By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Growing acceptance of marijuana use has led Princeton’s municipal drug and substance abuse program, Corner House, to have an information session this spring to educate parents and the broader community about the impact of the drug, this in a state inching closer toward legalizing recreational marijuana use., The municipal director of health, youth and community services Gary DeBlasio said last week that the forum would be along the lines of similar events the town has had on opioid addiction and the legal liabilities homeowners face for playing host to drinking parties for people under 21. He said the session, which still needs to be scheduled, also would involve the police and health departments. Parents who serve on the Princeton Alcohol and Drug Alliance will help to plan the event, he said., In a phone interview Jan.18, Mr. DeBlasio expressed concern about what he saw as a “lackadaisical attitude” toward the drug at a time when marijuana use is seen, in the eyes of the public, as more acceptable than it was 20 years ago. Sixty percent of Americans support legalizing the drug, according to a Gallup poll in October. The survey was taken before four states, Maine, Nevada, California and Massachusetts, legalized marijuana in November., “We feel parents are not getting the whole message of the reality of the impact (marijuana has) on kids’ lives,” Mr. DeBlasio said., According to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, marijuana causes “problems with memory and learning, distorted perception, difficulty in thinking and problem-solving, and loss of coordination.”, “The effect of marijuana on perception and coordination are responsible for serious impairments in learning, associative processes, and psychomotor behavior (driving abilities),” the federal government said. “Long term, regular use can lead to physical dependence and withdrawal following discontinuation, as well as psychic addiction or dependence.”, The information session will be advertised through the parent-teacher organizations at public and private middle and high schools as well as through houses of worship, Mr. DeBlasio said. Turnout at past events have drawn anywhere from 200 to 250 people, and he said he was hoping for a similarly-sized crowd., “I’m hoping that we get the ones who need the help or information,” Councilman Lance Liverman said Tuesday., For his part, Mr. DeBlasio declined to give his view of whether New Jersey should join that list of states that have made marijuana legal. But state Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, (D-15), also the municipal prosecutor for Princeton and Lawrence, said Wednesday that the state Legislature would consider legalizing and or decriminalizing marijuana once Gov. Chris Christie leaves office in January 2018. It’s an idea the Republican governor opposes., “I want all the advocates of legalizing recreational marijuana to listen to these numbers. If you try any drug by the age of 13, you have a 70 percent chance of developing addiction in the next seven years. Addicted by the time you are twenty years old,” Gov. Christie said in his state of the state address earlier this month. “I hope that this will give pause to those who are blindly pushing ahead to legalize another illicit drug in our state for tax revenue or by saying it will cause no harm. The statistics prove you wrong. Dead wrong.”, Democratic lawmakers favor making the drug legal, in a move they see would have economic benefits to the state in job creation for a new industry that would bring in added tax revenue. For his part, Mr. Gusciora said his preference is to decriminalize marijuana, bringing down its use or possession to a low level offense along the lines of a traffic ticket., “Of course the culture has changed toward it, I mean, with so much legalization across the country, so I’m sure it’s trickled down here,” said Council President Jenny Crumiller, who favors legalization, on Monday., Mr. Gusciora said that in his role as a prosecutor, he has seen an evolution in the thinking of parents whose children get in trouble for marijuana use. Where once it was something they were upset about, he said, “now they see it almost as a right of passage.”, “I think we need to recognize as a community that there’s a health problem at the schools,” Mayor Liz Lempert said Monday. “And so this is, I think, an opportunity to get information out.”
