OMG! Relaxing pot laws doesn't cause minors to use more!

Newshawk: August 21 & 22 http://www.hempfest.org/
Pubdate: Wed, 18 Aug 2004
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2004 The Seattle Times Company
Contact: opinion@seattletimes.com
Website: http://www.seattletimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Bob Young, Seattle Times staff reporter
Photo: Thomas James Hurst / the Seattle Times - Dominic Holden is an organizer at this year's Hempfest, which will be this weekend, and was a spokesman for I-75. http://www.mapinc.org/images/hempfest.jpg
Cited: Seattle Hempfest http://www.hempfest.org/
Cited: NORML http://www.norml.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Seattle+Hempfest

mar1juana MEASURE CALLED EFFECTIVE BY SUPPORTERS AND FOES

Seattleites aren't going to pot -- or jail -- since voters passed I-75, the initiative that made mar1juana the city's lowest law-enforcement priority.

The number of people prosecuted for pot possession has plummeted, and despite predictions of naysayers, there is no evidence of widespread public pot consumption as a result of the measure, which voters approved last year.

To Dominic Holden, spokesman for the I-75 campaign, that means Hempfest this weekend will likely be more fragrant than last year, as attendees at the annual pro-pot event will have yet another reason to whoop it up -- and light up.

Approved by 58 percent of Seattle voters in last September's election, I-75 relaxes enforcement against adults possessing 40 grams or less of pot for personal use. The measure did not change city policies toward sellers or minors.

The initiative appears to be working as intended, according to Holden and City Attorney Tom Carr, an outspoken opponent of I-75.

Statistics for the first six months of 2004 show that the city has prosecuted just 18 cases of mar1juana possession compared with roughly 70 during the same time period last year.

"The early indication is that I-75 has been highly effective. That seems the only way you could explain the drastic reduction in cases," said Holden, a member of the city-sanctioned mar1juana Policy Review Panel created by the initiative.

Carr agreed. "I think police received the message that they are not supposed to emphasize enforcement," he said.

In the state of Washington, possession of 40 grams or less of mar1juana is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The success of I-75 has put Seattle on the cutting edge of national mar1juana-policy reform, Holden added. Activists in other cities such as Oakland, Calif.; Tallahassee, Fla.; and Columbia, Mo., are preparing similar measures, and advocates in Seattle are talking about the possibility of liberalizing mar1juana-possession laws on a statewide level.

Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of mar1juana Laws, said initiatives such as I-75 help police chiefs and elected leaders focus on more-serious crimes without worrying about the political backlash of appearing soft on pot.

"With the support of a majority of the voters, it makes it far easier for the chief to lower the priority given to minor mar1juana offenses, which apparently has already begun to occur in Seattle," Stroup said.

Meanwhile, some Seattleites may be enjoying another benefit of I-75 -- less paranoia.

"People no longer feel they need to close the blinds when they do a bong hit after work," said Holden, 27, a waiter.

Dangers predicted by I-75 critics have not materialized. White House drug czar John Walters came to Seattle last year and warned about increased pot use among teenagers.

Carr voiced a similar concern, worrying that high-school students would misunderstand the measure, think pot was entirely legal and smoke it in public. But that hasn't happened, he acknowledged.

"I'm glad I was wrong," he said. "There is nothing to suggest I-75 has caused widespread use of mar1juana in Seattle."

Still, Carr isn't sure the I-75 data is as rosy as Holden suggests. The city attorney said he couldn't draw firm conclusions from a data sample that represents a fraction of the 15,000 total cases filed by his office each year.

He also stressed that mar1juana enforcement was already a low priority for Seattle police before I-75 passed -- his office prosecuted 196 cases in 2000, 138 in 2001, 161 in 2002 and 144 last year.

The impact of I-75 will be better understood as more data -- including the race of those arrested for possession -- is delivered to the city's 15-member pot panel, which is chaired by Councilman Nick Licata, and includes Carr and representatives from the police department and the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

As part of I-75's mandate, the panel must write reports in 2006 and 2007 on the effect of the measure.

Licata agrees with Stroup that I-75 may help Seattle focus on more-serious drug issues.

"If you adopt a minor reform and the sky doesn't fall, it opens up broader discussions about how to deal with our drug problem, which isn't mar1juana; it's crack, meth[amphetamine] and heroin," he said.

In the meantime, Holden predicted that people will more relaxed at this year's Hempfest and "there might be more smoking."

Carr said he didn't know how police would treat public pot smoking at Hempfest, but he did note that mar1juana possession remains a state and federal crime.

So, when it comes to bong hits in front of a window, Carr offered this advice: "If I was doing that, I'd close the blinds."

 

Huh?

 

Did you even read the article???

They specifically said that there was NO evidence that this ordinance has caused an uptick in usage by either minors or adults.

And if adults choose to go home and smoke a j, how is that any worse than going home and having a few beers, a martini, or a Valium?

 

I agree with you on relaxed enforcement versus regulation of the industry. The positive I see here is in the data we receive regarding the effect (or lack thereof) that reducing penalties has on rates of use. If we can show that in the US, as in Holland, relaxed enforcement does not cause higher usage rates, the movement to regulate drug sales will gain momentum.

I am sure that this is the reason that the prohibitionists fight ANY reform tooth and nail. They are aware that once Americans see that relaxing drug laws doesn't cause the widespread destruction that they tout, we will move to strike these counterproductive, destructive laws from the books.

 

Just none about drugs, drug abuse, or drug policy, huh? All you heard was "Just Say No" and that was enough for you, you just bought it without question. Drug ABUSE is bad, drug MISUSE is bad, but drug USE is neutral. There are risks with any drug including alcohol, but the best way to mitigate those risks is through strong regulation just as we do with alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals. The idea that some drugs are able to addict anyone they enter like a demon posession is a fallacy.

Even cocaine can be used responsibly. Personally, I learned my lesson with cocaine VERY young and I was lucky. I was able to see that I had a problem at 17 and then chose to do something about it. I learned that my body reacts to cocaine in a way that tends to be rather destructive. However, I have a VERY good friend who is able to use cocaine 3-4 times a year and never develop any issues. I cannot really comprehend how someone is able to use coke and not just want more and more and more. But it is really not my place to judge. He is able to use coke responsibly and I am not. It is just one of those funny things about body chemistry.

The facts about body chemistry are interesting, too. A relatively small percentage of people has the predisposition to addiction and that percentage has stayed roughly flat even as per capita drug use has risen dramatically since the "War on Drugs" was started by Nixon. The two things that have been shown in studies to impact addiction rates are the age at which one first starts experimenting with mind altering chemicals and the education one receives.

In other words, the later you start drinking, smoking, or toking, the further your chances of becoming an addict drop. In addition, education, particularly higher education, is another factor that seems to significantly drop addiction rates. People with college degrees are FAR less likely to become addicts, though it is certainly not unheard of.

Our drug policy makes drugs available to kids at a VERY early age to the point that half of our young people use illegal drugs before they leave high school. Our young people report that it is easier to obtain illegal drugs than alcohol, so one of the measures that can reduce addiction rates is thrown out the window as kids have access to drugs and, being kids, they will experiment.

Our drug policy also limits education in a number of different ways, the most egregious being the HEA Act provision that strips financial aid for college from anyone convicted of any drug crime. Of course, this will only affect poor people as they are the only ones on financial aid, which is funny because they are also the ones disproportionately affected by the drug war.

Our approach to drug policy is outdated, counterproductive, and could be the biggest waste of money this country has ever engaged in. We can get our kids off drugs if we approach this problem intelligently and get serious about taking drugs out of the hands of our children. The only way that we can accomplish that goal is through regulation of the market and that is exactly what we must do.