cpo cfm 2012-10-16 transcript and response

7/30/2019 CPO CFM 2012-10-16 Transcript and Response

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Community Partnership of the Ozarks

Community Forum on Marijuana

Presented October 16, 2012Glendale High School Auditorium

Springfield, Missouri

Transcription provided by Springfield NORML volunteers.

Includes remarks prepared by members of Springfield NORML.

This transcript offers a complete record of the event. The time indications on the left side refer

to the minutes and seconds from when recording began. Statements prepared by Springfield

NORML volunteers are presented in ablue color and different font.

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Page 1 of 41 "Community Forum on Marijuana", 2012 October 16

Transcription provided by Springfield NORML volunteershttp://springfield-norml.org/ Includes remarks prepared by members of Springfield NORML


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Opening remarks from Springfield NORML members

The October 16, 2012 Community Forum on Marijuana offered an opportunity for Community

Partnership to have a civil and open community discussion about cannabis. A "forum", as defined by the

New Oxford American Dictionary, is "a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a

particular issue can be exchanged."

This event was advertised as a forum about how marijuana affects the youth. Springfield NORML

agrees that youth substance abuse of any variety is a legitimate community concern. We believe youth

should steer clear of all medically unnecessary drugs, and science-based information exists that supports

that position.

We believe helping parents guide their children in this regard, without resorting to misinformation or

scare tactics, is also highly beneficial. In this aspect, we think the Community Partnership has done its

community a disservice with the way it conducted the forum.

There was a decent amount of factual information presented that kept to the topic at hand. However,

several speakers departed from the forum's main subject to spread their anti-legalization beliefs, and the

moderator failed to act impartially.

We do not know for sure if Community Partnership intended the marijuana prohibition discussion to take

place, but it is clear they were not willing to allow statements about more than one perspective.

Although behavior remained civil, it was clear within the first several minutes that several members of the

panel were stacked in favor of presenting an entirely anti-marijuana message, as foreshadowed by thelanguage used within the first minute of recording.

Furthermore, speakers presented a stunning amount of leading statements, factual inaccuracies, statistical

distortions, misrepresentations, while avoiding full disclosure about the wealth of recent information that

shows cannabis can be medically and industrially useful and responsibly used by a society.

Finally, while the audience was invited to submit questions on index cards, and while a range of those

questions were presented, many questions were answered inaccurately, without offering opportunity for

audience comment, or saying "we don't know the answer" and offering an avenue for further research

and discussion.

In light of these shortcomings, we are sharing the full transcript of this event with the hope that it will

serve as a useful continuation of the discussion. We have also included remarks, written and reviewed by

Springfield NORML members, to inform the reader further about certain topics that we feel were

misrepresented.




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0:00

Moderator

...tonight.I'm vice-chair of the board of directors for Community Partnership.

And very happy to be here to moderate this community forum on marijuana.Now the bottom line is, the purpose for this evening, why we're here, why folks went to the trouble to put on thisevent, is that, in fact, there's an awful lot of misinformation.

There's a lot of half truths about marijuana, its effects, its long term effects.

0:30

...[inaudible] have been promulgated by people that should know better, in my opinion.

This language sets the tone of this forum by showing antagonism toward those who do notagree with the information or sentiments shared by the invited panelists.

But, nonetheless, what this evening's about really, is hopefully to raise awareness, certainly, in the community,about the facts regarding marijuana and its long-term use, and so forth.So, that's kind of where we're headed.

And we have a real ly wonderful and distinguished panel of folks who can speak directly to this issue here tonight.

1:00

And we're going to get to them in a minute.

And we're going to have a chance for you to weigh in with questions, and hopefully we'll make this a lively eveningof discussion, and learning, and awareness-raising.So I'd like to recognize a couple of key folks in the audience here tonight.Is Chuck Daugherty here?Chuck Daugherty's here.He is the executive director of ACT Missouri, in Jeff City (Jefferson City, MO), a state-wide resource center forprevention in Missouri.

1:30

Thanks for being here, sir.We have Springfield City Councilman Doug Burlison is here somewhere, maybe.There's Doug, thanks for coming.

And from the Greene County Prosecutor's Office, Dan Patterson.And lots of other VIPs and important folks, too.

And lots that I won't take time to mention all of you, but thank you all for coming.

2:00

Appreciate your attendance, bringing your expertise and perspective to the event tonight.So, here's the thing.The way this thing is going to proceed is that we're going to have, as I said, this panel is going to come and eachdeliver remarks in the range from six (6) to eight (8) minutes.

And, I ain't scared. I will take some people out if they mess with me too much.

2:30

Except the guy who's packing heat.Audience

[laughter]Moderator

So we're going to have some remarks from each of the panelists, and we have a keynote address to close that.But, we're also going to have an opportunity for you all to, on three by five (3" x 5") note cards provided to you.More cards will be available if the questions get really out of hand.But, we have a chance for you to write down your questions.

And following each of the speakers, as I understand it, Chris, they're going to be collected.




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3:00

Folks will be coming up and down the rows collecting those.So, keep your questions fresh in your mind.

After the keynote, we will take a few minutes break to sort of gather our thoughts, gather through the... sort throughthe, hopefully the onslaught of questions, prepare them for me, and I will then sort of deliver them in some priorityorder, the questions that you've asked.

3:30

It may not be possible to respond to all questions, certainly.It's a pretty good sized turnout, for which we're grateful.But, we'll try to get through as many as possible.

Alright, so having said that, we're going to have folks in this order coming up.Let me just introduce the entire panel very quickly.Major Kirk Manlove, from Springfield Police Department.Brad Shelton, from Greene County Juvenile Office.Jean Graebeel and Julie Steiger.

4:00

Is Julie going to be joining as well?Unknown

Yes.Moderator

Yes, tag team, from Springfield Public Schools.And Micheal Tadre (?) from Burrell , John Bertsch, I'm sorry, CSTAR (?) program.And our keynote speaker, Ron Griffin.So, without further ado, we begin with Major Kirk Manlove, who has been with the Springfield Police Department foralmost twenty (20) years, is currently a commander of Investigation and Support Services, and has significantnarcotics enforcement experience.Major?

4:30Major Kirk Manlove

I want to thank the Community Partnership of the Ozarks for inviting the Police Department to participate in tonight'sforum.Chief Williams had another engagement tonight, so I won't come to disappoint those who wanted to speak to him,and I'll do my best to answer your questions or address concerns.

Drug usage can be a very broad field of discussion, and a discussion about marijuana can also be very broad, so Iwant to keep my comments fairly narrow in keeping with the forum.

5:00I'll try to focus on the impact marijuana can have on our youth and the community overall.I've been with the department for nineteen (19) years.I will not pretend to be a marijuana expert, or have all the answers to every question.I do think I can offer some expertise with regard to our agency's experience with users and traffickers of marijuana.So I can share wi th you our perspective, as your police department, and some of our observations as to our currentsituation in Springfield.




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5:30I'd also like to tell you about our approach to drug enforcement in our enforcement philosophy.Of my nineteen (19) years in our agency, I spent six (6) of them in our narcotics enforcement unit, four and a half(4.5) of which were undercover, then the rest as a supervisor.More than I would care to, I've sat in many houses and apartments of drug users and dealers, watching them usedrugs, marijuana in particular, where its use was prevalent.And watching them smoke many times in front of their children.

In one 13-year study at Columbia University, researchers found that even during periods of

marijuana-induced intoxication, people are able to engage in appropriate social behaviorsand even respond to emergencies.

After an investigation, we'd often learn these individuals suffered heavy addictions to marijuana.

Many regional experts actually agree that marijuana is not addictive:

The managing director at the University of Kansas Hospital's poison control centersaid the drug is not addictive, but users can become dependent on the feeling itcauses.

