Pubdate: Sat, 24 Nov 2012
Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO)
Copyright: 2012 The Gazette
Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/
Website: http://www.gazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165
Author: Wayne Laugesen, for the Editorial Board

LAWS CANNOT STOP MARIJUANA USE

Caring Adults Must Take on This Task

Colorado voters legalized marijuana by a significant margin. The 
constitutional amendment passed even in El Paso County - a 
jurisdiction known for conservative, Christian values. This means the 
desire to stop using cops and courts to fight a common weed has come 
mainstream. It means legalization isn't favored only by hippies and addicts.

Legalization passed by 10 votes in El Paso County, and we can say 
with near certainty that analysis of precincts within Colorado 
Springs will show relatively strong support.

Conservatives have a long history of supporting legalization, 
starting with the late William F. Buckley, Jr., the most notable 
founder of the modern conservative movement that put Ronald Reagan in 
the White House. In Colorado, marijuana legalization was championed 
by arch-conservative Tom Tancredo, a former member of Congress and 
former president of Colorado's free-market Independence Institute. 
The list of conservative pundits and politicians who have promoted 
legalization is long and distinguished.

The Gazette urges readers to avoid recreational use of marijuana and 
other drugs, prescription or otherwise. A life of nonmedicinal drug 
use is substandard. We hope parents will do everything reasonable to 
keep children free of drugs.

Without taking sides in the legalization debate, we re-emphasize that 
marijuana prohibition has not worked. The drug is grown in closets, 
basements and flower pots. It thrives in ditches. It is sold cheaply 
on the streets. It is everywhere. Anyone who wants it can get it with 
almost no effort and at nominal expense.

We believe most voters in El Paso County oppose marijuana. We believe 
they also oppose wasting resources on a law enforcement battle that 
cannot be won.

Amendment 64, the law that ends prohibition, allows counties and 
municipalities to establish their own anti-marijuana laws. We've been 
through this before, with legalization of marijuana for medicinal 
purposes. Everyone knows that medical marijuana has become a ruse for 
legalization. Anyone in Colorado has for years been able to get a 
physician's note to buy marijuana even before full-fledged 
legalization. City officials pondered local prohibition of medical 
marijuana but decided against it.

City and county politicians may only waste the public's time and 
money by passing laws to counter legalization. The drug is here, and 
it's not going anywhere. It is a good bet that local sanctions would 
do nothing more than deprive local governments of sales tax revenues 
while enriching petty criminals who would buy the drug legally in 
nearby jurisdictions in order to sell it illegally at a markup. 
Criminal drug dealers want local prohibition. Local prohibition would 
do criminals an enormous favor, salvaging at least some of an easy 
old black market trade they enjoyed without the burden of regulation, 
fees or taxes.

More than ever, this is a time for schools, parents, grandparents and 
all community leaders to dissuade children from using the drug. It is 
a time to stop taking false security in prohibition laws that never 
made a dent in the marijuana trade. If individuals take 
responsibility for curbing drug abuse, they will have a far greater 
effect than any law politicians may pass at the state, county or local level.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom