MEASURE K ANOTHER ATTEMPT AT DE FACTO LEGALIZATION

I have a challenge for the advocates of marijuana use in Santa Cruz.
Try telling the truth for a change.

Measure K isn't meant to reallocate Santa Cruz Police Department
resources to give them "more resources to fight violent crime." Like
the medical-marijuana initiative, it is just one more attempt at de
facto legalization through misinformation and yes, lies. Ultimately,
Measure K will decrease the ability of the police to justly apply
their discretion and further remove the real issue of legalization
from public discussion.

Marijuana contains a powerful drug and no responsible medical
practitioner advocates the smoking of any substance as a medical
cure. At best, the smoking of marijuana is a palliative measure for
the terminally ill. It is right that those who suffer should be free
from pain. Overall though, the smoking of anything, including
marijuana and tobacco, is not healthy and probably leads to
respiratory disease.

At its worst, marijuana is a highly addictive substance with a host
of negative side effects, including that most fatal of all diseases, cancer.

Ironic, isn't it?

I don't believe that the use of marijuana leads to violent behavior
or what is known as pharmaceutical violence.

In fact, in terms of overall public safety, marijuana is less of an
issue than alcohol use. But, I also believe that the illegal
production of marijuana leads to a high level of systemic violence.

Rival marijuana growers and traffickers are well known to use
violence in order to eliminate competition and increase market share.

They are committing crimes of violence and according to the
Sentinel's own research, seriously damaging the environment in their
outdoor "gardens." They leave behind plastics and other synthetic
garbage, human waste, organic and inorganic fertilizers, and man
traps to deter theft and injure law-enforcement officers.

Prop. 215 has served to increase that violence and Measure K will do
the same. Only outright legalization and commercial production will
change this reality.

The image of marijuana as a benign substance grown by ordinary people
whose only interest is to share a God-given herb is a myth.

I am willing to debate its use as a recreational drug and don't
believe it is any worse, in terms of public health, than tobacco or
alcohol. But, let's stop these specious arguments that it is a
medical panacea and is distracting law enforcement from the "real"
problem of crime.

The Santa Cruz Police Department knows what law enforcement all over
Santa Cruz County knows.

We have a violent crime problem. Many of those violent crimes are
perpetrated by criminal syndicates and gangs who use the proceeds
form the sales of illegal substances, including marijuana, to further
their criminal activities.

Measure K supporter Andrea Tischler said that Measure K is not meant
to allow "potheads on every corner." According to SCPD's own
statistics, in 2005 only 254 citations were issued for 11357B HS
possession of less than 28.5 g of marijuana.

Those citations were not issued in people's homes.

They were issued to potheads smoking on street corners or other public places.

We regulate the public consumption of alcohol in public places.

Should police officers be statutorily prevented from similarly
enforcing marijuana use?

Ultimately, Measure K is a Trojan Horse and will create an
enforcement vacuum in Santa Cruz that will be filled by state and
federal agencies over whom local voters have little or no control.
Violations of federal drug laws will result in prosecution in federal
courts with jurors drawn from throughout the Northern District. Those
jurors will not be allowed to know if the user was a "medical
marijuana" patient because the prosecution will not allow it. And,
those prosecutors are successful in winning convictions.

Marijuana should be debated, not law enforcement's obligation to
enforce the law. Vote No on Measure K.