Pubdate: Sun, 16 Feb 2014
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Copyright: 2014 The Columbus Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.dispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/93
Author: Gene Johnson, Associated Press
Page: A9

U.S. SHIFT TOWARD LEGALIZING POT GETS WORLD'S ATTENTION

The Move to Legalize Marijuana Is Gaining Global Traction After
Successful Efforts in Two U.S. States.

In a former colonial mansion in Jamaica, politicians huddle to discuss
trying to ease marijuana laws in the land of the late reggae musician
and cannabis evangelist Bob Marley.

In Morocco, one of the world's top producers of the concentrated pot
known as hashish, two leading political parties want to legalize its
cultivation, at least for medical and industrial use.

And in Mexico City, the vast metropolis of a country ravaged by
horrific cartel bloodshed, lawmakers have proposed a brand-new plan to
let stores sell the drug.

>From the Americas to Europe to North Africa and beyond, the
marijuana-legalization movement is gaining unprecedented traction - a
nod to successful efforts in Colorado, Washington state and the small
South American nation of Uruguay, which in December became the first
country to legalize pot nationwide.

"A number of countries are saying, 'We've been curious about this, but
we didn't think we could go this route,'" said Sam Kamin, a University
of Denver law professor who helped write Colorado's marijuana
regulations. "It's harder for the U.S. to look at other countries and
say, 'You can't legalize, you can't decriminalize,' because it's going
on here."

That's due largely to a White House that's more open to drug-war
alternatives.

President Barack Obama recently told The New Yorker magazine that he
considers marijuana less dangerous to consumers than alcohol, and said
it's important that the legalization experiments in Washington and
Colorado go forward, especially because blacks are arrested for the
drug at a greater rate than whites are, despite similar levels of use.

His administration also has criticized incarceration rates driven by
the drug war in the U.S. and announced that it will let banks do
business with licensed marijuana operations, which largely have been
cash-only because federal law forbids financial institutions from
processing pot-related transactions.

Government officials and activists worldwide have noted the more-open
stance and the Obama administration's public silence before votes in
both states and in Uruguay.

It all creates a "sense that the U.S. is no longer quite the
drug-war-obsessed government it was" and that other nations have some
political space to explore reform, said Ethan Nadelmann, head of the
nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance, a pro-legalization group based in New
York.

In Morocco, lawmakers have been inspired to push forward their
longstanding desire to allow cannabis to be grown for medical and
industrial uses. They say such a law would help small farmers who
survive on the crop but live at the mercy of drug lords and police
attempts to eradicate it.

In October, lawmakers from Uruguay, Mexico and Canada converged on
Colorado for a firsthand look at how that state's law is being
implemented. They toured a medical marijuana dispensary and sniffed
bar-coded marijuana plants as the dispensary's owner gave them a tour.

There's no general push to legalize marijuana in Mexico, where tens of
thousands have died in cartel violence in recent years. But in liberal
Mexico City, legislators introduced a measure last week to let stores
sell up to 5 grams of pot. It's supported by the mayor but could set
up a fight with the conservative federal government.

"Rather than continue fighting a war that makes no sense, now we are
joining a cutting-edge process," said Jorge Castaneda, a former
Mexican foreign minister.

Opponents of legalization worry that pot could become heavily
commercialized or that increased access would increase youth use.
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MAP posted-by: Matt