PROVIDENCE � This week voters in Oregon and Alaska approved ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana use for anyone at least 21 years old. The two western states followed the lead of Colorado and Washington which have already approved and i

PROVIDENCE � This week voters in Oregon and Alaska approved ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana use for anyone at least 21 years old. The two western states followed the lead of Colorado and Washington which have already approved and implemented similar measures.

All four states plan to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol.

Now, Regulate Rhode Island is putting together a coalition of citizens and organizations to make a push in the General Assembly in 2015 to become the fifth state in the nation to legalize marijuana. It already is one of 23 states and the District of Columbia that permits the sale of medical marijuana for licensed patients suffering from chronic pain, cancer, HIV-AIDs and other debilitating ailments.

Jared Moffat, of Regulate Rhode Island, said it appears that at least five more states could approve the legalization of the drug by 2016.

�The results are in, and marijuana prohibition is on its way out,�� said Moffat in a statement. �Americans are fed up with wasteful and ineffective laws that punish adults for using a less harmful substance than alcohol. The results are particularly encouraging since voter turnout during a midterm election is typically smaller, older and more conservative. Clearly, support for ending marijuana prohibition spans the political and ideological spectrums.��

In 2014, Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence, and Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, led the charge to legalize marijuana in Rhode Island and generate tax revenue for the struggling state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. The proposed law change died in the General Assembly.

Moffat also has recruited the support of Elizabeth A. Comery, a retired Providence police officer, and Dr. James Crowley, a physician and former president of the Rhode Island Medical Society.

Said Comery: �I am part of the Regulate Rhode Island Coalition because when I worked for the Providence Police Department, I saw first-hand how destructive and ineffective our punitive marijuana laws are. Like alcohol prohibition, marijuana prohibition has not stopped Americans from using the substance. It would be much better from a public safety perspective to regulate marijuana and have it sold by responsible business owners who must operate within the law.��

Dr. Crowley, former president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, added: �Health professional increasingly support regulating cannabis because they have seen after more than four decades that prohibition does not promote public health. Regulation is far better than prohibition because it allows the state to ensure that cannabis is produced under safe and sanitary conditions and labeled with information about potency.

bmalinow@providencejournal.com

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