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Published: The
Oakland Tribune, Wednesday May 5th,
2004
Josh Richman, Staff Writer
S.F.,
Amsterdam similar in pot use
Wednesday, May 05, 2004 - As Oakland considers
whether to vote on decriminalizing
marijuana, a new study comparing patterns
of use has found little difference between
Amsterdam where its decriminalizedand San
Francisco, where recreational use remains
a crime.
In fact, the
study in the American Journal of Public
Health's May issue found more use of "hard
drugs" such as powder or crack cocaine,
opiates, amphetamines or Ecstasy among San
Francisco's marijuana users than among
Amsterdam's.
"Dutch
decriminalization does not appear to be
associated with greater use of other
illicit drugs," wrote researchers Craig
Reinarman, chairman of the University of
California, Santa Cruz's Sociology
Department, and Peter D. A. Cohen and
Hendrien L. Kaal of the Centre for Drug
Research at the University of Amsterdam,
the Netherlands.
"Indeed, to judge
from the lifetime prevalenceof other
illicit drug use, the reverse may be the
case."
A group called
the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance has
proposed a ballot measure directing the
city to move toward regulating, licensing
and taxing marijuana sales as soon as
possible. Meanwhile, the city would lobby
for changes in state law to allow this,
and would make private adult marijuana
offenses the police's lowest priority,
although public dealing and consumption
would remain illegal.
Backers now are
trying to gather at least 19,948
signatures from the city's registered
voters by mid-June to put the measure on
November's ballot. Campaign spokeswoman
Clare Lewis said they expect to meet the
deadline with no problems.
"People believe
that the federal government's war on drugs
isn't working, and what we were told has
turned out to be inaccurate," she said.
Lewis cited the
long-held idea that marijuana must be
criminalized because it's a "gateway drug"
to other, more dangerous substances -- an
idea undermined by the Santa Cruz-Dutch
study.
That study's
researchers interviewed hundreds of
randomly chosen marijuana users -- people
who've used it at least 25 times -- in
Amsterdam and San Francisco, noting
details such as their age when they
started using it, frequency and quantity
of use, duration of intoxication, use of
other drugs and other factors.
"There's a lot of
evidence that supports the view that
criminalization doesn't really decrease
use and decriminalization doesn't really
increase use," Reinarman said Tuesday. "It
can't be considered definitive proof that
the same thing would be found under all
conditions in all societies and
communities ... but it does add support to
the idea that decriminalization isn't
going to be a dam that breaks and all hell
breaks loose."
Bruce Mirken,
communications director for the
Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy
Project, said the study refutes the
federal government's claims that marijuana
is a "gateway drug" and that prohibition
curbs use.
"A system of
responsible regulation can break the link
between marijuana and far more dangerous
substances," he said.
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