Pubdate: Wed, 01 May 2013
Source: Middletown Press, The (CT)
Copyright: 2013 The Middletown Press
Contact:  http://www.middletownpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/586
Authors: Emily Schwartz Greco and William A. Collins, OtherWords.org
Note: Emily Schwartz Greco is the managing editor of Other Words, a 
non-profit national editorial service run by the Institute for Policy 
Studies. Other Words columnist William A. Collins is a former state 
representative and a former mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut.

MARIJUANA PROHIBITION HAS RUN ITS COURSE

Even with recent state-level changes, it will be a long time until 
pot prohibition ends nationally. Half a year ago, Colorado and 
Washington voters approved ballot measures to make marijuana legal in 
their states.

But ending the pot prohibition can't happen overnight, even after 
electoral wins like that. Just ask Gil Kerlikowske, the nation's "drug czar."

"Neither a state nor the executive branch can nullify a statute 
passed by Congress," Kerlikowske declared in a mid-April appearance 
at the National Press Club. That makes it sound pretty improbable 
that Colorado and Washington voters will see the change they 
supported at the ballot box anytime soon, doesn't it?

Well, believe it or not, help could be on the way - thanks to a 
conservative California Republican.

On April 12, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher introduced the Respect State 
Marijuana Laws Act of 2013 (H.R. 1253). Two other Republicans and two 
Democrats joined him as cosponsors of the measure that Rohrabacher 
said would keep "the federal government out of the business of 
criminalizing marijuana activities in states that don't want it to be 
criminal."

Aside from the most Libertarian members of their party, Republicans 
have been stalwart Drug War supporters. But their unity has started 
to crumble now that the general public is realizing that it's better 
to regulate pot than to ban it. Already, 18 states and the District 
of Columbia have okayed weed for medical purposes.

It's about time. America's adventure with alcohol prohibition in the 
early 20th century should have taught us to never try anything like it again.

Why does it make sense to control and tax beer, wine, and booze but 
not pot? Prohibition leads only to violence, crime, and misery. 
Besides, over its four decades of failure, the Drug War has siphoned 
more than $1 trillion from U.S. coffers.

Changing laws, however, is easier said than done. The seed of belief 
- - planted in millions of minds - that all illegal drugs are evil, has 
borne bitter fruit. Historically, a vast constituency has believed 
that all users should be jailed. But today, for the first time, a 
majority of Americans back legalizing marijuana.

Common sense on drugs, unfortunately, hasn't wafted into the White 
House yet. The Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement 
Administration are still attacking and prosecuting clinics, growers, 
and distributors who now operate legally under state law. Federal 
statutes make pot possession a serious crime even though 43 percent 
of Americans over 18 have at least tried marijuana.

There are many reasons for this pointless policy. The main one is 
money. Great profits surround marijuana, both from selling it and 
punishing those who use it.

Take private prisons. They comprise a huge industry whose stock in 
trade is, understandably, prisoners. Nearly half the 1.5 million 
non-violent drug offenders arrested in 2011 were charged with simply 
possessing some pot.

If the drug were suddenly legal, the booming prison market would 
collapse. Likewise, nearly half the inmates held at federal prisons 
are doing time for drug crimes.

Perhaps the inspiration for a saner drug policy will come from the 
national drive to slash spending. Once the Colorado and Washington 
ballot initiatives lead to the legal trade in marijuana, those states 
will earn much-needed tax dollars off the sale of a common, yet 
officially banned product.

And just think of all those millions that the government would save 
if it didn't arrest, prosecute, and imprison people for either 
selling or smoking pot.

Who knows? Ending the Drug War might prove the best budget fix of all.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom