honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, July 22, 2003

Legalizing marijuana not solution

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

I'm not suggesting that there's some widespread movement out there, but there have been a fair number of calls, letters and e-mails — enough to indicate that there's something festering.

The basic argument that these folks express is that Hawai'i's crystal methamphetamine epidemic is a direct result of overzealous enforcement of marijuana laws. Green Harvest created the demand for ice labs, they cry. They claim that if all the ice addicts were smoking dope instead, they'd be mellow and non-violent, and we'd have a happy community. Some will go as far as saying the only way to combat ice is to legalize marijuana.

No, seriously. There are people who truly ascribe to this. And these people are actually functional enough to write e-mails and letters, though they can't quite organize their thoughts enough to argue their point over the phone. Wonder why.

They try to sound all compassionate and pono by bringing up medical marijuana. Nothing like evoking the image of a person suffering through chemotherapy to make a bad argument sound righteous. But how did we get from crystal meth to cancer patients? Stick to the point. Can you stick to the point? Why can't you stick to the point? Do you remember the point? And you think you don't have a problem?

They argue that if alcohol is legal, marijuana should be legal. As if our society doesn't have enough problems with alcohol. Fetal alcohol syndrome, domestic violence, DUI. ... Yeah, it's legal, but that doesn't mean it's not harmful.

Other points they try to toss in seem to sound like pitches directed toward the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Cash crop, they say. Diversified agriculture. Those comfy hemp shirts Woody Harrelson likes to wear. There's never any acknowledgement of adverse effects. Natural. Healthy. Crystal meth is synthetic. Bad.

Yes, crystal meth is particularly heinous and its effects on the human body and behavior are different than those of marijuana. But a mind-altering substance is a mind-altering substance, and saying that the way to beat an ice habit is to smoke dope is like an alcoholic saying they will beat the sauce by switching from Smirnoff to Bud. Loaded is loaded, and loaded isn't functional. And being dysfunctional means that some other poor soul is having to pull your weight in this world.

So what is the threat of this point of view? After all, it's just a bunch of potheads making noise. It's not as though lawmakers are going to suddenly take them seriously. They can't possibly garner any measure of legitimate support in the community. The danger is to kids who might be naive enough to believe that smoking pakalolo is harmless; that it's actually a good thing because it's keeping them away from ice. The danger is to drug users who don't need one more sliver of denial to keep them in their disease and out of reality.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.