A Gazette editorial from the Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — On Nov. 8, voters in five more states — Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada — will decide whether to let residents smoke marijuana for recreational enjoyment. Polls imply that some of the measures are likely to pass.
In addition, four other states — Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota — will vote on allowing medical pot to ease the suffering of illness and injury victims.
Two decades from now, we predict, all of America will have no prohibition of the mild drug. Maybe the U.S. Supreme Court will decide the issue, as it settled the gay marriage debate.
We applaud a few brave legislators who want West Virginia to join the pot progress. Some support medical marijuana but not recreational use. Others are tentative to both, concerned about getting too far ahead of federal law. Others are less convinced. These are all reasonable positions, and they require more research and deliberation. We urge legislators to take up the issue carefully and thoroughly.
Marijuana is not a harmless substance. It is analogous to alcohol — acceptable and perhaps even healthful, used responsibly. There’s no logical reason to criminalize pot, while alcohol and tobacco are legal. Better to legalize it and nurture new industries, instead of new criminals.
Now, prohibition of pot has the same effect. A New York Times commentary asked:
“Why are nearly 600,000 people arrested in the United States for simple possession of marijuana every year? And why is pot still illegal on the federal level? People in the loop of this policing circle know it is an absurd and Sisyphean use of law enforcement.”
West Virginia faces a $350 million budget shortage next year, and is desperate for new revenue. Legalizing pot-growing — at least for sale to markets in legal states — could bring a flood of tax money.
We hope West Virginia doesn’t wait and be dead last to enjoy the coming change.