1of42
May 4, 2008, 2:33am
416
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mini:
On balance, and having seen firsthand hundreds and hundreds of cases of individuals who have a psychological dependence on marijuana, and understanding the risks inherent in the approach, I’d legalize it (for those age 21 and over), regulate it or sell it in state stores, and put the money into treatment where it is sorely needed. I have seen too many kids who, having discovered that we either lied or at least stretched the truth when it comes to talking about marijuana, think we are also not telling the truth when it comes to methamphetamines or, perhaps worse, the prescription opiates they find in mom’s medicine cabinet which have terrific addiction potential.
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<p>I agree completely.</p>
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“mini”]The National Institute on Drug Abuse sponsors 21 Community Epidemiology Workgroups (CEWGs) around the country that report regularly on drug abuse trends seen in metropolitan communities across the nation. I have sat on the Seattle-King County CEWG since 2000. As far as I am aware, we have no reports of crack-adulterated marijuana, either from the DEA or from community and youth workers, and I haven’t seen a single report of anyone known to use such a substance recently admitted (past five years) to publicly funded treatment.</p>
<p>Back in 1998, we saw some cases of intentionally adulterated marijuana, but it was adulterated with formaldehyde.
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<p>Which is what I suspected, since everything I’ve seen discuss marijuana adulteration has not mentioned cocaine, heroin or crack as common adulterants. Have you seen heroin or anything like that used, mini? Not that spideygirl would probably care what the actual answer is, because you’ll be some “fringe player” saying “drugs are OK”…</p>