The marijuana legalization effort is done for this year in the state legislature. Most people know where I am on this issue. I have been opposed to the legalization of marijuana for a number of reasons, but I am struck when I hear some of these legislators talking about what they see as downstream implications, and they don't know what they're talking about.
They don’t know what they’re talking about because they haven't spent time talking to individuals that are working in the trenches in states that have legalized marijuana. To be clear, I'm not advocating that they vote against it - what I'm advocating is that you do your homework and that you'd be open and transparent about what you tell the public about what the downstream implications are going to be when we have a legal marijuana industry.
Having been lobbied by the marijuana industry, predominantly the medical marijuana industry for some time, I predicted many years ago that they were going to be satisfied with non-smoking medical marijuana. And I said, we will help you pass the bill, if for three to five years, you agree never to come back to this body and change the law. Well, they wouldn't do that because they were being less than honest in their approach. They knew what they actually wanted. And that medical marijuana bill is still trying to make its way through the legislature today.
But when the representative in favor of the bill says the money is going to go into the pockets of the drug dealers, as opposed to the state coffers, he knows not what he speaks of. If he spent any time going to any number of jurisdictions that have legalized marijuana, what they have found is that the illicit marijuana industry in many respects is stronger than it's ever been.
Why? It’s simple - you're going to regulate the content, the character, the quality of the marijuana that's going to be available to be sold legally. The illicit industry has no such regulations. Proponents say they will do a good job of taxing it because that's what government does better than anything.
But the illicit industry is going to be able to provide a better product at a cheaper price. Now, you tell me, where do you believe that marijuana smokers are going to go - to a more potent product at a cheaper price or less potent product at a more expensive price?
Then you add to that this whole notion of enforcement. There's no way to determine whether or not the marijuana in which you possess or have within your home is one of legal origin or illegal origin. So there will be literally no enforcement. So what is going to be the disincentive to the purchasers and the suppliers from continuing to engage in the illicit industry? Well, you're staring at the obvious in the face folks - there is none. And that has been the experience where this has passed.
If you have a desire to pass the bill, pass the bill, just don't BS the public. If you want to legalize it, first go visit the jurisdictions that are fighting these battles in the streets of their communities each and every day, and what you're going to find is a story that's a little different than what's being portrayed by pro-legalization advocates and their allies in the media. They act as if the legalization of marijuana is the panacea solution to all of society’s ills - it’s not.
Hear the rest of Newell’s comments and listener reaction in the audio player below.
