Pubdate: Wed, 22 Jan 2014
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2014 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Contact: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.dallasnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author: Kathleen Parker, Washington Post

POT SCARES ME A LOT LESS THAN BOOZE

Time to Decriminalize Marijuana, Ex-Toker Kathleen Parker Says

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 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?

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 secretary 
of state.

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 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 as 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, 
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's can be. Stoners might become overinvolved in the 
microscopic ecosystem of tree bark, but they're unlikely to shoot up 
a bar over a pool game.

For my part, 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. 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