Pubdate: Sun, 16 Feb 2014
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2014 The Providence Journal Company
Contact:  http://www.projo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/352
Authors: Edith H. Ajello and Joshua Miller
Note: Rhode Island state Rep. Edith H. Ajello (D-Providence) is 
chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee. Sen. Joshua Miller 
(D-Cranston) is chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services 
Committee. They are sponsors of legislation to regulate and tax 
marijuana in Rhode Island.

LEGALIZE AND THEN TAX MARIJUANA IN R.I.

Marijuana policy reform is a hot topic these days in Rhode Island and 
across the country.

Over the last three years, we've been discussing the issue with 
constituents, colleagues, opinion leaders and activists on both sides 
of the issue.

Our conversations have led us to two points of agreement: First, our 
current marijuana policy has failed.

For instance, studies indicate an increase in youth marijuana use and 
that it is easy for them to get it. Second, most Rhode Islanders are 
ready for change.

A survey conducted last month by Public Policy Polling reinforced our 
conclusions, finding that a solid majority of Rhode Island voters 
support taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol, letting adults 
over the age of 21 use it. These results are right in line with 
several national polls that indicate a rapidly growing majority of 
Americans agree it is time to make marijuana legal.

Marijuana prohibition has been a failure of tragic proportions. It 
has failed to prevent use or abuse.

It has been a distraction for law enforcement officials who should be 
focusing elsewhere.

Marijuana prohibition has resulted in criminal records for thousands 
of otherwise law-abiding adults and has limited the ability of too 
many young people to access financial aid for higher education.

Insidiously, this prohibition has forced marijuana sales into an 
underground market where more dangerous products such as heroin and 
cocaine are also offered. Ironically, prohibition ensures that the 
state has no control over the product. Criminals fight over the 
profits and our state and our cities forgo millions in tax revenue.

It is for these reasons that we support regulating and taxing 
marijuana as we regulate and tax alcohol, and approaching marijuana 
as a public health matter rather than a criminal justice problem.

We can mandate that marijuana be properly tested and labeled so that 
consumers know what they are getting.

We can restrict sales to minors and ensure that those who sell it are 
asking for proof of age. We can collect tens of millions of dollars 
in much-needed tax revenue and foster the creation of new businesses 
and jobs in an emerging industry.

Importantly, we can redirect our drug prevention and treatment 
resources toward addressing the abuse of more harmful drugs such as 
methamphetamine, heroin and prescription narcotics.

We can urge teens to stay away from marijuana until their brains are 
fully developed. Those who support our current prohibition laws often 
claim marijuana is a "gateway drug" that will often lead to the use 
of other drugs, but studies suggest otherwise.

According to a 1999 study commissioned by the White House and 
performed by the Institute of Medicine, marijuana "does not appear to 
be a gateway drug to the extent that it is the cause or even that it 
is the most significant predictor of serious drug abuse." Marijuana's 
illegal status creates the gateway.

By forcing marijuana consumers into the underground market, we 
dramatically increase the possibility that they will be exposed to 
more dangerous substances. Separating marijuana from the illicit drug 
markets while reducing exposure to more addictive and dangerous 
substances cannot help but reduce any gateway effect associated with 
marijuana use. Customers buying a bottle of wine for dinner are not, 
after all, offered heroin. Regulating marijuana will take the product 
out of the hands of criminal enterprises and place it behind counters 
of legitimate businesses that safely and responsibly sell marijuana - 
and marijuana only - to adults 21 and older.

Under marijuana prohibition, illicit profits are used to fund violent 
gangs, illegal gun markets, human trafficking, and other violent 
trades. Regulating marijuana will allow us to redirect marijuana 
sales revenue away from the violent criminal market and toward a 
meaningful solution. A large part of tax revenue derived from 
wholesale transactions will fund programs preventing and treating the 
abuse of alcohol and other substances. Federal government data say 
that nearly 2.5 percent of Rhode Islanders needed treatment for hard 
drugs in 2012 but did not receive it. The recent spike in drug 
overdose deaths is a stark reminder of the need for treatment and education.

Most people recognize that marijuana prohibition's days are numbered. 
The question is now "when," and not "if," we should end it. Like most 
Rhode Islanders, we believe now is the time, and regulating and 
taxing marijuana like alcohol is the answer.
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