WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING?

Marijuana and tobacco have a lot in common. You can smoke them. You can
screw up your health with them. Some can't imagine living without them.

So, if tobacco were illegal, would the Green Party sponsor an initiative to
legalize nicotine in Mendocino County? Just kidding. Tobacco will not be the
drug of choice for the Green Party any time soon. Cigarettes are marketed by
corporations, and pot may be a cash crop, but at least it's our cash crop.

Sponsors characterize the initiative as a symbolic repudiation of anti-pot
laws and the manner in which they are enforced. Fair enough. Even for people
who don't want to legalize grass, the uneven enforcement of drug laws is
offensive. In some places, people go to jail for years for possession of a
few plants. In other places, they receive citations. This is what happens
when an illegal substance is in common use.

Still, it's unfortunate that this initiative blurs the lines between two
issues that ought to remain separate -- medical marijuana and legalized
marijuana.

Cancer and AIDS sufferers should have easy access to the relief available
from marijuana now, but if they have to wait until the drug is legalized,
they're going to wait a long time.