ARGUMENT IN FAVOR OF LEGALIZING POT BUILDS POTENCY

A recent article in this space was titled "The price of legalizing pot
is too high." Ignoring our past national experience with alcohol
prohibition, the author opined as to how an "open market" causes
greater harm. We obviously need our government (not the one we formed
in Sacramento as an independent California Republic) to mandate what's
good for us.

Another article offered the oft-heard sophism that pot along with
alcohol is one of the "gateway" drugs to meth and heroin. Actually,
not to make light of such an obviously unanalyzed observation, but the
real gateway substance to harder drugs is breast milk, or formula, if
you prefer. Virtually'100 percent of all drug users were bottle-or
breast-fed, so I think we need a new agency to oversee the intravenous
feeding of all newborns until they can feed themselves! One non
sequitur is just as logical as the other.

Seriously, it seems some truths remain constant but require
rediscovery every few generations. One truth is that there is an
almost pathological overwhelming urge on the part of some people to
regulate the behavior of others. I don't want you smoking pot because,
well, just because. I'll feel free to distill, sell, transport,
regulate and enjoy alcohol, but if you choose to do the same with a
plant that grows naturally in the wild I'm going to pass laws that
specify your arrest and the seizure of your property.

After the disastrous'18th Amendment in 1919 that kicked off what
amounted to a 14-year crime wave in the United States, you'd think
people would remember the bitter lessons learned. But as soon as one
substance was again deemed legal to sell and consume, another was
suddenly deemed illegal. Could it be that the newly idled army of
Treasury agents who had spent years chasing bootleggers needed work?

In an excellent article titled "Marijuana, Prohibition and the Tenth
Amendment," Internet columnist Susan Shelley points out that the
reason Congress required the 18th Amendment banning the manufacture,
sale, and transportation of alcohol is that the Constitution did not
give them the power to do so outright.

She asks, "Why did the country go to all that trouble if Congress
could simply have declared alcohol a Ucontrolled substance' and made
it legal or illegal with a simple majority vote and a presidential
signature? If marijuana is grown, distributed and consumed within
state borders, and the state government decides that under some
circumstances that is not a crime, by what authority does Congress
override that judgment? Why is marijuana [today] different than
alcohol in 1919?" Advertisement

It isn't. Washington is simply doing an end-run around us, something
that's become increasingly more common as our policymakers bypass our
old "outdated" Constitution, with its many inconvenient proscriptions
against their minding our collective state business.

The combined will of 37 million Californians in their united Republic
is nothing next to a simple decree of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy. We've been told our decisions as a state are to be
ignored. Our sick emaciated citizens suffering with chemo-induced
nausea can't smoke a joint to ease their misery because, well, just
because. Too bad. Pour me a drink, Sam.

If you drink and drive, you should go to jail. If you smoke and drive,
you're likewise a fool and a menace to everyone else on the road.
However, subsequent to regulations setting sensible restrictions on
these substances, shouldn't you be able to indulge in them without
fear of arrest? Pay the taxes, show ID, buy a license to sell, don't
drive under the influence; how would that differ from alcohol as far
as the law is concerned?

The pluses would be many: a $15 billion to $20 billion industry would
spring up instantly, an enormous and expensive bureaucracy would be
dismantled, prison populations would be reduced as casual users were
released, or not arrested in the first place, freeing up more beds for
hardened criminals, and drug gangs, especially those butchering
thousands at our southern border would be crippled overnight.

Most important, the assaults on our civil liberties would end.
Institutionalized theft in the form of asset forfeiture would cease,
and our sickest citizens could get the medicine they need.

By the way, anticipating the attacks, I'll state it for the record: I
value my lungs so don't inhale anything; Negra Modelo and Cuervo 1800
are my informed choices for adult substances. However. I feel that
your choices should be your own.