Pubdate: Mon, 11 Oct 2010
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: A2
Column: Capitol Journal
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: George Skelton, From Sacramento
Cited: Proposition 19 http://yeson19.com/
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/find?272 (Proposition 19)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)

A DOPEY MEASURE ON POT

California Has Enough Problems Without Legalizing Marijuana

The state Capitol is pathetically dysfunctional. One in eight workers 
statewide is out of a job. UC Berkeley is arrogantly eliminating baseball.

Things are not going well in California.

What can we do?

Well, if Proposition 19 passes on the Nov. 2 ballot, we can all go 
get stoned. Legally. Buy some joints down at the corner convenience store.

We can become an even bigger laughingstock to the nation.

It was tempting here to write again about the Capitol's broken 
governing system that resulted in another bumbling, bleary-eyed, 
all-night legislative session needed to pass a 100-day-late budget Friday.

But there's little left to say about this never-ending clown act. 
Besides, the adopted budget wasn't all that important. The hard 
decisions were left for the next governor and Legislature.

Prop. 19 is more interesting and would have a greater long-term 
impact on California.

The ballot initiative, bankrolled primarily by a prospering 
entrepreneur of the pot industry, would permit local governments to 
regulate and tax commercial cultivation and retail sales of 
marijuana. And it would permit all Californians at least 21 to grow 
and possess their own weed for personal use.

Such activity, however, still would violate federal law.

In California, selling marijuana for non-medicinal use is a felony. 
But possessing less than one ounce - about a sandwich baggie-full - 
is a low misdemeanor punishable by a fine.

Starting Jan. 1, pot smoking will be even less of a state crime. 
Under a bill recently signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, it will 
be deemed an infraction, equivalent to a traffic ticket.

Since 1996, when voters approved Prop. 215, it has been legal in 
California to grow, sell and smoke marijuana for medical purposes, 
subject to local control. A "patient" needs only a doctor's 
"recommendation," not a prescription.

Merely a quarter of buyers at medicinal pot shops "are truly in need 
of it because of a medical condition," says attorney George Mull, 
president of the California Cannabis Assn., which advocates 
"reasonable regulation of medical marijuana."

Mull opposes Prop. 19, illustrating a split in the marijuana community.

"We think it's kind of goofy to jump ahead to recreational marijuana 
when we haven't done medical marijuana correctly yet," he says.

"We'd like to see medical marijuana truly made legal. In many areas, 
you can grow your own but can't sell it. There should be a more 
incremental approach."

He adds that "this whole [initiative] was set up by folks trying to 
make millions."

That would be primarily Richard Lee of Oakland, founder of 
"Oaksterdam University," the nation's first marijuana trade school. 
Lee says his medical marijuana dispensary, nursery and other 
pot-related merchandising generate up to $7 million a year, according 
to a Times article by reporter John Hoeffel.

Lee is in a good position to make a bundle off marijuana 
legalization. So far, he has spent $1.5 million to qualify Prop. 19 
for the ballot and pitch it to voters.

The pitch basically is this: Cops currently waste many millions 
chasing down nonviolent pot smokers. There's a $14-billion industry 
that could be taxed to help the debt-ridden state. And marijuana 
"prohibition" has created killer drug cartels.

Opponents counter that relatively little, in fact, is spent nabbing 
or prosecuting marijuana users. "There's nobody in jail for 
possessing less than one ounce of marijuana," says Fontana Police 
Chief Rod Jones.

State prison data show that fewer than 1% of inmates have been 
sentenced for marijuana crimes of any kind.

"Long, long ago in the John Lennon era, people got thrown in prison 
for possession of marijuana," says Cassandra Hockenson, a spokeswoman 
for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "Not 
so much today."

Opponents also point out that there's no marijuana regulation or 
taxing provisions in the initiative. That would be left to local 
governments, and there'd be a confusing hodgepodge from county to county.

But Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) last week introduced 
legislation to create a uniform statewide regulatory system. "If 19 
passes, we'll be ready," he asserts.

Prop. 19 supporters are united behind the belief that what someone 
inhales or ingests in the form of muffins or brownies ought to be his 
business only.

"Let the criminal justice system control people's actions, but not 
what they put into their bodies," says James P. Gray, a retired 
Orange County Superior Court judge, who describes himself as a 
libertarian "flame thrower."

And he adds: "Along those lines, it makes sense to me to strictly 
regulate and control heroin. It makes as much sense to put Robert 
Downey Jr. in jail for heroin addiction as it would have putting 
Betty Ford in jail for alcohol addiction."

Gray has long advocated the legalization of all drugs. "But let's 
start with marijuana," he says. "Each drug should be decided on its own merit."

Such talk scares Dr. David Sack, a psychiatrist and chief executive 
of Promises celebrity rehab centers. "Drugs cause tremendous 
hardships to children and families, and the risk of addiction goes up 
with exposure," he says.

"Marijuana is clearly addictive, impairs judgment and increases the 
risk of motor vehicle accidents and interferes with brain 
development, particularly in adolescents....

"The biggest concern I have is that legalization will create a 
societal validation that marijuana is not harmful."

Legalizing "recreational" dope would create yet another problem for the state.

Prop. 19 is a crackpot idea. Therefore, California voters just might pass it. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake