Pubdate: Thu, 29 Jan 2015
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2015 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
Author: Tracy Ryan
Note: Tracy Ryan chairs the Libertarian Party of Hawaii

IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA AND REAP ITS MANY BENEFITS

Hawaii should not wait any longer to join the list of states that 
have legalized marijuana. There is simply too much at stake for us to 
allow our Legislature to peck away at this for five or 10 years 
without taking real action.

Hawaii was once an important exporting state. Many of us remember the 
period before the Green Harvest eradication program and other 
measures that ruined this business here. Law enforcement turned us 
into a net importer from California and paved the way for our 
meth-amphetamine problems. Public opinion has finally caught up to 
common sense on marijuana issues with political pressure applied to 
end the enforcement efforts on the Big Island.

But as the mainland market begins to open up to a legal system we 
find ourselves behind California. There illegal growers have spent 
the last 20 years developing new strains of quality product. With 
referendum allowed there, it is virtually certain that California 
will legalize in 2016. Our Legislature has just a couple of years to 
get us legal before they do and give our agriculture a chance to 
catch up in the vast market that is projected.

As late as 1989, Hawaii's then-Attorney General Warren Price 
estimated the value of the crop here at $10 billion. What it might be 
worth in a couple of years if we legalize now can't be predicted, but 
it will obviously add much to our rural area economies.

The Libertarian Party warns the Legislature not to get greedy with 
the potential tax revenue and add the sort of punitive taxes that 
some other states have done. A few billion dollars coming into the 
state will turn over many times and generate plenty of taxes under 
our existing tax code. Strangling an industry that can grow and 
generate income for us with "sin" taxes and pointless regulations is 
not in our interests. Nor does it appeal to the many in Hawaii who 
just want to enjoy this plant and be left alone. And this doesn't 
even begin to get into the potential of industrial hemp or the 
benefits of a quality medical program.

Our country has often been the victim of fear campaigns. We have seen 
the McCarthy-era Red Scare, the internment of Japanese-Americans 
during World War II, the doctrine of the domino effect of communism 
in South East Asia, and many others. How many times have we looked 
back in regret to actions taken when the politics of hate, fear and 
ignorance replaced common sense and good judgment? Now it's time for 
the antimarijuana fear campaign to go away.

The Libertarian Party has been advocating for the legalization of 
marijuana for 40 years. We are happy that our views have finally 
overcome the fear campaigns that have kept this plant illegal and 
harmed so many of our people. We have drafted legislation that will 
allow us to fix this problem now. Yet passing it through our timid 
Legislature may be difficult. Many legislators seem convinced that 
the best they can do is decriminalize small-time possession and 
ignore the problems that would remain from the various felonies on 
our books for growing and distribution. They need pushing from voters 
to get this done right and avoid delaying and half-measures. We hope 
you will stand with us and make your feelings known.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom