MORGAN ISN'T DONE WITH POT BILLS

Del. Harvey Morgan isn't done yet.

The Gloucester Republican says his mission to reform Virginia's
marijuana laws didn't end when his two bills to decriminalize its
possession and expand its medical use were snuffed out in committee
earlier this year.

He says he'll keep introducing bills till they pass.

Snickering colleagues aside.

"I'm gonna try anyway," Morgan affirmed in a recent news report.

Good for you, Harvey.

The delegate and I may not agree on much politically, but on this
issue, conservatives and liberals can find a lush green acre of common ground.

It gets to the heart of personal liberty. The freedom to be left
alone. The notion that government should stay out of your personal
business so long as you're harming no one.

It also speaks to fiscal responsibility, and the wise use of tax money.

In fact, there's so much akin to conservative principles here that
Virginia and other "guns and tobacco" red states should be clamoring
for marijuana reform.

Unfortunately, it clashes with another deep conservative principle:
punishing criminals.

The Catch 22, of course, is that we wouldn't have to punish casual
pot smokers if we stopped criminalizing them.

As ever, I state for the record and the benefit of law enforcement
that I don't smoke pot. Morgan and I have that in common, too.

But my tax dollars are part of the fortune spent in this country to
hunt down, arrest, convict and incarcerate those who do.

This month, a task force of officers and deputies from Gloucester,
Mathews, Middlesex, York-Poquoson, James City County and the state
raided three properties in Mathews County, seizing more than 250 pot plants.

Last month, two Newport News men were nabbed in Maryland in
connection with transporting 75 pounds of marijuana.

And earlier this year, police seized 700 pounds of pot at properties
in Virginia Beach and Nashville, arresting a Newport News man and
former Virginia Beach woman in connection.

Flashy, high-volume seizures notwithstanding, most weed arrests on
the Peninsula involve small amounts.

First-timers caught with less than an ounce are likely to be ordered
to rehabilitation, but could face 30 days in jail and a misdemeanor
criminal conviction.

Possessing more than that is a felony with a minimum mandatory
two-year sentence. More than five pounds means five to 30 years in prison.

We spend tens of millions of dollars every year in Virginia to
incarcerate pot smokers. On the other hand, imposing a $500 civil
fine for less than an ounce could save millions, and rake in about
$10 million a year in fines.

Just as important, thousands of Virginians wouldn't be stigmatized in
the job market, housing and education by not incurring a misdemeanor
criminal record.

Also, if we allowed physicians to freely prescribe marijuana, we
could get government and law enforcement off their backs and enable
them to ease pain and suffering as they see medically fit.

Many, especially in law enforcement, still insist marijuana is a
gateway drug, charting a progression from pot to stealing to cocaine
to heroin to ruination.

But, as a local education official explained recently, the issue
isn't so much gateway drugs as "gateway experiences." One example, he
says: high-energy drinks.

So I guess gateway drug charts need to be revised back to the day you
bought your kid his first Red Bull.

Unlike nicotine, pot isn't addictive. Unlike alcohol and some hard
drugs, it doesn't trigger violence. It's used recreationally by a
broad cross-section of society; mostly white and middle class. If you
don't know someone who smokes pot, odds are you do -- you just don't know it.

Make no mistake: The law will change. Even one of Morgan's chief
critics has said he wouldn't object to tweaking it. Fellow Republican
Del. David Albo rejected Morgan's bills, but says he'd vote to impose
a civil penalty for first possession of very small amounts, or
allowing medical marijuana for another disease if it was proven effective.

Morgan should focus his bill more narrowly, then, and try, try again.