Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jan 2015
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2015 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14
Author: John Havelock
Note: John Havelock is a former Alaska attorney general and was a 
supporter of Ballot Measure 2, the initiative by which Alaskans voted 
to legalize marijuana in 2014.

ALASKANS VOTED TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA, NOT TO CREATE A POT INDUSTRY

The 52 percent vote for legalization of marijuana was a vote for 
decriminalization. No more sending our young folk to jail, ruining 
careers before they get started with criminal records, spending money 
on prisons not education. It was not a vote to build a vibrant 
marijuana industry. The model we should be following is a tighter 
version of cigarette control, not alcohol.

The early 20th century drive that brought us alcohol prohibition was 
fueled by moral sentiments. The health case was there but not nearly 
as well documented as today. As the insanity of prohibition became 
more obvious, the public's growing disdain was so strong that alcohol 
entered the market as if it had been a condemned form of candy.

The death rate from alcohol is perhaps not as obvious as the 
murderous effects of cigarette smoking. The cigarette death rate 
allowed a movement against the preexisting, normal commercialization 
to gain footing notwithstanding powerful resistance funded by the 
enormous profits and employment base of the tobacco industry. With 
marijuana, no giant industry is in place with that kind of financial 
and political power to resist sensible regulation.

Commercial advertising can be a baleful industry. Like corporate life 
in general, it is short on moral limits. Advertising is about growing 
profits through enhanced sales. An example: Apparently we have to 
explain to our children and grandchildren at an early age what 
"erectile dysfunction" is, as the advertising industry works on TV to 
enhance aphrodisiac sales. Tough luck for Alaska's reindeer horn exports.

Mind-altering drugs, available by prescription only, kill far more 
people every year than all illegal drugs combined. Their consumption 
is encouraged by ads directed at the general public: "Ask your 
doctor..." even though any information on the nature of a 
prescription is strictly the doctor's business and should come from 
her to you. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that 
advertisers list damaging side effects. But they are buzzed through 
in the ad like source explanations in political ads.

Big advertising has been a co-conspirator in America's obesity 
epidemic with its sales of salt, sugar and now caffeine-saturated 
"soft" drinks, to be consumed by the underaged until they can drink 
whiskey and beer. But that's another story.

The world would be better off if alcohol had never been discovered. 
When prohibition was repealed, it would have been better to have 
legalized it with controls on marketing. As that child figuring out 
what erectile dysfunction is turns to alcohol advertising, he finds 
out that the very coolest people consume alcohol at terrific parties 
and that it is a great way to be beautiful and meet beauties.

Decriminalization of marijuana does not mean we follow the liquor 
road. Like cigarettes, marijuana should have continued availability 
to avoid criminalization with appropriate classification, but should 
be sold only with applicable warnings and no sales pitch.

Most of you do not want your children to be exposed to ubiquitous TV 
ads that tell them that smoking marijuana is as American as apple pie 
and that they should try higher octane varieties for a sweeter sense 
of satisfaction. As the Legislature parses the issues, you don't want 
to see a rubbing of hands at the prospects of growing a great 
industry so that state revenue will be enhanced. We are permitting 
marijuana, not encouraging its use. A reasonable tax regime should be 
a part of the system, but not so high that the illegal industry 
retains a footing through the price differential.

Marijuana is not good for you. There is no nicotine in it, but smoke 
in your lungs is not healthy. Early Colorado data show that about 25 
percent of users are those who use marijuana almost every day. The 
heavy user functions below par. No, it's not addictive like heroin or 
meth, but a psychological addiction can become compulsive too. Many a 
young person out there has been badly, sometimes irretrievably damaged.

So let's not let the advertising industry take over even if, wherever 
we go with marijuana, the decriminalization of possession, use and 
sale is still a good result.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom