By now, you’ve probably seen the images of exultant Washington state residents lighting up marijuana cigarettes and pipes at midnight Dec. 6 when a new state law went into effect that decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce of pot by those 21 and older. (That amount, just less than 30 grams, is enough for 30 to 90 joints, we’re told.)
And in Colorado, possessing up to an ounce of pot (or six plants) also is now legal. Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday quietly declared approval of a change to the state constitution that was approved by voters in November. The Guv tweeted the news from Denver, the appropriately nicknamed Mile High City, apparently wanting to avoid a repeat of the Washington state scene from four days earlier when tokers gathered at the foot of the Space Needle in Seattle to inhale their new freedom.
Fewer than two dozen people puffed pot on the steps of Colorado’s state Capitol, the Associated Press reported, at 4:20 p.m. Monday — a time picked because 420 is stoners’ code for consuming pot.
Even though public marijuana use violates both states’ laws, cops in both locations were mellow about it, and just weren’t motivated to make arrests at those pot parties.
Despite what the brouhaha might at first suggest, neither state’s actions come close to legalizing all marijuana use. That remains a pipe dream.
Selling grass is still illegal in Washington state and Colorado, and the U.S. Justice Department still says that federal prohibitions on possession, growth and use of marijuana remain in force and that federal law still trumps state law.
Which means pot users in Washington state and Colorado may still be prosecuted on federal charges.
Also still ahead for Washington and Colorado: state licensing of marijuana growers, processors and retailers, and the application of 25-percent taxes at each of those stages. In both states, that tax revenue will produce millions for state coffers to fund such areas as education, social services and pensions.
But what for Indiana?
A Ball State study released Thursday reports that 53 percent of Hoosiers (69 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds) favor some decriminalization of pot. Many baby boomers who either smoked marijuana or at least experienced contact highs while of college age, look favorably on relatively free use of the drug, even though is it said to be more potent now than back in the day. And it may well be that what we call responsible marijuana use, akin to responsible drinking, is quietly accepted more and more these days in our communities. It also may well be that decriminalization of pot is in Indiana’s future — and that free use of marijuana would not, in the greater scheme of things, do great damage to our society.
But rather than legalizing any amount of pot now, we prefer to see how an alternative approach might work for Indiana — that of reducing sentences for possession of 10 grams or less of pot. That is part of the General Assembly’s Criminal Code Evaluation Committee’s work that is designed to better match jail sentences with seriousness of crime. As conservative Republican state Rep. Heath VanNatter told CNHI statehouse reporter Maureen Hayden early this month, “We need to be spending our prison dollars more efectively than putting people away for minor violations like some kid caught with a joint in his pocket.”
That stance makes great sense. Let’s see how that approach would serve Indiana, while also keeping close watch on the decriminalizations in Washington state and Colorado.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: Toke ’em if ya got ’em?
- Editorials
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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EDITORIAL: Crack down on dumpers
There is a reason it’s called “illegal” dumping. It’s against the law. And there is a very good reason illegal dumping is against the law.
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Season of Day 2s arrives
Calendars in Cincinnati contain one extra holiday — Opening Day, traditionally the first Monday in April.
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Congress fails to recognize problem of education costs
Who hasn’t gotten this message yet? The cost of a college degree has become unaffordable for a wide swath of middle-class America.
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EDITORIAL: The cause of public safety: Firefighter group dedicates itself to preventing tragedy
Ensuring that smoke detectors are in working order is one of those periodic chores that’s so simple, yet seemingly so difficult in terms of follow-through.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
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