Pubdate: Wed, 20 Apr 2016
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2016 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: EJ Montini, The Republic

I'M NOT BUYING NEW MARIJUANA POLL. IT'S 'REEFER MADNESS' ALL OVER AGAIN

It won't be easy clearing 80 years of smoke from a room.

Not marijuana smoke -- the smoke of propaganda. The smoke of fear. 
The smoke already being blown in our faces by opponents of Arizona's 
Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is working to get 
an initiative legalizing small amounts of marijuana on the November ballot.

It shouldn't be any surprise that there is an early poll on the issue 
showing that the initiative probably wouldn't pass, particularly 
since the poll was released by the group trying to defeat the initiative.

What a shock, right?

The so-called Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, led in part by 
Yavapai County Attorney Shelia Polk, have already demonstrated that 
they're willing to use the kind of "evidence" to make their argument 
that would never hold up in court.

But that's how the opponents of marijuana legalization have won in the past.

That's how they'll try to win in Arizona.

They'll rely on bad or exaggerated information, fear tactics and 
those 80 years of anti-marijuana propaganda that began with the 1936 
film "Reefer Madness."

The movie is comical, now, given all that we know. All that's been 
proven by science.

What's not funny is that hyperbole and distortion still work.

At least with some people.

The real decision on this issue already has been made. If the 
November election doesn't do it the next one will. Or one soon after that.

Marijuana laws will change in the same way that views (and laws) 
involving the LGBT community have changed, by time and generation.

Our children and grandchildren will wonder what the heck we were thinking.

For now, the best summation I've seen of the marijuana initiative 
comes from the chairman of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like 
Alcohol, J. P. Holyoak. He said:

"Regulating marijuana like alcohol would bolster our state's economy 
with new tax revenue, new jobs, and new business opportunities. 
Business leaders typically recognize the value of a legal and 
regulated alcohol market for adults. Our initiative would establish a 
similar system but for an objectively less harmful product."
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D