Pubdate: Sun, 23 Aug 2015 Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH) Copyright: 2015 The Columbus Dispatch Contact: http://www.dispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/93 Author: Alan D. Miller CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORDS IN FIGHT OVER MARIJUANA Words matter. As fast as we're moving in the news room to hit minute-to-minute deadlines in this digital age, we still seek precision in language. We take word choice very seriously. Words have specific meaning, and we strive to choose the best ones. Such is the case now with the battle heating up over marijuana and whether it should be legalized in Ohio. Voters will decide that in November. Between now and then, we will see and hear a lot of words by proponents and opponents who are trying to spin our collective minds and our votes their way. Proponents of legalized marijuana won a spot on the ballot by initiative petition. To do that, they wrote the language of the proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would allow pot to be used for medicinal purposes by those with prescriptions and for pleasure by those 21 and older. The petitioners picked the phrase personal use to describe using weed for non-medicinal purposes - what most of us who grew up in the 1960s and '70s would describe in the vernacular as "smoking dope to get high." Just as we'd say someone drinks beer for a buzz or to get drunk. Some opponents of this issue use the words recreational use to describe the act of ingesting marijuana for non-medicinal purposes. Some journalists I have drawn into this debate see recreational the same way. Others see it as a sanitized euphemism for getting high, going further to say that it "suggests a wholesome, physically healthy activity ... and that it is a marketing term." Our view is that recreational has been used for so long (decades) by so many Americans that it is clearly a term associated with the act of using pot for pleasure, amusement or relaxation - which also happen to be words used to define recreation. Editors of the Associated Press Stylebook have not developed an entry on this point, but they are considering it. These journalists are wordsmiths of the highest level and their book is the standard for consistent language among most news organizations. When AP writes a stylebook entry on this point, we will consider it. Until then, we will have our own style point. One editor involved in the debate said, "I believe that recreational use is a misnomer promoted by proponents of commercial or retail sales of pot to minimize its effects. We don't speak of recreational drinking either. I'd stick with basics - legal use of marijuana in some states for medical or other personal uses." Another said: "I would vote for recreational. Medical use is also personal." And yet another said he is not in favor of saying what it is not, as in non-medicinal. In states where marijuana is legal for both purposes, newspapers such as The Oregonian, The Denver Post and The Seattle Times tend to use the term recreational. Merriam-Webster defines the term "recreational drug" as "a drug (such as cocaine, marijuana, or methamphetamine) used without medical justification for its psychoactive effects often in the belief that occasional use of such a substance is not habit-forming or addictive." And with that in mind, as we seek precise language in describing the difference between using pot for medicinal purposes and all others, The Dispatch will call the others recreational. Most of the time, we'll simply say that there is a battle over legalizing marijuana in Ohio. Alan D. Miller is editor of The Dispatch. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom