Pubdate: Wed, 01 Sep 2010
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2010 The Orange County Register
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: David Whiting
Note: David Whiting's column appears four days a week
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Prop+19
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

POT SMOKERS DIFFER ON PROP. 19 MERITS

There is something very weird about asking directions to the 
marijuana expo at the Anaheim Convention Center.

You feel like a young rebel. You wonder if the security guards think 
you're high. And you fear someone's going to get busted.

Paranoid? Hardly. Marijuana's illegal and the smell of pot is in the 
air. I'm not kidding.

It's Saturday afternoon and a dozen or so people  some in 
wheelchairs, some with dreadlocks  are smoking weed. Outside. In 
public. In Anaheim. Near Disneyland.

But there's something even weirder going on inside the expo where 
there is no whiff of weed and smoking is strictly prohibited. 
Marijuana advocates are split on supporting Proposition 19, the 
November ballot initiative that would legalize pot under California law.

To say they are dazed and confused might make for a fun one-liner. 
But it would inaccurately portray what is a serious, nuanced and 
hotly contested issue.

In delving into the debate, I also discovered another surprise. In 
the marijuana world, the debate has nothing to do with "Harold and 
Kumar"-type stoners, although the colorful characters at some of the 
booths might suggest otherwise.

Instead, the debate tends to pit middle-class adult recreational 
smokers  think an evening cocktail  against patients who rely on 
marijuana to help them cope with a variety of ailments, especially 
gut-twisting nausea and crippling pain.

THE WAR ON DRUGS

Many people, including retired Orange County Superior Court Judge 
James Gray, believe the costly war on what they consider a relatively 
benign plant is a colossal waste of money and pointlessly wrecks 
people's lives.

Half of California voters, according to an August poll by SurveyUSA, 
favor Prop. 19. The remaining voters are 40 percent against and 10 
percent undecided.

And how many arrests?

In 2008, 78,500 people faced pot charges in California, according the 
state Attorney General's office.

"I'm here to tell you the worst thing about marijuana is jail," said 
the silver-haired Gray, wearing white slacks, a button-down shirt and 
a blue blazer with brass buttons. His book, "Why Our Drug Laws Have 
Failed and What We Can Do About It," is testimony to his stand.

Still, the few dozen people, many middle-aged, who listened to Gray 
at the Convention Center as well as others I talked to (there were 
hundreds in attendance) varied on their support of Prop. 19. Most, 
however, agreed with Gray. They said the ballot proposal is flawed 
but that at least it's a step in the right direction.

At first, two major proposals battled for supremacy. One was pushed 
by the 40-year-old National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana 
Laws. The other, Prop. 19, had better funding and was originated by 
Richard Lee, a medical-marijuana provider in Oakland. After Lee's 
initiative qualified for the ballot, NORML threw its weight behind Prop. 19.

Prop. 19 would allow people 21 and over to posses up to one ounce of 
pot, smoke reefer in non-public places (Yes, that precludes the 
Anaheim Convention Center garage.) and grow a little weed.

In many respects, the bill would give the same rights to recreational 
users that 1996's Prop. 215 gives to medicinal marijuana patients. 
But in other respects, Prop. 19 is markedly different from 215 and 
those differences caused the debates at the pot expo.

SELLING AND TAXING

First, Prop. 19 would allow local municipalities to authorize  or not 
authorize  selling up to an ounce to individual customers.

Kandice Hawes, president of the Orange County chapter of NORML, said 
she would prefer if Prop. 19 made it tougher for cities to opt out. 
Still, she backs the initiative.

Prop. 19, unlike 215, also would allow large quantities to be 
cultivated for commercial use. This is no small matter. The State 
Board of Equalization reports about 22.3 million pounds of pot was 
grown in the U.S. in 2006, or about $35.8 billion worth of weed 
according to the study "Marijuana Production in the United States." 
The board went on to say that the Golden State in 2006 was 
responsible for 8.6 million pounds worth $13.8 billion  and that's 
under illegal conditions.

Others at the expo pointed out that Prop. 19 would create new revenue 
streams to help our beleaguered state. The Board of Equalization 
estimates a $50 per ounce levy would mean $1.4 billion in taxes.

It is the matter of taxes, however, that upsets some medical 
marijuana patients. For them, marijuana is medicine and medicine 
should not be taxed.

AT THE NORML BOOTH

Looking a little like Santa Claus on summer vacation, John Grace, 59, 
of Huntington Beach manned Orange County's NORML booth much of 
Saturday wearing white sneakers, khaki cargo shorts and a black NORML 
shirt. A veteran labor organizer, Grace is a one-week-old newbie to 
the organization.

The father of two adult children told me he has a severely compressed 
disc in his back among other issues. The pain was so severe he had to 
leave his job because prescription medication reduced his ability to 
function. Then Grace, now retired, discovered that marijuana masked 
the pain just as well as pharmaceutical drugs. He quit the pills, 
smokes daily  and says he has regained control of his life.

Grace understands other marijuana patients' concerns about taxing 
medicine. But he also believes there are larger issues behind Prop. 
19. "We need to stop making people who smoke criminals," Grace said. 
"People shouldn't lose their house or car because they smoke pot."

We'll find out in nine weeks how many Californians agree that it's 
time to end the costly war on weed.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom