AMERICANS SAY LEGALIZE POT; EXPERTS SEND WARNING

OK, all you cannabis-smoking, weed-loving readers out there: Here's
your chance to tell me I'm way too square.

The fact that more Americans than not now believe we should legalize
marijuana - 50 percent to 46 percent, according to a recent Gallup
poll - seems to indicate we'll one day be able to bop into the
closest Jewel and pick up our evening's mood-altering joint along
with our mood-altering bottle of Jack Daniels.

Legalization makes dollars and sense, say bunches of people: Think of
all the jail cells that will be freed up, or the tax revenue that
will pour in. Not to mention Betty and Bernie Baby Boomer can smoke
their mary jane in the comfort of the family room without worrying
about those nosy square neighbors calling the cops.

Stephanie Willis, addictions expert at Linden Oaks Hospital in
Naperville, is not surprised by the poll numbers. These days in our
community, she says, it feels as if everyone uses marijuana.

"The stories are so rampant - people use with their boss, their
parents, their neighbors, their golf buddies," she says. "Even those
using harder drugs get to the point where they will tell you that
everyone they know at least smokes pot, even their sober friends."

I'm just not convinced, especially after talking with Willis and
other experts, that legalization is the way to go.

Mike Moran, executive director of Breaking Free - an addictions
counseling service in Aurora and Naperville - agrees it could mean
extra funds for anemic government coffers. But what will the human
price be? he asks.

"We've legalized alcohol, we've legalized tobacco. But the cost of
those in terms of lost productivity, health care and what it does to
people's lives is huge," Moran says.

And by legalizing yet another addictive substance and making it more
readily available, we'll just add another layer of problems.

Based on past experience, I guarantee I'll hear from some of the
above-mentioned readers who insist their wacky tobacky isn't
addictive. Except the research says differently. I won't throw
numbers at you: Instead, go to www.nida.nih.gov/pdf/tib/marijuana.pdf
for some startling facts released this month by the National
Institute on Drug Abuse. And if you don't believe the stats, ask
those who encounter this drug's addiction up-close.

"We know better," says John Reese, assistant professor of human
services at Waubonsee Community College. "We see it all the time."

And it's not necessarily your parents' grass, either.

Baby boomers assume marijuana today is like pot in the '60s and '70s,
notes Willis. But instead of a mild depressant high, more are
experiencing the paranoia and psychotic effects. Instead of the
question being "should we legalize marijuana," we need to instead ask
"What are we putting in our bodies?" she adds.

"There just is not any accountability. If we say legalizing will help
control it, that mentality didn't work with opiates, which have led
people to abusing heroin." Also, you may buy one type of marijuana,
she cautions, "but you don't really know what you are getting."

Willis also worries the attention now focused on the topic is
"desensitizing our culture," thus making legalization of pot seem more normal.

"The drumbeat is changing," agrees Moran. "The outcome will be interesting."

I guess the good news, at least for these experts, is they will
always have jobs. The bad news: There just won't be any money to pay them.

"We are struggling to fund the addictions we have now. Legalize
marijuana, and we will only have more," says Reese. "That is insanity."