New Approach Washington's Latest I-502 Ad Sparks Heated Debate Over Youth Pot Use

New Approach Washington's Latest I-502 Ad Sparks Heated Debate Over Youth Pot Use


New Approach Washington's latest ad in support of Initiative 502 hit YouTube Monday, diving into one of the areas everyone involved in the marijuana legalization debate seems to agree on: kids shouldn't smoke weed.

*See Also: What Debating I-502 In the Middle of the Day on KCTS 9 Looks Like
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Featuring a woman billed as a "Washington mom" sitting, Cleaver-esque, on someone's front porch, the ad sticks to the established I-502 talking points, arguing that passing the initiative, which would legalize marijuana use for those over the age of 21, will actually make it tougher for kids to get their hands on pot.

Naturally, not everyone is buying it.

Through what the ad refers to as the "tight control" I-502 will establish on the sale of marijuana, including strict penalties for selling pot to minors, the New Approach Washington message is based on the nearly unquestionable premise that current marijuana policy has failed miserably. The ad says I-502 will generate millions of dollars that can be used on prevention and education, and that passing the initiative is "just common sense."

"Young people have easy access to marijuana, and of course drug dealers don't check IDs," says the woman playing the part of "Washington mom," arguing that it's time for a new approach to marijuana policy in our state.

Here's the ad:



Kevin Sabet

Kevin Sabet, a former Senior Advisor with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and current Director of the Drug Policy Institute and the University of Florida College of Medicine, is an established critic of I-502. He scoffs at the idea passing the initiative will make it more difficult for kids to get their hands on weed, and says approving I-502 will likely create a situation where both the black market and sneaky weed-selling big business (think big tobacco) are targeting kids.

"That argument is completely flawed," says Sabet of New Approach Washington's latest advertising effort. "Alcohol and cigarettes are legal today for those 21 and 18 and kids have no problem accessing those two addictive substances. In fact these legal drugs are implicitly marketed to kids and completely normalized. Why would it be any different for marijuana?"

"If marijuana is legal for those over 21, the well-established black market will simply shift to exclusively targeting kids," Sabet continues. "There are some legitimate arguments for changing current policy, but saying that legalization would lower teen use is completely contrary to over 40 years of evidence on the effect of price and legality on consumption."

Washhington's Alison Holcomb also cites the shadow of Big Tobacco in her arguments, though she's obviously in favor of I-502. Holcomb says we should learn from the lessons the fight against teen tobacco use has provided.

"It wasn't necessary to start arresting adult cigarette smokers to cut youth smoking rates in half. Instead, we tightened up advertising regulations to prevent marketing to children, and invested in information campaigns that helped kids make smarter choices," says Holcomb. "Tobacco is just as available today as it was ten years ago, but fewer kids are choosing to use it. We've successfully changed social and cultural norms around tobacco use through information and education, not criminalization of adult health choices. "

"The notion that the black market is going to shift its focus to the under-21 crowd is absurd," says Holcomb of Sabet's dire predictions. "Are underage drinkers keeping bootleggers in business?"

Like a seasoned sparring partner, however, Sabet is quick to pounce on successes claimed in the fight against tobacco.

"If legalization advocates want to hang their hat on the tobacco experience, let's not forget that most of our history has been spent fighting Big Tobacco's lies. Do we think it will be any different for marijuana?" says Sabet.

"The bottom line is this: Voters will need to decide if Washington State is going to be the guinea pig this November -- or more accurately, should the kids of Washington be the guinea pigs? This will affect them the most," Sabet says. "Is the right to buy weed in a store worth the risk to kids in the form of increased addiction, reduced IQ, and increased car crashes? And the risk we take in inviting Federal intervention? Worst of all, in 20 years we'll be fighting Mary Jane Camel and experiencing déjà vu."

For Holcomb, it's a familiar, and ultimately unconvincing, argument against change. "The key point is that what we are doing now isn't keeping marijuana out of the hands of kids," Holcomb says. "Relinquishing control of marijuana to the black market, and arresting adults for using marijuana, is an expensive, unnecessary, and failed strategy for preventing youth use of marijuana."

 

Shaddy,,after a few years of experiencing cannabis use first hand and the sky doesn't fall in,,hemp will return to the open market and marijuana prohibition for anyone will be laughed at and prohibition will be remembered as the slow moving holocaust it is,,but first we have to get there,,,8 more days until a huge hammer blow is delivered against this insanity.

 

People ain't rats.