Prohibition of marijuana is unsuccessful public policy

By Sen. Joe Benning

My first recollection of how difficult it is for a society to experience a culture shift began at my grandparents’ dinner table on Sunday afternoons in the late 1960s.
Proper churchgoers all, in an all-white, middle-class neighborhood, we’d assemble there after Mass to discuss current events. Family turbulence began when the topic rolled around to fire hoses and dogs being used to break up peaceful demonstrations by people who didn’t look like us. Permanent fissures were created when “my country, right or wrong” debated “why are we in Vietnam?”

I’ve thought about those family debates over the past year, during the current debate on whether to legalize marijuana. Although not rising to the level of bigotry or war policy, we are again in the midst of a policy cultural shift in our society.

Well-meaning people on both sides of the issue bring passion and emotion to the discussion, sometimes clouding what should otherwise be a search for a solution based on cold facts. A solution will be forged by those who remember their lessons in civil discourse.

To focus the discussion, some simple facts are in order. Roughly 80,000 Vermonters have used marijuana in the past month and they’ve been spending upward of $225 million annually doing so.

Vermont remains one of the highest users of marijuana per capita in the United States, despite well over five decades and untold millions spent in eradication efforts. Prohibition has likely ruined more lives through criminal conviction than it has protected through prevention.

We are slowly recognizing that prohibition of marijuana is a failed criminal justice policy. The question now turns to how we react to that.

Some suggest we do nothing. They raise legitimate concerns that legalization will send a message to impressionable minds that society now condones marijuana use. They rightfully point out that this substance can wreak havoc on developing brains, especially now that the potency levels have increased substantially through the years. They note that marijuana is far too easy for young people to obtain, even easier than alcohol or tobacco. They plead that we not abandon prevention efforts. They are concerned that law enforcement lacks proper resources to fight a current opiate epidemic and drugged driving on our highways.

Doing nothing won’t cure these problems, but any cultural shift toward legalization should take these legitimate concerns into account.

Others suggest we simply (paraphrasing George Aiken here) declare legalization and go home. They point out that this substance was perfectly legal until the 1930s. They rightfully argue that potential problems with marijuana pale in comparison to the very real societal train wreck that legal alcohol is. They argue a revenue stream could be created that could bring in a substantial amount of money for state needs.

I’m skeptical over likely exaggerated claims of potential new money and dismiss the naïve belief that there won’t be any problems, but a cultural shift toward legalization should specifically channel any benefits into addressing needs that arise.

As a member of both the Senate’s Government Operations and Judiciary committees, I have logged well over 100 hours of testimony on this subject. We’ve traveled around the state to listen to Vermonters. We’ve spent time listening to experts, and to officials from Colorado and Washington, carefully analyzing what each state has done right and done wrong. It would be grossly unfair to suggest we are rushing into something or are ignoring some concern.

The bill we’ve created, S.241, is a small step in recognition of this cultural shift on marijuana. In January 2018, Vermonters over 21 would have the civil penalties involving possession of 1 ounce or less removed, to legally consume a product they are currently consuming illegally.

They’d purchase marijuana from a licensed and monitored retail facility, where potency and quality are checked, behind a door that doesn’t admit minors. Tax revenues would be dedicated to shoring up law enforcement, prevention, and treatment needs when our opiate epidemic needs it most.

Is the bill perfect? Certainly not, but hopefully it will generate an honest conversation at the dinner table.