Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jun 2015
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2015 The Detroit News
Contact:  http://www.detroitnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Nolan Finley

GET POT LEGALIZATION RIGHT

Prediction: Recreational marijuana use will be legal in Michigan 
within two years. The door that cracked with the approval of medical 
pot use is now wide open. A Detroit News/WDIVTV poll finds that 56 
percent of state residents favor legalizing marijuana for general use.

That will embolden backers of petition drives aimed at getting 
marijuana legalization on the November 2016 ballot. If the issue 
makes it on the ballot, it will pass.

But it should be done right. The problem with the medical pot 
authorization is that it kept too many trappings of the illegal drug 
trade in place. For example, the pot is produced for the most part 
not by commercial growers but by the patients themselves, or their 
caregivers. And it's sold primarily in single purpose outlets that 
could pass as head shops.

That's led to constant confusion about where the line between legal 
and illegal falls, and has landed a lot of well-intentioned people in jail.

If pot is legalized, it should be treated exactly as is alcohol. It 
should be produced by licensed commercial facilities. When 
prohibition ended, bath tub gin and moonshine stills pretty much 
disappeared; so should backyard pot plots. The content should be 
controlled by state regulation, just like it is for whiskey, wine and 
beer. And it should be sold in mainstream outlets that are licensed 
and inspected.

Handling it like alcohol would protect children. It's easier for a 
kid now to buy a bag of weed than it is a six-pack of Bud because 
state law has removed alcohol from the underground economy.

Legalization is coming. Michigan should start preparing to get it right.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom