Legislator’s Views Shaped by Life Experience – By Dave Upthegrove

-Rep. Dave Upthegrove (D-Des Moines) represents the 33rd legislative district in the Washington State House of Representatives, and has co-sponsored several cannabis legalization bills in the Legislature.

At some point in each of our lives, we look up from our busy routines and take interest in the world around us. We open our eyes to the problems and injustices of the world. The cultural influences on our lives at this point in time– this moment when we first venture into politics and civic affairs– are embedded in us for our lifetime. Our opinions about issues are shaped by these early life experiences. Elected officials, like all people, have formative experiences early in our lives that later shape our views on issues once we are in office. This can help partially explain the views and actions of elected officials when it comes to drug policy.

The Washington State Legislature is way behind the public when it comes to recognizing the need for sensible reform of our drug laws including the legalization of marijuana. Keep in mind, however, that the Washington State Legislature is not a young bunch. Many state legislators came of age politically at the time President Richard Nixon first declared a “War on Drugs” or during Nancy Reagan’s simple-minded “Just Say No” campaign. I remember hearing a legislator who opposed drug reform in Olympia last year refer to marijuana as “reefer”– harkening back to the attitudes and mindset of the 1930′s classic “Reefer Madness”. (And, knowing this colleague, I doubt he watched the movie while high as a kite at the midnight showing on campus.) While our understanding of the drug has improved in recent years, and a more libertarian attitude has gained traction in our state politics with a new generation of voters, many legislators cling to inaccurate information and the unsubstantiated hysteria of Reefer Madness, the War on Drugs, and the Just Say No campaign.

My formative period in politics was different. I first became interested in politics while a student at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the early 1990’s. Through my studies in environmental conservation, I became involved in campus environmental groups. That led me to run for student union representative on the United Progressive Students slate with a platform of environmental responsibility, social justice, and student empowerment. Just like our student politics, the campus environment in Boulder was liberal, including the attitude toward pot. A bong on the living room coffee table did not get a second look. In fact, it was the norm. Pot was as commonplace as beer– and there was plenty of both on campus.

When I entered the Washington State Legislature seven years after returning from Boulder I was still in my twentys. Most of my legislative colleagues could have been my parents. This generation gap and difference in life experience explains part of why I’ve sponsored bills to legalize marijuana in our state, yet many legislators resist the idea. While legislators opposing drug reform have political considerations and some rational policy arguments, many simply have been imprinted with attitudes and perspectives of the past—attitudes and perspectives which seemed reasonable and consistent with the cultural norms at the time, but which have proven to be based on inaccurate information and policies which have since failed.

Legislators who support marijuana legalization sometimes take ribbing from colleagues. Legislators wonder aloud what Rep. Mary Helen Roberts (D-Edmonds), a champion of drug reform, is growing in her back yard garden. Rep. Roger Goodman (D-Kirlkand), who is currently running for US Congress in Washington’s 1st district largely on a marijuana legalization platform, gets teased regularly. Whether or not these legislators, or any legislator, has smoked or does smoke pot is nobody’s business if it doesn’t impact their work. What matters is whether a legislator is committed to sensibly ending the so-called war on drugs (which has been a war on poor people and a war on people of color), and recognizing that adults in a free society can make personal decisions for themselves without the heavy hand of government interference. Your work to help elect legislators who share this commitment is appreciated.

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