cannabisnews.com: New Law Has Drug Counselors Retooling Strategy










  New Law Has Drug Counselors Retooling Strategy

Posted by CN Staff on November 20, 2008 at 06:33:07 PT
By Erica Noonan, Globe Staff 
Source: Boston Globe 

Boston, MA --  If society says smoking marijuana is OK - or at least not the crime it used to be - how do parents, school health counselors, and police officers get youths to keep saying no?This month's passage of a state ballot question that decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce of marijuana has created a troubling new landscape, according to area drug-abuse educators.
"You have to wonder whether the people who voted yes really understood the ramifications," said Steve Wallace, chairman of Students Against Destructive Decisions, or SADD, which has its national headquarters in Marlborough. "As a state we voted to protect the dogs, but we threw the kids under the bus," he said, referring to another successful ballot question that phases out greyhound racing in Massachusetts.But advocates of the decriminalization question said the new law will free police to focus on more serious crimes, and prevent 7,500 unnecessary arrests that cost taxpayers $30 million annually.In terms of the effect on teenagers, the law will provoke more "honest and responsible" drug education for the state's children, said Whitney Taylor, campaign manager of the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy. The group authored the ballot question, which won with a 65 percent majority in the Nov. 4 election."While this may be a difficult transition, in the end it's a healthier and smarter way to deal with young people. We know that 100 million Americans have admitted using marijuana, yet we have an educational system that says things like 'it will wreck your life,' when they can look around at the people in their lives, like their brothers, sisters, parents and even grandparents, and see that just isn't true," she said.The new Massachusetts law, scheduled to go into effect in January, will make getting caught with less than an ounce punishable by a civil fine of $100. It also means the offense will no longer be reported to the state's criminal history board. The law will require those younger than 18 to complete a drug awareness program and a term of community service; for those who don't comply, the fine would increase to as much as $1,000. Eleven other states have similar laws in place."The 65 percent of voters are sending the wrong message to young people that smoking weed is no big deal," said Wallace, author of a newly published book, "Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs and Sex - What Parents Don't Know and Teens Aren't Telling."School health educators and police officers say they are dreading the implementation of the new law."It's going to make my job a lot harder because it perpetuates the myths about marijuana being harmless, which it isn't," said Robert Moro, project director of Ashland's Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Initiative, who said his e-mail inbox has been "filled with chatter about what to tell kids" since the ballot proposal passed."We're already hearing kids talking about enrolling in a state school," rather than an out-of-state college, to take advantage of the law, Moro said, "which is disturbing because it means they don't understand that marijuana is still very dangerous for young people, and that they aren't held immune from consequences if they get caught."Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone said even more responsibility will fall on parents and other adults in leadership positions to reinforce that marijuana smoking is "not healthy, safe or legal."Leone said he believes more young people in Massachusetts are likely to experiment with marijuana now, because they perceive less risk in doing so."The focus of prevention education will have to be on the serious and dangerous effects it has on kids," he said.Diane Barry, with the Newton-based Education Developmental Center, which is funded by the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation, said her group is crafting a new education campaign that may also focus more on parents than similar efforts have in the past."Parents are the best line of defense in terms of substance abuse," she said. The ballot proposal's passage "has made us think twice about how to approach the message that kids need to stay substance-free because it limits the choices they will have for their futures."Taylor said the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy is not encouraging young people - or anyone else - to smoke marijuana. The point was to eliminate harsh criminal penalties for minor offenses, which could "punish a young person for the rest of their life," she said. "Young people should not be using substances when their brain is still developing."We should be open and honest with them and say, 'It is illegal, it's a drug, it can cause problems and this is what those problems are,' " Taylor said. "To scare them, or tell them 'just say no, because we said so, and you'll go to jail,' just doesn't work."National research by SADD indicates that more than 60 percent of teens say the number-one reason they choose not to use drugs, including marijuana, is because they are illegal, said Wallace, the SADD official.Stephen Winkler, a youth spokesman for SADD who is a freshman at Emmanuel College in Boston, said most college students he knows were in favor of the law change for marijuana possession."They say it's no big deal, and it shouldn't give you a record," Winkler said. "But I don't agree with that at all. I don't think marijuana can help us in any way, and society should not promote using it."Source: Boston Globe (MA)Author:  Erica Noonan, Globe StaffPublished: November 20, 2008 Copyright: 2008 Globe Newspaper CompanyContact: letter globe.comWebsite: http://www.boston.com/globe/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/CaVuDnNcRelated Articles & Web Site:Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policyhttp://www.sensiblemarijuanapolicy.org/Police Groups Say No Point in MJ Enforcementhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24317.shtmlPutting The 'War on Drugs' Behind Barshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24309.shtml 

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Comment #12 posted by Hope on November 21, 2008 at 05:48:48 PT
welm?
Sorry about that OverwHelm Sam.
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on November 21, 2008 at 05:48:00 PT
OverwelmSam Comment 10
Excellent idea... and your headline is so true.
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Comment #10 posted by OverwhelmSam on November 21, 2008 at 04:56:09 PT
How About This Title
Vindictive Pot Prohibitionists Smear & Throw Voters Under The BusSometimes a different perspective in the media gets a lot of attention. Turnabout is more than fair play. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #9 posted by freewillks on November 20, 2008 at 20:04:03 PT
lies
It's not the voters fault that the educators used lies and propaganda. if they had only been truthfull in the first place.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on November 20, 2008 at 18:57:05 PT

Taylor121
We've had an even better law in my state since the 70s. It's working. 
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Comment #7 posted by Taylor121 on November 20, 2008 at 18:39:34 PT

I haven't seen one positive article 
I hate the MA media. They are giving tons of coverage of cops, DAs, substance abuse counselors saying the sky has fallen when it hasn't. It's quite ridiculous. I never hear how many other states have similar laws in their articles. 
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Comment #6 posted by augustwest on November 20, 2008 at 11:44:07 PT:

what are these problems
"The focus of prevention education will have to be on the serious and dangerous effects it has on kids," 
'It is illegal, it's a drug, it can cause problems and this is what those problems are...
what? a desire to listen to music, create art, enjoy nature, in worst cases of abuse maybe apathy, reclusiveness, overeating. If you take away the legal problems there's nothing left to threaten the kids with except that they can't all be musicians and artists. 
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Comment #5 posted by ripit on November 20, 2008 at 10:08:51 PT:

imo Stephen Winkler and Steve Wallace
seems to be a complete idiots! it's hard for me to imagine ppl this closed minded.
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on November 20, 2008 at 08:37:37 PT

Bus reality:
Caging humans for using cannabis; ruining their future; forcing drug addiction counseling for responsible cannabis use; misleading citizens about cannabis which may lead to using honest hard addictive drugs etc. etc.IS THROWING KIDS UNDER THE BUS& Steve Wallace is driving the bus!And when He sees those kids in front of His bus He floors the gas pedal!-0-How on earth does Our F'ing country give people a platform who harm Us?
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on November 20, 2008 at 08:31:12 PT

Opinion: Pot law throws kids under the bus
Opinion: Pot law throws kids under the bushttp://www.wickedlocal.com/marlborough/news/opinions/x466661738/Opinion-Pot-law-throws-kids-under-the-bus
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on November 20, 2008 at 07:28:23 PT

Stephen Winkler and Steve Wallace and SADD
are wrong to try to push their authoritarian attitudes and beliefs in government and law enforcement coercion down the throats of people who know better and many, many people do "know better" than they do, Thank God!, in this case.Threats from the government and law enforcement are NOT the best way to deal with this or anything, in raising your children. Everything today seems so based on threatening people with law enforcement... about nearly everything. Threatening people all the time is a bad ploy. It's agitating and abrasive. It's not the right way. Law Enforcement is being misused when it's used as "The Boogie Man that will get you" if you experiment with cannabis.The facts please... and enough of the threats and brutalization of the American citizen because of hysterical fears based on falsehoods and prevarication.
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on November 20, 2008 at 07:01:12 PT

Steve Wallace doesn't get it.
Steve Wallace is MISTAKEN! "You have to wonder whether the people who voted yes really understood the ramifications," Citizens knew exactly what the ramifications were and what they are going to be in the future.Government is going to have to be more honest and realistic concerning the relatively safe God-given plant cannabis.The power to cage and / or ruin a human for using the plant has been removed from Mass Gov.
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