Need for Clear Messages     (8/20/2005)
by Tahra Goraya, MA

Day One applauds the Pasadena City Council for banning medical marijuana dispensaries.   As the marijuana debate intensified locally, I was often asked to explain Day One’s position and concerns.  As a drug-free community coalition, our priority is the reduction of substance abuse, not the promotion of any illicit drug and therefore our position is clear.  Day One is only too aware of the damage that can be wrought by “legal drugs” so anything that would promote the dissemination of illegal drugs, including marijuana, is opposed by Day One.  Our trepidation over marijuana dispensaries stems from a number of concerns over public health and safety, nuisance activities associated with dispensaries that would compromise quality of life, and most notably the mixed messages this sends to our young people. 
So what do we know?  We know that marijuana is currently a Schedule I drug, one of the most stringently controlled substances, with ample studies and research pointing to the harms and dangers of this drug.  We know that use of marijuana produces adverse physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral changes, and - contrary to popular belief - it is addictive. Marijuana smoke, like cigarette smoke, contains over 400 known carcinogens and can harm the lungs (American Lung Association).  And according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), 60% of youth currently in drug treatment are there primarily because of their marijuana addiction.  More youth enter drug treatment with a primary diagnosis of marijuana dependency than for all other illicit drugs combined.  As Dr. Andrea Barthwell, deputy director of ONDCP noted on 2/17/04 Chicago Tribune, “Youth entering drug abuse treatment routinely report that they heard ‘pot was medicine’ and, therefore, believed it to be good for them.”  In our drug prevention and education outreach to youth, the number of youth that believe marijuana is a medicine and not a drug is astonishing. 
By characterizing the use of illegal drugs as quasi-legal and fun destabilizes the societal norm that marijuana is dangerous and it undercuts the goals of drug-free organizations like Day One, law enforcement, schools and parents to stop initiation of drug use to prevent addiction.  Messages to youth need to be clear and definitive.  We cannot advocate for dispensaries and legalization on one hand and on the other teach our kids that marijuana is harmful. The California Narcotics Officers Association in their policy statement in May 2002 stated that, “The medicinal marijuana movement and its media campaign have helped contribute to the changing attitude among our youth that marijuana is harmless, therefore contributing to the increase of marijuana use among our young people after 12 years of steady decline."
In addition, consider these issues:
• Marijuana is still an illegal narcotic according to federal law and federal authorities can raid and close down facilities.
• The American Medical Association recommends that marijuana remain a Schedule I controlled substance, which means no medical use.
• Potential for abuse is high: Various police departments throughout the state have gone to several dispensaries with fraudulent claims of pain and prescriptions and marijuana was sold to them.  How many others are making fraudulent claims and reselling to others or worse, to youth?  Begging the question of adequate controls and regulations.
• Mixed messages to youth 
• Marijuana hurts young bodies, and minds. 
• Medical marijuana prescriptions are easy to obtain, even without seeing a physician.
• After alcohol, marijuana is the most widely abused drug among youth in the Pasadena Unified School District. 
• Research reported by National Institute of Drug Abuse shows marijuana effects on the brain can cause cumulative deterioration of critical life skills
• Requiring more police service:  Dispensaries tend to have problems with drug sales and use around the facilities as well as robberies.
• There are dispensaries in the Hollywood area and now in Hacienda Heights, so people who really need it can get it.
Now, I am not an a physician and cannot comment on the medical benefits of marijuana but every study I have looked at whether from American Medical Association, National Institute of Drug Abuse or Institute of Medicine point to inconclusive results. Studies suggesting harmful consequences abound as well as first hand accounts of those in treatment and recovery from marijuana. Perhaps more energy should be spent advocating for more studies regarding the medicinal implications before we expose our youth and communities to the open market.

Day One is a community based nonprofit organization with a 17-year history of providing effective, high quality and culturally sensitive public health education, intervention, and policy development by involving health policy advocacy and community mobilization efforts. Day One’s mission is to provide an organizational structure by which Pasadena and Altadena will reduce the problems associated with alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use.  Day One convenes, develops, coordinates, and provides prevention services.  Some of the programs include:  Parenting Awareness Month, Youth Month, Leadership Development, Environmental and Public Policy, Cease Fire Campaign, Youth Advocates, and LA County Prevention Institute.

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