MARIJUANA'S NOT JUST A TOKEN CROP

Aplets, Cotlets And Potlets?

That last product doesn't exist -- yet. But when you consider how
high marijuana unofficially floats on the list of Washington's top
cash crops, it's not much of a stretch to imagine the state's famed
candied fruits someday facing a THC-laced competitor.

Pot seized statewide last year had an estimated value of $270 million
-- "enough marijuana plants to rank the illegal weed as Washington
state's No. 8 agricultural commodity," the Associated Press concluded
last week.

That would place the value of seized pot above the state's combined
tart and sweet cherry crop, which hit an estimated $242 million in 2004.

No wonder we're called the Evergreen State.

Now here's where it gets interesting. Cops estimate they only snare
about half the harvest. So Washington's total 2005 pot output could
have been worth $540 million, based on official estimates.

Compare that to the 2004 value of the state's top five agricultural
commodities, as ranked by the National Agricultural Statistics
Service. Apples reigned supreme here with a $962 million value of
production. Meanwhile, milk topped $861 million, wheat was worth $524
million, cattle hit $476 million and potatoes were good for $460 million.

After making the necessary apples-to-pot comparison of 2004 commodity
output versus the estimated value of our 2005 marijuana crop, ganja
unofficially vaults over wheat to rank a buzz-worthy No. 3. Only
apples and milk still prove more potent.

But wait a second. Cops are notorious for inflating the street value
of drugs they confiscate. They also might be overestimating the
percentage of the pot crop they seized. (They could even be
underestimating it in a bid to wrangle more enforcement resources.)

So that leaves us with some pretty hazy numbers. But there's still a
decent chance pot is one of the state's top five crops. And one thing
not in dispute is the fact that most of it is grown right here on the
East Side.

Illegal or not, pot production makes a significant economic impact on
our region. Having the authorities seize about half the crop lessens
that impact, of course, as does the cost of arresting, trying and
jailing nonviolent drug offenders.

But we're missing out on pot's economic potency in another area as
well: tax receipts.

"Every vice, once it's regulated, becomes a cash cow," notes Roger
Goodman, drug policy director for the King County Bar Association. He
cites a recent analysis by Boston University economist Jeffrey Miron
that suggests Washington would net at least $22 million in annual tax
revenues and cost savings by lifting the pot prohibition. We could
plow the criminal-justice savings into treatment and anti-smoking
education programs and still come out way ahead.

"Why do we leave it up to criminals to reap untaxed, unregulated
profits" from marijuana sales -- especially when the state already
makes a bundle from liquor taxes and lottery receipts? Goodman asks.

Now tell me the idea of legalizing, regulating and taxing the state's
No. 3 crop is half-baked.