Pubdate: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Page: 5E Copyright: 2010 The Sacramento Bee Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376 Author: Paul Armentano Note: Paul Armentano is the deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law (NORML). He lives in Vallejo. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California) PROHIBITION OF POT FEEDS LAWLESSNESS On Tuesday, members of the state Assembly will vote on California marijuana policy. The Public Safety Committee will vote on Assembly Bill 390, the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act, which seeks to regulate and control the production, distribution, and personal use of marijuana for adults age 21 and older. Tuesday's vote will mark the first time since 1913, when California became one of the first states in the nation to impose criminal cannabis prohibition, that lawmakers have reassessed this failed policy. It is high time that they do. Only by enacting state and local legislation on the use, production and distribution of marijuana, can state and local governments effectively impose controls regarding: . Which citizens can legally produce marijuana; . Which citizens can legally distribute marijuana; . Which citizens can legally consume marijuana; and . Where, and under what circumstances, is such use legally permitted. By contrast, the prohibition of marijuana provides California law enforcement and state regulators with no legitimate market controls. This absence of state and local government controls jeopardizes, rather than promotes, public safety. For example: Prohibition abdicates the control of marijuana production and distribution to criminal entrepreneurs (e.g., drug cartels, street gangs, drug dealers who push additional illegal substances). Prohibition provides young people with unfettered access to marijuana (e.g., according to a 2009 Columbia University report, adolescents now have easier access to marijuana than they do alcohol). Prohibition promotes the use of marijuana in inappropriate and potentially dangerous settings (e.g., in automobiles, in public parks, in public restrooms, etc.). Prohibition promotes disrespect for the law and reinforces ethnic and generation divides between the public and law enforcement (e.g., according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report, 75 percent of all marijuana arrestees are under age 30; African Americans account for only 12 percent of marijuana users, but make up 23 percent of all possession arrests). AB 390 features fiscally conservative, common sense proposals that seek to raise revenue, promote public safety and limit the access that young people have to marijuana. These are goals that lawmakers and the public ought to support. It's time to end 90-plus years of marijuana prohibition with a policy of legalization, taxation, regulation and education. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake