Pubdate: Thu, 18 Sep 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Rachel Weiner
Page: B4

GROUP OPPOSES EFFORTS TO LEGALIZE POT

Organization Plans Ad Campaign in Days Before City Vote

has formed to oppose the legalization of marijuana in the District. A 
group has formed to combat the legalization of marijuana in the 
District, an issue residents will vote on this fall.

"Two. Is. Enough. D.C.," as the group calls itself, is "a movement by 
a diverse group of Washingtonians" to fight "the scourge of a third 
legal recreational drug" alongside alcohol and tobacco in the 
District, founder Will Jones III announced at a news conference 
Wednesday morning.

Standing outside Bible Way Church in Northwest Washington with an 
assortment of local politicians and activists, Jones said his 
organization would campaign against legalization with billboards, ads 
on Metro, videos, signs, leaflets and community events. In front of 
banners that juxtaposed joints against high school diplomas and the 
Washington Monument, Jones challenged Adam Eidinger, campaign 
chairman for the pro-legalization D.C. Cannabis Campaign, to a public debate.

Possession of up to an ounce of marijuana was decriminalized in the 
District in July and is now subject to a $25 fine. On Nov. 4, city 
residents will decide whether to go a step further and legalize the drug.

The most high-profile speaker at Wednesday's news conference was 
former congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-R.I), who once crashed his 
convertible into a concrete barrier at the Capitol while under the 
influence of prescription drugs. He has since made addiction and 
mental illness treatment a personal cause, and since retiring from 
Congress in 2012, he has become an outspoken critic of marijuana 
legalization. Kennedy chairs Project SAM, a national organization 
formed to combat legalization measures across the country.

If pot is made legal, Kennedy warned, vulnerable youths will be 
"targeted by some slick Madison Avenue advertising firm that wants 
them to use legalized marijuana. It's a green light for people 
thinking that it's okay for commercial enterprises to make money off 
the suffering and mental illness of young people."

Ward 5 Advisory Neighborhood Commission representative Kathy 
Henderson warned that "this poison" would make D.C. communities 
unsafe for senior citizens.

"You will see people at bus stops, you will see people at 
restaurants, public places," she said. "You will be smoking vicariously."

Other speakers included Howard University psychiatry professor 
William B. Lawson and former D.C. Superior Court justice Arthur 
Burnett, who said that he had seen "thousands" of cases where alcohol 
contributed to homicide or rape. The domestic violence case involving 
former Ravens running back Ray Rice, Burnett said, was an example of 
the harm legal drugs can do, and he predicted an increase in welfare 
and foster care cases if marijuana is legalized.

Jones and others pushed back against one of the arguments made in 
favor of both decriminalization and legalization - that African 
Americans are far more likely to be arrested or ticketed for 
marijuana use. Studies found that D.C. police had among the highest 
arrest rates for marijuana possession in the country and that African 
Americans accounted for eight of every 10 arrests.

"It's naive and troubling" to argue that "legalizing marijuana will 
end racial injustice," Jones said.

On the contrary, he and other speakers argued, legal marijuana would 
be marketed most heavily to, and have the worst impact on, young 
African Americans.

Fear that legalization could lead to addiction among black youths has 
driven many older black D.C. residents to oppose legalization in the 
past. Those fears were reflected in a Washington Post poll earlier 
this year that found that 63 percent of Washingtonians, but just 40 
percent of black respondents 50 and older, favor legalization. 
Seventy-three percent of younger black residents support 
legalization. There is no such age difference on legalization among 
white residents.

The legalization initiative would allow people 21 and older to 
possess as much as two ounces of marijuana for personal use and to 
grow up to three marijuana plants at home. Selling marijuana would 
remain illegal, but the drug could be freely given from one person to 
another. If the ballot measure is approved, supporters say they 
expect the city to create a legal sales framework.

The anti-legalization group has not registered as a campaign 
organization, according to the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance. Jones 
said Wednesday that he is filing that paperwork. The D.C. Cannabis 
Campaign has questioned whether the group is operating legally.

"They're going to take this on as a finance issue?" Kennedy said 
indignantly when asked at the news conference about a possible 
campaign-finance complaint. "Is that the best argument the legalizers 
have? Let them file their finance complaint!"

Jones, a 24-year-old Maryland native, said his group has been 
supported by Project SAM but received no financial pledges from 
Kennedy's organization or any "big money." He is planning to set up a 
crowd-funding campaign, he said, and has so far relied largely on 
"grass-roots" donations from Bible Way Church and other supporters. 
Ronald L. Demery Jr., who also spoke Wednesday, has made anti-drug 
campaigns a personal cause. The pastor said he had seen the negative 
impact of pot in his family. Jones said he was similarly motivated by 
the effect marijuana has had on members of his family.

Malik Burnett, vice chairman of the pro-legalization campaign, 
attended the news conference and told reporters afterward that his 
opponents were spreading "misinformation."

"All of the information you heard today are talking points that come 
from the 1980s," Burnett said. He pointed to evidence that youth 
marijuana use and highway fatalities have decreased in states that 
have legalized the drug.

"I don't think this group is representative of the D.C. community as 
a whole," Eidinger said before the news conference. But, he said, he 
would be willing to participate in a debate on the issue.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom