PROS, CONS OF LEGALIZED POT

By MARC HANSEN

Terry Mitchell says he might invite David England to the annual Million
Marijuana March on the first Saturday in May.

Des Moines is one of 250 cities around the world that will try to alert the
masses to the benefits of the illegal plant. Mitchell, a 49-year-old Dexter
resident on disability, is the local organizer.

The first year Des Moines joined the party, he tells me, 12 people showed
up. The next year there were 200. Last year more than 300.

This year, he's hoping for a gathering of 500 on the west steps of the
Capitol. He doubts England would show up, but he'd love to have him. Heck,
Mitchell could make him grand marshal.

England, the former Des Moines Area Community College president, has become
something of a hero to the decriminalization crowd.

To Mitchell, who says marijuana is the only effective pain killer for his
degenerative disc ailment, the problem isn't evil drugs. It's evil drug
laws that turn good citizens like England into criminals.

"I haven't spoken to the man," Mitchell says. "I'd like to contact him
about coming down, but I can see how he would be kind of reluctant to do it."

You can see how a community college president charged with possessing and
growing marijuana would prefer to lie low. You can see why everybody's
talking about him.

How could an accomplished, well-educated man with so much to lose allow
this to happen?

An Iowa City reader tells me I can find the answer by picking up a copy of
"The Botany of Desire," by Michael Pollan.

A correctional officer who writes takes the opposite viewpoint. He says
there wouldn't be a drug problem if judges would get tough and start
sentencing users instead of offering them community service and probation.
With zero tolerance, which supposedly worked like a charm at the work
release center, the jails would empty.

"Make the penalties not worth the chance of getting arrested," the
correctional officer says. "It is obvious that David England thought the
risks were worth it."

Not so obvious to everyone.

"What if that law defies all common sense?" asks another reader. What if
that law gnaws at the fabric of society? What if that law funded Osama bin
Laden? What if that law destroys the very concept of personal freedom? What
if that law is regularly violated by a good percentage of Iowa high school
seniors?

"Instead of posing your question - what was Mr. England thinking? - let me
suggest a more insightful question. What were the Iowa legislators thinking
when they passed these laws? And let me answer - a few more votes,
regardless of the costs."

Fine, but what about working to change the law?

After thanking the writer for his thoughtful and persuasive comments, I
told him England probably wouldn't be getting many parent-of-the-year
votes. When minors are involved in an illegal and potentially harmful
activity, and a parent seems to be endorsing the activity, something isn't
right.

The writer suggested England might have been trying to protect his son from
the ravages of underage drinking. It's possible, I guess.

Also gaining momentum is the "Functional Pothead" theory, put forth by a
letters-to-the-editor contributor who says England refutes the belief that
chronic marijuana users can't be successful, productive members of society.

Yes, but what about functional alcoholics? What if England were calling in
sick, staying home to throw back a few shots of bourbon? Wouldn't you
recommend he get help?

The difference, Mitchell would suggest, is that abusing alcohol in your
living room is not illegal. If England were throwing back shots, you
wouldn't be reading this column.

Criminal or not, few people will sleep better at night if England goes to
jail. Few will feel safer. England isn't a menace to society like the boys
of Enron. He wasn't bilking shareholders or ripping people off.

While I'm not gung-ho about sending England off to prison, especially at a
cost of $20,000 a year to the taxpayers, I wouldn't mind hearing him
address the crowd at the Million Marijuana March. Mitchell could charge
admission.