Culture Wars is a regular series in which Neon Tommy staffers reveal the truth behind both sides of California's most divisive issues. This week, Olga Khazan and Madeleine Scinto dissect the debate over marijuana legalization

The anti-legalization argument

Dr. Paul Chabot is the founder of the Coalition for a Drug Free California who hopes to save California "from the inundation of drugs and its negative effects."

Chabot has served as a White House Senior Advisor for law enforcement, justice and drug control and as Commissioner to the State Parole Board in California. Below is an analysis of his position that marijuana should not be legalized.

Marijuana is a carcinogen. True.

Chabot says that even though we would make money off of marijuana taxes, medical expenses will go up because of marijuana's negative side effects.

It's hard to tell because not enough studies have been conducted on the long-term effects of marijuana use.

A study by UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine in 2006 found that even chronic pot smoking did not increase one's risk of lung cancer.

However, the California Environmental Protection Agency added marijuana smoke to a list of substances known to cause cancer on June 19, 2009. And the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that those who smoked marijuana regularly or started from an early age had twice the risk of contracting testicular cancer compared to those who had never smoked it. Just being a marijuana smoker carries an added 70 percent risk of testicular cancer. The study also found the long-term use of marijuana made men susceptible to the most aggressive type of testicular cancer, nonseminoma, which strikes them between the ages of 20 and 35.

Marijuana causes depression and anxiety. True...kind of.

Some studies show that when someone stops regularly using marijuana, he or she may temporarily experience symptoms like depression and anxiety. Other common symptoms can include irritability and nervousness.  However, it is unclear whether chronic marijuana use actually causes mental problems or exacerbates them. A study conducted on Australian adult men in 2001 found marijuana use did not appear to be directly related to either depression or anxiety.

There are now more people driving high on our highways than under the influence of just alcohol. Not true.

Data taken from traffic arrests and fatalities show that after alcohol, marijuana is the most frequently detected psychoactive drug among drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Authority.

Few people go to jail for smoking weed. Not really true.

For the average Joe Reefer, possessing less than an ounce of marijuana in California will result in $100 fine and perhaps a misdemeanor charge. He has no risk of jail time for the first offense.

But that's not the case when it comes to parolees. Judge Jim Gray, a major proponent of Proposition 19 and a long-time Orange County judge, says thousands of paroles have been thrown back in jail in California when their test results showed they had been smoking weed.

"That may very well be," responded Chabot. "And good. They need to go back to jail. If they're on parole, it's because they have a felony conviction...So if they're smoking pot out there, then who knows what else they're doing...It's tough love."

Reach reporter Madeleine Scinto here.

The pro-legalization argument

Bill Britt is a court-qualified marijuana expert and an advocate for medical marijuana patients’ rights who supports total legalization. Below is an analysis of his arguments and those of others from the pro-legalization camp.

Marijuana is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol. True.

It is nearly impossible to overdose on marijuana (you would have to smoke thousands more joints than you could ever want in one sitting), and there are no documented cases of death caused by marijuana overdose. Conversely, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 14,406 deaths caused by alcoholic liver disease.

But if you smoke it, pot can cause the same health problems cigarettes cause, like bronchitis and emphysema. And the U.S. Department of Health and Human services estimates that marijuana caused about 300,000 emergency room visits in 2006.

Being high can also impact your motor skills and concentration, making it far from totally safe if you live in a driving-dependent place like Los Angeles. A 2004 analysis in the Drug and Alcohol Review showed that between 4 and 14 percent of drivers who were injured in traffic accidents tested positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Fewer people would be arrested or fined if marijuana were legalized. Technically true.

There were 78,172 marijuana arrests in California last year, and overall the federal government has won more than 20 cases against medical marijuana patients and providers, according to the medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access. But if Proposition 19, which would legalize the possession of an ounce of marijuana, were enacted, it would create new types of penalties that current medical marijuana users don’t have to worry about. For example, Tax Cannabis 2010 would make it a crime to use medical marijuana in front of a minor - an infraction that would carry a penalty of up to $1,000 or seven years in jail.

What’s more, police could still go after people for growing more than the 25 allotted square feet, driving while high or smoking in public.

Drug legalization will end Mexico’s drug war. Maybe not, but it probably can’t make it any worse.

Mexico’s drug wars have claimed nearly 30,000 lives, so many that three former Latin American presidents have suggested that legalization in the U.S. could put an end to the bloodshed. Mexican cartels make nearly 60 percent of their revenue by selling marijuana to the U.S., so it’s true that their profits would be significantly hurt if pot were something any American could buy at the corner store. (When’s the last time you heard of a toilet paper cartel?)

But Mexico also supplies the U.S. with cocaine and methamphetamine, two drugs we’re not about to legalize because of the horrific public health repercussions. So unless demand for drugs in the entire Western hemisphere was somehow curbed, it’s not likely that Mexican drug lords would find a different career path anytime soon.

Legal marijuana would help California’s economy. Most likely true.

Marijuana sells for $200 to $800 an ounce, which means most growers can count on a stable income. Legalization would arguably increase demand, but it would also lower prices because without the risk of getting arrested, dealers couldn’t charge extra. Growers in Northern California have already expressed fears that their industry would be eroded, but theirs is a small portion of what could potentially become a new cash crop.

Not to mention that pot tourism could be a major attraction, since the $50 tax per ounce a would be a small price that many a Nebraskan stoner might be willing to pay.

Experts estimate that marijuana legalization could bring in about $1.4 billion a year in revenue, which could potentially ease the pain of California’s furloughs, layoffs and spending cuts - in more ways than one.

Reach editor Olga Khazan here.
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