Why Arizona lawmakers - not the industry - should legalize marijuana

There’s a bolder measure than an education tax that Arizona lawmakers could refer to voters in next year’s election.

It is marijuana legalization.

Their personal and political convictions may tell them otherwise, but state lawmakers have a lot of incentive to craft a recreational marijuana initiative and shepherd it onto the 2020 ballot.

The pot industry soon will pull an initiative packet to collect voter signatures and begin anew efforts that came up just short in 2016.

It will have double or more than the $6.5 million war chest it had for that failed bid.

And it has momentum. Proposition 205 barely lost and polls indicate Arizonans are ready to join 11 other states that have legalized weed. Among our neighbors, California, Nevada and Colorado now permit possession and sale of recreational marijuana.

Recreational pot is coming, regardless of our stance or readiness for it.

Lawmakers could set up guard rails

Lawmakers have the opportunity now to at least define the parameters and set in place some guard rails.

It’s safe to say many of them would not be happy with any legislation they craft and send to voters, however careful and conscientious their effort. But it’s also safe to say they would be even less happy with an initiative drawn up by the industry itself.

So why not acknowledge some harsh realities and address the inevitable head-on?

MORE:Legalizing marijuana in Arizona gains support, poll says

The reality that, even in the best-case scenario, legalized marijuana will carry a price on individual and the collective us. Like alcohol or tobacco or prescription drugs, there will be a population that will abuse pot, become addicted or impaired, and develop cognitive, mental and behavioral problems.

Work productivity will suffer and mishaps, emergency-room visits and vehicle crashes and fatalities will rise. The only uncertainty is the magnitude.

Give power to a state agency, not the industry

Legalized marijuana wouldn’t preclude regulations. It’s not unlike those in place to guide alcohol, tobacco or prescription drug use.

One approach is to work off the 2016 measure and tweak the sections that were most troubling.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, for instance, would have established a powerful seven-member commission that makes rules, hears cases, and issues and revokes licenses. Three of those members would be active in Arizona’s medical marijuana dispensaries.

It was the most naked power grab move by the industry under Prop. 205.

Lawmakers could move all those powers into an existing agency, such as the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control, which have not only expansive investigative powers but also sworn officers.

Set tougher penalties for rulebreakers

The rulemaking powers are especially crucial if Arizona wants to protect the most vulnerable — the impressionable underage whose brains would be most adversely affected by exposure to or regular use of marijuana.

Legalized weed likely would mean Arizonans could cultivate a small number of marijuana plants inside their own homes (or secured greenhouses). Should they sign an affidavit or otherwise prove they don’t have children under the age of 21? Should the penalty be especially stiff? Who decides the rules is crucial.

Prop 205 established a petty offense for individuals under 21 who attempt to score weed or are caught with it. That same meager fine is what marijuana retailers or their workers face if an underage person is found in their store.

Lawmakers could establish tougher penalties in an initiative of their own making, just as they could reset the application and licensing fees to operate.

They could also create a level playing field by not limiting new licenses to already established players in the medical marijuana industry.

They also could decide where the cash goes

Even the question of revenue generated by marijuana is arguably in lawmakers’ interest to determine. Prop. 205 called for directing 80 percent of the proceeds toward public schools, which is at once clever and devious.

There will be a great need to study marijuana’s effects on users and the state. Ideally, money generated should go toward drug intervention and abuse, as well as to robust research and data-keeping to help us better understand the long-term impact.

Lawmakers can codify that — they can tap longtime public health advocates the likes of Will Humble and Bob England, and former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, now teaching in Tucson, on what makes best sense if we go down the path of legalized marijuana.

First, lawmakers must decide to not cede the field to the marijuana industry.

Reach Abe Kwok at akwok@azcentral.com. On Twitter: @abekwok. 

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