Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jun 2013
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Authors: Nancy Benac and Alicia A. Caldwell, Associated Press

POT LEGALIZATION HAS GAINED RAPID FAVOR

Little Federal Action Expected As States Tread New Territory

WASHINGTON - It took 50 years for American attitudes about marijuana 
to zigzag from the paranoia of "Reefer Madness" to the excesses of 
Woodstock back to the hard line of "Just Say No."

The next 25 years took the nation from Bill Clinton, who famously 
"didn't inhale," to Barack Obama, who most emphatically did.

Now, in just a few short years, public opinion has moved so 
dramatically toward general acceptance that even those who champion 
legalization are surprised at how quickly attitudes are changing and 
states are moving to approve the drug - for medical use and just for fun.

It is a moment in America that is rife with contradictions:

People are looking more kindly on marijuana even as science reveals 
more about the drug's potential dangers, particularly for young people.

States are giving the green light to the drug in direct defiance of a 
federal prohibition on its use.

Exploration of the potential medical benefit is limited by high 
federal hurdles to research.

Washington policymakers seem reluctant to deal with any of it.

A new approach

Richard Bonnie, a University of Virginia law professor who worked for 
a national commission that recommended decriminalizing marijuana in 
1972, sees the public taking a big leap from prohibition to a more 
laissez-faire approach without full deliberation.

"It's a remarkable story historically," he said. "But as a matter of 
public policy, it's a little worrisome."

More than a little worrisome to those in the antidrug movement.

"We're on this hundred-mile-an-hour freight train to legalizing a 
third addictive substance," said Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy 
adviser in the Obama administration, lumping marijuana with tobacco 
and alcohol.

Legalization strategist Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the 
Drug Policy Alliance, likes the direction the marijuana smoke is 
wafting. But knows his side has considerable work yet to do.

"I'm constantly reminding my allies that marijuana is not going to 
legalize itself," he said.

Where California led the charge on medical marijuana, the next 
chapter in this story is being written in Colorado and Washington state.

Policymakers there are grappling with all sorts of sticky issues 
revolving around one central question: How do you legally regulate 
the production, distribution, sale and use of marijuana for 
recreational purposes when federal law bans all of the above?

Action up in the air

The Justice Department began reviewing the matter after last 
November's election. But seven months later, states still are on their own.

Both sides in the debate paid close attention when Obama said in 
December that "it does not make sense, from a prioritization point of 
view, for us to focus on recreational drug users in a state that has 
already said that under state law that's legal."

Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat who favors legalization, 
predicts Washington will take a hands-off approach, based on Obama's 
comments. But he's quick to add: "We would like to see that in writing."

The federal government doesn't go after pot smoking cancer patients 
or grandmas with glaucoma. But it also has made clear that people who 
are in the business of growing, selling and distributing marijuana on 
a large scale are subject to potential prosecution for violations of 
the Controlled Substances Act - even in states that have legalized medical use.

There's a political calculus for the president, or any other 
politician, in all of this.

Younger people, who tend to vote more Democratic, are more supportive 
of legalizing marijuana, as are people in the West, where the 
libertarian streak runs strong.

Despite increasing public acceptance of marijuana overall, 
politicians know there are complications that could come with 
commercializing an addictive substance. Opponents of pot are 
particularly worried that legalization will result in increased use 
by young people.

Sabet frames the conundrum for Obama: "Do you want to be the 
president that stops a popular cause, especially a cause that's 
popular within your own party? Or do you want to be the president 
that enables youth drug use that will have ramifications down the road?"
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom