Pubdate: Tue, 21 Jan 2014
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2014 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: 
http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Kathleen Parker

POT SMOKERS DON'T DESERVE CRIMINAL RECORDS

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 1960s, 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 (or a
columnist) can drop, smoke, drink and become an accomplished adult,
how do you tell your children that it's bad for them?

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.

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. 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 longstanding 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 labelled criminals for behaviours 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. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D