Homeless in Arizona

Facts, we don't need no stinking facts to demonize marijuana.

That should be the war cry of Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk.

July 03, 2015

7/3/2015 12:54:00 AM

Point-Counterpoint

Anti-marijuana campaign says more about politicians than pot

By TONI DENIS

Special to The Courier

Marijuana causes kids to kill themselves! It makes IQs drop!! If children accidentally eat edibles, they will be poisoned!!!

OK, now that I have your attention, I just want to say that none of the above is proven to be true. But Sheila Polk, Yavapai County attorney, and her anti-drug MATForce group has spread such propaganda in statewide programs and billboards. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich asked her to stop using money confiscated through "Drug War" forfeitures to oppose the marijuana legalization referendum expected on the 2016 ballot because it's not education - it's a political campaign.

As legalization spreads across this country, many of the early biased studies requiring a negative end result to obtain funding are being disproven. For instance, the assertion that marijuana impacts IQ has been shown untrue by a long-term Australian study and a recent Harvard University report. The Harvard study shows the impact of heavy marijuana use on learning and memory disappears within 28 days of stopping use. Heavy alcohol users, by comparison, have memory deficits for months, or even years.

Cannabis use also produces positive results for people with medical conditions, such as glaucoma, cancer and seizure conditions as well as chronic pain. Cannabis oil has been proven to shrink tumors. As far as recreational use goes, for adults, marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. A study from University College in London found that cannabis usage actually increased connections in the brain and improved creativity. Our Founding Father Thomas Jefferson was a regular user.

No one believes young people should use pot. Nor should teens use alcohol, cigarettes, cough syrup, prescription medication or any number of other substances to get high or heighten their senses. However, according to a State University of New York study derived from studies by the federal government and states where medical marijuana is legal, usage among teens has dropped in all but two states, Michigan and New Mexico; but, the change is small enough to be within the margin of error. In Colorado, use has dropped significantly. Teens find it more difficult to access illegal marijuana now that it is being regulated and controlled, and the state has a widespread education program.

As far as overdosing, it's impossible to be poisoned by marijuana. On the other hand, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2,221 people died of alcohol poisoning between 2010 and 2012, the latest period available. An average of six people die of alcohol poisoning each day. Also, life-threatening overdoses are caused by over-the-counter pain medications like acetaminophen, ibuprofen and cough syrup. In 2007, 27,658 people accidentally overdosed on those drugs. Should we make them illegal?

Facts don't seem to matter to Polk. MATForce is using, as a speaker, a mother whose son killed himself and left a note that pot ruined his life. People don't kill themselves because they smoke pot - they kill themselves because they have untreated depression. I am very sympathetic to the grieving mother - that's the worst loss I can imagine. But I find it disturbing that she is being exploited for political gain. Polk used her scare tactics and manipulated statistics at a recent Arizona State University forum and was challenged on all of them.

The Arizona Republican Party is against legalization, according to the Phoenix Business Journal. But many GOP members favor it.

In Texas, Ann Lee, an 85-year-old grandmother, is leading Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition, with chapters in North Carolina and Maine. She says criminalizing marijuana goes against the Republican Party's core small government values and it's "immoral" to give someone a felony record for possession. Texas Republican Rep. David Simpson introduced a marijuana legalization bill for recreational and medicinal use.

Polk has said people don't go to county jail for possession of pot, but I've heard otherwise. Since possession of a small amount is a felony, tough plea bargains are forced on those with records. Possession arrests are a wedge to incarcerate - and that's why many elected officials support keeping pot illegal.

Marijuana prohibition criminalizes young people - and particularly hurts minorities. Regulating, taxing and controlling marijuana is a much more responsible approach than incarcerating users.

Toni Denis is a freelance journalist and Courier columnist, a Prescott resident, and chairwoman of the Democratic Women of the Prescott Area.