Pubdate: Sat, 01 Aug 2009
Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Modesto Bee
Contact:  http://www.modbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/271
Author: Eileen Wyatt
Note: Wyatt is a Ceres resident who was a visiting editor at The Bee in 2007.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

POT QUESTION SPARKS SURPRISING REACTIONS

A friend cautioned me about writing a column on the legalization of 
marijuana in California.

"Why?" I asked, "just because I write about it doesn't mean I'm 
smoking it -- yet."

Should California go green? I was blown away by the answers I 
received after asking friends and family members this question. All 
of them are middle-aged or older, by the way.

"I'd probably farm it," said a Winton rancher who is always sober. "I 
could go from making a few thousand on five acres to make $100,000 on 
five acres. At the turn of the century, it made the strongest rope 
you could buy."

He laughed and told me, "They used to say the sailors were 'smoking rope.' "

A big rig driver told me, "It doesn't impair your driving as much as 
alcohol. It would empty the prisons but it might result in more petty 
theft due to folks with munchies robbing 7-11s."

The CEO of a Silicon Valley firm said, "It should be legalized and 
taxed. That way I can have easy and legal access to it (chuckle). 
It's a more benign form of relaxation than alcohol."

A former beatnik, elderly person with an MBA offered: "It would 
improve tourism in California, give the grape growers some 
competition. You could have pot-tasting rooms or maybe you could sip 
wine and try different weed varietals at the same time."

Sounds to me as though weed growers and wine grape growers both could 
reap the benefits in this scenario.

"It's a gateway drug," a social worker told me. "Yet perhaps some 
meth users would turn over a new leaf. It could change the drug 
culture in California."

I agree with this one. It could turn drug dealers into bonafide businessmen.

"The quality of the weed would improve if it was legal," another 
person said. "The chemicals that are sprayed on it would be regulated."

What about the income benefits to our state? A state report estimates 
legal pot would bring $1.4 billion.

The CEO of an educational organization paused to reflect and then 
said, "The need for additional revenue shouldn't be the driving force 
for government to pass legislation. Government policy should depend 
on whether the proposal is the right thing or wrong thing to do. 
Government has a higher calling than creating revenue sources. If 
money is the only reason you're doing it, it's wrong. I think it 
should be legalized. It's hypocritical and inconsistent to allow the 
use of alcohol and cigarettes and not marijuana."

My concerns about legal pot are health-related. In our valley, there 
are serious respiratory problems. Would legalizing marijuana create 
more? My grandma was a smoker and died of emphysema. The last thing 
she said to me was, "Don't smoke, Eileen." She was referring to 
cigarettes, but where there's fire, there's smoke.

A relative who is a mental health therapist summed it up best: "As 
long as we don't go one toke over the line sweet Jesus."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom