Politics: Two states legalize marijuana

Colorado and Washington this week became the first states to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use, paving the way for the drug to be regulated like alcohol. In Colorado, Amendment 64, which allows adults over 21 to possess an ounce of marijuana and grow up to six marijuana plants, passed with 54 percent of the vote. In Washington, voters approved Initiative 502, which legalizes possession under the same conditions as in Colorado, but without a “grow your own” provision. Oregon voters defeated a similar ballot measure to legalize recreational pot, while in Massachusetts, voters approved the use of medical marijuana by a wide margin.

Voters were right to say “yes” to legalization, said The Seattle Times in an editorial. “Prohibition has failed,” and licensing growers will take the drug out of the hands of criminal gangs and into the open, where it can be properly regulated. The voters are simply reflecting a growing national trend: According to a 2011 Gallup poll, 50 percent of Americans now favor legalization of marijuana.

They will come to regret it, said Dr. Keith Ablow in FoxNews

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.com. State officials owe it to their citizens to begin a “very aggressive public-awareness campaign about the dangers of marijuana use right now.” The psychiatric effects of legalizing this insidious “gateway drug” will be massive: We’ll see an increase in depression, attention-deficit disorder, memory problems, and accidents at work and on the highways. Marijuana is not harmless.

These concerns are probably moot, said Matthew Yglesias in Slate.com. The idea of a legal marijuana industry is intriguing in principle, but “before you buy land to start your marijuana farm,” please note that Washington and Colorado passed their measures in defiance of federal law. That sets up an inevitable clash with the Obama administration, which has signaled no let-up on its enforcement of federal drug laws. As Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper warned, “Don’t break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly.”