cannabisnews.com: Talking Tough On Pot 





Talking Tough On Pot 
Posted by CN Staff on September 28, 2002 at 08:01:27 PT
By Jay Rey, News Staff Reporter
Source: Buffalo News 
You may start noticing - if you haven't already - a new campaign warning parents and children about an increasingly popular drug on the streets these days: marijuana. Despite the rising popularity of "designer drugs" such as Ecstasy, there is once again a focus on marijuana. And pot is arguably as controversial today as it has ever been. Medical groups and leaders in the nation's war on drugs are so worried that marijuana is becoming trivialized that the federal government has rolled out a new campaign starting this fall to convince parents and children of its dangers. 
Moreover, there's concern the growing debate over medical marijuana and talk about legalizing the drug in some states, as well as across the border in Canada, have only blurred the issue for young people. "You cannot meaningfully address the drug problem in the United States without focusing on marijuana use," said Jennifer de Vallance, spokeswoman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "People in the United States, especially kids, are getting the wrong message about marijuana," said de Vallance, a former Western New Yorker. "They're learning it's harmless, that you can't get addicted to it. And a lot of parents believe experimentation with marijuana is inevitable for kids." The nation's top drug officials hope this renewed crusade injects stiffer opposition into what has been a gradual softening of public attitudes toward marijuana since its days from the 1960s counterculture. Consider a USA Today/CNN/-Gallup Poll taken last year: 34 percent favored legalizing marijuana. That's the most support for legalization since pollsters began asking the question in 1969, when 12 percent said marijuana use should be legal. Law enforcement has sensed this. "We're seeing an awful lot of open use," said Amherst Detective Lt. Donald Wright, who said today's marijuana is more potent than the drug was years ago. "The patrols are getting it on car stops. We're getting calls of parked cars, and it's kids smoking up. It's all different age groups." Drug counselors see it, too. "There are more parents smoking marijuana and approving marijuana use for their kids than before," said Eleanore Martinez, director of Renaissance Campus in West Seneca, which treats adolescent substance abusers. And some youths even say it's easier for them to get their hands on marijuana than alcohol or cigarettes. "I started smoking marijuana the same time I started smoking cigarettes," said Katie, an 18-year-old who is in substance abuse treatment at the West Seneca facility. "So I always associated it with smoking cigarettes." Critics, however, wonder if the government's new campaign to educate the public about marijuana will do any good. Instead, they see issues like medical marijuana slowly relaxing public attitudes even more. "I think the fact you're seeing the medicinal marijuana issue really taking hold, probably for the first time, has gotten the average person thinking about marijuana policy in the United States," said Paul Armentano, a spokesman for the the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, a lobby group based in Washington, D.C. Focus on specific drug Recent findings about attitudes toward marijuana worry the nation's top medical professionals and drug officials. For instance: Teenagers say marijuana is easier to buy than cigarettes or beer, according to a recent poll by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. Today, one out of five eighth-graders has tried marijuana - twice as many as had tried it a decade ago. And more young people are now in treatment for marijuana dependency than for alcohol and all other illegal drugs combined, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. That said, the Office of National Drug Control Policy - part of the White House Cabinet - signed onto the new campaign along with 17 education, public health, anti-drug and family advocacy groups. In the past, said de Vallance, anti-drug efforts such as the "Just Say No" campaign have been general, focusing on all drugs. "This is kind of an unprecedented effort to focus on a specific drug," she said. The national effort will include advertisements on television, on radio and in print media, along with ads that will air in National Football League stadiums and inside game programs. The goal is to make sure the anti-marijuana message trickles down to teachers, parents and adults who work with youth. Studies show early parental involvement is a key in determining whether kids will begin experimenting with alcohol and drugs, de Vallance said. Local law enforcement echoed those sentiments, reminding parents that drastic changes in their teenagers' attitude, friends, grades and work habits are signs of possible use. Cheektowaga Lt. M. James Starr, who heads the department's Vice, Gambling and Narcotics Squad, knows that's not the guidance all kids are getting at home. "We have had some cases where some of the elderly have been in possession of it," Starr said. "And generally, these are people who have allowed their children and grandchildren to smoke it." Heated, complex debate But the issue over how harmful marijuana is has long been a heated, complex