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Relative Safety of Drug an Incorrect and Irresponsible Argument
John Suthers | Rocky Mountain News | 10/21/2006

The proponents of Amendment 44 base their assertion that possession of marijuana should be legalized on the premise that it is a safe alternative to alcohol. That message is both incorrect and irresponsible and I hope the voters of Colorado will reject it.

Our American society is plagued by moral relativism, and the campaign in support of Amendment 44 is a classic example of it. They suggest that society should condone the harm brought on by marijuana intoxication because, in their view, it is surpassed by the harm brought about by alcohol intoxication. That is an irresponsible message, particularly for our children.

When small amounts of marijuana were legalized for adults in Alaska between 1978 and 1990, the National Household Survey of Drug Use in America showed that by the late '80s 52 percent of Alaskan teenagers used marijuana. That was almost three times the rate of marijuana use by teenagers in the rest of the nation. That was part of the reason that marijuana was recriminalized in Alaska in 1990. In the Netherlands, the "coffee shop" legalization of marijuana resulted in use of marijuana by Dutch teenagers nearly tripling in just eight years.

Marijuana is not the benign drug that proponents of Amendment 44 portray it to be. In 1981, the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content in marijuana was 1.83 percent, which rose to 5.62 percent in 2003. (THC is the hallucinatory chemical that is the principal and most active ingredient in marijuana.) The THC content of high-grade marijuana rose from 6.58 percent in 1981 to 14.1 percent in 2003.

Corresponding to the increased potency of the THC content in marijuana was a sixfold increase in emergency room admissions because of marijuana use during the decade of the '90s, even though the number of marijuana users remained relatively the same. Between 1992 and 2002, there was a 162 percent increase in treatment admissions for marijuana use as the primary substance of abuse. Today, 62 percent of teens in drug treatment are there for marijuana use.

The proponents of Amendment 44 contend that the law is not a deterrent to illicit drug use. In fact, the National Household Survey indicates that many of our citizens, including our children, are deterred from drug use because it is against the law. Sixty percent of teenagers who do not use drugs indicate that the primary reason they do not do so is because it is illegal. The adverse impact on their health is the second most frequently cited reason.

The proponents of Amendment 44 have also recklessly created a significant legal issue. Under current law the transfer of less than an ounce of marijuana from someone over the age of 18 to someone over the age of 15 is deemed possession of marijuana and not distribution. So in legalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana for people over 21, the proponents are unwittingly advocating legalization of the transfer of less than an ounce of marijuana from someone over 21 to anyone over 15. Their retort is that such activity could still be prosecuted under the felony offense of "contributing to the delinquency of a minor." But I assure you that a creative defense attorney will make the argument that the voters, if they pass Amendment 44, specifically directed that such activity be legalized.

Despite the claims of critics to the contrary, the battle against drug abuse in the United States can claim significant success. In 1979, the National Household Survey indicated that 14.1 percent of Americans had used an illicit drug in the last 30 days. This year that number will likely be between 6 percent and 7 percent. A 50 percent reduction in illicit drug use in America is not something that you read about on editorial pages very often. We have also reduced teenage use of marijuana by 20 percent in the last four years.

This is simply not the time to raise a white flag and give up the battle against drug abuse in Colorado. We need to send a very clear message to our children, and that message is that the only safe alternative to intoxication is sobriety.

John Suthers is Colorado's attorney general.

 

kcbennie

That is the weakest, load of crap argument that I have ever heard. I notice that you have the facts and numbers of teens using cannibis and going to the emergency room for using marijuana (which is just rediculous in itself), but what about the facts and numbers for alcohol. How many teens are drinking alcohol because it's legal and cannibis is not. How many teens end up in the emergency room due to drinking too much alcohol or driving while they are drunk. I bet it's quite a few more. You politicians that keep your pockets fat by lying to the public make me sick. But what makes me even sicker, are the simple minded lemmings that our society is made up of that belive everything that their good ol' govenment tells them. Why would they lie?

nornerator

What? Was there any truth to this article?

Do they let anyone who has an opinion write an article and make up the facts?

mattrh

That was a "mistake" in the blue book, and it is not true. The "mistake" was intentional so people would obviously vote no on the amendment.

cina006

I cant believe people are still so afraid to stick up and admit they like to smoke. Kids are going to try things out. To think that if we keep marijuana criminalized the way it is so the kids cant get to it is silly. It is an organic natural thing, not at all like the actually man made drugs.