ProtectYouth.org says regulate it like tobacco

A common criticism made by opponents of the Marijuana legalization movement is that full legalization would make the pot more accessible to minors and in turn corrupt young impressionable adolescents. ProtectYouth.org, a Dallas based non-profit and lobbying group, has chosen to speak up against these critics. Craig Johnson, Executive Director of ProtectYouth.org, says that the ONLY way to protect children from coming into contact with Marijuana is to legalize and tax it the way we do cigarettes. Doing so would make it less accessible and stop the dealing of the substance on street corners and school yards.

"We're more able to efficiently regulate the tobacco market than the marijuana market," Johnson says. "So why not adapt some of the same regulation to both weeds? Effective regulation beats our current system of ineffective criminalization any day."

To back up this claim he turns to a study showing that in 1996 56% of convenient store retailers reported selling cigarettes to minors. Following this finding stricter enforcement was implemented and the number of retailers who reported selling to minors dramatically dropped to 11.3%.

http://www.dallasobserver.com/2009-08-20/news/smokey-dare-maybe-it-s-time-to-regulate-marijuana-like-cigarettes/