POT SMOKERS DIFFER ON PROP. 19 MERITS

There is something very weird about asking directions to the
marijuana expo at the Anaheim Convention Center.

You feel like a young rebel. You wonder if the security guards think
you're high. And you fear someone's going to get busted.

Paranoid? Hardly. Marijuana's illegal and the smell of pot is in the
air. I'm not kidding.

It's Saturday afternoon and a dozen or so people some in
wheelchairs, some with dreadlocks are smoking weed. Outside. In
public. In Anaheim. Near Disneyland.

But there's something even weirder going on inside the expo where
there is no whiff of weed and smoking is strictly prohibited.
Marijuana advocates are split on supporting Proposition 19, the
November ballot initiative that would legalize pot under California law.

To say they are dazed and confused might make for a fun one-liner.
But it would inaccurately portray what is a serious, nuanced and
hotly contested issue.

In delving into the debate, I also discovered another surprise. In
the marijuana world, the debate has nothing to do with "Harold and
Kumar"-type stoners, although the colorful characters at some of the
booths might suggest otherwise.

Instead, the debate tends to pit middle-class adult recreational
smokers think an evening cocktail against patients who rely on
marijuana to help them cope with a variety of ailments, especially
gut-twisting nausea and crippling pain.

THE WAR ON DRUGS

Many people, including retired Orange County Superior Court Judge
James Gray, believe the costly war on what they consider a relatively
benign plant is a colossal waste of money and pointlessly wrecks
people's lives.

Half of California voters, according to an August poll by SurveyUSA,
favor Prop. 19. The remaining voters are 40 percent against and 10
percent undecided.

And how many arrests?

In 2008, 78,500 people faced pot charges in California, according the
state Attorney General's office.

"I'm here to tell you the worst thing about marijuana is jail," said
the silver-haired Gray, wearing white slacks, a button-down shirt and
a blue blazer with brass buttons. His book, "Why Our Drug Laws Have
Failed and What We Can Do About It," is testimony to his stand.

Still, the few dozen people, many middle-aged, who listened to Gray
at the Convention Center as well as others I talked to (there were
hundreds in attendance) varied on their support of Prop. 19. Most,
however, agreed with Gray. They said the ballot proposal is flawed
but that at least it's a step in the right direction.

At first, two major proposals battled for supremacy. One was pushed
by the 40-year-old National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws. The other, Prop. 19, had better funding and was originated by
Richard Lee, a medical-marijuana provider in Oakland. After Lee's
initiative qualified for the ballot, NORML threw its weight behind Prop. 19.

Prop. 19 would allow people 21 and over to posses up to one ounce of
pot, smoke reefer in non-public places (Yes, that precludes the
Anaheim Convention Center garage.) and grow a little weed.

In many respects, the bill would give the same rights to recreational
users that 1996's Prop. 215 gives to medicinal marijuana patients.
But in other respects, Prop. 19 is markedly different from 215 and
those differences caused the debates at the pot expo.

SELLING AND TAXING

First, Prop. 19 would allow local municipalities to authorize or not
authorize selling up to an ounce to individual customers.

Kandice Hawes, president of the Orange County chapter of NORML, said
she would prefer if Prop. 19 made it tougher for cities to opt out.
Still, she backs the initiative.

Prop. 19, unlike 215, also would allow large quantities to be
cultivated for commercial use. This is no small matter. The State
Board of Equalization reports about 22.3 million pounds of pot was
grown in the U.S. in 2006, or about $35.8 billion worth of weed
according to the study "Marijuana Production in the United States."
The board went on to say that the Golden State in 2006 was
responsible for 8.6 million pounds worth $13.8 billion and that's
under illegal conditions.

Others at the expo pointed out that Prop. 19 would create new revenue
streams to help our beleaguered state. The Board of Equalization
estimates a $50 per ounce levy would mean $1.4 billion in taxes.

It is the matter of taxes, however, that upsets some medical
marijuana patients. For them, marijuana is medicine and medicine
should not be taxed.

AT THE NORML BOOTH

Looking a little like Santa Claus on summer vacation, John Grace, 59,
of Huntington Beach manned Orange County's NORML booth much of
Saturday wearing white sneakers, khaki cargo shorts and a black NORML
shirt. A veteran labor organizer, Grace is a one-week-old newbie to
the organization.

The father of two adult children told me he has a severely compressed
disc in his back among other issues. The pain was so severe he had to
leave his job because prescription medication reduced his ability to
function. Then Grace, now retired, discovered that marijuana masked
the pain just as well as pharmaceutical drugs. He quit the pills,
smokes daily and says he has regained control of his life.

Grace understands other marijuana patients' concerns about taxing
medicine. But he also believes there are larger issues behind Prop.
19. "We need to stop making people who smoke criminals," Grace said.
"People shouldn't lose their house or car because they smoke pot."

We'll find out in nine weeks how many Californians agree that it's
time to end the costly war on weed.