MY TURN: IT'S TIME TO DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA

We lost the so called "War on Drugs" a long time ago and it's time to
introduce a little common sense. Gov. Jim Douglas' spat with Windsor
County prosecutor Robert Sand brought this issue to our attention
just recently. I think that the Vermont Lottery does more harm to
Vermont citizens than smoking marijuana. The Lottery Commissioner
always shouts, "Please play responsibly!" while he and his staff are
dreaming up more games to fleece those people who can least afford to
lose the money.

Now the governor is talking about leasing the lottery to a private
business that will probably further abuse our citizens. The money
realized from the proposed lease would be used to help fund our
public education program and maybe reduce taxes. Why not get rid of
the lottery and find another, more responsible, way to raise money to
support the education of our children?

The Vermont prison population continues to grow even though we have
farmed out inmates to other locations. Corrections officials, the
Legislature and the administration say they are now very concerned.
They should be, and maybe they should take some time to find out how
many "criminals" they have incarcerated because they were in
possession of "significant" amounts of marijuana.

Enforcement officials hold press conferences around here if they
seize a few pounds of marijuana. Is that really a significant amount,
and should it be enough to send someone to jail when our correctional
institutions are bursting at the seams? What is the recidivism rate
for those marijuana violators that we have incarcerated? We probably
don't have answers for those questions or many others that could be
posed. The point is that we need to reconsider our law enforcement
stance on marijuana as part of any larger study that we appear poised
to do on the ever-increasing Vermont prison population.

There is no argument that Vermont is one of the most heavily taxed
states in the country. Despite this, our roads are in horrible shape,
we never seem to have enough money for education and the corrections
system is bleeding us dry. So where do we go for help? If an adult
could legally buy enough marijuana and the paper to roll a cigarette
at one of the local convenience stores, would that be the end of the
world? I don't think so. The state could tax the hell out of that
transaction in order to help pay for our roads and fund our schools.
We could probably stop stealing money from people with the Vermont
Lottery. Marijuana arrests, related criminal activity and
incarceration would decline. Oh, and if someone with a medical
condition who could benefit from smoking an occasional joint were
able to use some marijuana without feeling like a criminal, that
would be nice, too.

We passed the civil unions law in Vermont and the sky didn't fall.
Gay marriage doesn't look like it is far behind and the sky still
hasn't fallen. Incredibly, we sold and gave up control of Vermont
Yankee to a private company and just lately seem "concerned" about
some safety issues, including the long-term storage of nuclear waste
on the banks of the Connecticut River. I wonder if the sky might fall
on that decision?

However, if we allow the same person who can now legally buy a
six-pack of beer, a carton of cigarettes or a bunch of lottery
tickets at Cumberland Farms to also purchase a personal-use supply of
marijuana, the sky will not even notice. After a few months, I don't
think anyone will notice except law enforcement, the Corrections
Department, the state treasurer and maybe the lottery commissioner.

Ken Freer lives in Morrisville.