A Sensible Marijuana
Policy for Rhode Island
By Rep. Edith H. Ajello and Sen.
Joshua Miller
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| Photo from Rhode Island's Future |
Marijuana policy reform is a hot
topic these days in Rhode Island and across the country.
Over the last three
years, we’ve been discussing the issue with constituents, colleagues, opinion
leaders and activists on both sides of the issue. Our conversations have led us
to two points of agreement:
- Our current marijuana policy has failed. For instance, studies indicate an increase in youth marijuana use and that it is easy for them to get it.
- Most Rhode Islanders are ready for change.
Marijuana prohibition has been a
failure of tragic proportions. It has failed to prevent use or abuse. It has
been a distraction for law enforcement officials who should be focusing
elsewhere.
Marijuana prohibition has resulted
in criminal records for thousands of otherwise law-abiding adults and limited
the ability of too many of our young people to access financial aid for higher
education.
Insidiously, this prohibition has
forced marijuana sales into an underground market where more dangerous products
such as heroin and cocaine are also offered. Ironically, prohibition ensures
that the state has no control over the product. Criminals fight over the
profits and our state and municipalities forego millions of dollars of tax
revenue.
It is for these reasons that we
support regulating and taxing marijuana as we regulate and tax alcohol, and
approaching marijuana as a public health matter rather than a criminal justice
problem.
We can mandate that marijuana be
properly tested and labeled so that consumers know what they are getting.
We can restrict sales to minors and
ensure that those who sell marijuana are asking for proof of age.
We can collect tens of millions of
dollars in much-needed tax revenue and foster the creation of new businesses
and jobs in an emerging industry.
Importantly, we can redirect our
drug prevention and treatment resources toward addressing the abuse of more
harmful drugs such as methamphetamine, heroin and prescription narcotics. We
can urge teens to stay away from marijuana until their brains are fully
developed.
Those who wish to maintain our
current prohibition laws often claim marijuana is a “gateway drug” that will
inevitably lead to the use of other drugs, but studies suggest otherwise.
According to a 1999 study commissioned by the White House and performed by the
Institute of Medicine, marijuana “does not appear to be a gateway drug to the
extent that it is the cause or even that it is the most significant predictor
of serious drug abuse.” Editor's note: click here for a prominent local example.
Marijuana’s illegal status creates
the gateway. By forcing marijuana consumers into the underground market, we
dramatically increase the possibility that they will be exposed to more dangerous
substances.
Separating marijuana from the
illicit drug markets while reducing exposure to more addictive and dangerous
substances cannot help but reduce any gateway effect associated with marijuana
use. Customers buying a bottle of wine for dinner are not, after all, offered
heroin.
Regulating marijuana will take the
product out of the hands of criminal enterprises and place it behind counters
of legitimate businesses that safely and responsibly sell marijuana - and
marijuana only - to adults 21 and older.
Under marijuana prohibition, illicit
profits are used to fund violent gangs, illegal gun markets, human trafficking,
and other violent trades. Regulating marijuana will allow us to redirect
marijuana sales revenue away from the violent criminal market and toward a
meaningful solution.
A large portion of tax revenue
derived from wholesale transactions will fund programs preventing and treating
the abuse of alcohol and other substances. According to federal government
data, nearly 2.5 percent of Rhode Islanders needed treatment for hard drugs in
2012 but did not receive it. The recent spike in drug overdose deaths is a
stark reminder of the need for treatment and education.
Most people recognize that marijuana
prohibition’s days are numbered. The question is now “when should we end it?”
not “should we?” Like most Rhode Islanders, we believe now is the time and
regulating and taxing marijuana like alcohol is the answer.
Rep. Edith H. Ajello (D-Dist. 1, Providence), chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Joshua Miller (D-Dist. 28, Cranston, Providence), chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, are the sponsors of legislation to regulate and tax marijuana in Rhode Island.