ON THE GOVERNOR'S TALK OF LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

With a rhetorical shoulder-shrug, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said
it's time to consider legalizing marijuana. His thoughts were the
loose-fit variety: "I think it's time for a debate" and free of any
specifics. Still, the idea is worth a serious study to assess the
advantages and risks of trying to tax, regulate and control the drug.

The subject is neither unfamiliar nor taboo in California. Medical
marijuana has been available - some would say too easily - for over a
decade. Pot is judged to be one of the state's biggest cash crops,
and open use hasn't invited arrest for years. What likely emboldened
the governor to sound off was a Field Poll last week showing 56
percent of the state favors legalization.

As chief steward of the state's sinking finances, the governor is
tapping into another potential benefit of legalized marijuana: state
revenue. He's intrigued by the idea of new taxes that might flow from
state-authorized pot sales. That's a chief selling point of a bill
introduced in February by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco
Democrat. Oakland is weighing a similar measure that would put a tax
on medical marijuana sales.

But this path has obstacles. After opening the door to legalizing
marijuana, the governor tried to nudge it shut. He wants to hear from
European countries, including his native Austria, about their
experiences after dropping marijuana bans.

After the blue-ribbon studies, there's also a federal ban on
marijuana to navigate around. At most, the state could decriminalize
pot sales and use, knowing that Attorney General Eric Holder has said
federal agents won't be arresting cannabis club operators.

It's a bigger step to set up a regulatory system, including sales and
taxes as called for in the Ammiano legislation. The state attorney
general's office suggests the legal future is uncertain if the state
goes into the business of supervising and collecting levies on a
product banned by Washington.

There's also a social gulf to cross. Advocates of legalized marijuana
like to say that it's no worse than alcohol. But alcohol is hardly
benign, as many families who have seen the ravages of addiction, or
the toll of accidents and long-term health damage from excessive
drinking. Would the lifting of the prohibition on marijuana increase
its use (especially among young people) and produce its own set of
ill consequences? Would the taxing of marijuana halt - or incentivize
- - its illicit trade?

Count us among the skeptics of this idea. Yes, conduct the study -
but with clear-eyed objectivity.

The lesson of the medical marijuana experience is that details matter
when it comes to loosening the laws on this drug.