Pubdate: Mon, 20 Jan 2014
Source: Palm Beach Post, The (FL)
Copyright: 2014 Washington Post
Contact:  http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333
Author: Kathleen Parker, Washington Post

'WAR ON DRUGS' INEFFECTIVE; IT'S TIME TO DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA.

Everybody's doing it - confessing their youthful, pot-smoking ways - 
so here goes. I don't remember. Kidding, kidding. Anyone over 30 
recognizes the 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 own 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 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 parents dread: "Mom, did you ever ... ?"

The correct answer to all such questions is that any drug, including 
alcohol, is bad for children. 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, but adults 
at least can make informed choices.

Among columnists confessing are The New York Times' David Brooks, who 
voiced his objections to legalization, and my Washington Post 
colleague Ruth Marcus, who noted parental concerns and her own 
reluctance to endorse legalization.

My long-standing position is that marijuana should be decriminalized 
if not made legal. Regulate and tax the tar out of it, but let's stop 
pretending that pot consumers are nefarious denizens of the underworld.

The "war on drugs" 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, 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.

Marijuana isn't necessarily harmless - abuse is abuse - but adults 
should be able to consume it without fear of legal repercussions. 
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.

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