OncologySchwarzenegger's Call To Consider Marijuana Legalization To Boost Taxes Is "Irresponsible," Says Chairman Of DARE Board
Recent calls by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and others to study the legalization of marijuana as a way of boosting tax revenues are "irresponsible" and send a dangerous message, the chairman of the board of the drug abuse education program D.A.R.E., prominent Los Angeles attorney Louis "Skip" Miller, said today. "Marijuana is a dangerous drug with numerous demonstrable ill effects on health," Mr. Miller added.
"As we all know, these are difficult economic times, and California is facing severe budgetary problems," Mr. Miller said. "But it is completely irresponsible to suggest that the legalization of a dangerous drug could be a way to help us out of the budget mess we"re in. Such comments send entirely the wrong message, especially to young people who face a difficult enough time resisting the pressure of peers and others to try drugs."
"Legalizing marijuana as a way of bringing in more tax revenue is just bad policy," Mr. Miller added. Schwarzenegger made national headlines recently when he said that while he doesn"t personally support legalization, it"s time to study the idea as a way of "creating extra revenue." California faces a budget shortfall of more than $20 billion.
"Let"s be clear," said Mr. Miller, speaking on behalf of the board of directors of D.A.R.E., the world"s largest drug abuse resistance program. "Marijuana is not benign. Scientific studies have decisively documented marijuana"s harmful effects on the body"s cardiovascular system, brain and respiratory functions. Despite what you might hear from the pro-legalization side, marijuana use can cause cancer and does impair judgment."
"Marijuana has a host of harmful effects, ranging from the immediate to the more long range," said Dr. Sheila Kar, clinical chief of cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, a member of the D.A.R.E board of directors and the liaison with D.A.R.E."s scientific advisory board. "It has been shown to cause an immediate rise in the heart beat by 20-30 beats per minute along with an increase in blood pressure, thus increasing the workload of the heart. Marijuana is an irritant to the lungs and contains proportionally more carcinogens than tobacco smoke. It is associated with increased incidence of cancer of the head and neck area and lungs. It works on the brain, causing short- and long-term memory loss and impairing judgment, and it affects the sensations of taste and smell. One of its more pernicious effects is that it reduces inhibitions and can lead a person under the influence of marijuana to try even more harmful substances."
"Legalization is not a path we want to pursue," Dr. Kar added. "This is sending a message that use of marijuana is okay. If marijuana is legalized, people and especially young people, will tend to look at it and think, "Well, if it"s legal, it can"t be too harmful."
"It is by no means the benign drug that some would have us think. The most complete, objective and reliable scientific evidence is entirely in the other direction. We would run the risk of having a rise in a sicker and nonproductive population, which would be further detrimental to the state"s economy, if more people were to begin using marijuana."
More in-depth information about the harmful effects of marijuana use can be found on the website of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health, at http://www.nida.nih.gov/ResearchReports/Marijuana/default.html.
Founded in Los Angeles in 1983, D.A.R.E."s programs are implemented in the classroom and now reach 75 percent of the nation"s school districts and 43 countries around the world. Mr. Miller, a trial lawyer and founding partner of Miller Barondess LLP, Los Angeles, has served as the chairman of D.A.R.E."s board of directors for four years.
D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) recently instituted a new curriculum that goes beyond the "Just Say No" approach in which a police officer stands behind a podium and lectures youngsters sitting in straight rows of desks. Now D.A.R.E. officers are trained to be coaches who can help kids deal with and refuse peer-pressure to use drugs. Among other innovations, they show students high-tech brain images so they can see for themselves the effect of drugs on emotions, coordination and mental activity.
In an effort to stay ahead of the drug-abuse curve, D.A.R.E. has introduced, with the backing of pharma companies, a new program attacking the problem of youthful abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medications, a problem which heretofore has attracted little notice but which studies have shown to be on the rise even as abuse of illegal drugs declines. Other new curricula take D.A.R.E. beyond drug education and tackle such issues as bullying, gang activity and internet safety.
In July of this year, another major component of the new D.A.R.E. will be officially rolled out. Developed by Penn State University and representing 20 years of research into why youth use drugs, "keepin" it REAL" - Refuse, Explain, Avoid and Leave - targets the critical junior high/middle school student audience, teaching them how to act decisively and confidently in difficult situations with their peers. Successfully evaluated and tested with more than 6,700 students at 35 Phoenix middle schools, it goes far beyond just say no by teaching students how to say no.
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