Pubdate: Wed, 08 Feb 2012
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Copyright: 2012 The Trentonian
Contact:  http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: Jeff Edelstein
Note: Read Jeff Edelstein every Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA ALREADY!

See that Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, the one about 
the end of Prohibition? It was meant to be - and it was - an attempt 
to stir our emotions about how wonderful a nice, cold beer tastes, 
and how silly it was this all-American beverage was kept out of the 
hands of normal, law-abiding people due to a lunatic law.

Well, it got me thinking about a lunatic law currently on our books, 
and how one day we'll look at back at it through the same emotional, 
old-timey prism Budweiser took us through.

Yep. It's time for my annual "I Can't Believe Marijuana is Still 
Illegal in America, I Mean, How Stupid Can We Be, It's Only Weed" column.

Let's start here: Over 50 percent of Americans support legalization - 
that's the highest (heh heh) percentage ever - according to a recent 
Gallup poll. When Gallup first asked the question in 1969, a measly 
12 percent of Americans supported legalization. Clearly, demographics 
are shifting, with old fuddy-duddies dying off and being replaced 
with a new batch of old fuddy-duddies. Chief difference? These new 
fuddy-duddies have gotten stoned in their lives and have lived to 
tell about it.

I wonder what this same Gallup poll is going to show in 10, 20 years. 
Is 75 percent out of the question? Maybe even 90 percent?

So right off the bat - or bowl, bong, whatever - we've got a majority 
for the first time on the legalization front.

The next front I'd like to quickly explore is criminal justice.

I talked to Det. Lt. John Dehart of the Trenton police department, 
and in 2011, Trenton's VICE and TAC squads confiscated over 75 pounds 
of marijuana. And while 75 pounds isn't exactly a monster number, 
consider how much time must have been spent by Trenton's finest, from 
patrol on up, on battling the demon that is mary jane.

You ask me - and especially in this impossible budget era - any time 
spent on keeping marijuana off Trenton's streets is a colossal waste 
of time, energy and money. There are a near-infinite supply of bigger 
problems out there. I'm not telling police how to do their job; but 
if I was mayor, I would.

Besides, taking pot off the streets does absolutely nothing to stem - 
or seed, whatever - the tide of people who smoke marijuana or the 
ease with which you can acquire it.

I haven't smoked pot in over a decade, but I'm pretty confident that 
by the time you finish reading this column, I could get my hands on a 
dimebag. (Do they still sell dimebags? I have no idea.)

Check out this duo of statistics, courtesy of the U.S. Department of 
Justice: In 2006, over 2.6 million pounds of marijuana was seized in 
America. By 2009, that number swelled to 4.3 million pounds.

Clearly, with a 65 percent increase is seizures, marijuana use must 
have cratered, right?

Not so much, as it turns out. Actually, not at all. In 2006, 10.3 
percent of Americans 12 and over copped to smoking a doobie in the 
previous year, while by 2009 that number had risen to 11.3 percent.

So yes. Seizures up 65 percent, usage ... up 10 percent.

Can I get a "I rest my case" up in the house? Eh. let's pile on. 
According to a study done by Dr. Jon Gettman titled "Marijuana in New 
Jersey," and published by drugscience.org, the war against marijuana 
cost New Jersey taxpayers $352 million in 2006, from street arrests 
to trials. Think that money could be used better? And furthermore, 87 
percent of marijuana arrests were for simple possession. Enough is 
enough. The prohibition of marijuana is A) a losing cause, B) not 
supported by the majority of Americans, C) doing nothing to stop 
people from smoking pot, D) costing a fortune and E) giving otherwise 
law-abiding citizens a police record.

Shame on us. As a society, we deserve an F.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom