Pubdate: Fri, 28 Mar 2014
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2014 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154

LET'S TALK ABOUT MARIJUANA ISSUE

Part of the reason that some states haven't made much progress 
reforming their marijuana laws is because the people most engaged in 
this issue tend to be extremely at odds. On one end there are the 
advocates demanding that pot be legalized, right now, and on the 
other there are calls for tougher drug laws, even if that means 
putting more users behind bars.

For Hawaii lawmakers considering this issue from a public-policy 
perspective, however, it is important to find the sensible middle 
ground, one that considers myriad legal, social, economic, 
educational and public health impacts as Americans shift from the 
"war on drugs" mindset and toward more common-sense regulations, 
especially regarding marijuana.

The issue is on a legislative back burner in this, an election year, 
which means we'll benefit from the experiences of states blazing the 
trail on outright legalization, such as Washington and Colorado.

There's also much to learn from California's back-door approach, 
where the proliferation of dispensaries supplying a disproportionate 
number of 20-somethings offers a cautionary tale about 
medical-marijuana oversight.

Hawaii's House Judiciary Committee is considering two resolutions 
that would create a task force to develop recommendations for 
establishing a regulated, statewide medical-marijuana dispensary 
system, a network that is sorely needed for residents cleared to use 
the drug under existing state law.

It would be even better if the task force's mission would broaden to 
address the implications of larger policy changes on this issue. 
Public input is essential on the topic of marijuana in Hawaii, and 
gathering that insight before next year's legislative session - when 
more action is expected - is vital.

On the medical front, reclassifying the drug at the federal level 
would spur much-needed scientific research into promising 
cannabis-based treatments, including for epilepsy and other diseases.

Proven treatments should have the same chance for approval under the 
U.S. Food and Drug Administration as prescription drugs.

In terms of recreational use, perhaps the worst outcome would be for 
marijuana to go the way of Big Tobacco, a deadly industry with a 
long, well-documented history of targeting young people as new 
customers and relying on addicts as loyal ones. Assessing how the 
market develops in Colorado will be instructive.

Fewer people are criminally prosecuted now simply for marijuana use, 
and that is how it should be. An arrest record can cause a lifelong 
stigma that impedes education, employment and future achievement, and 
a jail sentence even more so.

Crimes in which marijuana use is a factor - impaired driving, say - 
require their own policy considerations.

Although legalization advocates emphasize that use would be limited 
to adults - similar to cigarettes and alcohol - the impact on younger 
people must be taken into account.

Habitual marijuana use poses grave risks, especially to developing 
brains. Some strains are far more potent than what was available a 
few decades ago. This is not your father's marijuana, as they say.

Pot can't simply be equated to drinking alcohol, either. Getting high 
more aptly compares to getting drunk; neither are habits to promote, 
from a public-health standpoint.

It follows that if pot becomes legal, more people will smoke it. 
Lawmakers must anticipate the potential consequences of this 
predictable outcome, and address the questions coming from all sides.

Would we need more community-based substance-abuse programs?

What are the projected net economic effects, assuming the product is 
heavily taxed?

Why even change the status quo? These are all fair questions, and 
there are many more. Hawaii lawmakers should strive to deal with 
these policy questions in all their complexity. Now, while there's no 
polarizing legislation on the table, would be a good time to start a 
community conversation.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom