Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane Photo: JESSICA HILL, AP Photo/Jessica Hill
With sharply rising poll numbers for the full legalization of marijuana, Connecticut’s medical cannabis program may only be an incremental step, a UCLA professor said Friday.
It’s time for a discussion on the possible cascade of public policy issues, from increased — or even decreased — alcohol consumption, to the inevitable availability of high-potency marijuana for stealthy children raiding their parents’ supply, said Mark A.R. Kleiman, an author and professor of public policy at UCLA.
During a speech on Connecticut’s medical marijuana program, Kleiman said the recent Gallup Poll showing 58 percent support for the legalization of adult recreational use of the drug is a major finding.
“It suggests to me that this game is just about over,” he said, noting an 8-point surge in support over the last year. He likened marijuana’s increase in popularity to the evolution of public opinion about same-sex marriage, predicting that in five years, there will be nationwide legalization of the drug.
It’s quite a turnaround for cannabis, which Kleiman said is “not like medicine,” with the activity of its chemical agents not fully understood and no standard dose for patients.
“We haven’t done the right research,” he told 150 lawyers, law students, state officials and advocates as the keynote speaker in a five-hour symposium sponsored by the UConn School of Law’s Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal.
While nearly 20 states have approved medicinal use of the drug, Colorado and Washington state allow recreational use for adults.
“We have to shift the argument from whether to legalize it to how to legalize it,” Kleiman said, stressing that by itself, marijuana use is not as potentially dangerous as alcohol, and does not have the same potential for misuse as narcotics.
But Kleiman warned that advocates for legalization who claim states can reap billions of dollars in tax benefits are overstating the potential. He also said marijuana arrests are a small portion of overall drug enforcement.
“It’s a weed,” he said. “It’s naturally damn-near free. The basic fact about cannabis is it’s really cheap to produce.”
And despite decriminalization efforts in countries such as Portugal and the Netherlands, the United States could become a worldwide trendsetter.
“We would be the first country to legalize open cannabis production and sale,” said Kleiman, adding that marijuana represents about $35 billion of the annual $60 billion illicit drug market. “I think $35 billion is a lot to give the bad guys, but we shouldn’t legalize cannabis without thinking it through.”
The symposium included panels on the passage of the historic 2012 legislation that created the medical cannabis program, and the legal ramifications and obstacles it has created while it is still a violation of federal law.
William M. Rubenstein, the commissioner of the state Department of Consumer Protection, pointed out that Connecticut approved marijuana for glaucoma and chemotherapy patients way back in 1981, but there was no mechanism to implement the policy.
Now, the state Department of Consumer Protection is administering the medical marijuana program.
State Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, who was a staunch opponent to the palliative use of cannabis in committee and floor votes, told the symposium that he has come around, and now believes that lawmakers should consider lowering the minimum age of 18, so younger children can benefit from its medicinal uses.
“It’s a wonderful regulation,” said Doyle, who as a member of the Legislature’s Regulation Review Committee recently voted to put the regulations into effect. “It was a really difficult issue for all of us, but now we have a framework.”
Professor: Pot Could Be Legal Nationally in 5 years
Article by Ken Dixon for CTPost.com