[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E78]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E78]]
   ORGANIZATIONS THAT SEEK THE LEGALIZATION OF ILLICIT DRUGS IN OUR 
                                COUNTRY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MARK E. SOUDER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 25, 2005

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to call attention to the work 
of organizations that seek the legalization of illicit drugs in our 
country, to the detriment of the health and safety of our citizens.
  On January 4, 2005, the Washington Post published an article entitled 
``Exhale, Stage Left,'' chronicling the career of Keith Stroup, the 
founder and retiring executive director of the National Organization 
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). This article sheds light on 
some of the operations and claims of such organizations, and I ask that 
it be entered into the Record.
  Particularly disturbing in this story is the entanglement of the drug 
legalization group with those who stand to profit from others' 
addiction--drug traffickers. The Washington Post article describes that 
one of the major early financial backers of NORML was ``the legendary 
pot smuggler'' Tom Forcade. To collect donations, Stroup even went to 
Forcade's ``stash house,'' which was ``filled with bales of 
marijuana.'' Certainly we can understand why a drug smuggler would 
contribute generously to efforts to legalize drugs like marijuana--with 
so much product to move, this man had a vested financial interest in 
making harmful drugs easier for people to obtain. But what kind of 
group takes money from such a criminal? Do we really want our laws 
``reformed'' by efforts funded by criminal enterprises? Yet according 
to the article, it had seemed ``perfectly normal for NORML to call a 
dope smuggler when it ran short of cash.''
  Drug legalization groups like to claim that marijuana is not really 
harmful and that it does not serve as a ``gateway'' to the use of other 
dangerous drugs. In fact, on its website, NORML claims, ``There is no 
conclusive evidence that the effects of marijuana are causally linked 
to the subsequent use of other illicit drugs.'' Perhaps NORML needs to 
look back at the experiences of its own leaders to re-examine such an 
assertion. The Post article describes how Stroup and his colleagues 
themselves moved onto other drugs in the 1970s: ``Privately, he and his 
NORML pals joked about forming an advocacy group for another drug 
they'd begun to enjoy--cocaine.'' I'm sure that the families who have 
suffered through the heartaches of cocaine addiction could inform NORML 
that cocaine abuse is no laughing matter. Stroup has come to realize 
that as well, admitting that his own use of cocaine may have led to 
lapses in professional judgment and that he knows now that ``[c]ocaine 
is deadly.'' Once, though, he had thought cocaine harmless. If he was 
wrong about cocaine, might he not likewise be wrong in presuming 
marijuana harmless?

  In an attempt to make marijuana sound ``harmless,'' drug legalization 
groups also try to downplay the addictive qualities of marijuana. NORML 
states on its website, ``While the scientific community has yet to 
achieve full consensus on this matter, the majority of epidemiological 
and animal data demonstrate that the reinforcing properties of 
marijuana in humans is low in comparison to other drugs of abuse . . 
.'' Yet the leaders of legalization themselves exhibit not simply 
social or occasional use of marijuana, but regular consumption of it. 
According to the article, Stroup smokes pot ``nearly every night'' as 
he watches the evening news.
  Our citizens--especially our youth--need to understand the real 
danger of dependence on marijuana. It's not as innocuous as legalizers 
would have us believe. As the Office of National Drug Control Policy 
has reported, ``According to the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and 
Health, 4.3 million Americans were classified with dependence on or 
abuse of marijuana. That figure represents 1.8 percent of the total 
U.S. population and 60.3 percent of those classified as individuals who 
abuse or are dependent on illicit drugs . . . What makes this all the 
more disturbing is that marijuana use has been shown to be three times 
more likely to lead to dependence among adolescents than among 
adults.''
  We need to be aware of marijuana's harms. Last year NIDA Director 
Nora Volkow testified at a hearing before the Subcommittee on Criminal 
Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, which I chair. Dr. Volkow 
attested to the health risks associated with marijuana, saying, ``There 
are numerous deleterious health consequences associated with short- and 
long-term marijuana use, including the possibility of becoming 
addicted. During the period of intoxication, marijuana disrupts short-
term memory, attention, judgment, as well as other cognitive functions. 
In addition, marijuana has also been shown to impair coordination and 
balance, and can increase an individual's heart rate.'' Marijuana, Dr. 
Volkow testified, can affect the entire body: ``New research is also 
showing us that marijuana can affect almost every organ in the body, 
from the central nervous system to the cardiovascular, endocrine, 
respiratory/pulmonary, and immune systems. Because marijuana is 
typically rolled into a cigarette or `joint' and smoked, it has been 
shown to greatly impact the respiratory system and increases the 
likelihood of some cancers.'' Marijuana use is connected to lifelong 
difficulties for our youth: ``Also, we are finding that early exposure 
to marijuana is associated with an increased likelihood of a lifetime 
of subsequent drug problems.''
  With all the risks that marijuana poses, we cannot afford to allow 
drug legalization groups to perpetuate their myths about the 
``harmlessness'' of marijuana--especially when even their own history 
casts doubt on the validity of their claims.

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