POT HARVEST TIME

It's harvest time for marijuana growers, which means it's also the
time when patch pirates get busy ripping off gardens. The result is
heightened tension and the possibility of violence, as recent
incidents up in neighboring rural areas like Butte County
demonstrate.

One fellow up near Chico was awakened from sleep last week by thieves
stealing his medical marijuana. He rushed naked into the backyard and
was shot at. The next night, somebody else tried to steal his pot, and
this time, he did the shooting, driving them away.

Before Proposition 215 passed in 1996, backyard gardens were
relatively rare. Besides being illegal, they were hard to conceal from
neighbors. Now they're legal for up to six plants with a doctor's
recommendation. But a well-tended plant can produce a pound of pot or
more, with a street value of anywhere from $4,000 to $7,000-a tempting
target for thieves.

Some people are suggesting Proposition 215 needs to be reformed-that
it's being abused by profiteers. But the real issue here isn't the
voter-approved measure to relieve the suffering of sick people.
Proposition 215 would work fine if marijuana weren't so valuable and
thieves weren't tempted to steal it. And the reason it's valuable is
because, for everyone except med-pot users, it's illegal.

Prohibition of marijuana has the same consequences that prohibition of
alcohol had in the 1930s-illegal trafficking, gangsterism and
violence-and serves no useful purpose. As drugs go, pot is relatively
innocuous. If it were decriminalized, its value would plunge, innocent
medical-marijuana users wouldn't have to worry about thieves and
neighborhoods wouldn't be disrupted by violence. It's not Proposition
215 that needs reform; it's the laws prohibiting marijuana use.