TIME TO START TALKING ABOUT MARIJUANA LAWS

No, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano isn't high. He's well aware that federal
law prohibits the legalization of marijuana sales in California. He
also knows President Obama opposes changing the federal law.

So what's the San Francisco Democrat up to with AB 390, his proposal
to legalize and tax weed to ease the state's deficit? Think of it as a
conversation starter - a necessary first step toward bringing more
reason into U.S. drug laws. They won't change without pressure and
leadership from states such as California.

And while legal pot shops won't be opening anytime soon, Ammiano is
taking an obvious first step toward sanity in drug enforcement:
decriminalizing marijuana for personal and private use.

That would recognize reality and take some pressure off the state's
overwhelmed criminal justice system.

Marijuana is California's biggest cash crop, creating a $14 billion
market. Prohibition isn't working any better for pot than it did for
alcohol. The drug is widely available and used across age and income
groups. Enforcing laws against it, smoking out growers and jailing
users, is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars that are needed for
education and health care.

The first step, which could be accomplished this year, is for
California to reduce penalties for the personal, private use of
marijuana, making it more like a traffic offense. This can be done
under federal law, and California would not be first. Colorado and
Alaska - yes, conservative Sarah Palin's domain - have already done
it. Eleven other states have decriminalized pot use to some extent.
New York now is re-examining its extreme Rockefeller-era drug laws on
the theory that easing penalties for nonviolent users would be good
fiscal and social policy.

The more radical proposal to legalize pot raises more questions.
Ammiano estimates that selling the drug under a regulatory structure
similar to the one for beer, wine and liquor would bring in $1.3
billion a year to California's treasury. However, the state Board of
Equalization estimates that legalizing marijuana could increase
consumption by as much as 40 percent, an attention-getting, if
speculative, figure.

Even if that's true, it might be less damaging to individuals and
society than the current policies. Beyond the cost of arresting,
prosecuting and jailing nonviolent users, lawmakers can't ignore how
much the present laws are contributing to the growth of gangs, both
here and in Mexico. Taking away the illegal market for the most common
drug could improve public safety.

It's not just San Francisco liberals who advocate changing U.S.
policies on drugs. Republican George Shultz, the former secretary of
state, and past conservative icons such as Milton Friedman and William
F. Buckley have argued that the harm from fighting the war on drugs
outweighs the benefits. Recent polls show increasing numbers of
Americans support legalizing marijuana.

It's past time for a rational public policy conversation about
California's marijuana laws. Thank Ammiano for opening it.