with marijuana often are stunned to learn that the amount of
tetrahydrocannabinol -- or THC, marijuana's primary psychoactive substance
- -- in domestic sinsemilla has quadrupled since the late 1970s.

According to Dr. Sheila Kar, clinical chief of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center (and a member of the D.A.R.E America board of directors)
marijuana has serious short- and long-term health consequences. It has
been shown to cause an immediate rise in the heartbeat by 20 to 30 beats
per minute along with an increase in blood pressure, thus increasing the
workload of the heart. Marijuana is an irritant to the lungs and contains
proportionally more carcinogens than tobacco smoke. It is associated with
increased incidence of cancer of the head and neck area and lungs. It
works on the brain, causing short- and long-term memory loss and impairing
judgment, and it affects the sensations of taste and smell. One of its
more pernicious effects is that it reduces inhibitions and can lead a
person under its influence to try even more harmful substances.

In other words, there's a reason the federal government classifies
marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug with a high potential for abuse. It is the
most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States, and more teens are
in treatment for marijuana addiction than for alcohol or any other drug.
Do we really want this habit-forming drug easier to get, particularly as
the nation has made significant strides in reducing illegal drug use?

Between 1979 and 2007, the rate of illegal drug use fell by half. Programs
such as D.A.R.E. taught schoolchildren the facts about drugs, alcohol and
tobacco and bolstered their critical thinking and decision-making skills
so they can do more than just say no. In conjunction with Penn State
University, the new D.A.R.E. middle school curriculum has been vetted and
proved effective at reducing drug use. In recent years, D.A.R.E. has added
units on prescription and over-the-counter medications, abuse of which is
growing among teens -- another reminder, along with abuse of alcohol, that
just because something is legal, it doesn't necessarily reduce the risk of
abuse.

And that abuse costs all of us. The National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse, or CASA, at Columbia University estimated last year that
substance abuse and addiction cost federal, state and local governments
$467.7 billion in 2005. Break out federal spending on substance abuse and
addiction as its own budget item and it would rank near the top with
defense, Social Security and Medicare.

This is where supporters of legalization like to say that decriminalizing
marijuana would free up law enforcement resources and provide a tax base
to fund prevention and treatment. In fact, CASA estimates just 13% of the
combined state and federal substance-abuse costs are attributable to the
justice system -- a figure that also includes family court, driving under
the influence and hard-core drug dealing. The bulk of the costs stem from
direct healthcare expenses. Imagine what a dent we could make in reducing
healthcare costs if we prevented more drug and alcohol abuse.

The California Board of Equalization estimates that taxing marijuana sales
the way alcohol and cigarettes are taxed could add $1.34 billion a year to
state coffers. But for every dollar in state and federal alcohol and
tobacco taxes that is collected, CASA estimates government spends $8.95 to
clean up the often tragic consequences of addiction, driving under the
influence, domestic abuse or illness. That's right: A dollar coming in;
$8.95 going out. Suddenly, that $1.34 billion doesn't seem like much,
particularly when one considers that it comes with significantly wider
access to a habit-forming drug that has been shown time and again to be a
gateway to even more dangerous drugs.

Despite the gains of the past two decades, substance abuse remains a
serious drag on the health, productivity and safety of our nation. There
is a connection between marijuana and fiscal solvency, but supporters of
legalization have it backward. Reducing, not expanding, marijuana use can
save billions. It's time to clear the smoke.