Christine Green
New Member
I'm a retired corrections officer and substance abuse counselor, and I'm tired of hearing the same reasons as to why we shouldn't legalize marijuana that we've been hearing for the past 40 years. Massachusetts has a special opportunity to improve public safety and limit marijuana access to the young and at-risk. Marijuana is not harmless, and given my background in substance abuse counseling, I am firmly against any kind of substance abuse. However, marijuana prohibition and its consequences on individuals, families, and communities are far worse than using the drug.
Thankfully, our state has already taken an obvious step in the right direction by decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults. This keeps innocent people out of prison and frees up significant time and resources within our justice system to focus on real crimes. I am hoping we can all agree that our limited human and monetary resources should be spent pursuing thieves, murderers, and rapists instead of nonviolent, otherwise law-abiding adult marijuana consumers.
While decriminalization is a massive improvement over outright prohibition, we should consider the consequences of not taking the next logical step.
Without regulation, the troubling questions of where the unregulated marijuana comes from, whether it's contaminated, who is selling it, who gets that money, and how that money is being used and by whom, are left unanswered. Decriminalization without regulation leaves dangerous criminals in the exact same position of power as before. They continue to murder each other and innocent civilians, and they entice at-risk youth to a life of crime with promises of huge sums of money and power. The only way to dismantle a profitable, illegal, unregulated enterprise is to sensibly regulate it. This strategy works by cutting off the uninterrupted flow of funding to our present-day gangsters.
Regulation keeps all of us safer, especially children. When people purchase unregulated marijuana from a dangerous criminal, they don't need an ID and are often enabled and encouraged to try other drugs. Regulated points of sale will address this risk to adults and children alike. Adult consumers will surely choose a safer, legal option over a risky interaction that results in a questionable product. This choice is what will greatly reduce the need for illegal marijuana markets. Some kids will surely want to circumvent age-restricted regulation, but they will have much less opportunity within a well-regulated system. This has been true of regulated alcohol and tobacco for years.
This year, we have an opportunity to make a significant improvement to public policy. We have the luxury of not being the first jurisdiction to implement a marijuana legalization program. I urge my state and fellow law enforcement and criminal justice professionals to think very seriously about how regulating marijuana stands to impact criminal enterprises and improve public safety.
About the writer: Officer Patrick Heintz (Ret.) spent more than 20 years as a corrections officer and substance abuse counselor. He is now a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of criminal justice professionals working to legalize marijuana.
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Legalize marijuana and improve public safety - Lowell Sun Online
Author: Patrick Heintz
Contact: moneil@MediaOneNE.com
Photo Credit: Leep.cc
Website: Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic - Lowell Sun Online
Thankfully, our state has already taken an obvious step in the right direction by decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults. This keeps innocent people out of prison and frees up significant time and resources within our justice system to focus on real crimes. I am hoping we can all agree that our limited human and monetary resources should be spent pursuing thieves, murderers, and rapists instead of nonviolent, otherwise law-abiding adult marijuana consumers.
While decriminalization is a massive improvement over outright prohibition, we should consider the consequences of not taking the next logical step.
Without regulation, the troubling questions of where the unregulated marijuana comes from, whether it's contaminated, who is selling it, who gets that money, and how that money is being used and by whom, are left unanswered. Decriminalization without regulation leaves dangerous criminals in the exact same position of power as before. They continue to murder each other and innocent civilians, and they entice at-risk youth to a life of crime with promises of huge sums of money and power. The only way to dismantle a profitable, illegal, unregulated enterprise is to sensibly regulate it. This strategy works by cutting off the uninterrupted flow of funding to our present-day gangsters.
Regulation keeps all of us safer, especially children. When people purchase unregulated marijuana from a dangerous criminal, they don't need an ID and are often enabled and encouraged to try other drugs. Regulated points of sale will address this risk to adults and children alike. Adult consumers will surely choose a safer, legal option over a risky interaction that results in a questionable product. This choice is what will greatly reduce the need for illegal marijuana markets. Some kids will surely want to circumvent age-restricted regulation, but they will have much less opportunity within a well-regulated system. This has been true of regulated alcohol and tobacco for years.
This year, we have an opportunity to make a significant improvement to public policy. We have the luxury of not being the first jurisdiction to implement a marijuana legalization program. I urge my state and fellow law enforcement and criminal justice professionals to think very seriously about how regulating marijuana stands to impact criminal enterprises and improve public safety.
About the writer: Officer Patrick Heintz (Ret.) spent more than 20 years as a corrections officer and substance abuse counselor. He is now a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of criminal justice professionals working to legalize marijuana.
News Moderator: Christine Green 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Legalize marijuana and improve public safety - Lowell Sun Online
Author: Patrick Heintz
Contact: moneil@MediaOneNE.com
Photo Credit: Leep.cc
Website: Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic - Lowell Sun Online
