A LAW WORTH COPYING

Shwarzenegger signed an emergency bill early last month that got
little notice here on the far North Coast. It fixed - in a hurry -
the state law governing home winemaking. Someone discovered that the
law as written actually was ridiculous: It prohibited competitions
like many county fairs have held for decades because legally homemade
wine could not legally be transported off your property to be judged.
Nor could you share your product with friends; only immediate family
members could imbibe. Of course those parts of the law were widely
ignored and once discovered, the law was amended - especially since
the popular California State Fair home-winemaking competition was
about to begin.

I mention this law because it may be one to copy when and if we
legalize and regulate marijuana.

First, let's review what's wrong with current marijuana laws:

1.

The laws are widely ignored. If a law makes so many otherwise
law-abiding citizens criminals, there might just be something wrong
with the law. (Think prohibition.)

2.

The laws make a bunch of liars out of our friends and neighbors. Most
medical marijuana card-holders are not telling the truth. They want a
215 card because they like to use marijuana as a recreational drug
and they don't want to be arrested.

3.

The laws turn otherwise law-abiding doctors into co-conspirators.
There are a few physicians, no doubt, who write prescriptions for 215
cards purely for money, but the majority likely do it because they
are learned, informed men and women who know marijuana is not the
bogeyman gateway drug some claim and that it is infinitely less
harmful to our society's health than, say, tobacco. They know that
some ill people get some relief, but even if they don't, the drug is
not unlike anxiety-lowering Xanax.

4.

The laws are a colossal waste of our law enforcement dollars. Do you
think most cops want to be out there enforcing a bunch of fuzzy pot
rules when they should be targeting drunk-drivers, breaking up a few
more domestic disputes, or going after serious drugs like meth and heroin?

5.

The laws waste the resources for courts, jails and prisons.

6.

The laws spawn grow houses. We have a housing shortage and we are
turning perfectly good domiciles into mold-infested sweat boxes where
neighbors are subjected to criminal comings and goings at all hours.

7.

The laws block meaningful dialogue with our children. First, they add
the false glamor of forbidden fruit -- and we should keep that list
as short as possible. Second, if marijuana were a controlled
substance, we could have those honest discussions with children we
need to have, like we do about tobacco and alcohol - not the ones we
have about crack and heroin.

8.

The laws result in an industry that does not pay taxes. Please don't
bother to e-mail me about how you pay sales tax on your new car or
property taxes on your home and land, or how you use your commercial
drug profits to support the non-profit of your choice or your own
kid's school. Those are your choices. The rest of us have to pay real
(not voluntary) taxes on our income and so should you.

The 21st Amendment to the Constitution repealed the 18th Amendment
prohibiting the production of alcohol. But it also did something
else: It allowed states and local governments to prohibit it instead.
If we had such a federal framework, each state could begin to
separate marijuana from other much more menacing drugs and use
resources to spend on serious societal issues. I am not the only one
who was flabbergasted that the feds spent two years of investigation
time and sent 450 agents - 450! - to Humboldt County for a week to
bust what looks like some rejects from the gang that can't shoot
straight. (I may be wrong here, since we haven't seen the
indictments. Could we yet snag an Al Capone, a rapist or ax murderer?)

The federal and state alcohol laws are very, very generous. You can
make 200 gallons of wine per year (or home-brewed beer) per household
for consumption by you, your family and friends. The beauty of the
law is that you can't sell it. If you do, the law will come after
you. I don't know of a single home-brewer or winemaker who is
selling. I don't know a single one who is profiting from their hobby either.

If we allowed a household consumption limit of, say, five plants,
would that be generous enough? OK, how about seven?
(Apartment-dwellers, it's inconvenient to brew beer if you don't have
a garage, but not impossible.)

The hurdles, of course, are many. Federal and state laws would have
to be changed and, realistically, a politician willing to risk
reelection for such a cause doesn't exist. Then there is the true
medical question, an easy one. Let's just accept the volume of
anecdotal evidence that says marijuana gives relief to some people
for pain and nausea. If you have ever been a caregiver to a
terminally ill cancer patient -- and I have - I say, why the hell
not? Let the feds contract with a competent grower. Finally, if we
ever classify marijuana as a controlled substance for recreational
use, we could then set up a heavily regulated and taxed commercial
industry that is similar to tobacco.

What would happen next? Would the sky fall?

I doubt it. Supply goes way up, demand shrinks, public resources are
redirected, jail space vacated, the commercial grow industry and its
criminals disappear and, just maybe, a nice family moves in next door
instead of that vacant house with the moldy curtains.