"Some wonder about impact of Colorado marijuana law on Kansas City metro",KCTV 5 News, Nov 8 2012, http://m.kctv5.com/w/main/story/77793553/

The National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, commissioned by PresidentNixon, concluded that marijuana "does not lead to physical dependence":

Chapter III, "Social Impact of marihuana use"

Addiction Potential

Unfortunately, fact and fancy have become irrationally mixed regardingmarihuana's physiological and psychological properties. Marihuana clearly is notin the same chemical category as heroin insofar as its physiologic andpsychological effects are concerned. In a word, cannabis does not lead to physical

dependence. No torturous withdrawal syndrome follows the sudden cessation ofchronic, heavy use of marihuana. Although evidence indicates that heavy,long-term cannabis users may develop psychological dependence, even then thelevel of psychological dependence is no different from the syndrome of anxiety andrestlessness seen when an American stops smoking tobacco cigarettes.

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/nc/ncc3_17.htm

6:00In addition they could [inaudible] from not only a health perspective, but financially as well .They often are unemployed, much in part because of their addiction.

And money needed for food, rent, or utilities were used to buy marijuana or other drugs.As I moved from case to case I often wondered what becomes of those children in terms of their future drug usage,and how their lives were impacted.I've had the opportunity of interviewing hundreds (100s) of users and dealers.I've had the opportunity, and I need to point out that they often [inaudible] not always, but often.




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6:30I would occasionally come across a marijuana user or dealer that never used other drugs.But for those using other drugs, methamphetamine or cocaine, the vast majority of the time they had beenusers of marijuana at a very young age, often introduced to them as they observe their parents smoking and thenbecoming continuous users of the drug.

A real world example of what happens when marijuana is readily available can be found inHolland. The Dutch partially legalized marijuana in the 1970s. Since then, hard druguse-heroin and cocaine-have declined substantially. If marijuana really were a gateway

drug, one would have expected use of hard drugs to have gone up, not down. This apparent"negative gateway" effect has also been observed in the United States. Studies done in theearly 1970s showed a negative correlation between use of marijuana and use of alcohol. A1993 Rand Corporation study that compared drug use in states that had decriminalizedmarijuana versus those that had not, found that where marijuana was more available-thestates that had decriminalized-hard drug abuse as measured by emergency room episodesdecreased. In short, what science and actual experience tell us is that marijuana tends tosubstitute for the much more dangerous hard drugs like alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.

This observation seems to be supported in studies by the AMA, that those who smoke marijuana would be four (4)times likely to use cocaine and five (5) times more likely to use hallucinogens.

7:00 I definitely interviewed many people who admitted they were strongly addicted to marijuana.These individuals often appeared to be apathetic, not very motivated.Those who managed to stay in school, whether college or high school, were making poor grades or not performingvery well.I was disappointed to learn that marijuana usage in modern youth has gone up again in two thousand eleven(2011), especially after having experienced no increase from oh four (2004) to oh seven (2007) and then climbingagain in two thousand nine (2009).

7:30In two thousand eleven (2011), two point six million (2,600,000) persons age twelve (12) or older had usedmarijuana for the first time within the past four (4) ? months, and fifty seven point seven percent (57.7%) youngerthan eighteen (18).We also see the impact of marijuana usage in our driving public at the police department.The use of marijuana definitely impacts motor skills, causing physical impairment of drivers.Of our approximately over one thousand (1000) DWI drivers last year about twelve percent (12%) of those wereimpaired by drugs.




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8:00Of our drug-impaired drivers, sixty five percent (65%) were impaired by marijuana.

1000 DWI drivers 12% impaired by drugs = 120 drivers impaired by non-alcoholic drugs120 drivers 65% impaired by marijuana = 78 DWI drivers impaired by marijuana1000 DWI drivers - 120 impaired by non-alcoholic drugs = 880 drivers impaired by alcohol

In over seventy five percent (75%) of our drug-impaired drivers, marijuana is a secondary detected drug incombinations with alcohol, depressants, or stimulants.It affects the body two (2) to three (3) hours after ingestion, however impairment can last up to twenty four (24)hours, without the user being aware of the effects.It slows reaction times, depth perception, it reduces the driver's ability to devote sufficient attention to driving.

Statistical Distortion - Major Manlove give statistics on body effects based on ingestion,

when people typically smoke it, where effects begin .

From the NORML report on impairment from smoking:Recently, a pair of scientific reviews of automobile crash culpability studies haveindicated that THC levels in blood serum below 5 ng/ml are not associated with anelevated accident risk. (Levels below 5 ng/ml are attained in recreational marijuanausers, on average, within 1 to 3 hours after cannabis consumption.) Moreover,some studies suggest that "even a THC serum level of between 5 and 10 ng/ml maynot be associated with an above normal accident risk." However, additional studiesare necessary before reliable THC/blood threshold for impairment may be derived.

8:30It's important to point out that with improved cultivation techniques and technology, the THC levels now are not whatthey were in the sixties (1960s) and seventies (1970s).In nineteen eighty three (1983) the average THC level was under four percent (4%).It's ten point one percent (10.1%) now, with some varieties going fifteen (15%) to twenty (20%).I'd like to take a few minutes to describe our drug enforcement efforts in our department.

As with any drug, we focus our attention at the distribution and the trafficking level.We do not target users it does not mean we don't come across users in our investigation, nor does it mean thatthey are not charged with possession.




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9:00

But it is more often a result of a traffic stop, or during the investigation of other crimes, that we come acrossindividuals holding small amount of drugs, and this of course includes marijuana.Our agency seized seventy six pounds (76 lbs) of marijuana in two thousand eleven (2011).The local DEA office, of which we have detectives attached as part of a local drug task force...

The reasoning behind this in direct violation of the Missouri constitution and against thestate police forces oaths of office.

All interest accruing from investment of the county school fund, the clear proceedsof all penalties, forfeitures and fines collected hereafter for any breach of the penallaws of the state, the net proceeds from the sale of estrays, and all other moneyscoming into said funds shall be distributed annually to the schools of the severalcounties according to law.

Missouri constitution, http://www.moga.mo.gov/const/a09007.htm

There are many articles both new and old about this problem. See page 45 ofhttp://auditor.mo.gov/press/2006-38.pdf(excerpted below) for the results of police forcesdiverting funds from the School Building Revolving Fund (as set up in our constitution) to

their own departments as well as their pockets.

When local police involve any of these five federal agencies, 80% of all seized assets are

diverted back to the police:

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Bureau of Investigation; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; U.S. Attorneys Offices.

Greene County diverted $162,901 dollars to themselves according to data found here:http://www.justice.gov/jmd/afp/02fundreport/2011affr/report2b.htm




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...and in conjunction with their agencies such as the highway patrol seized thirty eight hundred pounds (3800 lbs) intwo thousand eleven (2011) on I-44, and seventeen hundred pounds (1700 lbs) so far this year.

99% of all cannabis seized in our state is a non-psychoactive plant called wild hemp (ditchweed) which grows wild in ditches along the highway. You can't smoke it, it is simply aninert plant that they cut down along the highways each year at the tune of $500,000 in taxesand fees placed on pharmacies.Source: http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t438.pdf

9:30

The majority of that marijuana is smuggled from Mexico by the drug cartels, and tonight, I'd like to dispel a myth Icommonly hear and that is our jails and prisons are full of people convicted with just user amounts of marijuana.It's simply not the case.Our arrest policy, and our agreement with our county jail, directs our officers issue a ticket, and release formisdemeanor marijuana possession unless there are other factors at play.

While this is true that the jails may not be full, it downplays the effects of these charges onnon violent offenders, e.g. the offender's employment, which can effect a whole familieswell-being in Springfield.

