Pubdate: Thu, 20 Dec 2012
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2012 The Detroit News
Contact:  http://www.detroitnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Cathy Young
Note: Cathy Young writes for Reason.
Page: 2B

WE NEED LEADERSHIP ON POT LAWS

Among the results of last month's elections was a startling cultural 
development: two states, Colorado and Washington, became the first to 
legalize the sale of marijuana for any purpose to adults over 21. 
This coincides with national polls that show increasing support for 
marijuana legalization. Yet on this issue, conservatives and liberals 
alike have balked at defending individual rights and states' rights.

Since 1996, when California allowed the medicinal use of marijuana, 
17 more states and the District of Columbia have followed suit. A 
Washington Post-ABC News poll three years ago found overwhelming 
support for legalizing medical marijuana use: 81 percent were in 
favor. More recent CBS News and Quinnipiac polls have shown Americans 
almost evenly split on legalizing recreational sale of marijuana to 
adults, with supporters ahead by 3 to 4 percentage points. In 1969, 
only 16 percent favored legalization.

While the use of cannabis has been illegal since the 1930s (when the 
name "marijuana" was popularized by opponents to capitalize on 
anti-Mexican stereotypes), the ban - like alcohol prohibition before 
it - can be seen as the ultimate in intrusive government.

Few would join libertarian purists in advocating the legalization of 
hard drugs such as cocaine or heroin; but more and more Americans 
agree that marijuana is no more harmful than other legal products 
such as alcohol and tobacco. Among those under 30, as many as 70 
percent endorse full legalization of marijuana.

Yet even the use of marijuana for medical reasons - such as nausea 
and pain control, supported by eloquent testimony from patients - has 
run into dogged opposition from the government.

While the Obama administration initially moved to end the Bush 
administration's raids on medical marijuana distributors in states 
where such dispensaries were legal (though they run afoul of federal 
laws), it has reversed course.

On the state level, too, even limited legalization continues to 
encounter strong opposition - in part because it would conflict with 
federal law. In New York, the Democrat-controlled State Assembly has 
voted three times, most recently in June, to legalize medical 
marijuana; the Republican-dominated Senate has blocked the bill. Gov. 
Andrew M. Cuomo has straddled the fence, backing the 
decriminalization of possession in small amounts but also saying that 
medical marijuana's risks outweigh the benefits.

Conservatives have long championed small government and advocated 
leaving most policy issues to the states, even if one believes 
governments have a legitimate interest in restricting marijuana sale 
and consumption, there is no reason to regulate it on a national level.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom