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If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result, then our current marijuana policies are insane. This country has waged a multi-billion dollar annual war on marijuana with no meaningful results. The only thing the war on marijuana has produced is misery: criminalizing the 20 million Americans who have been arrested for simple possession since 1965, causing lost jobs, lost student loans, denied housing, and a loss of tax revenue from refusing to regulate this market. It's time to end the madness.
The war on marijuana is a war on good people. It is a preemptive war that declares we must arrest everyone who uses marijuana in hopes of getting a hold of the few who might use it irresponsibly. It is the equivalent of the “let's burn the village to save the village.” According to current Breckenridge law, people like President Obama, Colorado Governor Ritter, and local town councilman Jeff Bergeron are criminals because they have admitted to smoking marijuana. This is Breckenridge, not Alabama, and it's time to make our local laws express our local will.
The war on marijuana is blatantly hypocritical when compared to our alcohol policy. Every objective study has found that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, both to the user and to society at large. Alcohol use alone can kill and regularly leads to violence, where marijuana use does not. While there is no physical addiction to marijuana, the small numbers of people who suffer some psychological dependence to marijuana is half of the addiction rate of alcohol. In a society that celebrates and encourages alcohol use, it is hypocritical and bad public policy to punish people for using a less-harmful substance.
There are 13,000 marijuana arrests at a cost of $75 million per year in Colorado. There is a multi-million dollar drug task force in Summit County that spends most of its time setting up people who possess small amounts of marijuana. That is your tax dollars at work. In Summit County, there are nearly 400 marijuana prosecutions for simple possession every year — that's one fourth the number of arrests in Denver — a town more than 100 times bigger. Since Breckenridge voters overwhelmingly supported the statewide marijuana initiative in 2006 removing criminal penalties for adult possession of marijuana, there have been nearly 100 marijuana prosecutions in the town. Law enforcement has not gotten the message from the voters, and there continues to be disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws in this county.
Breckenridge's initiative matters. Breckenridge was a leader in 1992 when it was the first town to say that medical marijuana patients should not be prosecuted. Eight years later voters statewide enshrined that principal into the Colorado constitution — legalizing medical marijuana. A yes vote on 2F means four things: your town tax dollars will no longer be used to criminalize people for using small amounts of marijuana; no longer will our visitors and residents have a criminal record as a result of a town prosecution for marijuana; the will of the voters expressed in 2006 will be respected by removing this outdated law; and the war on marijuana has failed miserably and Breckenridge voters will not support this policy.
Vote yes on Breckenridge initiative 2F on Nov. 3. Let the change begin here at home. There is nothing inherently criminal in the responsible use of marijuana by adults over 21. The long arc of time bends toward justice, and passing 2F will be yet another turn in that long journey.
Sean T. McAllister is a Breckenridge attorney and chair of Sensible Breckenridge, the group that petitioned to put the decriminalization initiative on the ballot.
The war on marijuana is a war on good people. It is a preemptive war that declares we must arrest everyone who uses marijuana in hopes of getting a hold of the few who might use it irresponsibly. It is the equivalent of the “let's burn the village to save the village.” According to current Breckenridge law, people like President Obama, Colorado Governor Ritter, and local town councilman Jeff Bergeron are criminals because they have admitted to smoking marijuana. This is Breckenridge, not Alabama, and it's time to make our local laws express our local will.
The war on marijuana is blatantly hypocritical when compared to our alcohol policy. Every objective study has found that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, both to the user and to society at large. Alcohol use alone can kill and regularly leads to violence, where marijuana use does not. While there is no physical addiction to marijuana, the small numbers of people who suffer some psychological dependence to marijuana is half of the addiction rate of alcohol. In a society that celebrates and encourages alcohol use, it is hypocritical and bad public policy to punish people for using a less-harmful substance.
There are 13,000 marijuana arrests at a cost of $75 million per year in Colorado. There is a multi-million dollar drug task force in Summit County that spends most of its time setting up people who possess small amounts of marijuana. That is your tax dollars at work. In Summit County, there are nearly 400 marijuana prosecutions for simple possession every year — that's one fourth the number of arrests in Denver — a town more than 100 times bigger. Since Breckenridge voters overwhelmingly supported the statewide marijuana initiative in 2006 removing criminal penalties for adult possession of marijuana, there have been nearly 100 marijuana prosecutions in the town. Law enforcement has not gotten the message from the voters, and there continues to be disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws in this county.
Breckenridge's initiative matters. Breckenridge was a leader in 1992 when it was the first town to say that medical marijuana patients should not be prosecuted. Eight years later voters statewide enshrined that principal into the Colorado constitution — legalizing medical marijuana. A yes vote on 2F means four things: your town tax dollars will no longer be used to criminalize people for using small amounts of marijuana; no longer will our visitors and residents have a criminal record as a result of a town prosecution for marijuana; the will of the voters expressed in 2006 will be respected by removing this outdated law; and the war on marijuana has failed miserably and Breckenridge voters will not support this policy.
Vote yes on Breckenridge initiative 2F on Nov. 3. Let the change begin here at home. There is nothing inherently criminal in the responsible use of marijuana by adults over 21. The long arc of time bends toward justice, and passing 2F will be yet another turn in that long journey.
Sean T. McAllister is a Breckenridge attorney and chair of Sensible Breckenridge, the group that petitioned to put the decriminalization initiative on the ballot.
