Support for decriminalizing recreational marijuana use and increasing its medicinal availability spreads like an oil spill. Colorado and Washington's decriminalization, coupled with President Barack Obama musing that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol - though he hopes his children will avoid the former as a bad habit - accelerate the change.

Supporters seek to end so-called victimless crimes and regulate a popular activity wrongly stigmatized. Revenue hungry states like Maryland, with Senate Bill 658, consider joining them.

But the movement misreads American history. It took roughly 125 years for the United States to get its drinking problem under control. Temperance movements swept the country in the mid- and late-1800s after alcohol consumption peaked at 7 gallons per capita annually. And that was mostly whiskey and rum, not beer and wine.

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Dr. Russell Schilling called marijuana a gateway drug in his March 2 op-ed. The real gateway is marijuana prohibition. As long as marijuana remains illegal and distributed by drug cartels, consumers will come into contact with sellers of meth, cocaine and heroin. Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is deadly.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has almost double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands where marijuana is legal.

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The House voted Friday to expand Baltimore City's needle exchange program, but not before members debated whether giving addicts access to more clean syringes could aggravate growing heroin use in the state.

The measure, which passed 84-51, would lift the "one-for-one" restriction on swapping clean for used needles under the exchange program run the past 20 years by the city's Health Department. About 2,500 people have obtained 500,000 new syringes that way, reducing the risks of transmitting HIV and other blood-borne infections through the sharing of needles.

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A Senate committee voted 8-3 Friday to approve a measure decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, sending it to the full chamber next week.

The bill would replace criminal penalties for possession of up to 10 grams of the drug with a $100 civil fine that would be handled much like a parking ticket. Maryland law now makes possession a misdemeanor with penalties of up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $500.

The legislation, which has bipartisan sponsorship, is expected to pass the Senate but faces an uncertain future in the House, which killed it last year after the upper chamber approved it. The House has a work group studying the broader question of how to treat marijuana in state law, including proposals to allow expanded medical use of the drug.

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Marylanders are ready for an open and serious discussion about our state's laws pertaining to the possession of small amounts of marijuana. As currently constructed and enforced, these laws are costly, ineffective and racially biased, and they result in a permanent blot on the records of too many of our young adults. Criminal arrest and prosecution for small amounts of marijuana is not the most effective strategy to keep our neighborhoods safe, and it draws resources away from the fight against violent crime.

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Speaking as a retired detective, I heartily agree with Dan Rodricks' observation that Maryland police officers want - a little too much - to maintain marijuana prohibition ("The social fears behind the pot wars," Feb. 27). Based on my 17 years of involvement in reform, the last eight on Capitol Hill as a lobbyist and advocate, my profession has three reasons to keep marijuana illegal: money, money and emotion.

Police make lots of money in the easy overtime for the minor bust and drug squads and receive lots of "free" money from the federal and state governments to chase a green plant. Civil asset forfeiture is an important and growing factor in police budgets. Drug cases actually bring money into the department, whereas arresting a pedophile is a drain on the budget.

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Rick Kollinger's recent column "Why do you think it's called dope?" made some valid observations and timely commentary regarding what is portrayed as the inevitable legalization of marijuana.

It is hard to fathom how any legislative body can justify the legalization of marijuana, a known hallucinogen with attendant issues of addiction and abuse, and which is notorious for being a gateway drug. Is the lure of a tax windfall worth imperiling the health of our population? Has any recent data been collected in localities where marijuana has been legalized regarding the rates of addiction to other substances? The cost of legalized marijuana can be so substantial that cheaper, more addictive/lethal drugs can become a more attractive/affordable choice.

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Last Tuesday, the Maryland General Assembly held hearings on SB 658, the Marijuana Taxation and Regulation Act of 2014. If enacted, most forms of possession or sale of small amounts of marijuana would be decriminalized.

The bill's provisions state that adults at least 21 years old may cultivate up to six plants for personal use. Personal possession of up to one ounce and smoking paraphernalia would also be made legal.

Each county would be allowed at least two retail outlets for pot. The bill sets regulations for cultivation, safety and manufacturing facilities, and no marijuana business would be allowed within 1,000 feet of any schools. There would be a tax of $50 per ounce, plus sales taxes, and it mandates a $5 million set-aside for treating drug, alcohol or tobacco abuse.

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Bills Would Cover Children As Well As Adults; Mothers Speak in Favor of Passage

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers vowed Friday to pass legislation this year to create a workable medical marijuana program that would cover children with debilitating conditions as well as adults. Dels. Cheryl D. Glenn and Dan K. Morhaim, sponsors of two bills that would replace legislation passed last year that is widely regarded as a failure, said they would meld their two versions into a single measure. One change they expect to make in the original bills next week is to remove provisions restricting the therapeutic use of cannabis to adults.

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A day after more than a 100 people packed a Maryland State House committee room to share their views on legalizing marijuana, advocates for easing prohibitions on the drug said they feel momentum building in their favor.

"The floodgates for change are open now," said Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery), who has sponsored a bill that would legalize marijuana and impose taxes and regulations on its distribution and use. "We have essentially vilified and criminalized our own people for doing something that our last three or four presidents have admitted to doing. That is a theme I heard yesterday."

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Legalization of Marijuana Might Make Sense, but Deeper Problems Will Persist

Have you heard why the war on drugs will never end? It's because of the enormous number of people involved in it: police officers, federal agents, defense attorneys, judges, prosecutors, wardens, prison guards, parole and probation officers. The nation has made such a huge investment in the war on drugs that politicians will keep it going forever, the theory goes. Disrupt it, and we would lose four decades of sunk costs and a significant part of the public-sector economy.

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Lawmakers Spark Debate in Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Maryland General Assembly is once again considering bills that would increase access to marijuana.

Last year legislators approved a bill that would allow hospitals to study pot for medical uses, but so far none of them have.

Supporters of marijuana decriminalization say the General Assembly didn't go far enough last year. They say Maryland should move closer to Colorado and Washington State, which allow marijuana to be sold to anyone age 21 or over.

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Police, Sheriffs, Prosecutors Against Legalization of Pot

Prosecutors, police chiefs and sheriffs gathered Tuesday in Annapolis to push back against the growing movement to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana or to legalize recreational use of the drug altogether.

At a news conference and at a Senate hearing, law enforcement leaders warned that loosening marijuana laws would undermine drug enforcement across the board. They said it would be premature to pass a bill following in the footsteps of Colorado and Washington state, which recently legalized pot, and opposed a separate measure that would treat possession as a minor civil offense.

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In 1982, the late Gov. William Donald Schaefer was running for his last term as mayor. He held one of those big dinners that politicians are famous for at P.J. Crickets on Pratt St. All the political leaders were there. I was the chef that evening and can honestly tell you this: When I arrived at the restaurant that afternoon, I climbed into the back of my blue VW mini-camper and smoked a bowl of marijuana. That evening, many of the attendees stuck their heads into the kitchen to thank the chef for the wonderful meal they had enjoyed.

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The chairman of a commission set up to oversee the implementation of a medical marijuana program told lawmakers Thursday that the initiative is at least 18 months away from offering relief to patients.

Even with that much time, it is by no means certain that the program will get off the ground, said Dr. Paul W. Davies, a pain relief specialist who heads the Natalie M. LaPrade Medical Marijuana Commission. The panel is charged with writing the rules for the program, which limits the program to five academic medical centers.

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I was pleased to read The Sun's editorial board calling for an end to marijuana criminalization in Maryland ("Md. shifts on marijuana," Feb. 18). Marijuana prohibition, and drug prohibition in general, have made millions of Americans and thousands of Marylanders into criminals, yet overall drug use is not down, overdoses have been rising and we continue to spend billions arresting and incarcerating nonviolent offenders who are disproportionately minorities, leading to the economic decimation of entire communities.

Decriminalization of marijuana may be an excellent first step, but broader and more extensive action is needed. It's time for more state politicians to follow the lead of Dels. Heather Mizeur and Curt Anderson in calling for a legalized and tightly regulated system and a swift end to the nonsensical and counter-productive "war on drugs."

Brandon Levey, Glen Burnie

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I appreciated Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s thoughtful letter to his son about marijuana ("A letter to my son on marijuana," Feb. 16).

In our communities, our first response is to "warn" youth. As a certified prevention specialist, I can tell you we understand youthful brains more now.

We realize despite our best messages, modeling and intentions, a young person is often unable to seriously consider any long-term consequences of their actions.

Our time could more often be spent informing parents, coaches, teachers, anyone who works with youth about the health and mental health consequences of marijuana use. Research clearly shows when a population perceives a substance isn't harmful, the levels of use go up.

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We Should Wait to See the Effect of Legalization in Colorado and Washington, but Decriminilization Is a Reasonable Intermediate Step

State officials may be struggling to develop a program that would allow sufferers of certain painful, chronic conditions to use marijuana under the auspices of clinical research, but it's clear that Maryland voters are way out ahead of them in their views on the drug. Just 37 percent of those surveyed in the latest poll conducted for The Sun want the status quo for marijuana, while 28 percent think possession should be decriminalized - that is, treated like a traffic ticket - and 30 percent think it should be legalized and taxed.

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City prosecutors have been offering more people charged with marijuana possession a chance to avoid conviction through community service, and recently released data shows that defendants are taking the deal at a rate that has tripled in the course of a year.

Close to 4,500 went into the program, known as "diversion," in 2013 - up from about 1,400 the year before.

"This is something, frankly, we're very proud about," Baltimore State's Attorney Gregg L. Bernstein said.

The association that represents Maryland's 24 state's attorneys recently voted to oppose pushes in Annapolis to decriminalize or legalize marijuana, but the growing use of diversion programs shows how city prosecutors are softening their approach.

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Franklin Says Experience in Enforcement Showed Him Futility of War Against Drugs

Not long after Neill Franklin stepped behind a lectern in Annapolis to argue for making marijuana legal, the retired law enforcement officer was fighting tears again.

It happens all the time - whenever he pauses to think of the futility of the war on drugs and the lives he says have been wasted. "We've been at this forever," he said. "It never worked."

As a broadening coalition pushes to legalize marijuana in Maryland this year, advocates have turned to Franklin to help sell the idea. A top official of the state's American Civil Liberties Union calls him "the linchpin" of the advocacy campaign.

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