Pubdate: Fri, 18 Apr 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409

REJECT POT SCARE TACTICS

HERE is an image from a War on Drugs time capsule: drug-sniffing dogs 
sticking their noses in Roosevelt High School students' lockers 
searching for marijuana.

Washington voters in 2012 rejected a prohibitionist approach by 
legalizing marijuana. Policy shouldn't slip back. But the drug-dog 
idea, as proposed by parents in a recent Seattle Times story, 
reflects genuine anxiety about raising teenagers in the new world of 
legal marijuana. In search of the future, parents are reaching to the past.

Instead of drug-dog patrols, the state owes fulfillment of the 
Initiative 502 campaign promise to voters.

That promise was clear: marijuana tax revenues would buy a robust, 
fact-based prevention campaign, particularly aimed at underage users.

Rejecting the scaremongering tactics used for generations, parents 
and teenagers need to fully inform themselves about marijuana. And 
with marijuana stores set to open within months, now is the time to 
make good on the campaign promise.

Colorado, Washington's twin in the marijuana experiment, was 
proactive, spending federal highway funds on public-service 
announcements before stores opened.

Washington instead is waiting for the spring of marijuana tax revenue 
to gurgle up and fund prevention efforts. That's a mistake.

Marijuana tax revenues won't materialize for months, and won't be 
large enough initially to make a difference.

Instead, Gov. Jay Inslee's administration should get creative. State 
agencies are preparing educational materials, but there is no budget 
to distribute them.

That is a fixable problem. Form public-private partnerships with 
foundations and youth-focused organizations. Or even the new 
marijuana industry itself could take the charge - it should be eager 
to prove it won't target teens.

University of Washington emeritus professor Roger Roffman, the 
state's leading marijuana researcher and an Initiative 502 sponsor, 
advocated for prevention efforts in a letter to Inslee last June. He 
didn't hear back. The governor should dust off the letter.

In approving Initiative 502, voters rejected the utter failure of 
decades-long prohibition. Rather than return to failed policies, 
Washington must enter the future informed.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom