THE CASE FOR LEGITIMIZING MARIJUANA USE DOESN'T PASS SCRUTINY

Re: Is pot far more potent than in the past? March 19 and How science is
skewed to fuel fears of marijuana, March 20.

In his two-part series on marijuana, Dan Gardner makes the argument
that we should not be too quick to accept scientific evidence about
the effects of marijuana without a thorough examination of the nature
and scope of such evidence. Good public policy on this issue must be
based upon good science, but there is still a preponderance of
evidence that supports maintaining the status quo as far as marijuana
is concerned.

Marijuana has been proven to contain more tar and 50 to 70 per cent
more carcinogenic agents than tobacco. Repeated use of marijuana
drastically increases users' chances of falling ill with cancer and
having respiratory problems.

In a study conducted in 2003 by British researchers, they found that
smoking marijuana for even less than six years causes a serious
deterioration in the function of the lungs. The Canadian Cancer
Society estimates that smoking three to four marijuana cigarettes is
the equivalent of smoking 20 tobacco cigarettes. Marijuana could
therefore prove to be a much bigger public-health problem than tobacco
has ever been.

Given the fact that tobacco use remains one of the biggest drains on
our public-health system, it would be hypocritical to allow the
decriminalization or legalization of marijuana.

Governments, both federal and provincial, continue to spend millions
of dollars to increase awareness of the detrimental effects of
tobacco. In light of the fact that marijuana contains more tar than
tobacco and has a higher concentration of carcinogens, it would be
step backwards in terms of public policy to advocate a relaxation of
the law as far as marijuana is concerned while continuing to escalate
the fight against tobacco.

Doing so would seriously undermine efforts to curb tobacco use and
would result in an inconsistent public-health policy that would lend
credence to the accusations of smokers' rights groups that they are
being unfairly victimized.

Legitimizing the use of marijuana in any way would not only have
consequences related to the increased use of marijuana, but would also
undermine efforts to discourage the public, most especially youths,
from smoking.

Furthermore, marijuana use has also been shown to increase the
difficulty users of both marijuana and tobacco face in ceasing their
tobacco use.

A study comparing 452 daily marijuana smokers and 450 non-smokers
conducted at the Kaiser Permanente Centre for Health Research in 1993
revealed that the marijuana smokers have had increased incidences of
respiratory problems, injuries and other types of illnesses and are
absent from work more often.

This imposes a high price on society in the form of higher public
health-care expenses and lost productivity. In the case of students
who smoke marijuana, four studies have shown a strong correlation
between marijuana use and lower grades at the high-school level. These
studies also indicated that marijuana users are less likely to
graduate from high school.

Several studies have associated smoking marijuana with increased
absenteeism, tardiness, accidents on the job and job turnover.

One study that was conducted among municipal employees found that
employees who smoked marijuana on or off the job were more likely to
exhibit "withdrawal behaviour'' such as leaving work without
permission, day-dreaming, spending work time on personal matters and
shirking assigned tasks. This resulted in lower productivity and
morale on the part of these employees.

As compared to non-users, heavy marijuana users are also more likely
to have significantly lower levels of educational attainment and
income. A study conducted by the Harvard Department of Psychiatry on
the attributes of long-term heavy cannabis users concluded that these
individuals, as compared to other individuals of similar
socio-economic background, displayed significantly lower levels of
educational attainment and income. Cannabis users involved in this
study also reported that they felt marijuana has had a negative effect
on their cognition, memory, career and social life and has resulted in
a deprecation of their physical and mental health.

Marijuana is still linked to an increased predilection toward more harmful
kinds of illicit drugs. According to a report published by the United States
Department of Human and Health Services in 2002, "Initiation of Marijuana
Use: Trends, Patterns, and Implications,'' marijuana users are eight times
more likely to have used cocaine, 15 times more likely to have used heroin
and five times more likely to abuse or become dependent on other drugs for
which they will need treatment.

Despite the fact that claims about marijuana have been exaggerated by
some, as Mr. Gardner pointed out, this is still not a strong enough
justification for relaxing the current legislation against marijuana.
We already have public-health issues related to alcohol and tobacco.
Adding marijuana to that list would only serve to increase the burden
on our health-care system and on society in general.

David Kilgour,

Edmonton,

MP, Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont