BAN SYNTHETIC, DECRIMINALIZE NATURAL MARIJUANA

No fewer than 17 bipartisan bills to outlaw the sale and use of
"synthetic marijuana" have been filed in the current General Assembly
session. 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
chemicals are nothing like marijuana, although the effects may be
similar. 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, by contrast, is well established.

The 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.

The Virginia bills all propose making 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.

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-the-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.

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 cited by
shameless politicians to justify throwing good money after bad policy.

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.