Letter to the Editor: Yes on Question 4 for a Better Massachusetts for All

On November 2, 2016, in Latest News, by The Somerville Times

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

By Michael Flanary of Somerville, MA

I grew up in Massachusetts and lived in the suburbs near 495. Needless to say my life was somewhat isolated in the woods. I went to a good public school system and rode my bike every day in elementary school. Somewhere around fourth or fifth grade, we had a local police officer come in and teach us about every illegal drug that would kill us. This program was called the D.A.R.E. program, standing for drug abuse resistance education, and it was taught in elementary schools all over the United States in the 90’s in an effort to educate America’s youth about illegal drugs even before they knew anything about them. The program’s heart was in the right place, but it’s execution and content left much to be improved. The officer came in with a suitcase display with each of illegal dangerous drug, showing kids examples.

While this effort was meant to deter myself and other young American’s from touching the stuff, it has quite the opposite effect. You see while the officer was telling us about the dangers of crack, heroin and pills (meth was not yet popular at the time), they also included a little green plant called marijuana. There was a five fan leaf to represent it, rather than the flower bud that is actually smoked. Using vernacular like pot, weed, and the devil’s lettuce, we were led to believe that it was dangerous like cigarettes times infinity. Not only was it bad for your health but it was a gateway drug, leading its users onto more dangerous drugs as your life spiraled down the drug addiction toilet bowl. Let’s just say fear was a strong motivator to deter me and my classmates. While not quite as absolute as Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign, this effort was still built on the fact that marijuana was against the law, so it was bad. Offering little factual basis as the other drugs had. Graduating from the D.A.R.E. program gave the elementary school students pencils, erasers, t-shirts proclaiming that the young student was now properly educated in the dangers associated with using illegal drugs. Little to no mention was made of cigarettes (other then comparing them to the illegal leafy marijuana), nor alcohol, or most prescription drugs. Only drugs high up on the federal drug enforcement administration (DEA) scheduled list of banned substances (strong addiction possibilities and having no medical benefit, where marijuana still is today).

Fast forward to junior high (7th and 8th grade), some of my friends who I had gone to elementary school with started experimenting with marijuana. Having the education from my earlier D.A.R.E. class, I knew not to join in and that it was dangerous somehow and those “friends” were now losers. Some saw it as a way to rebel against authority, like a forbidden fruit. They explained that it was not as big a deal as we were led to believe, we had been lied to by the police officer and that it was anti-drug propaganda. I figured they were addicts and could no longer be trusted. Little did I know that while most of the drugs that the police officer told us about in elementary school were detrimental to our health, marijuana was much less likely then the others. While it was an illegal drug, it was everywhere by the time I entered high school. Much like under alcohol prohibition, banning marijuana has done nothing to prevent people from accessing it, particularly young people in our schools. Drug dealers did not check IDs and would likely have access to harder drugs as they are all illegal. Prohibiting the drug was the gateway, not the drug itself. Getting cigarettes (if under 18) was difficult to get at a store and would need an older student to obtain. Alcohol was much harder to get as you needed to be over 21 years old and stores that sold it would always check ID and deny you if you tried to buy it underage. Education on cigarettes and alcohol was more practical as the legal substances were treated as a public health issue rather than a crime.

Inevitably, I was coaxed into trying marijuana by my friends. I discovered that the drug was different than I had been led to believe. So I looked into it (a five minute google search “marijuana”). Marijuana has been used by people for thousands of years and has never been overdosed on nor directly attributed to death, as cigarettes and alcohol have. It was made illegal in the United States in the 1930’s and people feared it due to yellow journalism practices by William Randolph Hearst, a racist newspaper tycoon. Along with Hearst, an alcohol prohibition agent named Harry J. Anslinger, looking to maintain his bureaucratic power post-prohibition, helped the fear machine spread false racist narratives about marijuana that it would “Make the darkies think they were like the white men” and that it would lead people into a murderous rage. The motion picture Reefer Madness helped spread the fear. Playing on people’s ignorance and fear.

Today we continue marijuana prohibition using the “think of the children” slogan, ignoring what is already going on. We continue to allow the black market to sell marijuana in our schools because it is not regulated. You don’t have to put up with it, and more harsh penalties will not solve this problem. We have tried this prohibition for over 40 years and maintaining the same policy will not work, it can’t. Yes on Question 4 will start to fix this problem. I will not say it is a panacea for all our problems. It is a start and we can adjust it as needed. Having visited Colorado twice last year, it was true wonder to see many new small businesses thriving and millions of dollars in taxes going to schools and more jobs. The Washington Post recently said that Colorado now has eighteen thousand new jobs because of this new industry. Let’s bring more money to Massachusetts schools and jobs. In the 1920’s beer companies like Harpoon and Sam Adams would have been criminal enterprises, today they are employers and part of the community. There are many other small craft beer companies (with much better beer) all over America for adults to enjoy. A legal marijuana industry can follow a similar model, let us bring it into the light. Let’s make sure if teenagers try to buy pot, they get carded. Stop treating a public health issue as a criminal justice one. Let’s start to fix our drug problem and give people 21 and over an alternative to prescription drugs, which cause much more harm than marijuana. Vote “Yes on Question 4” and let’s work together to make sure this new industry works for Massachusetts!