TIPPING THE SCALES ON A 'WEED-MART' IN GILROY

For a kid growing up, marijuana is actually pretty difficult to
avoid. I was offered my first joint in the fifth grade. As early as
junior high (now called middle school) I knew exactly who to ask if I
wanted to get some.

All my life I have been surrounded by people who light up, and are
not very discreet about it. It is so readily available and casually
used that it is sometimes shocking to realize pot is illegal.

The Showtime series "Weeds" (where a recently widowed mother turns to
dealing dope to help make ends meet) is not that far fetched from the
perspective that regular people buy and sell the stuff.

Confession time: I have never smoked pot. I am over 40 years old.
Born and raised in California, I went through the public school
system and even played a lacrosse game at Humboldt State University
while I was in college. But I never even tried it. Not once, and not
even close.

I did not grow up with particularly strict parents, and I was never
in any kind of restrictive religion (is there any other kind?) For me
it was simple: I never tried it because I thought it was stupid and
only losers smoked pot. As I got older, I have realized that everyone
who lit up was not necessarily a "stoner" as we called them in
school, but it still seems pretty stupid.

Then I consider someone with terminal cancer who finds relief from
their pain or nausea by smoking a doobie. Are they losers like the
stoners in school? Probably not. I would not label them like that
anyway, they have bigger issues. Should they be able to get pot when
they want it to provide the relief that they need? I think so, and it
should be legal. Because even though marijuana is everywhere, these
people should not have to sneak around if it is really what they, and
their doctor, feel is appropriate.

So, while I would never smoke pot to get high, and will still frown
upon those who do, I would not deny it to those in need.

Recently the City Council nixed the idea of a medical marijuana
dispensary here in Gilroy with plans to look at the issue again in a
few months. By that time some legal issues with pot stores in
southern California should be cleared up and Council can better
refine our policies.

Still, the idea of a Weed-Mart in our town has many people concerned
that it will lead to problems because the product sold at these
places has been shown to be too easily available to more people than
it was meant for. This will of course lead to crime, a bad element in
the area around the shop, and the eventual deterioration of our
already thinning morality.

My wife wonders why people whose doctors think weed will help them
cannot simply get it from their pharmacist. Why a special shop? Good
question, and I believe the answer is because the Federal Drug
Administration has not approved it for medical use.

I think City Council made the right decision, but not because of the
ill effects a Ganja Emporium would have on our family values and
safety. I understand upset parents who see pot as a gateway drug.
And, while its use is certainly common and it is easy to get, a
dispensary could make pot even more available. Maybe kids who would
not have tried it otherwise may reconsider.

On the other hand, I also understand the arguments about
decriminalization of a relatively harmless product (compared to
alcohol and other drugs) and I also see the possibility of government
finally being able to profit from pot sales. I see both of those
sides and I am a little in both camps. But I think Council made the
right decision simply because Pot-Pourri (even as a state approved
dispensary) is not legal according to the U.S. government. California
has made it legal, but the federal government has not.

For now the Obama administration plans to look the other way in what
has been a states' rights issue. That stance may change during this
administration or in the next one.

And, while I would probably lean toward allowing a dispensary if it
was fully legal and well regulated, I am not strongly enough in favor
of one that I would be willing to put Gilroy in the middle of a
battle to legalize pot. Because that is what this is also about.

People in favor of legalizing marijuana are fully behind the fight of
state-sanctioned pot shops because it is one small victory in the bigger war.

Just like those who would decriminalize abortion seek to slowly eat
away at Roe v. Wade by trying to put more and more restrictions on
the termination of unwanted pregnancies; the pro pot people are
trying to slowly ease restrictions as the first steps to legalization.

I am not ready to go there yet and I do not think Gilroy should either.