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In Our View: Pot And Teens a Thorny issue

The Columbian
Published: September 25, 2015, 6:01am

While the goal remains worthy and necessary — preventing teenagers from using marijuana — a recent case out of Southeastern Washington demonstrates the uneasy manner in which Washington is wading into the waters of legalization.

Asotin County Prosecutor Ben Nichols recently charged three teenagers with felonies for marijuana possession, charges that could have netted them up to five years in prison. After the case garnered national media attention for the seemingly draconian penalties, Nichols recognized that he had misinterpreted the law and reduced the charges to misdemeanors.

The law in question was Senate Bill 5052, which was crafted by state Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, and signed into law this year by Gov. Jay Inslee. The goal of the new law is to regulate the state’s medical marijuana industry and bring it in line with the burgeoning recreational marijuana industry. When news about the felony charges became fodder for water cooler discussions, Rivers reportedly told the Lewiston (Idaho) Tribune, “We needed to send a message to our kids that this is an adult activity. We have to send a message to our kids: This will hurt you in more ways than one if you decide to participate.”

Rivers has since retreated from that hard-line stance, and on Tuesday she released a statement that read in part: “I applaud the prosecutor for his wisdom and willingness to apply good sense in this case. This was a good test of the new law, and the outcome is in line with what I was trying to accomplish. No one is looking to destroy kids’ lives for making a mistake.”

In the end, the situation appears to be an error on the part of the Asotin County prosecutor, who initially said, “If you are a minor, a person under 21, it’s a felony no matter what.” After consulting with the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Nichols concluded that the law allows for misdemeanor charges involving amounts of less than 40 grams of marijuana, which certainly is a more reasonable penalty.

Still, the case speaks to one of the primary concerns that many voters held even as they approved recreational marijuana use for adults with 56 percent of the vote in 2012 — use of the drug by teenagers. Initiative 502 included several safeguards designed to limit drug use by minors as much as possible by dictating the locales of marijuana-related businesses and by providing money for educational efforts.

With or without those efforts, the facts remain that marijuana is readily accessible for many teens — just as it was prior to legalization — and that parental influence will have a greater impact on teen use than the letter of the law.

Exploring the new frontier of legalized marijuana and reconciling it with the regulation of medical marijuana will likely lead to some other missteps.

As Rivers said: “I have no doubt we will see more bumps as our state implements its marijuana policy. This is still a bit like the Wild West and, although we’ve tamed the situation some, this case highlights the need for legislators, prosecutors and law enforcement to continue working together.”

Rivers said she has asked the state Attorney General’s office for clarification on how prosecutors should handle the language in Senate Bill 5052. That clarification will provide some guidance as to whether the Legislature should tweak the law next year. In the meantime, it is safe to say that common sense eventually won out in Asotin County.

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