Pubdate: Sat, 11 Jan 2014
Source: Sentinel And Enterprise, The (MA)
Copyright: 2014 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://sentinelandenterprise.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2498
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n030/a01.html
Author: Steven S. Epstein

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA IN MASS.- - BUT KEEP KIDS FROM IT

The concerns for society and the children expressed in "Colorado's 
new high not for Massachusetts" ignores two indisputable facts:

* No matter marijuana's legal status, adults and kids who want it 
will find a way to get it from those willing to supply it.

* According to surveys of Massachusetts High School students, a 
majority never try it.

The first fact implicates the fundamental issue of government: the 
"consent of the governed."

The second, the claim children have a latent desire to use marijuana 
is a delusion.

Yet it is true Massachusetts should not copy Colorado's way of ending 
a prohibition that never should have been. Instead, the Bay State 
should allow ADULTS to engage in the cultivation, commerce and 
consumption of marijuana as they may with any other herb; require 
adults take steps to prevent access to growing plants and marijuana 
by children and punish distribution to minors with significant jail 
time and/or fine.

Such a policy would seek our shared goal of suppressing access to 
marijuana by children in a constitutionally proper and fiscally 
responsible manner.

Steven S. Epstein

Georgetown 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom