For many decades, opponents of marijuana used to warn of its evils. It will make you insane. It will lead to use of more potent drugs. It will ruin your life.
For many decades, it did ruin lives. Not because of any inherent evil, but because its opponents would have you arrested for possessing even a small amount. Jail time. A permanent arrest record.
For many decades, we spent absurd amounts of money ruining lives and wasting the time of our police. Instead of protecting and serving, we had them prosecuting people for what time has shown is a personal choice and relatively harmless behavior.
It took us all those decades (since the early 1900’s) to learn, again, that prohibition rarely works. And it hasn’t worked in this case. But we had prohibition, and by the millions, Americans ignored the prohibition and risked the legal consequences. And gone on to be good citizens.
The opponents of marijuana have by now largely lost the battle among the grassroots. They now cling to one last hope: marijuana will be sold across the river, but they’re determined not to allow it here. Another prohibition.
I believe that the intelligent course at this point is not to prohibit but to control. We should allow marijuana sales under controlled circumstances, as we do for alcohol. In doing so, we should “tax to the max” to support a program that furthers our goal of control. Let’s change our course so that how we deal with the situation becomes a plus rather than a drain on society.
When I voted to “legalize” marijuana, I voted with the expectation that a small number of shops offering it for sale would open and be regulated. I can reasonably believe that almost all of my fellow citizens who voted for legalization had the same expectation. It is certainly inappropriate for the “antis” to claim otherwise, and they have no evidence otherwise.
It’s time to get past this issue. We don’t need yet another vote. We need careful consideration by the Planning Board and the Board of Selectmen in accordance with the votes we have already had, with progress and not backpedaling.
Rich Griffiths, Fairhaven
•••
Support local journalism, donate to the Neighb News at: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=Y6V5ARRYH689G
Click here to download the entire 10/4/18 issue: 10-04-18 Encampment
