A worker examines a handful of marijuana in Denver, where individual use of the herb is now legal. “We both believe in harm reduction,” said Tinelli, a Syracuse psychiatrist, although he and Berry disagree when it comes to a hotly debated way of getting there:
Tinelli maintains that marijuana should be legal for adult use in New York State. Berry, with equal passion, says it would be a major mistake.
The issue is rumbling toward New York. Colorado and Washington have already approved measures that allow for recreational use of marijuana. As The Post-Standard’s Teri Weaver reported Tuesday, a related question is before our state Legislature in Albany, where state Sen. Diane Savino, D-Staten Island, and Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, have proposed legalizing medical marijuana.
The idea stands little chance of getting past Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has consistently opposed it. Tinelli and Berry, a clinical psychologist, both support the notion of medical marijuana; they find no problem with allowing seriously ill patients to have access.
Where they fiercely diverge is on the question of whether state-regulated marijuana should be freely available for adults.
Tinelli sees nothing but benefits in such a decision. He is generally in favor of legalizing outlawed drugs, while imposing escalating levels of regulation based on potential harm. But the American prohibition on marijuana, he argues, is especially pointless.
Legalize marijuana, he said, and it would dry up much of the cash and violence triggered by illegal street corner deals. He said studies show access to pot could actually decrease the use of such problem drugs as alcohol. Legalize it, he said, and you’re keeping more young people from having their lives disrupted, if not ruined, by arrests at an especially fragile time in their lives.
“Common sense and research tell us it’s not a dangerous drug, and legalizing it could lower the rates of truly dangerous things, such as suicide and alcoholism,” said Tinelli, who said we all know adults who smoked pot heavily as youngsters, and now lead successful lives. He said there are benefits to marijuana - such as “dissolving anger and aggression” - that could make it helpful in psychiatry.
Berry, for her part, said decades in the field have brought her to what she describes as an overwhelming conclusion: Extensive use of marijuana can be destructive and live-changing for teenagers. Teenage use, she said, can cause long-term damage in a delicate time of “cerebral brain growth.”
Years ago, Berry did pre-kindergarten testing for aptitude in Onondaga County. She said young children who tested as having higher-than-average intelligence sometimes cross her path, as adults, in her work today. What she finds, she said, is that men and women who were frequent adolescent users of marijuana often suffer from a permanent loss of aptitude, an observation she said is reinforced by new studies.
In the morning, when Berry walks her dogs in Elmwood Park, she regularly sees groups of teens passing marijuana "blunts" before going to high school classes. Ask educators at any area high school, she said, and they’ll speak to the helplessness of trying to work with teens who show up “high.”
“If you could absolutely guarantee to me that only adults of legal age would have access, then I could support legalization,” she said. But she said adolescent use would explode if marijuana is legalized, a contention that Tinelli said is not borne out by studies. Berry does not favor jail time or punishment as a consequence, but she said every teen picked up for marijuana ought to be sent into treatment.
Even in disagreement, some qualities link Tinelli and Berry: They are both passionately focused on the community, and they both represent large segments of American thinking. Eight years ago in Syracuse, former city auditor Minch Lewis - who argued the social and monetary costs of cracking down on marijuana were dwarfed by the benefits of legalization - pushed for dialogue in City Hall about the logic of changing civic enforcement policy.
Certainly, the time seems right to renew the conversation. It could take the form of a roundtable discussion or public debates, but one difficult reality is made clear by listening to Berry and Tinelli:
On many levels, within a complex societal problem, they’re both correct.
As a community, we need to take those separate and complicated truths and try to forge a sensible answer. It would at least give us a direction, before we’re told one by the state.
Sean Kirst, a columnist with The Post-Standard, wants to know: What's your take on this debate? Does legalizing marijuana make sense? Or would it generate more trouble? Email Kirst at skirst@syracuse.com,. visit his blog atwww.syracuse.com/kirst, write to him in care of the Post-Standard, Clinton Square, Syracuse 13221 or send him a message on Facebook or Twitter.
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