WILL MEASURE B WORK?

To hear the Measure B backers talk, simply reverting to State
standards for medical marijuana will put an end to "commercial
marijuana," and stop the associated stream diversions, pesticides,
diesel fuel spills, hazardous waste dumping, fire hazards, wildlife
poisonings, trash dumpings, home invasions, guns, pit bulls, speeding
vehicles, and crime magnetism. It will also put a stop to the annual
arrival of street people looking for trimming and/or cheap bud.

These claims are obviously political hype, just like the stoner hype
associated with pot as cure-all for every conceivable ailment from
cancer to hang-nails to depression to pot addition to chronic
membership in the Democratic Party.

But commercial marijuana growing is already illegal as are all the
problems the Measure B people rightly attribute to big commercial grows.

Remember, Measure G wasn't a law when it passed, it was a silly
advisory measure which law enforcement and the Board of Supervisors
could do with as they saw fit. When it was proposed, both
then-Sheriff Craver and then-District Attorney Vroman, although
widely viewed as more or less pot friendly, were against it because
they rightly thought it would attract stoners from far and wide.

Since Measure G passed the cops have always insisted that commercial
marijuana production would remain the same priority it always was.

Measure B proponents recently sent out a mailer titled, "Commercial
Marijuana on the Ballot."

No it isn't. The issue is how many plants can the thousands of County
people who smoke marijuana for whatever reason plausibly possess
without fearing prosecution? Are they smoking 25 plants and 2 pounds
of bud or are they smoking some, making some into "medicine" and
selling the rest?

Or are they collecting lots of phony Prop 215 cards from behind which
they're making tons of tax-free cash selling pot to whoever has the
bogus card and the money to buy it?

The mailer goes on to say, "Measure B is an ordinance before the
voters June 3 to stop abuses by commercial marijuana growers who
cause a public nuisance, endanger public safety, or trash the
environment." It won't do that. Passage of Measure B will reduce
local availability because it will scare mom and pop growers out of
the business (already has, as a matter of fact), thus driving prices
further upwards, thus acting as greater incentive for the gun boys to
put in even larger gardens with more guard dogs to cash in on the
higher prices scarcity always brings.

So, in the likely event that Measure B passes and raises the price of
local bud, there's a good chance some of the pot growing problems the
B-people cite will actually increase.

The backlash against Measure G and the obvious broadscale medical
claims was inevitable. But even if Measure B passes -- and thanks to
the unpopularity of most of its opponents it almost certainly will --
nothing much will change. The dope horse has been out of the barn for
many years, and all the cowboys in the world can't corral him. As
long as you can get $3,000 or more per pound, small-scale pot
restrictions are not going to have much effect.

Some people support Measure B because they don't like stoners making
money with pot while they have to work a regular job. The problem
with that argument is that lots of people who work regular jobs in
the depressed economy of Mendocino County don't make enough to pay
the bills. I know one young guy who works hard every day for low pay
who recently had to pay $1,200 just to have his infant daughter's ear
infection attended to. Of course the $1,200 was pot money -- and who
would begrudge him that?

Who knows how much of a hit many small Mendo businesses will take if
Measure B reduces the discretionary funds available to Mendolanders
who use pot as an income supplement? Who knows how many small-time
homeowners will have an even harder time making mortgage payments
without the pot money they make from their "medical" gardens?

Another likely effect of Measure B's near inevitable passage will be
to greatly increase asset seizures and forfeitures. Remember them?
Most asset forfeiture money goes to law enforcement. Several key
local law enforcement people are known to be anticipating, with
unconcealed glee, a big increase in asset forfeiture if the marijuana
possession limits are reduced to the state minimum allowable. Since
it requires upwards of $5,000 to get an attorney to deal with pot
arrests and asset forfeitures, and more money to try to get at least
some assets returned if there's no conviction, most property or cash
worth upwards of $5,000 will never get returned to the original owner
even if charges are dropped or if the grower is acquitted. There's
doubt about it being returned even if the acquitted pot grower has
over $5,000 and an attorney and pursues the asset return
aggressively. Not to mention the long time periods involved during
which the assets are tied up in law enforcement's hands.

We can also expect that small-time pot cases will clog the local
courts and prosecutions, reducing the time available to prosecute
non-pot crimes.

Why is it that Humboldt and Sonoma counties with bigger plant and
possession limits are not proposing a return to state limits? Those
two counties also have fewer seizures per year than Mendocino County.
On the other hand, Lake County, which does have a higher number of
seizures than Mendo, uses the state minimum limits.

In other words, there's no direct correlation between a county's
growing and possession restrictions and overall pot activity.

Measure G may have attracted some pot growers to Mendoland, but
$3,000 a pound in a county with a depressed economy with low paying
jobs (not counting government jobs) is an even bigger attraction.

Measure B proponents think that if the mellow welcome mat is trimmed
back, then the small-time growers might think twice before coming to
Mendoland. And they might. But most of the problems the Measure B
people cite are associated with the large scale grows which are
already illegal, and they will continue pretty much as is after
Measure B passes, which it will, so we'll be able to see how much
good it does for the residents of the County.

Whichever way the vote goes, though, Measure B has certainly been
good for the political careers of its backers.