SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS?

More states, such as Rhode Island, now allow cultivation of marijuana
plants for what are supposed to be medicinal purposes. But
law-enforcement and other officials are expressing increasing concern
about how much of this stuff is being misused ---- sold to people who
simply want to get high, and not for treating any ailment, except
perhaps boredom.

And in fact, because these plants are so easy to grow, probably a lot
will be misused.

But concern about the expanded sale of pot could tie up police when
they should be thinking about other things. Better for them not to
worry too much about it, or at least no more than they do about much
more serious substance-abuse problems.

And as more and more people realize that decriminalizing pot won't
destroy the republic, they'll accept the idea of fully legalizing and
taxing marijuana, like tobacco and booze, taking business away from
drug lords who wreak such havoc.

Alcohol remains the biggest social menace among mind-altering drugs
because of the combination of its physical effects and the
pervasiveness of its use. That is not to say, of course, that,
especially as measured in drug overdoses, the opiates (especially
heroin) and cocaine are not big menaces, too.

A new study in the British medical journal The Lancet ranked alcohol,
heroin and crack cocaine as producing the worst public-heath and social
effects, with marijuana, ecstasy and LSD far lower. Wim van den Brink, a
professor of psychiatry and addiction at the University of Amsterdam,
who commented on The Lancet's study in that journal, told the Associated
Press: "What governments decide is illegal is not always based on
science. Drugs that are legal cause at least as much damage, if not
more, than drugs that are illicit."

That has long been obvious to many medical experts, but a powerful
political ideology and wishful thinking prevent many people from
accepting it. Alcohol has such a powerful place in our culture that it
blinds many policymakers to how much worse it is than, for example,
marijuana.

Some people will abuse "medical marijuana." But government shouldn't
devote much of its tight resources to policing it. They'd do better to
crack down on drunk driving.