ANOTHER WRONG TURN IN THE WAR ON DRUGS

Del. William Cleaveland, R-Botetourt County, sponsored one of a slew
of bipartisan bills in the 2011 Virginia General Assembly to outlaw
the sale and use of synthetic marijuana. His was one incorporated
into H.B. 1434, which passed the House without a dissenting vote. The
Senate passed a similar bill, also without a "no" vote.

In a year when the entire General Assembly is up for re-election,
banning synthetic marijuana is one thing risk-averse legislators can agree on.

Synthetic marijuana is made from chemicals related to mothballs. The
effects may be similar, but the chemicals are nothing like marijuana.
The synthetics contain carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
in amounts large enough to make tobacco look like health food in
comparison. The comparative safety of organic marijuana is well-established.

The synthetic bills all contain one major flaw. They criminalize
personal use. Zero tolerance has done little other than burden
otherwise law-abiding citizens with criminal records. Consider the
U.S. experience with natural marijuana. Despite more than 850,000
arrests annually, the U.S. has double the rate of marijuana use as
the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available.

Among the primary users of synthetic marijuana are military
personnel. This is because synthetic marijuana does not show up in
drug tests. Virginia legislators are about to pass a drug law that
will disproportionately impact men and women in uniform, some of whom
may be self-medicating. Marijuana is widely used by veterans to
self-treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

The way marijuana treats PTSD is really quite simple. It helps people
forget. This is a godsend to soldiers and veterans haunted by
memories of war. Israel has a well-established medical marijuana
program. PTSD is a common, doctor-approved justification for medical
use among Israeli Defense Forces veterans.

Cleaveland wants to make possession of synthetic marijuana a Class 1
misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail. Can Virginia even
afford to put more nonviolent offenders behind bars? Is this really a
top priority during an economic downturn that has resulted in layoffs
of police, firefighters and teachers?

The drug war has given the land of the free the highest incarceration
rate in the world, with absolutely nothing to show for it. For the
same reasons alcohol prohibition failed, the drug war has been doomed
from the start. We're shortchanging our children's future by
prioritizing incarceration over education.

This is, of course, an election year. The root cause of the punitive
nanny state is political opportunism. Drug prohibition finances
organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used by
shameless politicians to justify throwing good money after bad policy.

Banning the over-the-counter sale of synthetic marijuana is easily
done. The feds have largely accomplished this already. Criminalizing
users unnecessarily entails expanding big government. Thanks to
education efforts, legal tobacco use has steadily declined, without
any need to criminalize tobacco smokers.

More drug war is not the answer. A better solution is to ease up on
penalties for natural marijuana. The use of synthetic marijuana is an
unintended side-effect of the war on real marijuana. Consumers are
turning to potentially toxic drugs, made in China and sold as
research chemicals before being repackaged as incense for sale in the U.S.

Virginia is about to embark on an endless cat-and-mouse game. Banning
the over-counter-sale of synthetics is one thing, but policing the
Internet is another entirely. Chinese chemists will tweak formulas to
stay one step ahead of the law and two steps ahead of the drug tests.
New versions won't necessarily be safer.

It's long past time to stop pretending marijuana is more dangerous
than legal alcohol, tobacco or prescription narcotics. Marijuana is
not nearly as harmful (or exciting) as Virginia's criminal penalties
suggest. Virginia legislators will be making changes to the state's
Drug Control Act. Those changes should include marijuana decriminalization.