10:00For example, the identification of the person cannot be established, so fingerprints must be taken, at which pointthey're booked into the jail for photographs and prints, then released.Or they may have an arrest warrant, or the person presents a threat to someone, for example.

We recently reviewed twelve (12) months of arrest data for our agency, and we found we had booked no-one onprobable cause only, for misdemeanor possession of marijuana.We did make a hundred thirty seven (137) arrests, city warrants issued by a judge, for misdemeanor possession ofmarijuana.

10:30These are often issued because someone did not follow through with a plea or a judge's directive.

At the state level, the Bureau of Justice Statistics showed that only one point six percent (1.6%) of the inmatepopulation were convicted of a marijuana-only crime, including trafficking, with only point seven percent (0.7%) inprison for a marijuana possession only crime.Many of these may have been initially charged with more serious crimes, but were able to negotiate reducedcharges for lighter sentences in plea agreements.




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11:00

These also might include those individuals who are career criminals with multiple-felony convictions.In closing, I can tell you that I believe our agency and local justice system has shifted, in what I think, in a positiveway, in the past twenty (20) or more years.Law enforcement and the justice system, with regard to drug enforcement, has always been a three-prongedapproach, with enforcement, education, and treatment.Often times, some agencies and justice systems will be heavier or lighter on some of those areas.

11:30

I do think we are a bit more balanced than in the past, with more emphasis on treatment ... than before.Greene County's drug court, for example, has had big success since its inception over six (6) or seven (7) yearsago.I also think investigators have a better understanding of addiction, how a treatment referral instead might be a betteravenue, and offers perhaps a more long-term approach to crime reduction, than a temporary trip to jail, only to havesomeone get out and continue with their addiction.

12:00

Again, I'm just scratching the surface here.These are just a few of our observations, and what we experience and see as an agency in southwest Missouri.Thank you.

Audience

[applause]Moderator

Thank you Major.So we're going to do a collection now.If you have questions on those three by fives (3" x 5").

Alright.

12:30

And next up, we have the hardest working man in juveni le justice, he has been with the office for twenty-two (22)years, born and raised in Springfield, Deputy Juvenile Officer and Supervisor, my friend Brad Shelton.

Brad Shelton

Thank you, Paul.I just wanna kind of go through just a few things on what we do at the Juvenile Office when when we get one ofthese referrals.Early intervention is an important key.When we get a referral, we set up an intake conference with parent and youth.We evaluate the case and evidence and other multiple factors.

13:00

We administer a risk needs assessment, on the youth to determine what level of intervention should be considered.Accountabil ity for actions is definitely part of the consideration for disposition.A CSTAR assessment is also done to look at what kind of drug or alcohol dependency issues we have and how weneed to handle that.Once we gather all this information in, kind of make a decision regards to how we're gonna handle the case.There's two ways we can go with the case.We can either go informally, or formally.

13:30We try to to utilize all informal options if possible before we even look at going to court.We have a great probation services department that workers work with these kids and have a lot of resources in thecommunity that we can direct these kids to.That's what we try to do without going to court, if we can.If it requires a formal petition we will file it and take the juvenile to court, and even at that point of time, we're lookingat, we're working in the interest of the kid and the family.




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14:00And we have some great services through our formal probation department which include a new program which iscalled RADAR, Responding Appropriately do Drug and Alcohol Referrals.This is the name of the current program that supervises formal youth while on probation for any offense that is drugrelated [inaudible].I pulled a statistic from our detention facility, which is I think is really interesting, and I want to share with you tonight.

14:30

If we detain any youth in our detention facility for any offense and that could be assault, burglary, drug offense, orany offense whatsoever, we are usually looking at formal court action, but what our detention facility is reporting tous on an average of kids admitted into detention, they are seeing forty to fifty percent (40%-50%) of those kidsadmitted into detention testing positive for THC.That kind of shows you that the issue in regards to marijuana use and getting into some serious trouble.

Logical Fallacy: Correlation proves causation

The implication here is that the kids admitted into detention were led to commit other crimesas a direct result of the use of marijuana at some time prior to the crime.

15:00Finally, in my years of experience with working with youth and families, referred to our office, and I've been there along time, and this is not rocket science, I mean, it's pretty simple, and I try to put it out through the parent and the

youth that I work with.I can state without a doubt, you know, marijuana and drug use, in simple terms is not healthy, it leads to negativeconsequences, leads to dangerous situations with your friends, leads to family problems, leads to peerproblems, education problems, and legal problems, and that's a fact.

This altruistic viewpoint presented as fact should be balanced by looking at the other side.

One testimony you can watch is from Dennis Hill, Biochemist who treated his prostatecancer with cannabis. It's an interesting story by someone who has a lot of credentials in thescience field.Video (part 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym0BSdEIjJAVideo (part 2): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_7gy7Dyta0&feature=relmfu

Again, if dissuading kids here is the goal, the available evidence shows the contrary. Mostof the negative consequences are brought onto them through law enforcement and thejudicial system.

15:30I've been there twenty-two (22) years, and I can tell you without a doubt, that marijuana and drug use is just[inaudible] can be horrific for kids.Finally, one thing I do tell kids and the parents when they come into my office, you know, we're there to try to workwith them and work in their interests, but the issue that comes to mind is, if they can't get it under control, and get thisactivity under control, when they turn seventeen (17), if they go out and get arrested they will have an adult criminalrecord for the rest of their life.

16:00

And it doesn't matter if they are adjudicated on that, it will show up as an arrest.And whenever we do background checks on people that are coming to work at our office, I will see that.There will be an arrest, and a person that's applying for a job, that doesn't have that arrest on their record's going tohave a better shot at doing something positive and getting a good job in the future.




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16:30

So, in closing, I just want to make sure everybody knows that tackling these issues before adulthood, with early andappropriate intervention, is absolutely, and a key and a must.

Moderator

Thank you sir.Audience

[applause]Moderator

He ought to know.Next up we have a team.Jean Graebeel, who's been Coordinator of Heal th Services for Springfield Public Schools for the past twenty-two(22) years.Twenty-two (22) years seems to be a theme tonight, there's three of you.

17:00

She's a Registered Nurse with a Masters in health education, was recently inducted as a national fellow in schoolnursing, Jean has two grown children, one a graduate of Kickapoo High School.

And helping her out's going to be Dr. Julie Steiger, Springfield Public Schools Director of Operations for SecondarySchools, a former high school math teacher, middle school counselor, middle school and high school assistantprincipal, and principal.Ladies?

Jean Graebeel

Thank you.Well good evening.

17:30

Well I'm in a unique position this evening, because I get to share with Julie, and Julie is our Secondary OperationsDirector, so I'm going to talk a few minutes about prevention and early intervention wi th our students, and thenJulie's going to talk on the side of our policy as it relates to our discipline policy, participation in extracurricularactivities, and the potential consequences related to college and career planning.So, you know, the old adage, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," and that is still very relevant today.

18:00

So, we begin very early in our health curriculum, and talking with our kindergarteners, for instance, on goodsubstances and bad substances.What is safe, and what is unsafe substances that can be taken into the body.

And the middle school, for example, in the sixth (6th) grade, the curriculum covers appl ication of major steps indecision making, to a scenario where the student has to best describe how they would do resistance to drug use.

18:30

Students also have to investigate the impact of drug use and the ability to make sound judgments.In the ninth (9th) grade curriculum, students have to identify and assess the effects of drugs use, misuse, and abuseon major life areas, including short and long term effects of various drug uses, how peer pressure and mediapressure influence drug-taking behavior, and who you can turn to for help if you have a problem with an illegalsubstance use and abuse, for instance, marijuana.

19:00

So, for an example, in Springfield Public Schools, if a student discloses to the school counselor, or to another staffmember, that they're using an illegal substance, or they're concerned about a drug or alcohol use, the student canbe referred for an initial screening to determine whether or not there's in-patient or out-patient substance abuse

counseling, which may be appropriate for them.

