Can We Legalize Marijuana and Keep Our Kids Safe?

Today, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy, sponsored by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the American Civil Liberties Union of California, will host the second of three public forums being held around the state – this one in Oakland at Youth UpRising and centered on the need to protect the health and well-being of youth if marijuana is legalized, taxed, and regulated in California.

Since its convening in October of 2013, the Commission, made up of legal, academic, law enforcement and policy experts from across the state and nation, has identified three key areas for further research, analysis and recommendations: 1) protecting children and youth, 2) ensuring public safety and 3) establishing tax and regulation schemes that will maximize revenue while eliminating the illicit market.

And in a progress report issued by the commission last month, it argues that many of the issues it is exploring should be considered with the goal of limiting access to marijuana among California’s youth.

That seems like a goal we all can agree on, whatever one might think about the prospect of marijuana legalization in the Golden State. The question is, how do we successfully accomplish that?

In a policy brief released by the commission today, the commission’s Youth Education and Prevention Working Group suggests that a system that regulates, controls and taxes marijuana has the potential to reduce youth access to marijuana, provide effective prevention, improve drug education, mitigate current harms and improve school retention and performance if adequate regulations and are written – and strictly enforced – to protect youth.

What those regulations are and how they will be enforced will be the subject of today’s public forum, which the public is invited to watch live at www.safeandsmartpolicy.org These are essential conversations for all of us to have, because if California is going to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana for adults, it must do it right.

Will Matthews is the senior communications officer for the ACLU of Northern California.