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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Flores-Zambrano pleads guilty in drug-trafficking case ... Crews near 50 percent containment on Stouts fire ... Justice Court in Central Point breaks ground on new digs ... Flores-Zambrano pleads guilty in drug-trafficking case ... Crews near 50 percent containment on Stouts fire ... Justice Court in Central Point breaks ground on new digs ... GUEST OPINION Guest Opinion: Pot opponents have good reason for concern Comment By Dave Swaney MailTribune.com By Dave Swaney Posted Apr. 7, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Apr 7, 2015 at 9:46 AM By Dave Swaney Posted Apr. 7, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Apr 7, 2015 at 9:46 AM » Social News Troubled about the marijuana laws that Oregon voters recently passed? You are not alone. "Going to Pot," a new book by authors William J. Bennett and Robert A. White, pushes back persuasively against arguments used by marijuana advocates to get the drug legalized here and in other states. As a former “recreational” pot smoker in the '60s and '70s, it caught my attention and I immediately suggested it to the Jackson County Library. I was the first person to borrow it when it arrived. Bennett should know his stuff. He was the government’s drug czar in the early '90s and Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration. White, an ex-assistant U.S. attorney, was in private legal practice in New Jersey for 40 years. The pro-weed arguments they take on in this book are significant, and they waste no time getting to what is arguably the main one — that the drug is harmless. Despite what President Obama has said, studies show that it is not less dangerous than alcohol, and in fact quite perilous — especially to the young. The authors back up their position with sources such as Psychology Today, the New York Times and a who’s who of scientific journals — for instance: Early marijuana use linked to I.Q. loss (New York Times). Potential for heart attack, stroke risk seen with marijuana use (Los Angeles Times). Longtime marijuana use linked with decreased motivation, study finds (Huffington Post). Marijuana users have abnormal brain structure and poor memory (Northwestern University Newscenter). Study finds regular marijuana use damages teenage brains (Psychology Today). Then there’s the argument that marijuana is medicinal. It’s not, with very few exceptions. Shockingly, statistics reveal that 9 out of 10 people requesting cards enabling them to buy it state “excruciating pain” as the reason they need it — a complaint difficult to diagnose. But without doubt its primary downside is that “medical marijuana” all too often ends up being used by kids. Another argument for the legalization of the drug is its success in other countries like the Netherlands. However, cannabis has never been legal there, but has been tolerated “to a point” since the 1970s. And recently the Dutch have been tightening up their tolerance and closing marijuana coffee shops due to problems with the drug. Other issues addressed by Bennett and White include the fallacies of raising taxes by allowing marijuana sales; the proven addictive nature of pot; regrets of American localities over their liberalization of marijuana; that pot is often a gateway to use of heroin and meth; and that legalizing it will deter the involvement of cartels and other unlawful marketers of pot. I also learned that today’s marijuana is not the same stuff that I stopped using 35 years ago. It is much stronger, due to a big increase in the THC content, as New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd found out when she experimented with cannabis candy last year: “The caramel-chocolate flavored candy bar looked so innocent, like the Sky Bars I used to love as a child. “Sitting in my hotel room in Denver, I nibbled off the end and then, when nothing happened, nibbled some more. I figured if I was reporting on the social revolution rocking Colorado in January, the giddy culmination of pot Prohibition, I should try a taste of legal, edible pot from a local shop. “What could go wrong with a bite or two? “Everything, as it turned out. “Not at first. For an hour, I felt nothing. I figured I’d order dinner from room service and return to my more mundane drugs of choice, chardonnay and mediocre-movies-on-demand. “But then I felt a scary shudder go through my body and brain. I barely made it from the desk to the bed, where I lay curled up in a hallucinatory state for the next eight hours. I was thirsty but couldn’t move to get water. Or even turn off the lights. I was panting and paranoid, sure that when the room-service waiter knocked and I didn’t answer, he’d call the police and have me arrested for being unable to handle my candy. “I strained to remember where I was or even what I was wearing, touching my green corduroy jeans and staring at the exposed-brick wall. As my paranoia deepened, I became convinced that I had died and no one was telling me.” As Rogue Valley politicians struggle to decide how best to implement the new laws, I hope they will take seriously the warnings of this book. Dave Swaney lives in Medford. By Dave Swaney MailTribune.com By Dave Swaney Posted Apr. 7, 2015 at 2:00 AM Updated Apr 7, 2015 at 9:46 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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