Opinion

Forum: Clergy support regulating marijuana like alcohol

David Zalubowski/ the associated Sales associate Matt Hart uses a pair of chopsticks to hold a bud of Lemon Skunk, the strain of highest potency available at the 3D Dispensary, in Denver. David Zalubowski/ the associated Sales associate Matt Hart uses a pair of chopsticks to hold a bud of Lemon Skunk, the strain of highest potency available at the 3D Dispensary, in Denver. Photo: AP Photo: AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Forum: Clergy support regulating marijuana like alcohol 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

As clergy, we write in support of proposals to tax and regulate marijuana in Connecticut. It may seem counterintuitive for a rabbi and a minister to adopt this view. We believe, however, that people of faith have a special responsibility to speak about what policies serve our communities best.

Of course, we recognize that marijuana should not be used by youth and can become addictive for some individuals at any age. Given these realities, our focus must be not to prohibit all use, but to respond in the most effective way to the possibility of abuse. Regulation and education — not prohibition — are the best path. We learned this a long time ago concerning alcohol.

One does not have to use marijuana — or even approve of marijuana — to see that our current laws are not working. Since the war on drugs was declared over 45 years ago, more than 25 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana violations. Even so, there are more than 30 million Americans today consuming marijuana on a regular basis.

We hear concerns that taxing and regulating marijuana would increase its use. But in the states that have legalized marijuana, arrests have plummeted, crime has decreased, and youth use has not increased.

Legalization would make our communities safer. Illegal marijuana sales are the foundation for criminal markets that operate in every community in our state. They are responsible for much of the violence that afflicts our urban areas. Marijuana legalization would reduce crime just as it did when we decided to end our national ill-conceived prohibition of alcohol.

We need to break the link between marijuana and more dangerous drugs. And we can do so by shifting sales of marijuana out of the criminal market and into regulated businesses that check ID’s and generate tax revenue for needed services.

When people, both old and young, seek to purchase marijuana in the underground market, they are often exposed to — and are encouraged to purchase — far more dangerous substances. The best way to guard against adulterated marijuana is to allow the sale of products that are tested, labeled, and properly packaged.

It is up to our faith communities, families, and friends to persuade and educate ourselves and our children about drugs. The proposal before us makes it more likely that we can create and offer education programs, just as we have nationally with alcohol and cigarettes.

People turn to drugs, for the most part, to ease pain. We must find ways to respond to our youth and others who need our understanding and support. The best in our faith traditions call upon us to respond to individuals in trouble with drugs by engaging them, listening to them, offering alternatives, and enriching their lives in all reasonable ways.

How we punish people and what we punish them for are moral questions. If prohibition fails to meet its objectives and causes harm, we have an obligation to support change. This is why we support the replacement of marijuana prohibition with a system of strict controls and sensible safeguards.

We hope that our fellow clergy across the state, and across all faiths, will join us in calling for the taxation and regulation of marijuana in Connecticut.

Rabbi Shaul Marshall Praver is founding president of Global Coalition for Peace and Civility and the Rev. Alexander E. Sharp is executive director of Clergy for a New Drug Policy