Marijuana Policy Project

The news that Vermont ranked No. 1 nationwide for marijuana use in a new survey by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) elicited more than a few chuckles around the state.

The SAMHSA study is done annually for use by law enforcement agencies, health care providers and educators in refining their messages about the effects of illicit drug use. It found that 2.5 percent of Vermonters ages 12 and older reported marijuana use.

While Rhode Island beats out Vermont for total illicit drug use — 12.5 percent of Rhode Islanders reported using drugs in the past month compared to about 10 percent for Vermont, according to the SAMHSA survey — Vermont had a significantly higher rate of use of illegal drugs than the national average about 8 percent. Other Northeastern states reported high rates of illegal drug use.

But for those who avidly read the Reformer's police log, the drug that causes the biggest problem in Vermont is alcohol. Week in and week out, the police log is filled with people arrested for driving under the influence and other alcohol-related offenses.

According to the SAMHSA study, six states ranked in the top fifth in alcohol consumption (more than 60 percent of the population) for all three age groups surveyed — 12 to 17, 18 to 25 and 26 or older — and overall among persons 12 or older: Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Vermonters drink and drive a lot, get into more alcohol-caused accidents and are more likely to die on the highway than the residents of most other states.

According to the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice), 17,961 people were arrested in Vermont in 2006. In 6,149 of those arrests, or 34.2 percent, alcohol was involved. Of those alcohol-related arrests, 4,148 were for drunk driving. Only four other states — North and South Dakota, Wisconsin and New Hampshire — have high percentages of alcohol-related arrests. Wyoming tied Vermont for fifth place.

Figures provided by the Fatality Analysis Reporting System — part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Center for Statistics and Analysis — found that 6,069 Vermont motorists who have had three or more DUI convictions are still driving, and 833 are driving even though they've had five or more convictions.

By comparison, according to the Vermont Criminal Information Center, the number of marijuana-related criminal cases rose from 1,535 in 2005 to 1,820 in 2007. There was a slight decline in 2008, with 1,802 marijuana cases.

Like alcohol, marijuana impairs motor skill function and decreases driving ability. Yet we hear of few auto accidents that are caused by marijuana use. We hear of few cases of marijuana users getting into fights, or marijuana use being a factor in domestic assaults.

Nearly every serious scholarly and governmental study examining the relationship between marijuana use and crime reaches the same conclusion: marijuana does not cause crime. For the most part, marijuana users do not commit crimes other than the crime of possessing marijuana.

A bill was introduced this year in the Vermont House by Rep. David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, that would treat possession of an ounce or less of pot as a civil violation punishable by a $100 fine. It went nowhere in this year's session, and it's unknown whether it will be revived next year.

The issue of decriminalization in Vermont should be looked at in this context. Most of the people arrested in marijuana cases are not being arrested for any other crime other than possession, while about one-third of all criminal arrests are fueled by alcohol consumption.

At the same time, no one should get behind the wheel of a car if they've been drinking alcohol or using drugs, and the laws in Vermont should be as strict as possible against this.

While the marijuana numbers got all the attention in the SAMHSA study, the reality is that alcohol remains the most dangerous drug in America. Public policy decisions about drug use should reflect this fact.