19:30

So all those requests, or even for mental heal th screening, at this point, for middle school and high school students,we have a relationship, or an agreement, with Burrell Behavioral Health Center at this point, between us, andSpringfield Public Schools and Burrell Behavioral Health.So they can be referred for screening by an administrator, a counselor, or even you as a parent.




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20:00So if you have concerns about what's going on with your student, don't hesitate to contact the school counselor,have a discussion with them, or if you have a relationship with one of their teachers, or an administrator, don't waituntil too late to have a discussion with them.If you are seeing signs and symptoms of things that are not going well within the home, then talk to the school aboutthat.So then the student assistance team, or the teacher support team, can also take in referrals from other teachers ifthey've noticed changes in the behavior of the student within the classroom.

20:30They've changed friends, absences, chronic absences from school, and/or they're tardy, they seem to be sleeping inclass, or their behavior, again, has changed.So then those screenings are free for any student that is under the age of eighteen (18).If they're over the age of eighteen (18), eighteen (18) and over, then there's another process that has to take place,and that goes through our Coordinator of Counseling, which is Rhonda Mammon.

21:00So if you have any questions or concerns about that, then certainly she is the person to go to for that.So if there's any request for screening, the principal or the counselor can make recommendations to the parent, andscreening takes place only wi th parental consent.

And the parent is supposed to be involved with that screening.So then a contact is made to Rhonda Mammon, and then from there, then it goes on and she makes the

appointment for that screening to take place, and parents are involved.

21:30It can be taken place at the school site, but most typically, it's done off-site as well.So in essence, it's a team approach, for us.It's not only the school district that talks about prevention, it's up to parents, it's up to the communi ty, it's up tostudents.We try to build essential steps for the students in order to be able to create a healthy lifestyle for them, but it alsotakes the community support.

22:00And isn't that wonderful, that as many of you that came out this evening, to become better informed about this urgentconcern that we have for our youth.We all want our youth to be successful, and you're part of the solution as well.So that's my ounce of prevention.So next, Julie is going to speak about our discipline pol icy, and the potential impact for future and consequences forsubstance abuse and use.

22:30Dr. Julie Steiger

First I'd like to give some good news.Our drug and alcohol suspensions, and we don't differentiate between what the student is being suspended for, it allfalls under drug and alcohol, so I cannot speak to how many of these are specifically for marijuana.But, since two thousand seven (2007), our suspensions have gone down each year.We had one year, they peaked up about by ten (10), but in two thousand six two thousand seven (2006-2007),which is when our current system started keeping the data, we were at two hundred ninety-six (296) students in theentire district being suspended for drug or alcohol use or distribution.

23:00And last year, we were down to one hundred ninety-seven (197).And I think that's really good.And you think, we're a school district of about twenty-five thousand (25,000) students, our numbers are way down,and I think a lot of it has to do with all the different things we've put in place to help students before it becomes a realproblem.

And with the discipline we are a zero-tolerance school district.Distribution is a Safe Schools violation.We run by Missouri statute with how we make our pol icies.




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26:30But it's to help students hook up with the money they can access to go to college.Because a lot of students do not know how much money's available out there for them.So this whole program's to help kids go to college.So when you're talking about federal funding for scholarships, some federal grants do have rubrics that they willlook at, and with a first offense, in which a student is charged, they could look at not being eligible for thescholarship money for a year.

27:00Second offense, it could be two years from the time that they had that infraction to where they would be elig ible, andon the third infraction, they may not be eligible at all.That is not necessarily for every grant that is out there, but that is kind of the general rule for scholarships.Thank you.

Audience[applause]

ModeratorThank you Jean and Julie.Okay, I forgot last time, so we're going to make sure we come through and pick up the three by fives (3" x 5").

27:30If you have questions, please write on those cards and get them to the folks that are collecting them.That's whats going to make this fun.

The last panelist before the keynote is my friend John Bertsch, who's been with Burrell Behavioral Health for seven(7) years.He's director of our adolescent substance abuse treatment program.He's a licensed clinical social worker, who's been in counseling and social services for twenty (20) years, nottwenty-two (22), but just twenty (20).So, John?

28:00John Bertsch

I'm going to state a few facts about marijuana use, and then I'm going to describe a little bit about our program, andwhat we see in our program.

As Paul described, I'm director of the adolescent substance abuse program and the CSTAR that Jean referred to.Marijuana use, especially among youth, has many health hazards.

28:30Studies indicate the continued use as an adolescent can drop a person's IQ by as many as eight (8) points.

A 2002 longitudinal study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal http://www.cmaj.ca/content/166/7/887.long concluded that "marijuana does not have along-term negative impact on global intelligence," and that "current marijuana use had anegative effect on global IQ score only in subjects who smoked 5 or more joints per week."The study, which monitored subjects since birth, examined IQ scores before, during andafter cessation of regular marijuana use, found current light users and former users showedaverage IQ gains of 5.8 and 3.5 respectively, compared to an IQ gain of 2.6 for those whohad never used cannabis. The study showed an average IQ decrease of 4.1 for heavy users.

If the speaker was referring to a recently released longitudinal study of more than 1000New Zealanders, of important note is that the study only showed a decrease in IQ foradolescents.

The effect of persistent cannabis use on intellectual functioning is really confined toadolescents, (which) suggests that adolescents, in particular, are vulnerable to theeffect of cannabis," says lead author Madeline H. Meier, a psychologist andpostdoctoral researcher at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/27/health/health-teen-pot/index.html




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There are also studies that indicate, for males, it can double the chances for testicular cancer.

The study actually shows that the heaviest users of cannabis have less testicular cancer thanmoderate users. It also shows that using cocaine decreases the cancer risk. It only utilized asmall number of people (163 men) and much of the data doesn't add up. The media didn'treport on the cocaine connection in the same study which throws the whole study off.

Dr. Mitch Earleywine discusses the statistical problems with this study at the 27:54 mark onthis video interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALX4uwWIscY&t=27m54s

The study itself: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cncr.27554/abstract

Marijuana use can double the chance of having a car accident.

It is important to note that legal pharmaceutical drugs are as much, or more, of a problem ascannabis.

In conducting the study, the researchers compared drug use in nearly 5,200 peopleinvolved in major car accidents with that of more than 31,000 similar people with

no record of serious accidents.

The study, published Sept. 13 in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology,found the people involved in car accidents were more likely to have been takingpsychotropic drugs for any length of time.

http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=668525, September 13, 2012

Marijuana use... teens who smoke three (3) or more times a week are three (3) times more likely than non-usersto have thoughts about committing suicide .

Logical Fallacy: Correlation Proves Causation

It may just be that teens who are already suicidal end up using marijuana. This data doesnot prove that marijuana causes an increase in thoughts about suicide.




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29:00Marijuana use, marijuana, is addictive, and heavy users develop withdrawal symptoms and tolerance issues

just like those with other drug addictions.

Factual Error it has been standard knowledge for many years that marijuana does notlead to withdrawal or tolerance issues the way many other drugs do.

Herkenham's earlier research mapping the locations of the cannabinoid

brain-receptor system helped establish scientific evidence that marijuana isnonaddictive. This new tolerance study builds on that foundation by explaining howcannabinoid tolerance supports rather than contradicts that finding.

"It is ironic that the magnitude of both tolerance (complete disappearance of theinhibitory motor effects) and receptor down-regulation (78% loss with high-doseCP-55,940) is so large, whereas cannabinoid dependence and withdrawalphenomena are minimal. This supports the claim that tolerance and dependenceare independently mediated in the brain."

In other words, tolerance to marijuana is not an indication that the drug isaddictive.

http://www.marijuanalibrary.org/brain2.html ("Marijuana and the Brain, Part II:The Tolerance Factor", High Times, July 1995)

Teens can become addicted in as little as six (6) months.The majority of youth entering drug treatment reported primary drug use of marijuana.

This is true, however the users in this case are given the option of going to jail or treatmentbefore a judge. This choice is presented regardless of whether or not they have a realproblem with cannabis.

The majority go for the treatment, then government uses this information to lead to thenotion that marijuana is a problem for so many people.

Many people drink alcohol socially, but if it were prohibited as marijuana is, and socialusers were treated as above, it would lead to the belief that the social users of alcohol needtreatment for being "alcoholics", even if many didn't have problems and simply chose atreatment system in lieu of imprisonment.

In light of this, the speaker is making an exaggeration of a true statement. It throws off therest of the statistics presented by the speaker: you don't know what percentage of his clientshave a real problem with cannabis, vs those placed in his care due to enforcement reasonsand may only rarely use cannabis.

The national figures of current marijuana use is about eight percent (8%) of those twelve (12) through ageseventeen (17).




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29:30In our adolescent substance abuse program, the drug that is abused the most is marijuana.

Since THC in cannabis stays in your system longer than other drugs (up to 30 days), morepeople get caught and are told to go into rehabilitation institutions in higher numbers thanfor other substances.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_drug_testing

Of the two hundred seventy-five (275) clients we saw in treatment this past year, ninety percent (90%) reportedmarijuana use.Some other facts about our program is that most of our clients are male, which is at sixty-seven percent (67%).

30:00Of the two hundred seventy-five (275) clients we saw this past year, eighty percent (80%) reported co-occurringdiagnoses.That means depression, anxiety, ADHD.We have also, we are also asked very many times about our program, "What is your success rate?"Given that substance abuse is a long-term, relapsing disease, we do expect that some clients will relapse.Last year, at the three (3) month follow-up, fifty-two percent (52%) of the clients reported no use.

30:30 At the six (6) month follow-up, fifty-three percent (53%) reported not using any drugs.And at the one (1) year mark, fifty-eight percent (58%) reported not using.That concludes my report.Thanks.

ModeratorThank you John.

Audience[applause]

ModeratorAnd again, any questions.And I'm sure all these interesting remarks are sparking all kinds of questions in your mind, so make sure you writethose down, and the folks will come pick them up.

31:00 Alright.Ron Griffin is our keynote speaker this evening.

Anybody want to guess how long he's been in substance abuse treatment, anybody?Twenty-two (22) years, yeah.I don't make this stuff up.This is [inaudible] sixty-six (66) plus twenty (20)... it's like a hundred and eighteen (118) years of experience, it'scrazy.Ron comes to us with over twenty-two (22) years of experience in working with individuals, families, andcommunities in both drug treatment and prevention.

31:30He's been a national trainer in drug prevention, as well as a drug treatment counselor, and program administrator.Currently Ron is a professor at Longview College in Kansas City, and is active in Missouri's fight against marijuanalegalization.Welcome Ron Griffin.

Audience[applause]

Ron GriffinThank you.Can you hear me okay?Okay, I know you're out there, I can hear you breathing.




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32:00Could you do me a favor?Could all the young people, all the teenagers and younger, please just stand up for a second.Just humor me for a second.If nothing else, it's good, a chance to stretch your legs, there you go.Thank you very much.Look around.I want to say a special thank you to you for coming out here tonight, giving up part of your evening to come listen tothis, and I want everybody in the room to look at these people, because this is why I'm here tonight, and I hope thisis why you're here tonight, too.

32:30Thank you all very much.Give these guys a round of applause.

Audience[applause]

Ron Griffin[inaudible] have a seat.What we are working for, and what we are paying attention to, and what's important to us is the future that we'regoing to have, that we're going to hand off to the kids that are in this room that just stood up.

And there are things that we can do to make things better, and things that we can do to make things worse.Whenever we look at marijuana, and I've been fighting marijuana for twenty-two (22) years now, as a drug treatmentcounselor, I still do counseling.

33:00As a preventionist within the state of Missouri.And one of the things I constantly see are people's perceptions of this drug driving choices which put these youngpeople at further risk.Marijuana is the most misunderstood drug I've ever dealt with, and I've dealt with all of them, from ecstasy to herointo crack, all the way through.

33:30Marijuana is the number 1 (#1) most misunderstood there is out there.There are, if you go to the Internet, and where do most young people get their information from?

Audience[several utterances of "Google"]

Ron GriffinFrom the Internet.And you type in the word "marijuana" and you're going to get dozens, or even thousands I shouldn't saydozens thousands upon thousands of pages of information, and most of that information is going to beskewed towards the pro side, towards the positive side.

This argument is often used to show how information on the Internet must all bemisinformation. Our entire government, medical institutions, doctors, chemists, engineersand more are also on the Internet. Statistics show that 63 percent of people has mistrust inthe media, mainly because the truth often times comes out on the internet by independentresearchers, commentators and reporters who blog and create videos.

See also: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/business/media/14survey.html?_r=0

So again, I'm glad to have the young people here tonight.

34:00Whenever we look at the information, that positive marijuana information, most of it stems from a group calledNORML, the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws.They are the impetus, they key driving force behind this, nationally, and even here within the state.

And so we hear about things like medicalization of marijuana.We hear about the agricultural reasons and why we shouldn't prosecute marijuana at all, because we could savetax dollars.




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34:30Let's take a second to look at NORML's mission statement.NORML's mission is to move public opinion sufficiently to achieve the repeal of marijuana prohibition so that theresponsible use of cannabis by adults is no longer subject to penalty.What did you hear in there?Did you hear medicinal care, palliative care for sick people?

35:00

Did you hear "growing marijuana so we can use it for rope or fuel" or anything like that?NORML has a branch called the NORML Hemp Alliance. Hemp is the product used tocreate rope and fuel.

See also: http://norml.org/component/zoo/category/norml-hemp-allianceNo, what did you hear?This is about smokin' dope, and not gettin' busted.People that do drugs.Help me out with this.People that do drugs do not want to get busted.

Am I right?So far I'm?Okay, I haven't said anything crazy yet.




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35:30When we look at all the different ploys that the marijuana industry will use, number one (1), the thing that they'regetting the most mileage of out of it right now, is medicinal marijuana.Convincing people that marijuana is good, it's healthy.

There is a vast amount of testimony about the benefits of cannabis for medical reasons.There are also mainstream products available that make use of THC-free edible hempproducts, which have been praised for being nutritious and health-promoting.

Here are just two of the many videos you'll need to ignore in order to believe the speaker'sstatement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ_UBW_IITw http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b84_1351611295

And I have to say, these guys are doing a great job.When it comes to their mission statement, they are dedicated, and they are working together and doing a great

job swaying public opinion, convincing young people that it's no big deal.

"Principles of Responsible Cannabis Use":

I. Adults Only

Cannabis consumption is for adults only. It is irresponsible to provide cannabis tochildren.

Many things and activities are suitable for young people, but others absolutely arenot. Children do not drive cars, enter into contracts, or marry, and they must notuse drugs. As it is unrealistic to demand lifetime abstinence from cars, contractsand marriage, however, it is unrealistic to expect lifetime abstinence from allintoxicants, including alcohol. Rather, our expectation and hope for young peopleis that they grow up to be responsible adults. Our obligation to them is to

demonstrate what that means.

http://norml.org/about/intro/item/principles-of-responsible-cannabis-use-3

"Children, Teens, and Pot":

NORML is absolutely against the use of cannabis by minors. While we obviouslydon't condone this practice, we understand the reality that adolescents will beexperimenting with mind-altering substances.

http://norml.org/about/item/children-teens-and-pot




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36:00One of their lines, and the group's name is NORML, one of their lines is that it's "NORML to smoke pot".

This is not a tag line representing NORML and its broad member base. "It's NORML toSmoke Pot" was used as a promotional slogan in 2002 after New York City MayorMichael Bloomberg admitted to smoking cannabis.

See also http://norml.org/about/it-s-norml-to-smoke-pot-campaign.

No it's not.How many people in here do you remember, raise your hands with me, how many people remember when wevoted on acetaminophen being a medication?None of us do.Because we don't vote on what's medication.That's the job at the institue of medicine.

As mentioned elsewhere in this response, the DEA and other institutes actually hinderresearch done into cannabis due to the stigma attached to it. This makes it less likely for theinstitute of medicine to approve of its use, regardless of its true effectiveness.

It's not done by popular vote.

36:30But all of the sudden, now we're starting to vote on what we will accept as medication.Does anybody know what classification, and I'm not talking Schedule, what classification marijuana is?Say it.

Audience[one member] Schedule one (1).

Ron GriffinNo, not schedule, what classifica... is it a depressant, is it a narcotic, is it a stimulant, is it a hallucinogen?

Audience[several members] It could be all of them.

Ron Griffin[laughs] It's a hallucinogen.

It is important to note that just because something can act as a hallucinogen, does not meanit will at all doses, or that its potential hallucinogenic effects are not tolerated or regulated by

individuals and society.

For example, Dextromethorphan (DXM), is an unscheduled, over-the-counter drug that is acommon ingredient in cough syrup products, including children's preparations. At labeleddoses, it has no hallucinogenic side-effects. At several times the labeled dose, theside-effects include strong hallucinations.

Several prescription drugs may also act as hallucinogens. Seehttp://www.livestrong.com/article/28843-list-hallucinogenic-antidepressant-medications/.




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37:00

And these are things that people don't pay attention to and don't understand.Whenever we look at the other arguments, the agricultural argument, it is not about being able to grow marijuana forhemp, to be able to make rope products.There's no market for it.

Current industry estimates report that U.S. retail sales of all hemp-based products mayexceed $300 million per year. Because there is no commercial industrial hemp production

in the United States, the U.S. market is largely dependent on imports, both as finishedhemp-containing products and as ingredients for use in further processing.

[ ]

In the early 1990s a sustained resurgence of interest in allowing commercial cultivation ofindustrial hemp began in the United States... To date, nine states have legalized thecultivation and research of industrial hemp, including Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine,Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont, and West Virginia. However,because federal law still prohibits cultivation, a grower still must get permission fromthe DEA in order to grow hemp, or face the possibility of federal charges or property

confiscation, despite having a state-issued permit.

"Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity", Congressional Research Service, January 2012,http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32725.pdf

"The lighter the car, the less fuel you need to propel it," explains Alan Crosky of the Schoolof Material Science and Engineering in the University of New South Whales in Australia.

German car companies including Mercedes (Daimler/Chrysler), BMW and AudiVolkswagen have been leading the way in incorporating plant fibers in their models...

The next trend could be in building the shells of cars from plants. Crosky says he and histeam are now looking at building exterior car panels from hemp.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98529&page=1#.UIWu1ml24Sp

But there's a huge market for the drug.We hear all the time from the pro-marijuana group that, oh my gosh, if we quit prosecuting marijuana, do you knowhow much money we would save?




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37:30Millions and millions of dollars.My answer to that is just because the system isn't working perfectly doesn't mean we just throw it away.

The war on drugs has had no effect on drug addiction as shown in this chart:

Source: "[Updated With Correction]: Forty Years of Drug War Failure Represented in aSingle Chart", http://reason.com/blog/2012/10/11/forty-years-of-drug-war-failure-in-a-sin

If we were to say, you know, if we just took away all the speeding limits, then we wouldn't have so many peoplegetting speeding tickets, and that would make life better for all of us.

When using this as an analogy to marijuana prohibition, it would follow that those who arecaught exceeding speed limits are often punished with imprisonment or permanent legalrecords. This is not the case, though, so does not make a useful comparison.

It just doesn't work that way.Especially when we look, and here's the important part, the long-term ramifications to the community.

38:00The long-term ramifications to the people who stood up here just a little bit ago, who we need to help provide clearand healthy belie fs and standards to help them ensure a better life.Whenever we look at the pro-marijuana arguments, one of the things that we'll hear is taxes.I've heard this so often: "You know if we just make it legal, and we tax it, then, we're going to have money flowing a llover the place, we're going to have cash everywhere."

38:30Whenever we look at the tax on alcohol and tobacco, do you know where Missouri stands in the fifty (50) states onthe tax on alcohol and tobacco?

We're number fifty (50).We're at the very bottom.When we look at the, I don't remember the exact numbers, I wasn't planning on talking about this, so don't hold metight to this, so the rough numbers were like, we're bringing, I can't remember, twenty-nine million dollars($29,000,000), but it costs us like two point five billion ($2,500,000,000).




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39:00We don't tax it enough.We don't bring in enough money.If we were to legalize marijuana, we would spend a lot more on the ramifications, the problems created by it,than we would by what we get out of it, just like we do with alcohol and tobacco.

Jeffrey A. Miron, Department of Economics, Harvard University and the Cato Institute,contributed to a report that says otherwise:

This report estimates the reduction in government expenditure and the increase intax revenue and that would result from legalizing marijuana in Missouri.Legalization would reduce government expenditure by about $90 million annually.Legalization would also generate tax revenue of roughly $59 million annually ifmarijuana were taxed at rates comparable to those on alcohol and tobacco. Theseestimates assume that all other states and the federal government also legalizemarijuana."The Budgetary Implications of Legalizing Marijuana in Missouri"http://nationalcannabiscoalition.com/budgetary-implications-marijuana-missouri/

Some people will say, "forbidden fruit", have you heard this argument?

If you make something il legal, then people are just, they're gonna want to do it.

39:30If you make it illegal, then "forbidden fruit", and they're gonna be driven to go out there and forced to do it.

After decriminalizing cannabis in Portugal, less people used it.

See: http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/6/999.full,http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

Well, most people, most people, even young people, will live within the parameters of what is legal and acceptableby society's standards.There are going to be that fringe element, that if you say, "Hey, don't go stick your tongue on that spark plug," they're

just gonna have to go over and stick their tongue on i t.

40:00They're out there.But most people, by and large, are going to live within what is acceptable by the state, or by the communitystandards.When you've got a real loud voice saying, we should change these community standards to be able to includealcohol, or, I'm sorry, be able to include marijuana use, people are gonna start paying attention to that, and they'regonna start to follow along with that as well.

40:30One of the things I always hear, over and over, is, "Well, I did i t, and I turned okay.""I smoked marijuana and I turned okay.""No problems with me."Well, okay, I'll.I'm forty-seven (47) years old.I know, for some of you that doesn't so bad, for some others that's ancient.When I was growing up, there were, we didn't have seat belts in our cars.




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41:00

And when we did, how many people can recognize this?When you did have 'em, you never used 'em.

And we can all look around and say, "You know what, I've never used a seatbelt, and I'm okay."When I was young there was even, there was no such thing as a bicycle helmet.They didn't exist.I rode bicycles for years without a helmet.I'm okay.

41:30

So does it make sense that we should say, "Just because I turned out okay, just because I didn't get some sort ofhorrible problem from a risky behavior, then it should then be okay for the masses."No.Because it's going to be the individual that bears the brunt, that bears the weight, of the problems that's gonna becreated in their lives, when, coming back to what the lady said, "an ounce of prevention is pound of cure."

Am I standing outside of your camera range?I'm sorry about that.

42:00

I'm glad to see so many parents here tonight.Parents play a major role in prevention.It's not just a parent's responsibil ity.

It's not all put on the parents, but parents play a major role.If you set your standards high for kids, kids will try to live up for 'em, live up to 'em.If you set your standards low, kids will definitely live down to 'em.Part of what parents need to do is continuously have the conversation with your young people about your values.

42:30

About why it's important to stay clean and sober.About the risks and dangers of not just marijuana, but everything out there, that I think marijuana, in particular.It has to be the adult that brings it up, because kids won't.It has to be the adult that makes it a priority, and just to share your values and your hopes and dreams for what yourkids are, and where they're going to go, and what their life is going to be like.

43:00

I think a lot about coaches and parents.Coaches and parents.Parents, I think, should be more like coaches.

A coach, when they're out there running practice, and they're doing dri lls and stuff, they don't just look out at a playermessing something up, and say, "Well, you know, it's probably just a phase."

Audience

[laughter]Ron Griffin

"If I just leave him alone, he's gonna be fine, he's gonna work his way through it, and i t's just a normal thing, all widereceivers drop balls like that, so, you know, I'm just gonna let it go."

43:30

No.Coaches pay attention.They watch everything that's going on.

They monitor behavior.They pay attention to the steps that the people are taking, the kids are taking, and when something's wrong theycome in and they say "Hey, you know what, here's a better way, try it this way, do this, this is going to get you betterresults."So I encourage parents, be more like a coach.




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44:00

Pay attention, be will ing to step in there and say "Hey, something needs to change, something needs to bedifferent."Don't be like the fan.What do fans do?They show up once a week.They sit in the audience, and they scream.Be a coach.Invest your time and your efforts with your kids, and really focus on perception of harm.

And marijuana is harmful.That's part of the perception that we've lost in this country.

44:30

What John Lennon called the "harmless little giggle" back in the nineteen sixties (1960s) is not a harmless littlegiggle.We heard earlier about the levels of THC going up nine percent (9%), eleven percent (11%) in some areas, for thespecial stuff thirty-three (33%) THC in marijuana.It's causing more and more problems.I'm still a chemical dependency counsellor to this day.I am missing group tonight to be here.

45:00

And let me tell you, I have a lot of clients in group that are having problems with marijuana.But it's funny, that perception still sticks with 'em, "it's not a big deal ."

And part of getting healthy, I think for the individual, and the community, is to realize it is a big deal.The community's job?Get to know factual information.Get out there and actually research, or better yet, get in touch with Chris Davis, because he's already done all theresearch, and find out the factual information about marijuana.

45:30That it's not a harmless little giggle.This is a dangerous drug.It alters people's perceptions, putting them in danger for addiction, and for getting into all kinds of trouble.It's also the community's norm to help set the standards of what the community is going to stand for.We can't be a passive, quiet majority.

Three polls within the last year show that marijuana prohibitionists are in the minority.

46:00

People need to speak up, take a stand, step beyond their own passivity, step beyond their own values, and look atwhat's important for the community, and what's important for who, the kids that stood up in this room just a little whileago.When we look at marijuana, just a couple of little facts about marijuana.Marijuana is different from every other drug we know.

All the other drugs that we know are water-soluable.

46:30

They break down in your body and they'll pass out through your body in a period of a day or two.Marijuana is different.

It's what we call l ipophilic.Doesn't break down in water.It actually sticks to fat cells.It will stick to fat cells, a one time use, depending on how much, what quality, how much the person weights,ek-setera ek-setera ek-setera [sic] (etc. etc. etc.).

A one time use can be detected positive up to a week later.




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47:00Heavy users were seeing testing positive over thirty (30) days after their last use, with the urine drug screen.But that's not even getting into hair samples and all that other stuff.Marijuana sticks to fat cells.Your brain is about one third (1/3) fat.I'm not gonna do the fat head joke tonight.Marijuana will actually change the way you think, feel and behave even when you're not physically high.It changes our perceptions even when we're not physically high.

47:30Over a period of time, it's called subclinical intoxication.Even though the person isn't physically high at the time, they're still impacted by the marijuana that they've smokedalready.We can also look at marijuana, a term called "amotivational syndrome," where people just, I think the wordsays it itself, "amotivational," they just give up.

The condition he refers to is not widely accepted:

A study done by researchers Barnwell, Earleywine and Wilcox[1] on a sample ofundergraduates also suggests that cannabis use does not cause an amotivationalsyndrome. The e-mail survey showed no significant difference in motivation (asmeasured on the Apathy Evaluation Scale[2]) between cannabis users and

cannabis abstainers.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amotivational_syndrome

I had a friend in college, he was there for a while, smoked a lot of weed.

48:00In fact we called him "Weedy."

If the point here is to dissuade people from using marijuana because you will not make it inlife if you do, it will not add up. President Obama has (in the below video) revealed that hesmoked cannabis during his college years. The President is especially influential andpopular with the college crowd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFRWbOkYvaoThat was his name.

And he was in college for about a year and a half, until he just absolutely flunked out.His favorite activity was to get high and look at a glass of soda, seven up (7-UP), and watch the bubbles.That was entertainment for him.He didn't make it.When we look at marijuana, it interferes with learning.It interferes with short-term memory retention and problem solving skills.

48:30What is it that our kids are relying on right now, while they're in school?Memory retention, and learning skills.In closing, isn't that always the best two words, whenever you hear a speaker?

Audience[laughter]Ron Griffin

In closing, the hardest thing that we can do is try to change somebody's attitudes.People get involved with a certain behavior and they start to normalize that within their life.




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49:00If normal, for me, was to go home and drink a giant bottle of bourbon every night, then I would start thinkingnormal for everybody would be to do the same thing.

And if I don't want to get DUIs, then I might go out and start trying to lobby to stop DUI checkpoints.

NORML's position on this states that it is a valid concern. NORML's own "Principles ofResponsible Cannabis Use" invokes a "no driving" clause:

Although cannabis is said by most experts to be safer than alcohol and manyprescription drugs with motorists, responsible cannabis consumers never operatemotor vehicles in an impaired condition.http://norml.org/component/zoo/category/driving-and-marijuana

We have to look beyond what we are doing to what is best for others, what is best for the community, what is best forthe kids, and drug use isn't it.

49:30I want to say a special thank you to Chris Davis and his crew for having all of us up here.I want to say thank you to the board, and to our moderator.Give him a round of applause, would you please?

Audience

[applause]Ron GriffinAnd thank you to all of you for coming out here tonight.

ModeratorThank you.Let's hear it for Ron Griffin.

Audience[applause]

ModeratorNicely done, sir.Okay, we're just, we're gonna take just a short break.

50:00And that means you can talk amongst yourselves, if you'd like, and we're gonna gather up these questions, and

we're gonna begin the question answer, which is where the real fun will begin, I'm sure.Audience[milling about]

50:30Audience

[milling about]

51:00Audience

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51:30

Audience[milling about]

52:00Audience

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52:30Audience

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53:00

Audience

[milling about]

53:30

Audience

[milling about]Moderator

Let's get started.Okay, several of the questions were very similar, so we tried to group them and pick only one from the topic.

Also if anyone's questions don't get answered tonight, the panelists will be available to ask them one on onequestions after this.

54:00

Some of them will be anyway, I'm sure.Alright, so, we'll figure out who's the best person to respond to this, or you can, we'll just, have a free for all."What can a parent do if one of their child's friends are using drugs and alcohol?"Student's fourteen (14) years old, parents of the child refuse to believe the student is involved wi th drugs andalcohol.

54:30

Might be a, you know... go ahead.Ron Griffin

[tests microphone]Can you hear me now?Hello?Can you hear me now?

Audience

[several say "Yes"]Ron Griffin

Okay.I always think better on my feet.I'm a teacher.There we go.If your, if a friend of your child is using drugs, there's really not a whole lot you can do as far as, help me out here ifI'm wrong anybody.

55:00

There's really not a whole lot you can do, because you don't have the control over that child.What you can do is set parameters to say, "I don't want you, I don't want you hanging out with this boy when he'susing."You can talk to that boy, assuming you have a relationship with him.I did hear "boy", correct?Boy or girl?

Moderator

It just says "child."Ron Griffin

Child.You can talk to that child, and let them know that options are out there.Give them support, to let 'em know that you care for them, that you would like a better life for 'em.

55:30

Options are out there and you can help them find it, to get treatment or whatever might help them along.But as actually as far as being able to force anything to change with that child, you just don't have that authority.Does that go along pretty much with what we understand up here?I'm not just alone?Okay.Thank you.




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56:00Tough situation, though, because obviously, there are relationship dynamics involved.

And this particular age, you know, when you start even exerting your legitimate control and authority over your ownchild, to, you know, it's the old psychological reaction that says, "Oh yeah? I can't see them, huh? They can't be myfriend? Watch me."So it's a tough one, it's a very tough question.Does anybody else have any another thoughts about that?

56:30But certainly, I mean one of the things we say in treatment is, when you're trying to get clean, you change yourplaymates, playground, and playthings.

And so relationships are terribly important, and so this person's very wise to be concerned about the dynamics ofthe friend.Next question."Since marijuana grows naturally, isn't it okay to smoke? Aren't cigarettes more harmful than marijuana?"Oh Ron's about to come out [inaudible].

Audience

[laughter]Moderator

[inaudible] apoplectic, [inaudible] pop a vein.Ron Griffin

I love this question.

57:00Audience

[laughter]Ron Griffin

There's lots of stuff that grows naturally that is not healthy for you.Smoking poison ivy, nightshade, hemlock, not good for you.Just because something is natural doesn't mean that it's good for you.If we look at the precursor, we look at al l the drugs that we have.Ephedra comes from a root.Cocaine comes from coca plants.Heroin comes from poppies.

Cocaine and heroine are monumentally different than their natural counterparts. They areheavily processed and thus should not qualify as "natural."

57:30I mean, we can trace all of that back to plants and nature, so the answer to that is a resounding "no," that doesn'tmake it okay, it doesn't make it healthy.Just because mother nature put it out there, doesn't mean it's good for ya'.

And I'll be quiet.Moderator

No, that's great.Anybody else want to talk about that?Miss masters in health, nursing woman?She agrees.Yeah, if you're gonna get poisoned, get poisoned naturally, right?

58:00Alright, next question."Do you think the prohibi tion of natural cannabis has led to the creation of legal synthetic alternatives, which areoften incredibly dangerous?"Very thoughtful question.The hydraulic system.

Anybody?Let me repeat the question for you."Do you think the prohibi tion of natural cannabis has led to the creation of legal", in quotes, "synthetic alternatives,which are often incredibly dangerous?"




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58:30Going once, going twice, going to Ron.

Ron GriffinI don't want to just run this show, so I mean, feel free to jump in on any of these.When we look at the synthetics, the K two (K2) and the K three (K3) and Spice and all the ones that come along withthat, they have a pretty specific niche market.They, when they first came out, couldn't be detected in drug screens.So for people that had to drop, like if you were on probation and parole, and you had to drop urine for a screen,you're really prohibited from using a lot of drugs.

59:00And one of the big ones is marijuana, because it stays in your system so much longer than other chemicals.And so, I don't think it was so much, and this is Ron's opinion here.I don't think it was so much the prohibition of marijuana that created that, but more people that wanted to get high ona marijuana type substance that couldn't do it because of legal issues, and it's causing them to resort to somethingelse.

59:30Moderator

Alternatives, indeed.Major Kirk Manlove

[inaudible] make a comment on that, too, if I could.

ModeratorSure.

Major Kirk ManloveOn the flip side, this is really a good example of a legal product that is very dangerous.You know, the legislation can't keep up with the chemical changes that the manufacturers continue to do to stayahead of most state laws, but the bath salts that you see, and the synthetic marijuana, very dangerous, and it's alegal product.

60:00The, there's not a week that goes by that our officers don't encounter an individual under the influence of bath salts,and they can be very volatile and very dangerous.

ModeratorExcellent example.

Alright, next question.

"Has anybody overdosed," related to the other question, "has anybody overdosed on marijuana? If not, why can'tsomeone say 'I used it, and I'm fine'?"




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60:30Major Kirk Manlove

No.To my knowledge, we have not across our agency anybody who's overdosed on marijuana.Combination of the drugs, perhaps, but not solely attributed to marijuana.

ModeratorI think that's a, sort of a matter of defini tions as well.What is the definition of overdose?

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, an overdose is "an excessive anddangerous dose of a drug."If any dose is toxic, then any dose would be an overdose, technically, I suppose.

Toxicity is one component ofallsubstances we consider drugs, but is not related to thequestion of effective doses vs "excessive and dangerous" doses.

To answer that, you need to compare the ratio of lethal dose to effective dose. The higherthat ratio, the more difficult it is to overdose on the drug. That ratio is very high forcannabis (>1000:1), and considerably lower for alcohol and dextromethorphan (10:1).

Ranking psychoactive substances by their ratios of lethal dose to effective dose givesa general picture of how likely each is to precipitate an acute fatal reaction. By thismeasure, many illicit drugs are considerably safer than alcohol.http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/id.3484,y.0,no.,content.true,page.4,css.print/issue.aspx

But certainly, we know it's lipophilic, it binds with fat receptors, it binds with fat tissues, and it certainly can createvery toxic levels of chemicals in the body.




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61:00

Ron, did you want to say something else?Ron Griffin

Is it that easy?Moderator

It's just that easy.Ron Griffin

It's just, you can just look at me and tell that I want to say something?Moderator

Yes.Eat the mic, just sort of right there.

Ron Griffin

Eat the mic?Can you hear me now?Hello?Just because you don't overdose on it, just because you're not going to have a stroke on it, or die from heart attackon it, doesn't mean that that is safe.

61:30

There is still a lot of people who get into trouble because they have perception changes, don't realize what they'redoing, what they're getting into, the addiction to it.Just because you're not going to overdose and die, like you would from an overdose of cocaine or opiates, doesn'tmean that it's healthy.

62:00

Moderator

Indeed, and overdose, of course, when we think of overdose, we think of an acute overdose, that lands somebody inthe ER, or, you know, and ICU, but, you know, you look at the studies long term, for example, neuro-cognitive effectsof marijuana, and [laughter] you know, it's just a slow motion overdose, is a way you can think of it.Next question."How can we el iminate marijuana use among high school students? That being said, is there any educational, arethere any educational programs in high school to inform students about drug use consequences?"

62:30

I bet somebody knows the answer to that.Jean Graebeel

Well, yes, it is part of our curriculum.It is part of our curriculum, and so we do have instruction, and it's required as part of our ninth (9th) grade healthcurriculum.

63:00

But in other classes, they have instruction on, where they have resources from the community who'll come in andprovide additional instruction on issues.

And the counselors also have a curriculum that they provide too, where they're going in and helping students withrefusal techniques, self esteem, those kinds of things.

And then some of the counselors also have groups for students, so they lead groups with them.

63:30

And they don't label 'em as this is our drug group, or this is our drug prevention group.But kids who are having issues, and they'll bring them in, and they'll talk and share about what's going on within

their lives, so that they can have, build some relationships and get them engaged.And I think it's, the other important thing for parents, is to make sure that they're assisting their child to be engaged,and engaged in activities that the parent's involved in as well, so they have better knowledge of who their friendsare, and what's going on wi th their student.




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64:00The better engaged and attached the child is to the school district, the better engaged the parent is, the betteroutcome for the student.

ModeratorThank you.Doctor Julie, Doctor Justin, you guys want to say anythi

cpo cfm 2012-10-16 transcript and response

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