Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jun 2013
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2013 The Associated Press
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Authors: Nancy Benac and Alicia A. Caldwell, The Associated Press

FINDING A NEW LEAF

Attitudes Evolving Quickly Even As Concerns Are Raised

WASHINGTON - It took 50 years for American attitudes about marijuana 
to zigzag from the paranoia of the Reefer Madness propaganda movie to 
the excesses of Woodstock back to the hard line of "Just Say No."

The next 25 years took the nation from Bill Clinton, who famously 
"didn't inhale," to Barack Obama, who most emphatically did.

Now, in just a few short years, public opinion has moved so 
dramatically toward general acceptance that even those who champion 
legalization are surprised at how quickly attitudes are changing and 
states are moving to approve the drug - for medical use and just for fun.

It's a moment rife with contradictions:

People are looking more kindly on marijuana even as science reveals 
more about the drug's potential dangers, particularly for young people.

States are giving the green light to the drug in direct defiance of a 
federal prohibition on its use.

Exploration of the potential medical benefit is limited by high 
federal hurdles to research.

Richard Bonnie, a University of Virginia law professor who worked for 
a national commission that recommended decriminalizing marijuana in 
1972, sees the public taking a big leap from prohibition to a more 
laissezfaire approach without full deliberation.

"It's a remarkable story historically," he says. "But as a matter of 
public policy, it's a little worrisome."

More than a little worrisome to those in the antidrug movement.

"We're on this hundred-mile-an-hour freight train to legalizing a 
third addictive substance," says Kevin Sabet, a former drug policy 
adviser in the Obama administration, lumping marijuana with tobacco 
and alcohol.

Colorado and Washington state are moving forward on their own with 
regulations covering everything from how plants will be grown to how 
many stores will be allowed.

Tim Lynch, director of the libertarian Cato Institute's Project on 
Criminal Justice, predicts "the next few years are going to be messy" 
as states work to bring a black-market industry into the sunshine.

Supporters of marijuana legalization range from libertarians who 
oppose much government intervention to people who want to see an 
activist government aggressively regulate marijuana production and sales.

Opponents counter with a 2012 study finding that regular use of 
marijuana during teen years can lead to a longterm drop in IQ, and 
another study indicating marijuana use can induce and exacerbate 
psychotic illness in susceptible people. They question the notion 
that regulating pot will bring in big money, saying revenue estimates 
are grossly exaggerated.

They reject the claim that prisons are bulging with people convicted 
of simple possession by citing federal statistics showing only a 
small percentage of federal and state inmates are behind bars for that alone.

They warn that baby boomers who draw on their own innocuous 
experiences with pot are overlooking the much higher potency of 
today's marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom