Pubdate: Mon, 10 Mar 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Jerry Large

BETTER PATH ON MARIJUANA CHALLENGING

And now into the haze. Washington took another concrete step toward 
legal sales of marijuana for recreational use last week, picking the 
first person to receive a license, but there's a lot about this new 
direction that's still hard to know.

Decriminalizing marijuana sales and recreational use by adults was 
the right thing to do, but now the state has to deal with potential 
health and safety issues that can't be easily predicted.

Will more young people get their hands on marijuana, and if they do, 
what effect will that have? Will users be more inclined to drive high 
than they are now, and what would that mean for safety? How fast will 
the illegal trade wither away? The questions go on and on, and the 
answers are rarely clear.

Colorado and Washington both voted in 2012 to decriminalize adult 
recreational use. Sales in Colorado began at the start of this year, 
but Washington's start date likely will be sometime in June or July, 
so maybe we can see what's going on in the Rocky Mountains and get a 
jump on things here.

A few months isn't really much lead time, but it's worth paying 
attention anyway. The day after Washington named the fist dispensary, 
I saw a news report that Colorado is spending $1 million on 
television commercials it hopes will dissuade people from driving 
high. So, I thought we should definitely see how well that works.

An Associated Press story said that in our state more than 1,300 
drivers tested positive for marijuana last year, an increase of 
nearly 25 percent over 2012.

Driving while stoned is illegal in every state, including Washington, 
and it should be. Driving impaired is dangerous no matter what causes 
the impairment. But it seems it's harder to pin down impairment 
levels from marijuana use. Like a lot about the drug, it isn't very 
clear how much of the main proactive ingredient, TCH, signals 
impairment. Some studies suggest it takes quite a bit to come close 
to the effect of alcohol. And besides, the levels of TCH that 
authorities use to measure marijuana use stay in the body long after 
a person is no longer high.

It's hard to tell with marijuana how and how much it affects people, 
and hard to measure its ill effects and its benefits. One reason 
often cited for the shortage of information is that under federal 
law, marijuana is an illegal drug, so it is difficult for researchers 
to get money for studies. Without sufficient information, policy 
makers face a lot of stumbling around in the dark.

There is still a lot to learn about how marijuana affects health and 
safety, but as I said at the start, decriminalizing it was a good 
choice for other reasons. I have no interest in using it myself, but 
I don't want to punish people who do so responsibly anymore than I'd 
want someone to stop me from having a glass of wine with dinner, or a 
beer when I'm watching the Seahawks.

Arresting, prosecuting and jailing adults for possessing small 
amounts of marijuana distorts our justice system, wastes money and 
damages lives unnecessarily.

One clear fact is that across the country, police arrest black users 
at a disproportionately high rate. In Washington, black users have 
been arrested at more than twice the rate of white users. Only one 
state, Hawaii, arrests white and black users at the same rate. 
Nationally, there is not much difference in rates of use between 
black and white Americans, though white people ages 18-25 report 
slightly higher use.

All of that drug-war damage, and what to show for it?

Now there'll be some new tax revenue, a chance to get criminal gangs 
out of the selling business, and less disruption of lives in heavily 
targeted minority neighborhoods.

Who knows what will happen going forward, but the challenges of 
making decriminalized sales work are less onerous than the impact of 
prohibition. We are not so lost as we were before. The fog will clear.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom