Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jan 2014
Source: Palm Beach Post, The (FL)
Copyright: 2014 The Palm Beach Post
Contact:  http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333

LEGALIZING MEDICAL MARIJUANA WOULD BE GATEWAY TO SENSIBLE DRUG POLICY

It's remarkable how quickly the landscape is shifting on the divisive
issue of marijuana legalization. Not just in such headline-grabbing
states as California, Colorado and Washington, but here in Florida,
too.

This month, Republican legislators in the Florida House allowed a
hearing on medical marijuana legalization, focusing on a certain
marijuana strain that may help treat seizures in children. After
hearing testimony from parents with children who suffer from seizures,
a top Republican legislator vowed to put together a bill that would
permit those treatments using a marijuana strain called "Charlotte's
Web." One Republican legislator, a Baptist minister, called it "using
the substance wisely as God intended."

That sort of comment from a conservative member of the Legislature's
Republican caucus would have been almost unimaginable even a few years
ago. But things are happening so quickly in the state and around the
country that even this development could be overtaken by other events.
A push is on to legalize medical marijuana in Florida through a
constitutional amendment, and the backers say they have more than
enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

Those signatures still have to be verified, and the state Supreme
Court has to approve the ballot language. But if those two hurdles are
cleared, Florida residents could vote in November on whether to
legalize marijuana for medical use.

All of this is happening little more than a year after Colorado and
Washington legalized marijuana use for any purpose. It also comes at
the same time that President Barack Obama is making headlines for
commenting that he believes that marijuana is no more dangerous than
alcohol, and that the experiments with legalization in Colorado and
Washington are important because of the way marijuana arrests
disproportionately target African-Americans.

As the Legislature's hearing on medical marijuana shows, the politics
of drug legalization are changing fast. Regardless of whether voters
get a chance to speak on the issue in November, a reckoning inevitably
will come. And it will be sorely needed.

Allowing medical marijuana in Florida is a common-sense choice to
alleviate pain for thousands of sick people. Perhaps just as
important, legalizing marijuana for medical purposes would create a
political environment more suitable to exploring ways to decriminalize
possession and regulate its recreational use at the state level.

While marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Obama
administration has de-emphasized enforcement in states where it has
been legalized. That gives those states leeway to reverse the
considerable negative effects of enforcing bans.

Decriminalizing possession would undo a policy that unfairly affects
blacks at a disproportionate level, fuels cartel violence in foreign
countries and bogs down the criminal justice system with hundreds of
thousands of needless arrests. In Palm Beach County, The Post found,
blacks are five times more likely to be charged with marijuana
possession than whites, even though surveys show both demographics use
the drug at roughly the same rate.

As Obama correctly noted, consuming marijuana is less damaging to
individual health than consuming alcohol. What is truly damaging is
the way that its prohibition is enforced. Loosening the ban on medical
marijuana is a good step toward smarter drug policy.  
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