Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jan 2014
Source: Yakima Herald-Republic (WA)
Copyright: 2014 Yakima Herald-Republic
Contact:  http://www.yakima-herald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/511
Author: Molly Rosback

POT FOE TELLS YAKIMA COUNTY OFFICIALS TO USE ALL MEANS TO HALT IT

YAKIMA, Wash. - As Yakima city and county officials determine how 
best to prevent marijuana retail sales from happening in Yakima, a 
nationally recognized legalization opponent Tuesday encouraged 
officials to use bans, zoning and moratoriums to keep the newly legal drug out.

Kevin Sabet, drug policy director at the University of Florida's 
College of Medicine and a former adviser to the Obama administration, 
had to appear via Skype because his flight from Seattle was canceled. 
But that didn't faze the 70-odd community leaders and Safe Yakima 
Valley Coalition members gathered in the Yakima Valley Hotel & 
Conference Center. Sheriff Ken Irwin and County Commissioners Mike 
Leita and Kevin Bouchey were among those in attendance.

Though Washington state legalized limited possession and use of 
marijuana in 2012 through passage of Initiative 502, a majority of 
voters in Yakima County were opposed.

Sabet was asked to speak because of his extensive research on the 
subject, said Dave Hanson, president and board chairman of Safe 
Yakima Valley, a group that advocates for safer communities through 
education, prevention, outreach and collaboration with law enforcement.

"I can't think of somebody that I would want to put more trust in, in 
terms of the validity of his information," Hanson said of Sabet. "He 
has made a life work of this since he was a teenager."

Sabet's presentation offered statistics on the rising use of 
marijuana among adolescents and their chances of eventual addiction, 
the harmful effects the drug can have on developing brains, the 
improper issuance and abuse of medical marijuana cards, and several 
others from his list of the "seven great marijuana myths" currently 
in the public discourse.

One of his biggest concerns is that voters did not realize they were 
effectively voting in a "multimillion-dollar industry" which, he 
says, aims to eventually legalize all drugs and will deliberately 
market to youth in efforts to draw in "lifelong customers."

Alison Holcomb, criminal justice director at the American Civil 
Liberties Union of Washington and an author of Initiative 502, said 
none of the initiative's sponsors in Washington state has ever 
advocated legalizing another illegal drug.

"None of them promotes the use of more marijuana, or thinks people 
should be using marijuana, but rather that we need to have more 
cost-effective and just and humane responses" to marijuana use, she 
said in a phone interview. "Frankly, it's just disingenuous. All of 
us know that voters know the difference between marijuana and heroin, 
and marijuana and cocaine. ... I don't think we should assume that 
voters lack the intelligence to see that distinction."

Sabet says he doesn't like comparing the harm of marijuana to that of 
alcohol and tobacco, as all three present their own unique health risks.

"We're stuck with alcohol and tobacco legalization. We don't want to 
get stuck with any other addictive substance with what could be a 
massive industry promoting its use," he said. "We're going to have a 
loud, ad-obsessed industry ... that's going to lie to the American 
people," just like the tobacco and alcohol industries.

Yakima city officials recently wrote their complaints to state 
Attorney General Robert Ferguson, who has not yet made a decision on 
whether localities can opt out of allowing marijuana retailers within 
their borders.

For now, Safe Yakima Valley will continue working to minimize crime 
and its effects through a range of community programs, Hanson said. 
Discouraging marijuana use is "one of many things we're working on."

"We really want to encourage the community to be a part of this, 
because we really think it's a good solution," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom