Marijuana discussed at RHA forum

NORML representatives and a drug prevention officer spoke at the forum.

By Luke Udstuen

Published Nov. 10, 2009

Marijuana drug policy and use as a medicinal drug was the focus of a discussion forum put on by the Residence Halls Association.

"What the media portray or what special interest groups portray needs to be challenged," Drug Prevention Officer Edward Moses said. "I noticed that good families were getting involved (with drug use) and getting hurt, so I changed from investigator to prevention officer."

Sean Randall and Scott Lauher, activists with MU National Organization for the Reformation of Marijuana Laws said policy is not working and that policy reform would lead to less crime.

"The short answer is that it's going to lead to less crime," Randall said of reform. "No doubt, the media portrays the violence associated with drug use. But, you have to realize that none of those shootings would occur if marijuana would be legal in the first place. You wouldn't have this turf war, because the black market wouldn't exist in the first place."

Lauher said crimes related to marijuana are nonviolent and victimless. Moses disagreed.

"You should remember the lady that just killed seven people on the highway was a marijuana user," Moses said. "She was an alcohol user and a marijuana user. The youngest pot smoker I've seen was eight months old. I wouldn't call that a victimless crime."

Moses also said there are a myriad of issues associated with marijuana, such as impaired judgment, short-term memory problems and respiratory problems.

"In marijuana, behavior is a significant problem," Moses said. "The mall shooter in Omaha that killed eight people was a regular marijuana smoker. The mailbox bomber in Iowa was a regular marijuana smoker as well."

Lauher said Moses' examples were superfluous.

"We don't condone any eight month old babies smoking marijuana," Lauher said. "The issues described by Ed Moses were not issues that were the result of marijuana usage, but rather issues that occurred at the time of marijuana use."

Although few isolated problems with marijuana undoubtedly exist, Moses said marijuana causes severe judgment impairment for 10 to 12 hours after smoking, and significant impairment in judgment for 24 hours after smoking.

"Marijuana is a giggle weed," Moses said. "In the short term you get the giggles and the munchies. At .08 percent THC we have behavioral problems."

Although behavioral problems did not contribute to Moses' rationale, he said marijuana has no place in the medical field.

"Alcohol, during prohibition, was sold for medical uses," Moses said. "This isn't uncharted territory. We've had two other drugs in the past that have posed as medical solutions. They have turned out to be the tragedy of society."

Lauhey cited various things marijuana can do to relieve symptoms such as nausea, difficulty breathing and glaucoma, also saying marijuana is antibacterial, can be used on cancer patients as an appetite stimulant and has been shown to inhibit tumor growth in cancer patients.

The forum also discussed the possibility of marijuana as a gateway drug.

"Every drug is a gateway drug," Moses said. "Think about it, if you do any drug, you use it because you want some kind of joy or pleasure. The Chinese call that chasing the dragon, getting that original fun feeling."

Randall said marijuana is used as an illicit substance, but most marijuana users do not go on to use harder drugs.

"I'm a certified drug recognition expert," Moses said. "But I want to know just which test do I pull on someone when they just ran over a family and killed them. What kind of a test do I pull to bring people back alive?"

Drug recognition experts are trained to analyze someone's actions to determine which drugs they have taken.

Randall referenced a recent vote in Maine, which simultaneously voted to expand the usage of medical marijuana and denied Americans the right to same-sex marriage. He said the climate regarding medical marijuana was changing.