Pubdate: Thu, 19 May 2016
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2016 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://www.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.
Author: Howie Carr

LEGALIZATION WILL ONLY LEAD TO BUDDING PROBLEMS

More drugs, more problems - it's as simple as that.

If you legalize something, there's going to be more of it around. In 
the case of drugs, any drugs, that availability means more and more 
losers stumbling around stoned out of their minds, slackjawed enough 
to hurt innocent people, maybe even themselves, as a result.

Innocent people, in this case, like trooper Thomas Clardy, his widow 
and their six now-fatherless children, ages 4 to 17.

I'm pessimistic about the chances of stopping this 
marijuana-legalization question on the ballot in November. But if the 
voters are paying any attention whatsoever, this horrific crime in 
Charlton should certainly be a major issue for Big THC to have to defend.

Is there any reason this David Njuguna should have had a 
"prescription" for weed? His lawyer claims he was "looking for work." 
An all-you-can-eat buffet maybe, but work, not likely. I'm going to 
guess Njuguna's malady, whatever it was, did not involve either a 
job-related injury or stress.

Drove in from Webster to Brookline - do you suppose Njuguna was 
multi-tasking when he went to pick up his, uh, medicine? Did he have 
a MassHealth card? But this is the kind of solid citizen (or alien) 
who is going to be patronizing the cannabis emporiums once weed is 
available over the counter, as it is in Colorado.

Yes, I can hear the stoners saying, ' Dude, you don't need scrip to 
score pot, it's, like, totally available anywhere.' OK, but if it's 
that easy to get, why do we need to have these medicinal 
"dispensaries" set up to dole it out, complete with a uniformed 
detail cop on duty?

And they're just a halfway stop to full legalization. Remember those 
front license plates back in the ' 70s with the marijuana leaves and 
the inscription: "Arrive Stoned"? I thought we were kidding!

Of course, it's not as bad as booze. But is that a good enough reason 
to legalize it? You want to give layabouts yet another intoxicant 
they can use to check out permanently and send the rest of us the 
bills for their care and feeding?

Let Njuguna and his fellow Cheech and Chongers do what slackers used 
to do way back then - head down to the corner bar, or the parking lot 
of the local mall or club, and wait for the goateed guy in the black 
van with the white painted top to drive by. My belief is, let's not 
put anybody in prison for marijuana, but let's not make it even easier to get.

Once you legalize pot, the next thing they'll demand is cocaine, or 
maybe meth. No slope is too slippery not to slide down. Look at 
public bathrooms. Who could have predicted this insanity, even a year ago?

You can't smoke a Marlboro, that's damn close to against the law, but 
weed - no problemo. Dr. Feelgood is more at risk for writing Granny a 
prescription for an extra 10 Vicodins than the "dispensary" is for a 
dead state trooper.

And please don't tell me marijuana doesn't affect your driving. The 
bigger problem is, nobody is just doing a bone. You have a drink, you 
have a smoke. To quote Bob Dylan, ' Like a fool I mixed 'em, and it 
strangled up my mind. Now people just get uglier, and I have no sense of time.'

To quote another old song, wish I didn't know now what I didn't know 
then. But I do, and this is what I know: Legalizing marijuana is a 
big mistake, and what happened to trooper Clardy is just more 
irrefutable evidence. Vote no in November.

Listen to Howie every weekday from 3-7 p.m. on WRKO AM 680.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom