Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jan 2014
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2014 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Erin Cox
Page: 2

CAMPAIGN FOR MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION IS LAUNCHED

Advocates Say Regulating, Taxing Sales Would Bring About $150 Million
to State

Advocates of legalizing marijuana launched their effort Thursday to
change the law in Maryland, calling the war on drugs a failure and
pointing to growing public support for their cause.

A handful of Maryland lawmakers hope to push the state in the
direction of Colorado, where recreational use of pot is regulated and
taxed like alcohol. Advocates say that would generate about $150
million in tax dollars for Maryland each year.

Supporters compared the changing public attitude toward legalizing
marijuana to the more recent embrace of same-sex marriage and the
rejection of Prohibition policies more than 80 years ago.

"Continuation of the current policy is continuation of failure," said
state Sen. Jamie Raskin, a constitutional law professor at American
University and a lead sponsor of the legalization effort. "It's part
of a conversation that is taking place across the country and across
the world."

The new Marijuana Policy Coalition of Maryland includes advocates who
helped pass the recreational marijuana law in Colorado; candidates for
governor and attorney general; the American Civil Liberties Union; and
Del. Sheila Hixson, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, which
oversees tax policy.

The proposal, which has been drafted but not introduced, includes a
series of tax regulations. The idea is to highlight the financial benefits.

Gov. Martin O'Malley met with key decision-makers Thursday to discuss
his legislative agenda, and participants said the group also talked
about the state's marijuana policies - including its medical marijuana
program and a proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of
the substance.

But chances for passage of a legalization bill are considered slim
this year. Both O'Malley and House Speaker Michael E. Busch have
expressed concern about outright legalization, although the effort has
received support from Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.

A November poll by Goucher College found that 51 percent of Maryland
residents favored legalizing marijuana. National polls have showed a
similar majority.

Miller, 71, told reporters Thursday that with public polls showing a
majority of people supporting legal marijuana, he expected it to be
legalized in his lifetime. He said the state needs to start having
conversations about how to do that now.

"It's going to happen. I'm not advocating it, it's going to happen,"
he said. "People need to understand it and find the best possible solution."

Among the people involved in talks is Del. Joseph Vallario, chairman
of the House Judiciary Committee. The Prince George's County Democrat
is widely considered an obstacle to more liberal marijuana policies. A
proposal to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana and another to
legalize it did not make it out of his committee last year.

In an interview Thursday, Vallario said he did not consider himself an
obstacle, but he said Maryland has already reduced criminal penalties
for possession to only 90 days. He said the state should focus on
making its nascent medical marijuana program work. "I'm for medical
marijuana," he said. But legalizing it "sends a bad message to young
people."

Advocates say changing the law is a matter of fairness, civil rights
and public safety.

A recent study by the ACLU found that African-Americans in Maryland
were arrested on marijuana charges at least twice as often as whites,
even though marijuana use by the two groups is about the same.

Raskin said that the country is criminalizing a generation of citizens
for something recent presidents have admitted doing. Two more
Democrats, Montgomery County Del. Heather Mizeur, who is running for
governor, and Baltimore County Del. Jon Cardin, who is running for
attorney general, also appeared at the news conference backing
legalized marijuana.

Del. Curt Anderson, a Baltimore Democrat who last year pushed a
legalization bill, said the drug is not as addictive as cigarettes or
alcohol. He said the state's criminal enforcement of marijuana doesn't
dissuade people from using it, but instead makes it a gateway to a
criminal record and the closed doors that come with one.

Neill Franklin, a retired Maryland State Police major and executive
director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, said police resources
would be better spent focusing on violent crime instead of locking up
marijuana users. And disparate enforcement of drug use, he said, makes
it a civil rights issue.

"Marijuana prohibition is today's cornerstone of racial profiling," he
said.
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