LEGISLATORS RIGHT TO JUST SAY NO TO POT

A growing number of people in our state are joining many in Oregon and
California in believing that marijuana use should be decriminalized.
Their changing attitudes, described in the Wall Street Journal in a
Jan. 15 article "Push for Looser Pot Laws Gains Momentum," have been
molded during 20 years of proselytizing by MoveOn.org founder George
Soros and other drug-legalization promoters. In more than a dozen
states, Soros (as detailed in David Broder's book, "Democracy
Derailed") has sponsored voter initiatives for the more widely
accepted medical marijuana and then for legalization. Initiatives to
move beyond medical marijuana to legalize and tax the drug are gaining
steam in California and Oregon, intended for 2010 ballots.

Budget-strapped Washington is the next target. Last month, two
measures reached our state's House Public Safety Committee that, if
passed, would have permitted the sale of marijuana to adults in
Washington's 160 state-run liquor stores. One supporter, Rep. Sherry
Appleton, D-Poulsbo, stated "the amount of money that we could realize
over legalizing it and regulating it is close to $300 million a year."

This year, thankfully, both legalization measures were voted down but
if the movement's history is any guide, new bills and initiatives are
already in the works. Their lure will be millions in tax revenue, but
those come with incalculable offsetting costs.

Marijuana sold legally from dozens of easily accessible liquor stores
will not be consumed only by adults, so those harmed will include
vulnerable kids and their families. Few legislators or policymakers,
let alone adolescents or parents, know one of the most persuasive
arguments against societal acceptance of marijuana: It appears to be a
leading risk factor in severe mental illness. Role in
schizophrenia?

There is increasing scientific evidence that marijuana use by
adolescents is a risk factor in triggering schizophrenia, a
life-changing illness affecting more than 1 percent of the population,
burdening sufferers, their families and society with huge risks and
costs. While not yet establishing the direct causal relationship,
researchers in 30 studies during the past 20 years have linked the use
of marijuana in adolescents to the increased probability of developing
psychosis and schizophrenia.

A partial list of the studies, conducted in the U.K., Sweden,
Australia, and New Zealand, can be accessed at
http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevention/streetdrugs.html.
One study conducted in Sweden concluded that heavy young consumers of
cannabis at age 18 were 600 percent more likely to be diagnosed with
schizophrenia than those who did not take it. Researchers in New
Zealand found that those who used cannabis by the age of 15 were more
than three times more likely to develop illnesses such as
schizophrenia. Research by psychiatrists in inner-city areas described
cannabis as being a factor in over 80 percent of cases of
schizophrenia.

A 2005 study at the London Institute of Psychiatry concluded that
people were 4.5 times more likely to be schizophrenic at 26 if they
were regular cannabis smokers at 15, compared to 1.65 times for those
who did not report regular use until age 18. As explained by Sanjiv
Kumra, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at Albert Einstein
College of Medicine in New York and co-author of a 2005 study, "in
addition to interfering with normal brain development, heavy marijuana
use in adolescents may also lead to an earlier onset of schizophrenia
in individuals who are genetically disposed to the disorder." Even as
few as five uses of cannabis increased the risk of developing
psychosis significantly, according to a 2005 Dutch study.

The societal risk also applies to adults. Once mental illness
develops, substance abuse follows in roughly 40 percent of cases.
Marijuana use poses a particularly pernicious risk of counteracting
expensive antipsychotic medications crucial to recovery.

It would be dangerous to give society's imprimatur of approval to this
destructive drug by legalizing, regulating and taxing it. Our
legislators made a wise decision by just saying no.

Ann Donnelly, a Vancouver businesswoman, is a former chair of the
Clark County Republican Party.