Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jan 2014
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2014 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117

POT RECALIBRATION

Political Leaders Owe Us Clarity of Thought

The nation appeared to pass a tipping point last year on the 
marijuana question, with a strong majority in a Gallup poll suddenly 
on board for full legalization. A pollster hired by a pro-pot group 
came up with similar numbers in Texas.

Other barometers suggest that the public has lost patience with the 
42-year-old war on drugs. Attorney General Eric Holder, aghast at the 
warehousing of drug convicts in federal prisons, announced that the 
feds would no longer bring cases against possession-only suspects 
with no gang affiliation.

In Colorado, 13 years after voters OK'd medical marijuana, licensed 
retailers began selling to the general public last week for 
recreational use. In Washington, licensed and taxed retail pot sales 
begin later this year. In Illinois, a new medical marijuana law took 
effect Jan. 1, making it the 20th state to OK medicinal use of the 
weed. Scattered cities decided to decriminalize it.

It's not just Left Coast and left-leaning policymakers who are 
pushing to rethink decades of prohibition and prosecution. 
Conservatives as well as liberals lobbied in Austin last year to 
change Texas' drug-sentencing laws. Continuing to stuff Texas' vast 
prison system with low-level defendants, they argued, is a waste of 
money and humanity. A better investment, they said, would be 
rehabilitation programs aimed at turning lawbreakers into taxpayers.

This newspaper agrees that Texas drug laws need to change, although 
we're not advocating full-scale pot legalization at this time. We've 
supported medical marijuana for years, and we support 
reclassification of drug offenses so low-level possession doesn't 
trigger jail time.

At the very least, Texas political leaders must join the debate this 
election year on whether the status quo on drugs makes sense in 
Texas. We say it does not - not when considering that prosecution of 
low-level drug use has helped produce the fourth-highest 
incarceration rate among the states.

If the aim of drug enforcement is to protect young people - and we 
recognize that marijuana is not a harmless substance for teens - 
think again. More than 40 percent of Texas high school seniors say 
they have tried pot. About half of high school students surveyed by 
Columbia University said they knew someone who sells drugs at their 
school, and a quarter of 16- and 17-year-olds said they could get pot 
within an hour. It's delusional to think today's drug policies are 
keeping pot away from kids.

Texas needs a better approach to serve the interests of public safety 
and rational criminal justice, and voters should expect candidates 
for office to have well-formed ideas on core questions. Last fall, 
this newspaper repeatedly contacted the gubernatorial campaigns of 
Republican Greg Abbott and Democrat Wendy Davis for their positions 
on medical marijuana and related issues. Neither would respond.

That's not an acceptable way to address public policies with 
far-reaching implications on health, safety, personal liberty and tax outlays.

The public appears open for a recalibration, and political leaders 
need to pick up on that. 
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom