Hartford
“We’re not here to debate legalization tonight,” Barbara Farnsworth, executive director of the Hartford Community Coalition, told a crowd of about 70 who had gathered to watch a film about the dangers marijuana poses to society.
In February, the Vermont Senate passed a bill to legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for people 21 and older. After hearing two weeks of testimony, the House Judiciary committee is scheduled to debate the bill’s details for the next three days, and could vote on it this week.
In March, the New Hampshire House approved a bill to decriminalize up to half an ounce of marijuana that will be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
During a group discussion led by Angie LeDuc, a coordinator for the Upper Valley Substance Misuse Prevention Partnership at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the possibility of legalization was on the minds of many who spoke.
“How did it ever get legalized in other state, with all of the bad things about it?” a woman asked LeDuc, who led the session of about 15 people.
“It’s a good question,” LeDuc answered. She said that the literature is mixed, with some studies showing medical benefits, and others showing negative health impacts.
“It hasn’t been studied enough,” she said. “The information is so mixed, and so confusing.”
Matt Simon, the New England Political Director at the Marijuana Policy Project, was not present at the event, but agreed that more research is needed.
“Some people believe that marijuana is as harmful as heroin, because that’s what they’re being told in school,” he said. “Others think it’s a miracle cure for everything. The truth lies somewhere in between.”
Simon said keeping pot illegal is not working.
“I think there’s a widespread understanding that prohibition has failed and they want to do something different,” he said.
The film, The Other Side of Cannabis — The Negative Effects of Marijuana on Our Youth, made the case for the dangers of pot smoking, citing experts who said it can be instantly addictive, and cause a wide range of ills, including psychotic breaks and suicidal ideation.
It features a diverse group of people who said they had become addicted to marijuana and suffered serious consequences as a result — introduction to heroin and cocaine, loss of relationships with families and peers and a need for money that spiraled out of control until they stole from friends and strangers to pay for it.
The film has been making the rounds throughout Vermont over the last couple years — it has been shown at Southern Vermont College in Bennington, the University of Vermont in Burlington and the Kellogg Hubbard Library in Montpelier within the last 12 months. On April 28, it will screen again at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vt.
One of the focal points of the debate over legalization of marijuana is what the impact would be on students, many of whom report they take advantage of easy access to the drug.
Simon said people shouldn’t confuse the problem of children abusing marijuana with the debate about its legalization.
“One thing we all agree on in this debate is that we want to try to reduce youth consumption rates. We agree that it’s not good for kids,” he said.
Every year, the state tracks trends in the potentially harmful actions of students, including marijuana use, through the Youth Behavioral Risk Survey.
The 2015 survey shows that a slim majority, 51 percent, of Windsor County high school seniors said they had tried marijuana at least once. Those numbers are nearly identical to 10 years ago, when 51 percent of seniors statewide said the same.
In addition, 67 percent of Windsor students said it was easy to get marijuana (higher than the 63 percent who said it was easy to get cigarettes), and 24 percent said they had smoked it within the last 30 days.
Simon said statistics that teen consumption of marijuana has held steady over the years, while consumption of tobacco and alcohol, which are legal and regulated, has gone down.
“If we want to regain our credibility, I think we need a realistic, evidence-based discussion on marijuana. It’s not harmless, but it’s less harmful than alcohol and tobacco,” he said.
LeDuc said that legalization, if it happens, should be addressed on a federal level.
“When you go with state-by-state legalization, you still have an illegal market,” she said.
Hartford police Deputy Chief Brad Vail, a board member of the coalition who was at the event, said that Colorado is starting to see significant societal costs from its own lax marijuana laws, including an influx of homeless people who he said have come to the state specifically for the easy access to pot.
“The legalization piece, I don’t think people are getting the big picture of it,” Vail said. “Even aside from the health risks, there’s a lot more they’re thinking about, that this is going to cost the state down the road.”
During a panel discussion after the film, Wilder resident Emily Musty, who is the student assistance counselor at Lebanon High School, said the community needs to do a better job of engaging students with more healthful activities.
“That, in general, is where we’re lacking in our prevention and awareness efforts,” she said. “We need to encourage our kids to do something other than drugs and alcohol. … I hear that a lot. ‘I’m bored. I don’t know what else to do.’ ”
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.