Marijuana Policy Project

The Maui News online poll asked: "Should marijuana be legalized in Hawaii in a manner similar to alcohol - taxed and barred for possession by anyone under 21?"

Anyone who thinks decriminalization is the way to go with marijuana needs reminding that an alcohol prohibition worked the same way as a "decriminalization policy." Namely, users get light penalties while dealers go to jail for felony time.

When Eliot Ness raided a speakeasy, the customers went home while the operators went to jail. Decriminalization enabled Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and their ilk to violently control the outlaw booze market for more than a decade.

Eliot Ness and the prohibition agents never put the bootleggers out of business - the repeal of prohibition and a regulated market for adult alcohol ended the heyday of the booze barons in short order, and we haven't had a bombing or a shootout over a beer route since 1933.