Tinkering With Legalization

The Dutch have changed their coffee shop rules on marijuana and it is causing problems.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, July 9 (UPI) — The introduction of a “weed pass” in three Dutch provinces has resulted in an increase in illegal street sales of marijuana, researchers said.

The pass, introduced in May, is a mandatory membership card for people wishing to purchase marijuana in coffee shops in the Netherlands.

So what kind of problems exactly is the “weed pass” causing?

Cannabis in a coffeeshop costs at least 25% more than it does on the street. Particular groups are now avoiding the coffeeshops: the 18 to 24 age group and cannabis users with a non-Dutch ethnic background. “It is highly unlikely that these groups will stop smoking cannabis en masse,” the researchers concluded. Illegal dealers are not concerned with the age of their customers, and they also sell other drugs besides hashish and marijuana. “This is raising the risk that young people buying cannabis will come into contact with hard drugs.”

The researchers found several minorities are involved in the illegal sale of cannabis in the southern Dutch provinces. These include ethnic Moroccan youths from the more northern cities of Utrecht and Rotterdam, as well as Albanians, Hungarians, Romanians and people with an immigrant background from northern France. One coffeeshop owner from Roermond counted 25 drug runners in a single day: “The street dealers work in shifts. They come by train or car, work their shift and go back to the city where they live.”

In the southernmost province of Limburg, it is mainly ‘well-behaved’ minors who are being recruited to sell on the street. In the city of Geleen, a 9-year-old boy on a bicycle was arrested for asking passers-by whether they wanted to buy drugs.

I hardly think 9 year old dealers is an improvement over coffee shop distribution. In the USA we have a better idea. After we have tried everything else. (apologies to Winnie) We have three states this year going for legalization. Let’s start with Oregon.

“Today is an historic day for Oregon and for the national movement for common-sense marijuana policy,” said Paul Stanford, chief petitioner said in press release the same night. “Oregon’s long had an independent streak and led the nation on policies that benefit the public good. Regulating marijuana and restoring the hemp industry is in that tradition of independent, pragmatic governance. Whether you’re liberal or conservative, urban or rural, young or old, regulating and taxing marijuana and hemp makes sense for Oregon.”

The OCTA initiative now becomes Measure 80 on the November Oregon ballot. It would regulate marijuana for adults 21 and over, with commercial sales only through state-licensed stores. The state’s general fund would receive 90% of tax revenues, estimated at more than $140 million annually. Another 7% would go to drug treatment programs, and the remaining 3% would go toward promoting Oregon’s hemp food, fiber and bio-fuel industries.

Regulating marijuana is a more rational approach to decreasing crime and improving youth and public safety, said Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which supports the initiative.

OK. That is one state that has it on the ballot. Let us talk Colorado next.

This November, Colorado voters will have the opportunity to vote on a similar piece of legislation to Washington’s Initiative 502. This policy would make recreational marijuana usage legal in the state of Colorado for adults 21 years of age or older and includes the regulation, tax and retail sale of marijuana as well as granting adults the ability to cultivate up to six plants of their own. The plant would be regulated like alcohol, and individual locales will have the power to prohibit distribution centers and other facilities from appearing in their neighborhoods. The legislation would also add an extra level of protection between consumers and the federal government’s marijuana hounds as only proof of age would be required for purchase.

Amendment 64 would leave in place all of the existing medical marijuana laws while making the medical cannabis industry exempt from the taxes placed on this new regulation system. Support across the state is already high for the legalization of marijuana with a recent Rasmussen report showing 61% of polled voters favoring the concept. If this legislation passes in Colorado, it could the first or one of the first states to end marijuana prohibition possibly in tandem with Washington.

That 61% number almost guarantees a win. And now for Washington State.

A narrow majority of voters in Washington State support Initiative-502, which would legalize and regulate marijuana for adults over the age of 21. According to a new PPP poll 50 percent of Washington State voters currently would vote yes on I-502 if the election were held today, while just 37 percent would vote no.

They further state:

This represents an improvement in the I-502 standing since the last time PPP polled about this initiative. Back in February the initiative polled at only 47 percent yes to 39 percent no.

This is an important development. Not only is the measure now up to 50 percent, but in general ballot measures tend to get less popular, not more popular, as it gets closer to the election. If the New Approach Washington campaign, which is behind I-502, can manage to simply maintain this current level of support that might be enough to allow it to pass this year.

As expected, the poll finds there is an important generational divide on the issue of marijuana legalization. A majority of voters under 65 support the measure, but a plurality of senior citizens oppose legalization.

There is also a large partisan divide. Democrats (70% yes -17% no) and Independents (54% yes -33% no) both strongly support marijuana legalization. On the other hand, Republicans are heavily opposed with only 20 percent in support of I-502 and 68 percent against.

Just the Republicans showing their authoritarian streak when it comes to social issues. Of course the Democrats show their authoritarian streak when it comes to economics. Did I mention I hate authoritarians of all stripes?