LEGALIZATION IS NOT THE ANSWER

I didn't want to write about the drug issue and relive that afternoon 30
years ago when the phone rang. I watched my father's face turn pale as he
sighed, "Oh, no." My cousin, Terry, had died of an overdose of heroin.

More memories crowd into my mind, the mother who told me the horrors of
walking through a crack house looking for her teenager, the words I wrote
on a card for a friend, "I will whisper soft prayers for you." A little boy
without a mom.

Never will I erase images of a pleasant, young man who rented from us. The
day came when we found the house trashed and cocaine powder splashed across
the torn ceiling tile where he had hidden it. Amid the garbage, we found
scribbled notes. "I simply cannot quit."

My undergraduate work was done in both education and sociology, so it is
only natural for me to deal with loss through research. After 30 long years
of analyzing information on drugs, I have come to the unshakable conclusion
that the answer is not legalization.

Several unreliable Web sites fail to explain that heroin and cocaine became
illegal because of the direct correlation between the increase of drug use
and a marked increase in theft, brutal assault and homicide, due to
addiction, not the illegal aspect. By World War II, we had battled the drug
epidemic and reduced drug use to a rarity. It was the 1960s and '70s that
brought on marijuana, amphetamines, psychedelics and the reappearance of
cocaine, accompanied again by a rise in violent crimes.

Countries where drugs have been legalized now find their problems
compounded. Even policies which hint at working are not conclusive. When
citing research from these countries, some use what my sociology instructor
called the "Aunt Emily" approach to research. This approach used quotes
from a few people, opinions not based on respected studies and facts taken
out of context. The result is equal to whatever your "Aunt Emily" just
might happen to think on any given day.

Also, I say enough with the invalid comparison to alcohol. Any worthwhile
discussion of alcohol must confront the problems of severe domestic
violence along with fatalities and injuries caused by driving under the
influence.

Most importantly, proponents of legalization will not address the
overwhelming force of addiction. Addiction has no boundaries, legal or illegal.

Well-meaning people have said, "Legalize it, tax it and use the money to
teach more people not to use it." What drug cartel or dealer is going to
happily pay taxes so we can use the money to teach people not to use their
product? An underground market would appear overnight. Now we fight
addiction to drugs; then we would also fight tax collection, lawsuits
involving advertising and the violence of the underground market.

Words are powerful, so let's be honest about words. We call it "substance
abuse" when we used to call it "using dope." We say it "impairs judgement"
when we used to say, "it'll mess you up."

Marijuana is perhaps the most misunderstood of all. For instance, some
advocate marijuana for medical purposes, while ignoring the outcry of the
medical and scientific communities against this step. The 2001 Florida
Youth Substance Abuse Survey of more than 8,000 students in grades six
through 12 found the use of cocaine, heroin and LSD is down, but the use of
marijuana among middle school students is up. The cause is attributed to
the perception that marijuana is not harmful.

The key word here is perception, because students are not aware that the
chemical changes in the brain resulting from this drug are complex and
still being analyzed. Mistakenly, they view "psychologically additive" as
not really addictive. It is.

What about apathy? The person who smokes on Saturdays may not realize that
his lousy indifferent feeling on Wednesdays is not the result of his
overall life, but the effects of marijuana. How sad not to know.

This drug has the potential to cause cancer. Sounds like another product we
sell that is legal, doesn't it? Do we really want another "habit-forming"
legal product causing cancer? Has taxation eradicated our problems? No.

Marijuana is far more harmful than we thought and that is why the Ad
Council is now running that exact public message.

Education does work, and teenagers today are smarter than most people give
them credit for. According to Monitor the Future, a national annual survey
of 44,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders, overall smoking, drinking and
drug use is declining. If you think, "every one is doing it," you are
hanging out with the wrong people. We, as adults, do not have the right to
sit by and allow others to mislead our youths.

I didn't want to write about this issue and stir up all that pain. Yet I
know that legalization is not the answer, so I have to speak up. Prevention
and intervention are the answer. God help the kid who picks up for the
first time.

Brenda Katz is chairperson of the Safe and Drug Free Schools Advisory
Committee.