Pubdate: Sun, 19 Jan 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Kathleen Parker

WHY NOT POT?

Let's Give Marijuana Smokers a Little Leeway

Everybody's doing it - confessing their youthful, pot-smoking ways - 
so here goes. I don't remember. Kidding, kidding. Anyone over 30 
recognizes the old adage: If you remember the '60s, you weren't 
there. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk.

It is true that marijuana smoking tends to affect one's short-term 
memory, but the good news is that, while stoned, one does relatively 
little worth remembering. At least that's my recollection.

So, yes, I toked, too. This doesn't mean anyone else should, and I 
haven't in decades, but our debate might have more value if more of 
us were forthcoming.

Would I have written this when my children were young? Probably not. 
I was furious when an Episcopal priest, while speaking to my son's 
then-fifth-grade class about his '60s experience, shared that he had 
dropped acid in college. My concern then was the same as parents' 
now: If a priest (or a columnist) can drop, smoke, drink and become 
an accomplished adult, how do you tell your children that it's bad for them?

And then there's the question all parents dread: "Mom, did you ever . 
. . ?" Mom: "Absolutely not." The correct answer to all such 
questions is that any drug, including alcohol, is bad for children, 
hence a drinking age, even if many ignore it. Children's brains 
aren't fully formed, and they are not yet aware of the dangers that 
accompany impaired judgment. Mind-altering chemicals are bad for 
adults, too, if abused. But adults at least can make informed 
choices. Besides, who knows? Maybe I was supposed to become the 
secretary of state.

Among columnists confessing are the New York Times' David Brooks, who 
voiced his objections to legalization, and my Post colleague Ruth 
Marcus, who noted parental concerns and her own reluctance to endorse 
legalization. This isn't hypocrisy, which I embrace in the service of 
civilization, so much as perspectives developed through maturity and 
experience.

Though I respect their views and share their concerns, I come down on 
the other side. My long-standing position is that marijuana should be 
decriminalized, if not made legal. Regulate and tax the tar out of 
it, please, but let's stop pretending that pot consumers are 
nefarious denizens of the underworld. Among those who enjoy a 
recreational smoke are the folks selling you a house, golfing on the 
ninth hole and probably an editor or two here and there.

The "war on drugs" (beware government domestic wars) hasn't made a 
dent in the popularity of pot. Nor, after decades of common use, has 
it been proved to be the evil weed of "Reefer Madness." How much 
better to have dedicated our resources to education and treatment 
rather than, through prohibition, to empowering criminals and 
cartels, not to mention ruining young lives with "criminal" records.

I came to this position not when I was a college student, a time when 
inhaling pot was a consequence of breathing the ambient air, but when 
I was the law abiding, straight-arrow, tough-loving mother of a 
teenager. Suffice to say, I became aware that marijuana use was 
common among teens of all hues and stripes.

I couldn't imagine then or now that children might be labeled 
criminals for behaviors that mostly required parental attention. This 
should not be construed to mean I recommend pot use, certainly not by 
minors, any more than William F. Buckley did when he concluded that 
it shouldn't be illegal.

Marijuana isn't necessarily harmless - abuse is abuse - but adults 
should be able to consume it without fear of legal repercussions, 
just as we consume alcohol. Even though today's weed is much stronger 
than the stuff we used to smoke, its use is rarely as consequential 
as alcohol can be. Stoners might become over involved in the 
microscopic ecosystem of tree bark, but they're unlikely to shoot up 
a bar over a pool game.

Brooks listed several reasons why he and his buddies quit smoking 
(you smoked during school, David?!). I quit because it bored me. I'm 
a caffeinated sort, happiest on Monday mornings when everyone is back 
to business and I'm on deadline. Give me coffee or give me death.

Having given up nearly everything that made getting out of bed 
worthwhile, I am healthier, happier, more productive - and have 
discovered that life is not, in fact, short. But both my current 
abstinence and the indulgences I once enjoyed (and may again, if my 
cocktail-stoop buddies have any say) were my own. My decisions, my 
responsibility, my consequences.

As they should be - for marijuana as well.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom