CMAJ has suggested that possession of marijuana should be decriminalized.1 How incredibly short-sighted. Marijuana use increased by 142% among Dutch children and youths aged 7 to 17 years after Holland instituted a liberal policy.2 During the time that marijuana use was legal for adults in Alaska but still illegal for young people, the use of marijuana by adolescents was more than twice that seen in the rest of the United States.3 When several US states decriminalized marijuana in the late 1970s the use of marijuana and other drugs grew at a staggering rate4 and marijuana-related visits to emergency departments increased.5
Harm reduction policies are really harm production policies. Policies should be created that will gain harm prevention and gain harm elimination.
Signature
Eric A. Voth
Chairman The Institute on Global Drug Policy St. Petersburg, Fla.
References
- 1.Marijuana: federal smoke clears, a little [editorial]. CMAJ 2001;164(10):1397. [PMC free article] [PubMed]
- 2.Spanjer M. Dutch schoolchildren's drug taking doubles. Lancet 1996:347:534.
- 3.Segal B. Drug taking behavior among Alaskan youth, 1988: a follow up study. Anchorage (AK): Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, University of Alaska; 1988.
- 4.Johnston LD, O'Malley PM, Bachman JG. The Monitoring the Future national survey results on adolescent drug use: overview of key findings, 1999. Bethesda (MD): National Institute on Drug Abuse; 2000. NIH publ no.: 00-4690.
- 5.Model KE. The effect of marijuana decriminalization on hospital emergency room drug episodes: 1975–1978. J Am Stat Assoc 1993;88: 737-47.