IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE AND REGULATE POT

When it comes to marijuana policy, California has been stuck in a
fairy tale for decades.

This particular fairy tale is like "The Emperor's New Clothes."

Everybody can see that marijuana prohibition has done nothing to
prevent its use, and that arresting tens of thousands Californians
every year for misdemeanor possession diverts police resources away
from violent felonies.

And nobody is blind to the fact that marijuana has funded and
empowered the sociopathic drug cartels responsible for untold
suffering and violence on both sides of the border.

It's time for Californians to acknowledge the truth about the war on
marijuana. Not only is it ineffective, it directly compromises public
safety in our state.

In November, California can become the first state to recognize this
reality by passing the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010.

This smart initiative would legalize personal cultivation and
possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults over the age of
21. Individual cities and counties could strictly regulate
distribution and sales as they see fit. It would increase the penalty
for providing marijuana to minors, and sales by unlicensed dealers
those now funding the cartels and wreaking havoc in our cities would
still be illegal.

California banned cannabis almost a century ago based on sensational
and unscientific notions about the plant. Modern prohibition, based
on some of the same anachronistic ideas, has failed to control
widespread availability and use. Like the 18th Amendment's
prohibition against alcohol, it is routinely overlooked by millions
of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

Others have made common-sense arguments about the economic benefits
of taxing this major industry. Cannabis is by far the largest cash
crop in the state, with an estimated value of about $14 billion.
Estimated tax revenue from sales alone would be $1.4 billion money
that could go to police, public schools and other critical services
now being gutted by California's budget crisis.

As the city attorney of Oakland a city where dozens of people are
killed in drug-related murders every year my primary concern is the
war on marijuana's collateral damage to public safety.

Black-market marijuana is a main source of fuel powering the vast
criminal enterprises that threaten peace on our streets and weaken
national security on our borders. According to the White House Office
of National Drug Control Policy, the Mexican drug cartels get more
than 60 percent of their revenue from selling marijuana in the United States.

Money is the oxygen of these organizations. For decades, our approach
to fighting violent drug gangs has been like trying to put out a
house fire with a watering can. Why not try shutting off the fire's
main oxygen supply?

The actual costs of enforcing prohibition are hard to estimate. We
spend hundreds of millions of dollars and countless law enforcement
hours arresting people for low-level marijuana crimes, further
overburdening courts and prisons. Jail beds needed for marijuana
offenders could be "used for other criminals who are now being
released early because of a lack of jail space," the state
Legislative Analyst's Office wrote.

More than 61,000 Californians were arrested for misdemeanor marijuana
possession in 2008. That same year, about 60,000 violent crimes went
unsolved statewide. The reality is that resources tied up fighting
marijuana would be better spent solving and preventing violent
felonies and other major crimes.

Regulating and controlling marijuana is really a law-and-order
measure. It takes marijuana off street corners and out of the hands
of children. It cuts off a huge source of revenue to the violent
gangsters who now control the market. And it gives law enforcement
more capacity to focus on what really matters to Californians making
our communities safer.

It's time we call marijuana prohibition what it is an outdated and
costly approach that has failed to benefit our society. In November,
we will finally have the chance to take a rational course with the
Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act.