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