POT USE COULD CUT BLOCK PARTY PROBLEMS

Susan Lampert Smith's column on Thursday, "Mifflin block party may get a
visitor to remember," about the young man who fell off a Mifflin Street
balcony after having too much to drink was illuminating. One of the things
that struck me most was the young man's mother's comments about the patient
population at the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center: "Half the people are
in there because of alcohol-related accidents. Maybe three-fourths of them,
if you count accidents where someone else was drinking and driving."

Many of these accidents are preventable. Everyone reacts differently
to the effects of alcohol, and many people cannot tolerate it. In the
early days of the Mifflin Street block parties, the use of marijuana
was more prevalent than alcohol. Between the pot brownies and numerous
joints, the party was more peaceful and safer. Marijuana prohibition
forces people to turn to more harmful substances like alcohol,
oxycontin, cocaine and meth, causing untold harms to the individual
and society.

Twenty-eight years ago Madison voters passed Ordinance 23.20,
legalizing both private possession and medical use of marijuana in the
city. The daily torrent of alcohol related mayhem points to the need
for harm reduction, like tolerating possession and sales of marijuana
in coffeeshops, as the Netherlands has done since 1976.

Last November, Oakland California voters, by a two to one margin,
passed Measure Z, directing city officials to deprioritize marijuana
possession, cultivation and sales offenses and lobby the state
legislature to make changes in state law that would allow Oakland to
implement the measure. This implementation would be to establish
licensing and regulation for outlets where cannabis would be sold and
consumed.

Madison should consider a similar measure. Not only would regulation
keep marijuana out of the hands of youth, but it would make Madison
safer by reducing the use of alcohol and ending the current and
sometimes violent black market.

Madison's problems with alcohol will not get better until city
officials have the courage to explore options that would reduce the
harm. Not only would regulation accomplish that, but it would also
provide a means of safe and legal access for the city's growing
population of patients using cannabis for medical purposes.