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Joe Bolkcom
News Release
For Immediate Release: 2/4/2019
Senator Joe Bolkcom: 319-337-6280
Iowa Should Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol
Ending Iowa Marijuana Prohibition will reduce harm to residents, save tax dollars, and create Iowa jobs, businesses and additional revenue
(Des Moines) State Senator Joe Bolkcom of Iowa City today announced he is preparing legislation to end marijuana prohibition in Iowa.
“Marijuana prohibition in Iowa has failed and we need a better approach,” Bolkcom said. “The hundreds of millions spent on police, courts, and prisons have not made Iowans significantly safer or healthier than states that have ended marijuana prohibition. In addition, while Black Iowans use marijuana at the same rate as White Iowans, they are four times more likely to be prosecuted for doing so. This is one reason why Iowa has one of the nation’s most racially biased records when it comes to who we send to jail.”
Bolkcom said regulating marijuana like alcohol would also create new businesses, jobs and economic activity in the state of Iowa.
“The 80 million Americans living in the states that already regulate marijuana like alcohol live just like we do here in Iowa,” Bolkcom said. “The only difference is that adults in those states can legally purchase and consume marijuana, a product that is less addictive and lethal than alcohol.”
Bolkcom said the challenges of regulating the use of marijuana are similar to those involved in regulating alcohol.
“Like smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol, using marijuana is harmful to the health of teenagers,” said Bolkcom. “Teen use of marijuana must be aggressively discouraged and prevented, just as we do now with our anti-tobacco and anti-alcohol campaigns. My legislation directs that taxes from the sale of legal marijuana will should be used to intensify and improve our anti-smoking and anti-drinking public health campaigns.”
Bolkcom said failure to end marijuana prohibition will cost Iowa jobs, new businesses and millions in lost tax dollars. He pointed to the fact that other Midwestern states like Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois are moving towards legal marijuana regulation.
“Within two years, Illinois will have ended marijuana prohibition and adopted the regulation approach,” Bolkcom said. “As long as Iowa clings to the failed marijuana prohibition approach, we will lose jobs, dollars and people to Illinois and other states that adopt a fact-based approach to this issue.”
WeedPress: The Paper Trail 
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