Thursday, May 10, 2012

Charlottesville City Council takes progressive step forward on marijuana policy


On Monday night, the Charlottesville City Council passed a resolution asking the commonwealth to rethink its sentencing guidelines for “simple” possession of marijuana.[1] The resolution also calls for the removal of rules that presume intent to distribute marijuana without evidence. Thirdly, the resolution calls on the governor and the Virginia General Assembly to “give due consideration” to legislation that would legalize, decriminalize, or regulate pot in the same way as alcohol.

Councilwoman Kathy Galvin, who opposed the resolution, commented, “I honestly cannot think that this bully pulpit can be used to send mixed messages to our children.” Unfortunately, Galvin, like so many opponents of progressive marijuana policies, has got it backwards.

The primary “mixed message” that current marijuana laws send to children is that alcohol is ok, and thus presumably safer, relative to marijuana, but in terms of deaths per year, among other statistics, this is hardly the case.[2]

So what do many Americans do? They try marijuana and risk jail-time and/or a permanent mark on their criminal record, perhaps denying them a decent shot at the American dream. And eventually, many Americans turn exclusively or primarily to alcohol wherein a number of negative health effects may follow. This sounds like a dilemma a Third World country should be facing, not the U.S.

The debate around progressive marijuana policy is little different from the debate around the rights of gays to marry insofar as many individuals on the right of the political spectrum wish to pick winners and losers, even if this flies in the face of their supposed “hands off” political philosophies.

America will not break down into a cesspool of immorality, idiocy, and laziness if a new line is taken towards marijuana (which seems to be a fear shared by opponents of progressive marijuana policy).[3] Besides, we’ve tried prohibition once and it failed. Marijuana represents our country’s second attempt at prohibition and just like the first, it’s failing miserably as well.

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