By Dan Murphy
After we published a story in our Westchester Rising and Yonkers Rising weekly papers about the efforts underway to legalize recreational marijuana in New York State this year, we received the following letter from one of our readers.
“Dear Mr. Murphy, I am a weekly reader and enjoy your paper. However, I do not agree with the decision of Governor Cuomo and democrats in the state legislature to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.
“I recently listened to professor at Columbia University who uses Heroin on a recreational basis and called for its legalization. This is exactly why many of us do not support the legalization of marijuana or any narcotic or drug.
“We believe that for some, marijuana can be used as a gateway drug to the use of other, more harmful drugs like heroin and opioids. I cannot believe that a professor at an Ivy League school would acknowledge the use of heroin and call for its legalization. Unfortunately, that is how far down our society has come,” wrote Carol Rosen, Cortlandt Manor
Ms. Rosen, thanks for the letter and your are correct. Columbia Professor Carl Hart has written a book, titled “Drug Use for Grown-Ups,” in which he does admit to the recreational use of heroin and calls for a drastic change in our country’s drug policy.
Unfortunately, I do not agree with the correlation that you make between Professor Hart’s book and the legalization of recreational use of marijuana in New York. First, I believe that it will happen within the next two months, the Governor and state legislators are negotiating the terms now.
Second, I have never belived, nor has there been any compelling evidence between the use of marijuana and the use or abuse of heroin or opioids. I would argue just the opposite, that the legalization of marijuana in our state would help and not hurt, others from getting addicted and overdosing on heroin and opiods. It will also allow law enforcement to go after the truly dangerous drugs, and I don’t agree with Professor Hart that Heroin is not a dangerous drug.
The other arguments for legalization are that if regulated, the marijuana will become less dangerous, and revenues will flow to the state and out of the hands of drug dealers, gangs and narco kingpins.
The other argument for legalziation and the expunging of criminal records for possession of a small amount of pot is that smokers who live in the City are more likely to get a ticket than the same smokers in the suburbs.
