URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n666/a08.html
Newshawk: Jim
Votes: 0
Pubdate: Fri, 04 Nov 2016
Source: Bangor Daily News (ME)
Copyright: 2016 Bangor Daily News Inc.
Contact: http://bangordailynews.com/opinion/submit/
Website: http://www.bangordailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/40
Author: Alysia Melnick
LEGALIZING MARIJUANA USE IS THE RATIONAL ALTERNATIVE TO FAILED WAR ON DRUGS
This paper acknowledges “the U.S.’s long war on drugs has been a dismal failure.” On November 8, Maine voters will have the opportunity adopt a rational marijuana policy.
Question 1 would legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for adults 21 and over. It contains strong protections for kids, employers and landlords; provides local controls; prioritizes Maine farmers and businesses; expands access for all adults; and protects our m-edical marijuana program that has served patients since 1999.
This initiative is about civil liberties and privacy. It’s about jobs and revenue. It’s about protecting children and public safety. And it’s about addressing our addiction epidemic.
In their arguments against the initiative, opponents are unable to articulate compelling reasons to continue using scarce police and court resources to punish 1,700 otherwise law-abiding Mainers each year for marijuana possession. Nor can they explain how stigmatizing thousands – and saddling them with lifelong records for minor drug offenses, while foregoing tens of millions in tax revenue – helps our communities. Instead, they try to scare us by claiming we need these laws to protect our kids.
But after 80 years, these policies have failed to reduce use or availability of marijuana for adults or kids. In recent years, we’ve seen that legalizing marijuana for medicinal and recreational use has not increased youth use. In Colorado, which legalized marijuana in 2012, youth use has not gone up since legalization. In fact, with nearly 30 states permitting some form of marijuana, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine found that the number of kids using marijuana or developing marijuana-related problems is on the decline.
Maine teens already report broad access to marijuana in the underground market. And it’s that market, rather than marijuana itself, that acts as a gateway. An illegal market connects those seeking marijuana with dealers who don’t ID customers and are motivated to offer them highly dangerous, addictive drugs.
It’s time to bring marijuana behind the counters of businesses that pay taxes, follow regulations and are responsible to their communities. Then we can focus our new resources on strategies that actually work to help our kids avoid drugs and alcohol.
The initiative also has strong local control, assuring communities that these businesses will operate with transparency and accountability. Towns will get to decide for themselves whether to limit marijuana businesses or prohibit them altogether.
To protect small growers, Question 1 sets a maximum size of cultivation and limits licenses to one per person. Medical marijuana remains separate and protected under Question 1 and the initiative gives preference to existing medical marijuana providers who wish to enter the adult-use market.
At a time when Maine faces devastating rural job loss, Question 1 legitimizes an existing industry in a way that that would create sustainable jobs across the state, particularly in rural communities.
Colorado’s legal marijuana industry has created more than 18,000 new jobs and generated $2.4 Billion in economic activity. It has dramatically reduced drug arrests, and generated $135 million in tax revenue to fund public health and prevention programs, train law enforcement and address other serious issues – all without negatively affecting youth use or public safety.
Think about what it could do for Maine.
Question 1 could help us address our opioid crisis by providing a safer alternative to prescription drugs. Patients who use marijuana to treat pain are far less likely to use opioids and report better quality of life and fewer medication side effects than those who do not use marijuana. Patients treating opioid addiction with marijuana suffer less during withdrawal and are more likely to complete treatment.
In Maine, anyone willing to break the law can get marijuana, but many who could benefit – including veterans battling addiction, cancer patients, and others – face insurmountable barriers to this treatment option. It’s currently illegal for adults in Maine to use marijuana to address their opioid addiction.
We have run out of time to waste on failed policies. Question 1 shifts marijuana into taxed, regulated local businesses that ID their customers, provide jobs and are subject to strict rules that we will shape – rules requiring childproof packaging, bans on marketing to kids, safety and potency testing, and, like Colorado, bans on all edibles shaped like gummy bears or other forms that could confuse or appeal to children.
It is time for a smarter, safer approach that treats adults like adults and is based on facts. Question 1 is good for Maine patients, good for kids, good for jobs and good for businesses. It’s good for Maine, and it’s time to vote yes on Question 1.
Alysia Melnick is the political director for Yes on 1.
MAP posted-by: Matt