LEGALIZATION IS NOT THE ANSWER

This November, California voters will vote on a ballot measure that is
designed to legalize marijuana.

But "legalization" is not being emphasized because of all the baggage
and implications that it carries. Instead, the measure is comfortably
couched in the politically correct idea of fiscal responsibility for
state and local governments; a way for them to balance their budgets.

With the out of "control deficits," and no clear solution to avoid
cutting more services or firing even more employees, governments have
cut their budgets to the bone, and are looking for ways to increase
revenues. Many see this ballot measure as a good way to do this.
Estimates put tax revenue from marijuana at around $1.4 billion per
year. Added to that, they say, is the savings of billions of dollars
that law enforcement spends each year to enforce, try and incarcerate
marijuana violators.

The paradox is that many believe that the people who are currently
growing marijuana are not going to support this measure because they
believe that its passage will hurt their business.

It is generally felt that legalization will attract big corporations
to California to establish major marijuana farms, effectively pricing
the mom and pop growers out of the market.

And they say that this could be a bad thing for our local economy
because, as everyone knows, without marijuana the Mendocino economy
would be non-existent!

But if you step back from the passion and misinformation surrounding
the issue, and look at the claims from an objective point of view, it
becomes apparent that there are many flaws in the argument in favor of
legalization. Let's look at them:

Why does anyone think that tobacco companies, or other large
corporations, are making plans to grow marijuana in California?
Remember, pot is still illegal under Federal law, and with all the
public and government pressure, law suits and huge fines that the
tobacco companies have been subject to over the last several years,
why would they want to take this on? Maybe, if marijuana becomes legal
across the U.S. they might then want to get on board, but that would
take many years to happen, if it happens at all. So in the absence of
the big boys, it seems obvious that marijuana cultivation would not
change much in California. Local entrepreneurs will still grow pot in
back yards in town, on public lands, and in the privately owned
forests outside of town. And because the existing local growers
haven't been exactly diligent about paying taxes anyway, it's unlikely
that the new law would generate the billions of dollars in tax revenue
that they claim it will.

But suppose the large corporate growers do take over the pot industry
in California, what happens then? Some locals have spoken out in favor
of promoting, and even branding our Mendocino Gold as a boutique
product that will capture the upscale marijuana connoisseur market
niche; people who are willing to pay top dollar for a superior
product. If this does become a reality, why would anyone actually
believe that any of our local growers would stop growing the stuff?
True, there will be growers that want to avoid the hassle, so they
will register, follow the newly established growing guidelines, and
even pay taxes.

But what about all the others who haven't shown any civic
responsibility yet, and are unlikely to do so in the future. They
will, no doubt continue to do business as usual, because the profit
will still be there, requiring law enforcement to bust them, thus
effectively nullifying any savings in law enforcement costs that
proponents of the measure claim will happen when marijuana is no
longer illegal.

Just because something becomes law, even if it seems to benefit the
growers, doesn't mean that the problems will go away. Au contraire;
because marijuana would now be considered to be legal, it would only
lend respectability to the whole industry.

We have seen, since the passage of Prop 215 in California and Measure
G in Mendocino County, how these measures only helped to accelerate
the growth of the marijuana industry.

And what about the myth that without marijuana the local economy would
dry up? The claim is that the growers, apparently the only people in
the county who are making money, spent their earnings locally, thereby
keeping the local economy afloat.

But is this true? Where exactly are they spending all of their hard
earned dollars at local businesses? Look around; there isn't much to
see in the number of places to spend big bucks locally.

Sure, there are the restaurants and clothing boutiques, but that's
about it. The growers spend the big bucks in Bali, Hawaii or other
retreats where they go after the harvest is in. Some of them do employ
local contractors to build their homes, but how much does all of that
actually contribute to the overall, long-term economic vitality of the
region?

It's unknown of course, because they don't declare their income, and
they don't register with the local merchants when they spend money at
their establishments, so no one really knows, and the myth persists.

But aside from the economics of it all, there's another aspect of the
whole marijuana issue that doesn't seem to get as much notice, or it's
ignored because it doesn't rise to the level of importance as say, the
"rights" of the growers to have as much as they want.

It's pretty sad when a region such as ours, with the human resources
that we have, can't do better than this! We are blessed with an
abundance of hard-working, educated, talented people who can't seem to
get motivated to create something of value.

There doesn't seem to be the drive to do anything except what is easy.
And despite what they tell me about how hard they work growing pot - I
mean you actually need to work for four or five months to earn $50,000
- - somehow growing pot doesn't quite measure up to harvesting lumber,
fishing, farming or ranching, making things in a factory, or any of
the other traditional occupations that have made America the great
nation that it is. But the worst part is what the next generation -
our kids - are seeing served up as examples of how to achieve the
American Dream.

The American Dream used to be defined as working hard to earn enough
money to buy what you needed to live the good life. An integral part
of the American Dream was the part about working to achieve your
goals. It was understood that there was no free lunch; anything worth
having was worth working for. That was known as A Good Work Ethic.
Somehow, the message got screwed up, and the work part didn't seem as
important as the getting part. I'm sure, about now there are some
readers who are rolling their eyes, wondering what nonsense am I
spouting here? But it's true, our nation has been in existence for
only a few hundred years, not long when compared to other nations of
the world.

We grew from a barely survivable set of squabbling colonies to
arguably the greatest nation in the world, and much of the credit for
this goes to ordinary men and women who were industrious and
innovative, and who helped to establish this nation that, even today
with all of the anti-American sentiment aimed at us, is still the
destination of choice for many of the world's citizens.

It is said that we suffer from the inability to learn from history,
and if you were to look back in time you would see how once great
nations have declined over the years.

And if you were to take the time to learn why, you would discover that
the decline began when the people got too comfortable and grew fat and
lazy, figuratively speaking. They forgot the principles that they
followed to help them achieve world greatness.

Most of us kind of remember these principles, so we're not completely
lost, yet. But it's the kids that I worry about.

They are standing by, watching this latest drama play out, and they
are learning some lessons from watching us. If marijuana becomes the
major mainstream industry in California - officially sanctioned by the
voters, the kids will receive a very powerful message.

They will learn that it is okay to have no greater ambition in life
than to grow pot and get rich. They will learn that even though
something has no real redeeming value in the big picture, but there
are financial benefits to being persistent, you can get your way by
staying the course.

I think it's real important for everyone to look beyond immediate
self-gratification and consider all of the collateral damage that
occurs from glorifying the marijuana industry.