Pubdate: Fri, 01 Jul 2016
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2016 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492

NO BLUE RIBBONS FOR POT

The District's 'State' Fair Can Celebrate Marijuana, the Leading 
Agricultural Crop

It's difficult to hold a state fair when the District of Columbia is 
not even a state and is unlikely to become one, but a fair is always 
fun, with displays of pigs and cows and the bounty of the field, 
usually with a Ferris wheel and a midway offering unlikely freaks and 
games where the customer is never always right.

The District's "State" Fair, to be held Aug. 28, a Sunday, at Storey 
Park on First Street NE, won't have a lot of agricultural exhibits 
because truth to tell there are not many amber waves of grain on a 
fruited plain between the Anacostia and the Potomac Rivers. But what 
the District does have, more or less, is something 46 states don't 
have. Marijuana is to the District what rice is to Arkansas, corn to 
Nebraska, wheat to North Dakota, cotton and catfish to Mississippi 
and blackberries to Oregon.

In November, 2014, voters approved Initiative 71, which legalized the 
limited possession and cultivation of marijuana by adults age 21 or 
older. The following August, fairgoers could attend the first state 
fair to watch a Pet Parade, visit Ben's Chili Bowl and participate in 
the first "Kush" contest with 64 entries of marijuana plants judged 
on the basis of appearance, odor, touch and "the story behind it." 
But it's still touch but don't puff, since lighting up in public-even 
if merely for an assessment drag - is still against the law. The 
pot-judging, to nobody's surprise, drew the largest crowds, with 
fairgoers showing a preference for cannabis over macrame and macaroni salad.

But what happens when legal marijuana, the goal of a small but 
powerful lobby as well as the hope of scruffy millennials - becomes 
commonplace at fair grounds as well as backyard stoops and block 
parties? Does legalization remove the stigma and rein in abuse? 
Proponents for Initiative 71 say it will, citing legalization as an 
end to targeted arrests for drug possession. Others cite federal 
regulation and taxation of the substance when the tax man cometh, as 
he surely will, for a source of revenue. Despite such high hopes, the 
effects of legalization have been problematical, and as evident as 
the skunk-like stink that overpowers everybody who has not lighted up.

The Washington Regional Alcohol Program found in its recent survey 
"How Safe Are Our Roads" that traffic fatalities caused by alcohol or 
drugs are on the rise - a 6 percent annual increase. While numbers 
have yet to be apportioned, sober officials say the increase is 
likely the result of "drugged" rather than "drunk" driving. These 
findings reflect similarly grim national trends.

The pothead persona, synonymous with kumbaya and passing of the peace 
pipe, often infringes the security of others. There's an assumption 
that the inevitable stupid decisions made while under the influence 
will not harm others. Alas, it's rare that personal responsibility is 
a high priority, especially when judgment goes up in a cloud of smoke.

When a body comes down from a high, the reality can shock. The 
greatest danger is the changing public perception of marijuana, of 
what it does, and how. Society has not only waved the white flag in 
the war against drugs, but now invites new dangers into factories, 
public buildings and even schools. Marijuana, whatever else it is, is 
a gateway drug. If the use of it becomes normal, what else will 
follow? The federal Centers for Disease Control estimates that 62 
percent of those who smoke marijuana before age 15 will go on to 
indulge other drugs. That won't make much of an exhibit at the fair, 
and there's no blue ribbon for it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom