marijuana reform – Page 3

April 9, 2014April 9, 2014

Legalizing marijuana could mean $82 million in annual revenue for RI

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Legalizing marijuana in Rhode Island would generate $21.5 to $82 million in new tax revenue, according to a new report from OpenDoorsRI a group that works with formerly incarcerated people in Rhode Island.

“Resulting taxes would generate $7.6 to $21 million for alcohol and drug abuse treatment and education, $10.5 to $50 million for the general fund, and $1.9 to $5.2 million for medical marijuana research,” according to a press release with the new report.

Read the full report here.

The two estimates are based on current marijuana use which is difficult to monitor accurately because it is unregulated. The report assumes .55 percent of American pot users live in Rhode Island* and use between 1 and 3 grams of marijuana weekly and pay $292 to $375 an ounce.

The report says Rhode Islanders who grow their own pot will not be taxed, according to the current bills before the General Assembly.

The new report indicates cost savings on criminal prosecutions would be less dramatic, estimating a savings of about $100,000. “While the collective financial savings are not huge, this legislation will free up important bed space, police time, and prosecution and judiciary time that is currently spent prosecuting these cases every year,” it says.

Far greater are what the report calls the “human costs” of keeping marijuana illegal. It uses the real-life story of Providence native Josh Giorgi, who was arrested for selling pot while a student at URI in 2006.

Josh Giorgi was a freshman at University of Rhode Island studying wildlife conservation when he was arrested for marijuana delivery in an undercover operation in 2006. The sting resulted in the arrests of nine individuals for drug delivery charges, but Giorgi was one of only two that ended up with a prison sentence. Giorgi served 13 months in prison in both the training school and the Adult Correctional Institute for the charges, and he will be on probation until he is 28. Giorgi, a Federal Hill native, says he was dealing marijuana on a small scale to help pay his tuition. He was never arrested for anything else prior to or since that conviction.

After release, he says he applied to jobs and apprenticeships everywhere but most places would not take him because of his record. He started working in a local grocery store that did not do background checks. He continued to work hard and find more skilled employment, and for the last three and a half years, he has worked for an international manufacturing company with offices in Rhode Island, working his way up to logistic coordinator. He owns a house and is now a father.

Despite his hard work and success, he says that because of that one mistake, he was treated like a serious criminal, and he continues to pay a heavy price. He was unable to re-enroll in school and was never able to complete college. Though he hopes to return at some point, his felony record continues to present obstacles.

“I made a mistake, but I am not a criminal,” he says. “I do not want to see anyone else’s life ruined like mine was for selling marijuana, but as long as people use marijuana, they will buy it from someone. So someone will keep going to prison until people that want it have a legal way to buy it.”

*Corrected. An earlier version of this post said .55% of RIers use pot. Jared Moffat of Regulate RI said about 13 percent of Rhode Islanders use marijuana.

March 12, 2014March 12, 2014

Taveras, Pell take wait and see approach on legalizing marijuana

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Two of the Democrats running for governor are taking a wait-and-see what-happens-elsewhere approach to legalizing marijuana in Rhode Island.

In an email to RI Future today, Providence Mayor Angel Taveras said, “I am not currently supportive of legalization. I think we need to wait and see what impact such a large change has on states like Colorado and Washington.” He pointed out that he did support last years’ successful effort to decriminalize marijuana, he said, “because it allows us to better focus police resources.”

Somewhat similarly, Clay Pell told WPRI Newsmakers in January, “I think that we need to take a look at what’s happening in Colorado and wait and see what’s happening in Washington. I don’t support taking any particular action at this time.”

Tim White pressed him a bit: “But right now that’s not a straight no. It sounds like you’re leaving the door open a little bit.?”

And Pell responded, “Look, I want the econ of Rhode Island to grow. I’m not sure if that is the place to begin. I’m happy to see what happens in Washington and Colorado…”

I asked Gina Raimondo on Twitter about a month ago but haven’t heard back from her.

Gov Chafee told RI Future earlier in the session he was taking a wait and see approach. After he spoke with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, he said he would evaluate if and when the tax and regulate bill made it to his desk.

March 10, 2014March 10, 2014

ProJo fails to identify marijuana special interest

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The Providence Journal op/ed page ran two opposing letters to the editor this morning regarding marijuana legalization but only identified one writer as an advocate with a special interest – even though the unidentified writer is paid through a federal grant to advocate specifically against marijuana.

In one letter, Jim Vincent was well labeled as being the executive director of the Providence branch of the NAACP in which he wrote, “Marijuana prohibition has not prevented use or abuse. More disturbingly, enforcement has disproportionately focused on low income and minority communities.”

However, Debby Richards Perugini, who wrote a blistering critique of a ProJo news story, calling it one-sided journalism, was not identified as working for The BAY Team,” Barrington’s Drug Free Coalition,” according to its web site.

Perugrini’s public Facebook profile lists her as being a “project coordinator” for The Bay Team. A Barrington Patch article from 2012 says she was hired specifically to campaign against marijuana. According to the article: “Meet Debby Perugini — Barrington’s new anti-marijuana use project coordinator. Perugini joined the staff of The BAY Team – the town’s substance abuse prevention coalition — on Monday, Jan. 9.”

The letters seem intended to run in tandem: both were initially published online on Feb. 24 and both were published in print today. It’s unclear whether Perugini failed to identify herself as an advocate or if the ProJo op/ed page made an editorial decision to not label her as such. (I’ve reached out to both parties and will update this post if and when I hear back from them.)

In general, Perugini is entitled to express her opinions. In her letter, she claims that one of the medical marijuana centers was “recently advertising marijuana for non-medical use” which would be a crime. If this isn’t true (and I don’t think it is) it could be libel and she’s not entitled to express libelous opinions. Neither is the Providence Journal, for that matter. But she and the ProJo op/ed page are certainly entitled to make vague references to tobacco industry lies and insinuate that taxing and regulating marijuana will cause more people to buy it illegally.

But Rhode Islanders are entitled to know who is expressing these opinions and why – especially given that, according to the Patch article, Perugini is being funded by federal taxes for her efforts. It says:

“Perugini will be paid out of a federal block grant to the state department of behavioral healthcare, development disabilities and hospitals. The annual award is $75,000 for the next three to five years. Barrington is one of eight towns to get this money for substance abuse-prevention, primarily because Rhode Island ranks first in its marijuana use, especially in the 12-17 and 18-25 age groups.”

So a Barrington mom is getting federal tax dollars to write inflammatory and reactionary letters to the editor on an issue the Providence NAACP says is unfairly affecting poor and minority inner city residents. And the Providence Journal op/ed page is labeling one as a special interest but not the other.

Welcome to how the war on drugs works. Or the New Jim Crow. It all depends on whether your a parent from Barrington trying to shield teens from marijuana or an inner city advocate fighting against latent racism.

March 4, 2014

Jim Vincent, PVD NAACP: legalizing marijuana is a social justice issue

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On the heels of the New England Area Conference of the NAACP calling on Rhode Island to legalize marijuana, Jim Vincent, executive director of the Providence chapter, said he will lobby legislative leaders this session to pass a bill that would tax and regulate rather than criminalize pot.

“I look at it through the prism of social justice,” he said. “How much money we can make, that’s not my issue or my concern. My focus is solely on the disparities in terms of the arrest rates. ”

Vincent said a recent NAACP study shows that African Americans are arrested at 2.5 times the rate that white people are for marijuana offenses. The press release from the New England NAACP said nationally black people are arrested at 3.5 times the rate of white people on pot charges.

You can listen to our entire conversation here:

March 3, 2014March 3, 2014

New England NAACP to RI: legalize marijuana

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Colorado is demonstrating the fiscal benefits for Rhode Island as the Ocean State considers becoming the third state in the nation to legalize marijuana. Now the NAACP New England Conference is pointing out the social and moral implications by calling attention to the latent racism inherent in keeping it illegal.

In a press release calling on Rhode Island to tax and regulate marijuana, the NAACP New England Conference said:

There is an alarming racial disparity in marijuana arrests in Rhode Island and across the United States. African Americans continue to be arrested at nearly three and one half (3 ½) times the rate of Whites. Even though the NAACP and many other advocates have called for an end in the disparate arrest of African Americans for marijuana use and possession, the alarming disparate arrest rate continues unabated. These arrest rates reflect differential treatment by law enforcement officers since the rate of use between African Americans and White is roughly the same. There appears to be no near term solution for the race based arrest of African American marijuana users by law enforcement officers.

You can read the full press release here.

February 24, 2014February 25, 2014

Chafee now undecided on legalizing marijuana

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Earlier this year Governor Linc Chafee told RI Future that he wanted to wait to see “what other states do” before he considers helping Rhode Island become just the third state in the nation to legalize marijuana. But after a high profile conversation with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper at the National Governors Conference this weekend he seems to be re-evaluating his options.

“The legislation to legalize marijuana is currently winding its way through the General Assembly,” said spokeswoman Faye Zuckerman. “If it were to reach his desk, the Governor would evaluate it at that time.”

Last week, it was learned that Colorado expects $133 million in new revenue after it became the first state (with Washington) to tax and regulate the sale of marijuana. Then Bloomberg News reported on Chafee’s reaction to Hickenlooper’s cautionary advice on legalization.

From Bloomberg:

Colorado’s numbers “opened a lot of eyes,” Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln D. Chaffee, an independent, said in an interview. He said Colorado’s fiscal forecast fostered a discussion about whether to “regulate it and tax it in these tough times.”

Chaffee, who previously served as a Republican U.S. senator, said the ill effects of the long-running fight against drugs should hasten discussion about new approaches worldwide. He said legalization measures have been proposed in Rhode Island and didn’t rule out signing one.

“We’ll see how these bills come out of the legislature,” he said.

February 20, 2014

Colorado pot economy producing new revenue, new research and new residents

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Colorado expects to make $133 million in new revenue this year because of legalized marijuana. This is twice what the state anticipated when it became, along with Washington, the first state in the nation to tax and regulate the giant underground pot economy. Between legal and medicinal marijuana, Colorado expects more than $800 million in sales alone this year.

For comparison, Rhode Island faces a similar-sized budget deficit this year ($149 million) as Colorado expects to reap in new revenue, and the state legislature here is considering legislation that would make us the third state to profit from pot. Rep. Edith Ajello and Senator Josh Miller are sponsoring the bill and they wrote an op/ed about why here.

News of how the marijuana industry is proving to have a very positive effect on Colorado’s economy is starting to sweep the nation. Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported on a 5-year-old who stopped having hundreds of seizures a week when she experimented with a tincture made from marijuana plants grown specifically to prevent seizures.

From the AP, which says the science is still unproven but “more than 100 families have relocated” to Colorado to try the special strand of marijuana grown to accentuate the chemical naturally found in the plant that reduces seizures:

The doctors were out of ideas to help 5-year-old Charlotte Figi.

Suffering from a rare genetic disorder, she had as many as 300 grand mal seizures a week, used a wheelchair, went into repeated cardiac arrest and could barely speak. As a last resort, her mother began calling medical marijuana shops.

Two years later, Charlotte is largely seizure-free and able to walk, talk and feed herself after taking oil infused with a special pot strain. Her recovery has inspired both a name for the strain of marijuana she takes that is bred not to make users high — Charlotte’s Web — and an influx of families with seizure-stricken children to Colorado from states that ban the drug.

The New Hampshire state legislature is also considering legalizing marijuana and the Oregon legislature is debating putting the question to the voters as a ballot initiative.

February 18, 2014

Why legislators think we should tax and regulate marijuana

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Senator Josh Miller, of Cranston, and Rep. Edith Ajello, of the East Side of Providence, double bi-lined this op/ed on why Rhode Island should become the third state in the nation to legalize marijuana.

Check it their op/ed below the video. And here’s Rep. Ajello from three years ago explaining how tax and regulate would work:

A Sensible Marijuana Policy for Rhode Island
By Rep. Edith H. Ajello and Sen. Joshua Miller

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.

A survey conducted last month by Public Policy Polling reinforced our conclusions, finding that a solid majority of Rhode Island voters support taxing and regulating marijuana like alcohol, allowing adults over the age of 21 to use it. These results are right in line with several national polls that indicate a rapidly growing majority of Americans agree it is time to make marijuana legal.

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.”

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.

February 13, 2014February 13, 2014

Should we tax and regulate marijuana, or let law enforcement seize and keep revenue?

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Marijuana made it into the local news in two very different ways yesterday.

At the State House, two legislators announced they will again push a bill to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol. Meanwhile, far away from the state capital near the Connecticut border, three young men were arrested for growing and selling pot.

Sen Josh Miller and Rep Edith Ajello spoke about how regulation can help keep cannabis away from kids and create revenue for the state and small businesses.

“Marijuana prohibition has been a long-term failure,” Miller said yesterday. “Forcing marijuana into the underground market ensures authorities have no control of the product. Regulating marijuana would allow the product to be sold safely and responsibly by legitimate businesses in appropriate locations.”

Earlier in the week, Rhode Island and Connecticut police seized more than a half million dollars in cash and product from a group of entrepreneurs who had evidently put together a not-so-small agricultural operation in spite of the law.

“In total, the search warrants resulted in the seizure of 248 marijuana plants, over 46 pounds of processed marijuana and $312,678 in United States Currency,” said a press release from the Rhode Island state police.

Miller and Ajello’s bill would put a $50 excise tax on every ounce of wholesale marijuana sold to a state-sanctioned store (much like liquor stores in Rhode Island). That means Rhode Island missed out on more than $30,000 in revenue from this one bust. The bill would also put a 10 percent tax on the retail sale of marijuana. That’s another $30,000 in revenue the state missed out on, assuming the confiscated cash was from the sale of said marijuana.

“Taxing marijuana sales will generate tens of millions of dollars in much-needed tax revenue for the state, a portion of which will be directed towards programs that treat and prevent alcohol and other substance abuse,” Ajello said at yesterday’s State House press conference.

Meanwhile, Rhode Island state police said more than 10 law enforcement agencies worked since January to arrest three people for growing and selling a plant. No guns and no other drugs or contraband was identified. Police did say Rhode Island medical marijuana cards were being misused, but that may be an indication that the three men are willing to comply with the law if the law were to recognize their very profitable business model.

“Marijuana prohibition is a failed policy, and when a law is broken it needs to be fixed,” said Jared Moffatt, of Regulate Rhode Island, the grassroots group working to take pot off the streets and put it onto the tax rolls. “Regulating marijuana is the solution because it will take control away from illegal dealers, and it will improve the Rhode Island economy by generating tax revenue and creating jobs.”

Even though a recent poll shows a majority of Rhode Islanders support legalizing marijuana, pundits have said politicians are unlikely to act on the tax and regulate bill this year because it is an election year.

January 28, 2014

Poll: majority of Rhode Islanders support marijuana legalization

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A majority of Rhode Islanders said the state should legalize marijuana, according to a poll conducted by the Public Policy Polling earlier this month January.

Respondents were asked: “In 2012, two states — Colorado and Washington — changed their laws to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, for legal use by adults age 21 and older. Would you support or oppose changing Rhode Island law to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, so stores would be licensed to sell marijuana to adults 21 and older?”

53 percent said yes and 41 percent said no. 58 percent of men surveyed thought marijuana should be legal and 46 percent of the women asked thought so. 60 percent of Demcrats who responded to the poll questions thought pot should be made legal and 45 percent of the Republicans did too.

Click on the poll results here.

“Rhode Islanders realize that it’s past time we stop funneling all of the proceeds from marijuana sales to criminals,” said Jared Moffat, executive director of Regulate Rhode Island. “We need to put marijuana in the hands of responsible businesses, creating hundreds of legitimate jobs and tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue.”

The General Assembly is expected to again debate a bill that would legalize and tax marijuana in the Ocean State. Advocates say the move would save the state tens of millions of dollars in costs to prosecute minor drug offenses and the tax revenue would far surpass that and become a new source of economic activity for the struggling state.

But politicians have been reluctant to push for legalization this year, fearing it could be used against them during the upcoming campaign.

“A clear majority of Rhode Islanders realize that marijuana is safer than alcohol and does not contribute to violent and reckless behavior,” said Robert Capecchi, deputy director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project. “We should not be wasting limited law enforcement resources to punish adults who choose to use the less harmful substance. Prohibition is a terribly misguided policy. It is time to make marijuana legal and regulate it like alcohol.”

January 13, 2014January 13, 2014

Wingmen: Should Rhode Island legalize pot?

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Justin Katz and I square off over legalizing marijuana on the most recent installment of the 10 News Conference Wingmen Segment. I think it should be legal because it would raise new revenue and create new jobs. I still don’t quite get why Justin Katz doesn’t support this. But you can watch the reasons he cites here:

News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014

Chafee, Ferri, Miller: Three lawmakers talk marijuana legalization

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Marijuana policy experts from afar have suggested Rhode Island could become the third state in the nation, after Colorado and Washington, to tax and regulate cannabis. But local political policy experts have suggested it won’t happen this year because it’s an election year.

I spoke with three State House lawmakers yesterday about the prospect for Rhode Island to legalize marijuana this year: Governor Linc Chafee, Senator Josh Miller and Rep. Frank Ferri

Chafee said he doesn’t think it will happen this year, saying he would like to see what happens in Colorado and Washington and what revenue estimates look like before moving ahead.

Senator Josh Miller, a progressive Democrat from Cranston, didn’t sound overly optimistic. “I’m not sure there’s enough people who understand or take it seriously enough to totally embrace it but I think it will be a serious discussion.” But he did say the revenue projections “will be hard to ignore.”

And for those who think the politics of the election cycle will trump policy (there are very few legislators who actively oppose legalization) Rep. Frank Ferri likened its chances to marriage equality. (Ferri is gay and worked for many years to pass same sex marriage; it passed last year)

Here’s my takeaway: legalizing marijuana will create jobs, raise tax revenue and every lawmaker I spoke with yesterday said that should be the major priority of the General Assembly this year. If there is a non-reefer madness reason not to tax and regulate marijuana – beyond the reefer madness offered by the Providence Journal and the electoral concerns of those in power – I’d like to hear it.

For more on this debate, see this article from Reason (August, 2013): Marijuana’s Bright Future. And this one from the American Prospect (December 2013): Pot’s Uncertain Future.

Also please listen to this RI Future podcast featuring an informed conversation between pro-legalization advocates Jared Moffat and Rebecca McGoldrick with East Greenwich drug counselor Bob Houghtaling, who said he could support legalization if done right.

December 12, 2013December 15, 2013

EG drug counselor says he can support legalized marijuana

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In a wide-ranging podcast with EG drug counselor Bob Houghtaling and marijuana activists Jared Moffat and Rebecca McGoldrick, the four of us talk about where we can find common ground when it comes to the debate over ending pot prohibition. It turns out, we have lots of common ground.

Houghtaling even says he will support legalization if it’s done the right way. For one, he’d like assurances that tax revenue earmarked for education actually goes to education. “If it boils down to a yes or no question,” he said, “if it’s done the right way, I could advocate for that. This either or stuff, we have to have something that is a little more sophisticated than that.”

The four of us have a really good conversation about the pros and cons to legalization. It’s well worth a listen:

November 6, 2013November 6, 2013

Portland legalizes pot; Colorado to make $70 million in taxes

Rhode Island lost it’s chance to become the first place on the East Coast to legalize marijuana yesterday. Portland, Maine gets that honor after 70 percent of the voters passed a ballot measure that ends pot prohibition in Maine’s largest city.

“Most Portlanders, like most Americans, are fed up with our nation’s failed marijuana prohibition laws,” David Boyer of the Marijuana Policy Project told the Huffington Post. He’s right, according to a new Gallup poll that shows 58 percent of Americans favoring legalization. In total four cities, three in Michigan, voted to legalize marijuana.

But only Colorado approved a measure to profit wildly from legalization yesterday. That state expects to take in about $70 million a year from the new tax with about half being earmarked for education.

“Marijuana, Cheetos & Goldfish all legal in CO,” Governor John Hickenlooper tweeted. “Now we’ll have the $$ to regulate, enforce & educate.”

Activists and Rolling Stone magazine predict Rhode Island could become one of the next states to legalize marijuana as local legislators have been bringing up such legislation for the past several sessions.

What should we do with our new revenue?

October 1, 2013October 1, 2013

Judge drops marijuana citation against RI Future editor

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Today I went to court to tell a judge that I did nothing wrong and broke no rules even though a police officer found four grams of “fresh” smelling marijuana in my car. The judge agreed and dismissed the complaint against me.

“Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac’s buddy, did two years for a joint!,” my good friend Randy Dolinger wrote to me after learning I was given a $150 ticket for possession. “I guess this means that we are winning the fight.”

Yes, we are winning indeed. America’s pot paranoia is going the way of alcohol prohibition: to the dustbin of over-authoritarian jurisprudence that just didn’t make much sense or do any good.

15 states including Rhode Island considers a small amount of cannabis akin to not wearing a seat belt: you get a ticket. Decriminalization will save our state an estimated $12 million a year. Furthermore, the marijuana in my car was someone else’ perfectly legal medicine.

Colorado and Washington have done away with these legally awkward and otherwise meaningless infractions by legalizing it, which is expected to reap billions in new tax revenue and the feds said it’s okay with them. Rhode Island has considered legalization, too. Such a move would boost our economy, shrink our government and help keep good folks like me from clogging up our courts. It’s also a rare instance in which the left, the right and political centrists all agree.

Reefer madness is over and the vast majority of people recognize that marijuana is no worse than alcohol, and in many ways it’s much better. Really, the only question for Rhode Island at this point is do we end pot prohibition before or after Massachusetts.

May 28, 2013

Legislation would legalize small amounts of pot

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Today, at the “Rise of the Senate” (around 4:30pm or so) in room 313 of the State House, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be hearing public testimony and comments on Senate Bill 334, which will create the “Marijuana Regulation, Control and Taxation Act.” This legislation, introduced by Senators Nesselbush, Miller and Lombardo would “legalize the possession of less than one ounce or less of marijuana, marijuana paraphernalia, and a limited amount of marijuana plants.”

The War on Drugs, universally recognized as a destroyer of lives and families, a waste of government treasure yet a windfall for organized crime and a squandering of police resources, needs to come to an end. Legislation such as this is one means by which to accomplish this.

Protect Families First, a local organization that recognizes the devastating impact the war on drugs has had on families would like to see government regulate marijuana in much the same way as alcohol and tobacco. this would allow the government the opportunity to tax marijuana and direct some of the money currently wasted on prosecution and incarceration on treatment and prevention strategies.

If you think this is an important issue, you might want to be at the State House later today to let your voice be heard.

April 23, 2013April 23, 2013

Debate at Brown today: should marijuana be legal

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While local legislators debate marriage equality on Smith Hill today, two national experts on drug policy will be debating another progressive issue on College Hill: legalizing marijuana.

Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former Obama adviser on drug policy, squares off against Aaron Houston, the national director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy at 4:30 in the List Art Building (68 College Street), Room 120 at Brown University.

From the press release:

Colorado and Washington recently passed voter initiatives to make the sale and cultivation of marijuana a legally regulated industry — should other states follow their lead? As marijuana legalization is being considered by lawmakers in Rhode Island and nationally, two sides will argue for and against more liberalized marijuana laws.

The event, hosted by the Janus Forum and Brown SSDP, will be held today, Tuesday, April 23 at 4:30 p.m. in Brown University’s List Art Building (68 College Street) in room 120.

April 7, 2013April 7, 2013

Ex-Police Officers Against Marijuana Prohibition

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Map-of-US-state-cannabis-laws — Light green: state with legal medical cannabis; forest green: state with decriminalized cannabis possession laws; dark green: state with both medical and decriminalization laws; purple: legalized marijuana. Click on image for larger version. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
State with legalized cannabis

On April first the new marijuana decriminalization bill took effect in Rhode Island; no longer will possession of small amounts of marijuana result in a criminal record. It’s a great start, and all Rhode Islanders should be proud of the reforms to marijuana laws we’ve accomplished thus far. But while this is a great first step, we can’t rest until marijuana is legal.

A former Providence police officer, I now speak on behalf of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and will continue to work in support of recently introduced legislation for the legalization, taxation, and regulation of marijuana. The speed with which public opinion on this topic has changed is frankly startling; a new poll from the Pew Research Center reports that 52% of Americans now say marijuana should be legalized.

And yet a very important cohort still seems to need convincing: police chiefs and prosecutors. In an article that ran in the March 31st Providence Journal — “New law may boost drug use, chiefs say” — U. S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha, State Police Col. Steven G. O’Donnell, the Cumberland and Barrington chiefs of police, and Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin worry about the “message” the law will send to young people and that teen use will increase.

I suggest that these gentlemen should stop worrying and start making decisions and policy based on the data that are already available on this topic, for instance in the states where decriminalization has already been implemented.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) has been publishing statistics on teen marijuana use since 1999. Since 11 states had decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana back in the 1970’s, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) thought it might be instructive to compare those states with their neighbors, whose populations and economies were similar.

Mississippi decriminalized back in 1976 and the SAMSHA statistics show that teen use is consistently lower than neighboring Alabama where possession can still get you jail time.
Nebraska decriminalized in 1978, yet since 1999 its teen use has consistently been below that of Kansas and South Dakota.
In New England, Maine has been achieving the lowest teen use in the region; Maine decriminalized in 1976, while Vermont and New Hampshire maintain harsh criminal penalties.
And a recent study by Dr. Esther Choo at Brown University’s medical school shows no increase in teen use where states have legalized medical marijuana. (NYDN 4.5.13)
And let’s not forget that grandest of all decriminalization experiments, Portugal. Since decriminalizing all drugs ten years ago drug abuse in the country is down by half. (Forbes 7.5.11)

It is time for these officials to stop worrying about what may happen and look at what already has, and think about what could be.

March 30, 2013April 1, 2013

Rhode Island Ends Reefer Madness Monday

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rhodeislandmarijuana — Photo courtesy of TheWeedBlog.

Reefer madness ends on Monday. Or at least it begins to end as Rhode Island takes its first big step towards ending the era of marijuana prohibition.

The new law goes into effect on April 1, but it’s no joke: possession of less than an ounce of pot will be punishable by a $150 ticket instead of a $500 fine and potential jail time. Decriminalization law was approved by a wide margin last year, with the House voting 50 to 24 and the Senate voting 28 to 6 in favor of eliminating the criminal stigma to getting caught with a small amount of grass.

Legislators will be celebrating on Smith Hill with a press event on Monday at noon and people are encouraged to attend. Others elsewhere are likely celebrate off-the-record.

“Marijuana decriminalization is an important step in the right direction that shows Rhode Island is taking a more sensible approach to marijuana policy,” said Rebecca McCGoldrick, of Protect Families First, a group advocating for the end of pot prohibition. “Regulation is the next step because it will help undermine the illegal marijuana market and improve public health and safety.”

McGoldrick might get her wish. A bill before the General Assembly this year would “tax and regulate” rather than outlaw and enforce the marijuana market. Out of state experts, such as Rolling Stone magazine and the Marijuana Policy Project, predict that Rhode Island will be among the next states to legalize marijuana.

While the bill hasn’t gained much attention this year, anything can happen during a session in which the state legislature is obviously engaged in much horse trading.

February 28, 2013February 28, 2013

Puff, Puff, Pass: Pot Bill Hits House Judiciary

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If the R.I. General Assembly is a mirror of the ratio of proponents and opponents of the bill that testified at the hearing, the bill will pass by a four-to-one margin.

Proponents included some you might not expect, former police officers, addiction researchers, and parents. Todd Sandahl, a North Providence father of two teenage daughters and self-described conservative said, “Prohibition will end. Why wait another 10 years? We have the solution right here,” referring to Ajello’s bill.

Opponents of the bill were exactly who you’d expect. Representatives of the State Police, parents, drug counselors, and Woonsocket Police Chief Thomas Carey, representing the Police Chiefs of R.I.

Ajello gave compelling testimony in favor of her bill.

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The benefits to the state of marijuana law reform are many. Decreased access by minors, increased tax revenue for the state, and a significant relief of the burden on our judicial system due to eliminating marijuana related prosecutions.

Even in the face of wave after wave of testimony outlining how regulating marijuana would actually reduce access by minors, Committee member Doreen Costa, Rhode Island’s own version of Helen Lovejoy from The Simpsons, asked many questions of the proponents of the bill, which were all some form of Lovejoy’s catchphrase, “Won’t somebody think of the children?”

Also testifying was Robert Capecchi from the Marijuana Policy Project. Here’s a video of Robert explaining why we need reform now.

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With so many benefits to our state, both monetary and social, offered by the legalization, taxation, and regulation of marijuana, it’s hard to imagine the General Assembly bogarting the bill, but then again, this is Rhode Island.

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