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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D