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Viewpoints: Letters / Opinions

"NO" on Ballot Measure 2: Legalization of
Marijuana in AK

By Glenn J. Brown

 

September 18, 2014
Thursday AM


To the editor:

I write regarding the upcoming Ballot Measure 2 proposing the legalization (decriminalization) of marijuana in Alaska. As a citizen of a free country, I have little interest in telling people what they ‘can and can’t do’ to themselves. Freedom includes the right to choose to make your own decisions, even bad ones.

But, as an attorney who represented too many young drug offenders in my years of law practice and as the director of Ketchikan Youth Court, I urge a NO vote on Ballot Measure 2. I hear all of the arguments about how good regulation of a marijuana trade can be a boost to state coffers. These supposed advantages may or may not bear out – it’s simply too soon to tell if the roads in Colorado and Washington will be paved in gold. What is even harder to quantify is the aggregate social cost imposed by the proposed legalization. There’s not yet enough information but the early indications from Colorado and Washington are not good. My analysis will therefore be pretty simple: will the proposed measure put more marijuana (including marijuana concentrates and marijuana edibles) in more homes and therefore in the hands of more kids? The answer to the question is clearly yes. As a result, my vote on Ballot Measure 2 is no.

Glenn J. Brown
Executive Director
Ketchikan Youth Court
Ketchikan, Alaska

 

Received September 17, 2014 - Published September 18, 2014

 

 

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