The marijuana legalization initiative on November's ballot in Colorado, Amendment 64, is currently ahead in the polls. Opponents of this initiative have been on the attack in recent weeks claiming the initiative is bad for young people in Colorado. Contrary to arguments by the defenders of the status quo, current marijuana policy in Colorado fails young people and is indefensible.

There are 13,000 arrests or tickets for marijuana possession in Colorado each year. Nationally, 90 percent of marijuana arrests are for young people 18-30. The typical demographic of a marijuana user is that people will experiment with marijuana when they are young, but as they get older, and get a mortgage, and have kids, use tapers off. So far from protecting young people, the war against marijuana is actually a war on young people. Young people are the main target of our pot laws.

Once arrested for marijuana, young people will suffer long term effects as the result of having a criminal conviction. A person with a marijuana conviction can expect the following problems in life: (a) they will have a hard time getting housing, and may be evicted from government housing; (b) they will have a hard time getting a job with a criminal conviction; (c) they may lose student loans; and (d) every time they are asked on any application if they have been charged or convicted with a crime, they will have to answer yes. While the formal penalties through the court may be modest, usually a small fine, the informal penalties last for a long time.

Current policies are not working. Young people report that marijuana is easier for them to get than alcohol. DARE programs have been shown to be counterproductive ---- just say no campaigns not based on science send a message to young people that people in authority aren't truthful about marijuana. If you care about young people, you cannot defend the status quo.

Right now, black market drug dealers control distribution for recreational purposes. Those drug dealers use violence to enforce their contracts. They push harder drugs on people only looking for marijuana. Their transactions are unregulated, untaxed, and a harm to society. In contrast, regulation has worked in Colorado. The Center for Disease Control recently released a study saying that since the regulated medical marijuana dispensaries came into existence in 2009, teen marijuana use in Colorado has gone down -- not up.

All this focus on young people and Amendment 64 is a smoke screen and distraction from the real issue in this campaign. We don't criminalize other adult behavior just because a few young people might try it. If that were the case, then alcohol, sex, marriage, making a contract, gambling, and many other adult activities all would be illegal just because young people might not be able to handle them. Amendment 64 is a referendum on our society's commitment to freedom. Opponents of legalization believe the government should be punishing adults even if their actions have no harm on others. Those in favor of Amendment 64 believe that freedom to choose a substance less harmful than alcohol is more important than the bad actions of a few.

I stand next to young people in court every day who see that the war against marijuana is worse than marijuana itself. We hear leaders talking about how concerned they are about young people at the same time they support laws that criminalize youth. The truth is that approximately 40 years after the beginning on the war on drugs, we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars nationally and we have changed use/consumption very little. Marijuana prohibition has failed at all of its stated goals and young people should not be used as a smoke screen to continue these failed policies.

Sean T. McAllister is one of Colorado's leading drug policy reform lawyers, and based in Denver. His practice focuses on civil rights, medical marijuana issues, criminal defense, DUI, and family law.