MARIJUANA QUESTION WILL BE KEY IN GENERAL ELECTION

One thing is clear after a San Mateo County Sheriff's Office sting
picked up a man affiliated with the Blue Heaven medical marijuana
dispensary for trafficking in guns and harder drugs: Selling pot on
the middle ground between what is legal and illegal is not working.

Virtually everyone has an opinion when it comes to legalizing
marijuana.

On one side are those who believe the drug is purely recreational
and, therefore, of no value to society. They think legalizing the
drug will cause more people to try it. They worry there would be more
intoxicated drivers on the streets, more people spending their money
on pot rather than living expenses. They worry about cognitive
deficits that may result from chronic pot smoking.

On the other side are those who liken current marijuana laws to
Prohibition. They consider pot a relatively harmless substance and
say adults ought to be able to smoke it with reasonable restrictions.
They note that untold public resources are spent enforcing marijuana
laws and that making the drug illegal only assures business for
outlaws. They also note the state could use the tax revenue.

In November, voters will again go to the polls and California will
enter a new era with respect to the drug. A ballot initiative seeks
to make less than an ounce legal for anyone 21 and over. It would
allow cities and counties to regulate retail sales of the drug to
adults.

Clearly, California's current system is broken. Those wishing to
purchase from licensed dispensaries must get a doctor's permission
and that has become another online joke. Los Angeles recently forced
hundreds of dispensaries to close because the city had become
overrun with pot houses masquerading as herbaceous pharmacies. The
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors and the Half Moon Bay City
Council simply zoned the places out of business, a disingenuous use
of legal power.

It's time to end the winking avoidance of legal status and decide,
once and for all, whether to let adults smoke marijuana. We'll get
our chance in the general election.