Pubdate: Sun, 27 Feb 2011
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2011 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/letters.html
Website: http://www.theprovince.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Page: A20
Note: Editorial from The Seattle Times: The Editorial
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n000/a010.html

Guest editorial: WASHINGTON STATE SHOULD LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Marijuana should be legalized, regulated and taxed. The push to 
repeal U.S. federal prohibition should come from the states, and it 
should begin with the State of Washington.

In 1998, Washington was one of the earliest to vote for medical 
marijuana. It was a leap of faith, and the right decision. In 2003, 
Seattle was one of the first places in America to vote to make simple 
marijuana possession the lowest police priority. That, too, was a 
leap of faith, and the right decision. A year ago, City Attorney Pete 
Holmes stopped all prosecutions for simple possession: the right decision.

It is time for the next step. It is a leap, yes - but not such a big one, now.

Still, it is not an easy decision. We have known children who changed 
from brilliant students to slackers by smoking marijuana at a young 
age. We have also known of many users who have gone on to have 
responsible and successful lives. One of them is president of the 
United States.

Like alcohol, most people can handle marijuana. Some can't.

There is a deep urge among parents to say: "No. Don't allow it. We 
don't want it." We understand the feeling. We have felt it ourselves. 
Certainly the life of a parent would be easier if everyone had no 
choice but to be straight and sober all the time. But an 
intoxicant-free world is not the one we have, nor is it the one most 
adults want.

Marijuana is available now. If your child doesn't smoke it, maybe it 
is because your parenting works. But prohibition has not worked.

It might work in North Korea. But in America, prohibition is the 
pursuit of the impossible. It does impose huge costs. There has been:

- - A cost to the people arrested and stigmatized as criminals, 
particularly to students who lose university scholarships because of 
a single conviction;

- - A cost in wasted police time, wasted court time and wasted public 
resources in the building of jails and prisons;

- - A cost in disrespect for the law and, in some U.S. cities, the 
corruption of police departments;

- - A cost in lost civil liberties and lost privacy by such measures as 
the tapping of private telephones and invasion of private homes;

- - A cost in the encouragement of criminal lifestyle among youth, and 
the consequent rise in theft, assault, intimidation, injury and 
murder, including multinational criminal gangs; and

- - A cost in tax revenues lost by federal, state and local governments 
- - revenues that for Washington might be about $300 million a year.

Some drugs have such horrible effects on the human body that the 
costs of prohibition may be worth it. Not marijuana. This state's 
experience with medical marijuana and Seattle's tolerance policy 
suggest that with cannabis, legalization will work - and surprisingly well.

Not only will it work, but it is coming. You can feel it.

One sign: On Feb. 8, a committee of the state House of 
Representatives held a public hearing on House Bill 1550. The bill 
would legalize marijuana and sell it through the state liquor stores 
to customers over 21 who consume it in private.

The big issue at the hearing was the bill's conflict with federal 
law: the prospect of Washington legalizing marijuana in defiance of 
federal authority. What would that mean?

There would be a legal and political fight. In our view, such a fight 
is bound to happen. Some state is going to start it. It might have 
been California, but the Golden State turned down a 
marijuana-legalization initiative Nov. 2, voting only 46 per cent for it.

Sometimes Washington is ahead of California. This state's voters were 
the first to approve gay civil unions, in 2009. California's voters 
didn't. Ours did.

Legalize cannabis, regulate it, tax it. It is radical, yet commonsensical.

"It has taken me a long time to get to this position," said Rep. Mary 
Lou Dickerson, who is sponsoring a bill to legalize marijuana.

It took us a long time also. The people of Washington may already be 
there, and if not, they are close.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart