Shumlin: Legalizing pot not the budget solution

Gov. Peter Shumlin said Monday that marijuana should be legalized in Vermont, but not as a way to raise money to plug the state’s projected budget gap.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150310/NEWS02/703109945

Shumlin: Legalizing pot not the budget solution By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer | March 10,2015 PHOTO BY LEN EMERY Rotary Club Pres.Elect Ethan McNaughton and Past Prsident Carol Cole join Governor Peter Shumlin (D) where addiction, jobs and school funding were just a few of the subjects covered by Shumlin at a lunch meeting of the Springfield Rotary Club SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Peter Shumlin said Monday that marijuana should be legalized in Vermont, but not as a way to raise money to plug the state’s projected budget gap. Shumlin, in Springfield for his annual governor’s visit at a joint meeting of the Springfield Rotary Club and the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce, said that while the budget gap was compelling, it would be the wrong reason to legalize it. Several people attending the luncheon questioned Shumlin’s support of the eventual legalization of pot, saying that the state should be doing more to discourage the use of illegal drugs, not legalize it. Others said it could be used to plug the budget gap, since the recent RAND Corp. study showed legalizing marijuana could raise between $30 million and $70 million. But Shumlin said he was content to wait for other states to work out the legal and cultural wrinkles with legalizing pot. “Our time should and will come,” said Shumlin. Legalizing marijuana should be the result of “smarter drug policy,” he said, “and not tax revenue.” Shumlin praised the local group, Project ACTION, that is working to address many issues in Springfield, including the drug culture, saying it was an “important addition” to the efforts to tackle drug addiction. “We can’t let addiction destroy our friends, destroy our children and neighbors,” the governor said. The biggest enemy to Vermont’s fight against opiate abuse, Shumlin said, is the decision by the Federal Drug Administration approving a new, super-strong opiate, Zohydro. He called it “OxyContin on steroids.”. Shumlin said that drug addiction, and its parallel increase in crime, was the biggest threat to Vermont’s quality of life. All of us, he said, live in Vermont because of its quality of life. But that could be seriously damaged with the continued rise in addiction. “We’ve got to stay on this,” he said. Zohydro is much more potent than OxyContin, and the FDA approved it without requiring that it be tamper-proof by addicts, “who can shoot it and snort it.” But one drug treatment counselor, Bridget Sullivan of Ludlow, questioned the Shumlin administration’s record on taxing alcohol and cigarettes, which she said studies showed were less attractive to teenagers the more expensive they got. Shumlin said that the taxes on alcohol have been increased several times in recent year, but he said he disagreed that the taxes on alcohol and cigarettes would have that desired effect. “It’s not the time to say ‘Mission Accomplished,’” he said, refusing to answer a question from Michael Johnson, executive director of Turning Point in Springfield, who asked why Shumlin’s proposed budget would cut state funding of the alcohol recovery centers. “In tough times, you have to make tough choices,” Shumlin said.