Rep. Wally Herger (R-CA) on Marijuana Law Reform

Thank you for contacting me regarding the legality of the use of marijuana. I appreciate hearing from you on such an important issue.

While you make some good supporting points, I must inform you that I cannot support the legalization of marijuana for any purpose, including medical. Although there is the potential for some positive gains, I believe that the negatives of drug legalization would be much worse. In an ideal world where every individual behaved rationally, perhaps decriminalization of dangerous drugs might work. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world. Every individual in our society is inextricably linked to the whole, so the notion of a completely “victimless” crime is becoming increasingly harder to defend.

Go on, Congressman.  I just need to pop a beer and light up a cigarette and scratch off a lottery ticket while you lecture me on “victimless crimes” and how my actions are “inextricably linked to the whole”.

While many argue that law enforcement has been ineffective in stemming the tide of drug use, I believe that simply surrendering to the problem is not a lasting solution. Part of the solution must be “de-glamorizing” the drug culture within American society. We must recognize that for too long, our society has considered addictive behaviors chic and stylish, and that such attitudes have fed the demand for drug abuse. When we consider decriminalization, I fear that we neglect certain characteristics about narcotics use that speak against its characterization as a victimless crime. For instance, the only purpose of drug use is to “get high.” It is therefore logical to assume that, as doses taken fail to sustain the original thrill of drug taking, dosages must be increased, or more powerful drugs must be tried.

It is only logical if you studied logic at Bizarro University.  As that buzz begins to take hold from my beer and nicotine* let’s talk about drug use and “getting high”.  You ever take Vicodin, Congressman?  I have, and it got me higher than any bud I’ve ever smoked.  How about Marinol?  A way worse trip than any acid I’ve ever dropped.  As for that chemo patient smoking a joint, I assure you she is less “high” than she is relieved not to be dry heaving until she coughs blood.

Yes, use of addictive drugs will lead to a tolerance which leads to need for more drugs.  Those type of drugs would include Vicodin, cocaine, heroin, meth, and alcohol, but not so much for marijuana.  Plenty of people use marijuana moderately like they drink wine moderately; it’s not like you average Chardonnay drinker is “failing to sustain the original thrill” and turning to glasses of Crown Royal.

Also, you ever wonder why drug culture and drug use are so “chic and stylish” in American society in the first place?  It’s for the same reason we romanticize pirates, gunslingers, and gang culture – because it is an illegal outlaw subculture.  You don’t see a lot of Hollywood films glamorizing grannies taking legal diabetes medicine, do you?  For you to even make this argument the week that “The Hangover” became the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time makes my point.  Alcohol use is glamorized in this culture, but we put it behind adult movie ratings, restrict its advertising to later hours, forbid the use of cartoons in advertising, require manufacturers to fund public service ads educating the public about alcohol’s dangers, and we marshal funds to help people with alcohol dependency treatment.

Studies indicate that marijuana users are very likely to consider experimenting with other, more lethal kinds of narcotics, such as heroin or cocaine. Moreover, use of drugs such as heroin or cocaine almost always leads to increasing dosages as the user develops a tolerance for the drug. Thus, this kind of drug use increasingly takes over the lives of users, rendering them ever less able to support themselves economically, and potentially harming close friends and relatives.

While decriminalization of drugs may initially reduce the cost of the drug to the user, it does not address the problem of how drug users will avoid becoming increasingly dependent on drugs as the primary focus of their lives.

The gateway theory is a myth; the government’s own Institute of Medicine said so in 1999 and every peer-reviewed study since has agreed.  Very few marijuana users use cocaine or heroin – there are 721 people who have tried marijuana for every 15 regular cocaine users and every 1 regular heroin user.

Decriminalizing or legalizing drugs may also lead to the creation of a permanent class of drug users who will find it increasingly impossible to support themselves, and thus will rely on the state for welfare, disability payments, or unemployment insurance. Their medical problems will increase, draining our already strained county hospitals and the health care programs. Thus, innocent taxpayers will be forced to subsidize the dazed and lethargic lifestyle of substance abusers. Preventing drug users from operating motor vehicles will also become an increasing problem as drug use becomes more tolerated and acceptable.

Bizarro logic.  The government’s own figures tell us that people who have used marijuana are more likely to be employed than non-users, with 71% to 81% of pot smokers employed, depending on frequency of use, vs. 67% of people who have never used cannabis.  Besides, right now innocent taxpayers are forced to subsidize law enforcement and imprisonment of marijuana users to the tune of over $8 billion annually without receiving a dime of tax revenue in return.  At least when my beer and cigarettes lead me to an early hospitalization, the innocent taxpayers have taxed me for every beer and cigarette.

I don’t see how DUIs become harder to police when the substance is legal.  Millions of people are using drugs now.  How are we catching these hypothetical drug DUIs now?  If the only way you can bust someone for driving erratically is to find an illegal substance on them, perhaps they weren’t driving erratically enough to warrant being stopped in the first place.

I’m tired of the DUI argument.  In this country, we have a .08 per se DUI limit.  That suggests to me that if you are under .08, you aren’t necessarily too impaired to drive (yes, you can get a DUI under .08, but have to demonstrate impairment to get it).  We have bars, taverns, and pubs that have huge parking lots, and all those cars parked there aren’t designated drivers and taxicabs.  We have medicines that advertise “until you know how you’ll react to prescription Squoowitol**, don’t drive or operate heavy machinery”, which suggests to me once you’ve figured out your reaction to Squoowitol, go ahead and drive.  We have drive-thru fast food restaurants that make their fry holder fit the cupholders in the car.  We have plenty of gizmos to hold your cell phone near your dashboard and “mobile desks” for your passenger seat.  There are flashing electronic billboards and scantily-clad models on billboards lining every freeway in America.  Don’t tell me we’ve got something against people driving distracted or impaired, because the evidence tells me otherwise.

If someone’s driving poorly, bust them.  I don’t care if it’s alcohol, marijuana, Vicodin, Sudafed, road rage, makeup, McDonald’s, cell phones, Calvin Klein ads, or road trip b.j.’s that are causing the poor driving.  But if someone is a responsible marijuana consumer who never smokes and drives impaired, don’t bust them for the chemical content of their blood or urine just because they were driving.

Quite frankly, the only real solution to drug abuse will be found in the home, with parents instilling sound values into their children, including self-respect and responsibility. Our schools can help supplement this teaching, but can never be an effective substitute for it.

Until that time, I believe our government must make it very clear that drug abuse is unacceptable behavior, because it does have an impact on others, costing them money, time, or their lives. Drug users hurt more than themselves. They hurt their families, their employers, and innocent bystanders.

Marijuana users don’t, unless they are arrested and their employer has to scramble to find a replacement, their families have to scramble to replace a lost breadwinner, and innocent bystanders have to suffer from the crime attendant in a black market activity.

There is a difference, Congressman, between government declaring a behavior unacceptable and arresting and jailing people for that behavior.  We have reduced cigarette smoking to its lowest levels in teens and adults not by arresting and jailing smokers, but by a coordinated campaign of education and regulation designed to teach people how harmful cigarettes are.  We’ve reduced lifetime use of alcohol not by arresting and jailing drinkers (unless they’re driving), but by education and regulation.  Treat adults like adults, sir!

Therefore, in the face of the de-glamorization of drugs, we must strictly enforce the laws relating to narcotics use. When drug users recognize that they will pay a very steep price for continuing in their habits, perhaps then they will seek the treatment and rehabilitation necessary to resist drug use. Additionally, we must take action to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States from overseas. We should not permit our nation to become the dumping ground for drugs produced by international criminal cartels.

Yes, because our efforts along those lines have been so successful over the past 70 years.

Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. Please don’t hesitate to do so in the future regarding this or any other federal issue important to you.

Sincerely,

WALLY HERGER
Member of Congress

** Prescription Squoowitol is available for those whose health is too fragile for prescription Fuqitol.