DOWLAND WANTS MARIJUANA LEGALIZED

MONTPELIER -- A freshman legislator from Holland has drafted a bill to
legalize the sale of marijuana.

Winston Dowland, a Progressive who last fall defeated the veteran
Nancy Sheltra -- one of the most conservative lawmakers in the state
- -- was carrying a bill in his pocket last week that would eliminate
criminal penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana.

In a statement released this week, as he was making the rounds of Town
Meetings in his district, Representative Dowland said he wants to
initiate a public discussion.

"I do not expect this proposal will be enacted this year," he said. "I
hope it will get some hearings in the Legislature, though."

The bill says the state's present law is not working to keep the
illicit weed out of the hands of minors, and calls for a fundamental
change in the state's attitude toward the drug.

"A new approach is needed to meet the goals of preventing our children
from using marijuana, discouraging adult misuses, and keeping our
communities safe," says the bill.

"By implementing a system of taxation and regulation, the state will
maintain strict control of the cultivation and sale of marijuana,
thereby removing its control from the criminal market."

The bill would license marijuana wholesalers and retailers, and impose
a retail tax. Sales would be limited to those 21 and older, and the
measure calls for stiff penalties for those caught selling marijuana
to minors.

Representative Dowland, the sole sponsor of the bill, said in an
interview last week that he realized that some may regard the bill as
too hot to handle. In fact, when he told his wife what he planned to
do, she warned he might be cutting his political life short.

"That's alright," he said he told her. "I didn't come down here to
make a career.

"The reason why they elected me in the Northeast Kingdom is to come
down here and make a difference," he added.

Mr. Dowland noted there are safeguards in the bill, and touted the
measure as a way of raising revenues to pay for health care programs
connected to drug, alcohol, and tobacco use.

Mr. Dowland added he is critical of an approach that is "putting
people in jail for a couple lousy joints" at a time when the state is
"worried about prison overcrowding."

According to facts provided by the Representative, of the 1,785
marijuana charges resolved by Vermont courts last year, 87 percent
were for misdemeanor possession charges of less than two ounces.
Prison sentences were handed down in 255 convictions, of which 171
were for misdemeanor convictions.

The bill is expected to be introduced on the House floor when the
House returns from its Town Meeting break.

Mr. Dowland serves on the House Committee of General, Housing, and
Military Affairs.