Newport This Week Article Reveals Local Legislators Out of Touch with Constituents, Basic Information

A recent article in Newport This Week asked several local legislators about their positions on marijuana regulation. Unfortunately, though recent polling demonstrated that a majority of voters in Rhode Island support regulating marijuana like alcohol by a 20-point margin, our local politicians seem happy to maintain the prohibitionist status quo. The same 2015 poll found 65% of Democrats were in favor of marijuana regulation, which makes it even more surprising that all of these legislators are members of the Democratic Party.

Senator Louis DiPalma, D-Middletown, states that he is concerned about “the detrimental effects that marijuana has on the developing brain.” If this is his top priority, then he should be supporting regulation. Usage by teens, when brains are often the most impressionable, goes down with regulation, not up. A June 2016 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that the number of teens using marijuana was falling as more states regulate. Furthermore, in-depth state surveys in Colorado and Washington, also suggest modest decreases in rates of marijuana use amongst youth.

The current prohibitionist model does not keep marijuana out of the hands of teens. Though DiPalma may have tried to position himself as looking out for young people, he has failed. His perpetuation of broken policies has helped to maintain unregulated access to the drug for teens. Unlike regulated businesses, dealers in the illicit market have no incentive to check identification or to refuse to sell marijuana to minors. Even more concerning, the illegal market recruits teens themselves to be dealers to their peers, a dangerous situation that we don’t see with alcohol or tobacco.

Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, who has “serious concerns” about regulation, would also benefit from giving this issue more thoughtful consideration. She mentions that she has recognized the benefit of decriminalization, which greatly diminished penalties to a “parking ticket level.” This change was indeed significant, as Paiva Weed notes, and we now need to go farther. Thousands of Rhode Islanders have criminal records for minor marijuana offenses, and the bill to regulate marijuana would allow those individuals to seek expungement. This issue clearly fits within Paiva Weed’s priority of criminal justice reform. Marijuana prohibition has long been a pillar of the failed war on drugs. For this reason alone, this should be top priority for Democrats, yet they evade the issue altogether.

Our lawmakers have had plenty of time to study this important issue. Unfortunately, however, their public comments indicate that they have not given it serious thought. With Massachusetts moving to set up their legal marijuana market, it’s time for our elected officials to get past simplistic talking points and offer substantive thoughts on the issue. Considering the public health and safety benefits of regulating marijuana, not to mention the thousands of jobs it will create, this is clearly a winning issue for any politician.