debate with both sides citing medical research. If there is one thing both sides on the legalization issue can agree on, it's keeping marijuana out of the hands of youths. Marijuana becomes habit-forming for 9 percent of those who try it at least once, according to a 1994 study quoted by anti-drug officials. That's who's at the 62-bed Renaissance Campus, an adolescent treatment facility operated by Alcohol & Drug Dependency Services. "If there's one myth they all come in here with, it's that marijuana is the one drug that's OK," said Martinez, the director. "It's like the alcoholic who says, "If I switch to beer, I'll be fine.' " Among them were five teenagers sitting around a table last week in an office on campus, where they shared their stories. There were four boys - Mike, Mike, Jim, Willie - and one girl, Katie, all from ages 16 to 18. They've been here anywhere from a few months to more than a year. Their stories are similar. They were introduced to marijuana by friends or older siblings by age 12 or 13. Their grades began slipping. They started skipping school. They fought with their parents or got kicked out of the home. They had run-ins with the law. "After that, it was as much as I could for as long as I could," said Mike, 16. "The goal for the day was just to stay high." It was accessible, and they knew how to find it. And often a hit was cheaper than beer or cigarettes. "Marijuana wasn't hard to find, at least for me. It was generally accepted," said Willie, 17, who said he started using after seeing his friend's stepmother smoking marijuana. "In my town, it was cool for all the 40-year-olds to get the little kids high." Actually, there wasn't a lot of coaxing. Katie associated a joint with a cigarette. Others tried the drug even after warnings from parents. "My dad used to tell me how he smoked pot and did drugs, so I knew it was something I shouldn't do," Mike said. "But all the stories I heard from my dad about marijuana were funny stories. And all the bad stories were all the other drugs." Scare tactics' decried While drug officials try to dispel misperceptions, warn about the drug's long-term health effects on the lungs and brain and argue it leads to use of harder drugs, advocates of legalizing marijuana cry that the government is using scare tactics. For example, critics, like NORML, try to discredit statistics that show a rising number of youths in treatment for marijuana use by pointing out that many of them were given the choice to either seek treatment or go to jail. For 32 years, the group has been lobbying that adults should be allowed to legally use marijuana responsibly, while arguing that jails are being filled with thousands of nonviolent marijuana offenders each year. The move to legalize marijuana gained momentum during the mid-1970s, when 11 states eased penalties on pot, Armentano said. Further efforts stalled when the mood of the country turned more conservative, he said, but the group believes the issue is coming of age. Marijuana will be a November ballot issue in at least three states, most notably in Nevada, where voters will decide whether adults should legally be allowed to possess up to three ounces of the drug in their homes. "We're clearly seeing a second wave taking place not just here but in Europe and Canada," Armentano said. "One could argue the U.S. is behind the curve." Western New York is close to the debate because it is next door to Canada, where a Senate committee has recommended that marijuana be legalized and amnesty granted to anyone previously convicted of pot possession. Local narcotics detectives cringe over the thought of legalizing marijuana across the border. Veteran detectives Wright and Starr believe more young people likely would cross the border, as they do now because the drinking age is lower. That could result in some trying to carry leftovers back into New York. But Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark - who thinks legalizing marijuana would be foolhardy - believes legalization in Canada would set off more of an attitudinal change here than anything. "People will say, "If they can do it in Canada, why can't we do it here?' " Clark said. Note: Parents warned of lax attitude toward marijuana.Source: Buffalo News (NY)Author: Jay Rey, News Staff ReporterPublished: September 28, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Buffalo NewsContact: LetterToEditor buffnews.comWebsite: http://www.buffalonews.com/Related Article & Web Site:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/The Problem Is Pot Prohibition http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12725.shtmlCannabisNews - Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by WolfgangWylde on September 29, 2002 at 05:35:11 PT
Uh..yeah.
 "It's like the alcoholic who says, 'If I switch to beer, I'll be fine.' " Except for the small fact that nobody's arresting and incarcerating alcoholics.
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Comment #1 posted by BGreen on September 28, 2002 at 08:40:37 PT
The vibe on Pot-TV seems pretty upbeat
Sen. Claude Nolin, Gov. Gary Johnson, Marc Emery, the Kubby's, and others are really excited about what's going on in Canada.Oh, Canada, please save us from the oppressors in the amerikan gov't and help us be free.
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