Homeless in Arizona

Laurie Roberts is "prohibitionist" and just doesn't get it. Marijuana is a harmless drug.

Source

Roberts: Blowing smoke to legalize pot

Laurie Roberts, The Republic | azcentral.com 6:07 a.m. MST July 8, 2016

So, I oppose the proposal to legalize marijuana in Arizona and suddenly I’m an advocate for tossing potheads in prison.

Who knew?

“Laurie Roberts believes that arresting 12,000 marijuana users in Arizona every year somehow stops kids from getting it,” writes Peter B. Wilson in Phoenix, in a letter published Thursday about my recent column on the proposition that’ll be on the November ballot.

Actually, Laurie Roberts believes that arresting people for using marijuana is a waste of time and resources. [Well then why do you want it to continue to be a felony to possess or use marijuana]

In fact, only 131 of Arizona's more than 42,000 inmates were in prison for possession of marijuana as of August 2013, according to a 2014 report by the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys’ Advisory Council. And I’d bet that most of those 131 were originally charged with more serious crimes and pleaded down to marijuana possession.

Pro-pot logic makes no sense

But surely we can eliminate possessing weed as a felony offense without rushing to join four other states in wholesale legalization. [The MPP or Marijuana Policy Project initiative does NOT remove felony charges for most marijuana crimes. Possession of over 2.5 ounces of marijuana is a felony, if a single person grows 7 plants it's a felony and if a household grows 13 plants it's a felony and possession of over 5 grams of concentrated marijuana is a felony]

I confess I can't jump onto the bandwagon that is the Marijuana Policy Project's Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. I don't understand the logic that because alcohol is major problem in society we should legalize marijuana like alcohol so, it, too, can become a bigger problem.

Wilson, in his letter, makes all the usual arguments of the pro-pot crowd.

If you suggest that Arizona wait until we see the longer-term impacts of legalization in the states where the initiative already has passed, you’re called a “prohibitionist” -- one who is depriving kids from the untold riches headed their way if only we legalized and taxed marijuana.

If you suggest that having pot in your home would make it more accessible to kids, you’re called uninformed.

"It is easier for kids to get pot than cigarettes and booze, precisely because the latter are lawfully regulated," Wilson argues, in his letter.

Pot's like cake? Really?

In fact, "teens have readier access to alcohol than prescription drugs or marijuana within an hour and within a day," according to a 2012 national survey of teens, conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. In Arizona, alcohol is far more commonly used by teens than marijuana, according to the 2014 Arizona Youth Survey.

And if you call into question whether there are harmful long-term effects for kids, you’re a “fear monger”.

Pot, we are told, is a lot like cake.

“Ms. Roberts is worried because she cannot find ‘a definitive study by a serious peer-reviewed medical journal, assuring us that pot is without harm,’” Wilson writes. “What about cake? Ice cream? Pizza? Candy bars? Soda pop? Why not outlaw all these as well, none of which have definitive studies showing they are without harm?”

This, then, is the argument for why we should legalize marijuana? Because cake and pizza might be dangerous, too?

I don’t know what this guy’s smoking but I’d suggest that maybe it’s time to exhale.