It has now been one year since I-502 retail stores opened. Although it is too early to tell whether the law is accomplishing all of its goals, we already have some important results. First and foremost, we know that law enforcement resources are no longer being wasted on the arrest and prosecution of adults for the possession and use of marijuana. We are also taking away profits from the black market and investing badly needed tax revenue into public health and prevention programs.

This op-ed first appeared in the Opinion section of the Seattle Times.  As medical marijuana heads back to Olympia, legislators are bracing for a rerun of last session’s drama of makeshift dispensary operators and self-appointed patient advocates decrying any effort to rein in abuses of the law.

ACLU-WA Criminal Justice Director Alison Holcomb spoke at the historic opening of the first legally-licensed marijuana retail store in Seattle along with with business owner James Lathrop and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.  Her comments acknowledge both the failures of prohibition and the efforts of so many to replace it with a system that works. 

Two upcoming events will highlight the ways the War on Drugs has produced painful consequences for not only the United States, but also our neighbors to the south.  Between the more than 70,000 deaths and 10,000 disappearances in Mexico since 2006, and the mass incarceration and disenfranchisement of non-violent individuals in the U.S., the number of lives being destroyed in the name of the War on Drugs has reached epidemic proportions.