OF POT AND LIFE AFTER LEGALIZATION

To the Editor:

As a lifelong Libertarian I support Proposition 19 (Tax Cannabis Act
of 2010, currently leading in all major polls). It will put an end to
the crime associated with commercial cannabis cultivation, it will
provide funds to our local governments, reduce demand on law
enforcement and, most important, Prop. 19 will reduce government
intrusion into folks personal lives. But the passage of Prop. 19 will
come at a cost.

Cannabis has been a part of our culture for 30 years, over the last 15
years cannabis has become an integral part of our economy to the
exclusion of nearly everything else.

Clearly the days of cannabis fetching a cash premium for the risks
associated with it are numbered thus, so are the days of cannabis
being a staple for our local economy. Indeed, even before the passage
of Prop. 19, the days of easy money growing pot are waning.

We as a community need to decide what we are going to do because we
will not do what we've been doing for the last 15 or so years. It
simply won't work in a world where commercial farmers are harvesting
pot in the Sacramento Valley with combines and it's not sold by the
pound but by the bushel or by the carton. There may be some premium
for the "family farmed," hand trimmed, boutique pot but just as there
are few buyers for $150 dollar bottles of wine so will there be few
buyers for $1,000/pound pot in a $1,000/ton world.

Full disclosure: I was a supporter of, and the spokesperson for,
Measure B but the opinions expressed here are my own.

Ross H. Liberty

Ukiah