POLITICS, MARIJUANA DON'T MIX

Let the games begin.

A little more than a month before the election, political types are
on edge. Candidates and their supporters seem ... how can I put this
nicely? Agitated. That's a nice euphemism, isn't it?

That happens every election, but there's an even more interesting
dynamic at work this year. Take people who are already on edge for
other reasons and add politics to the mix - then you get the mess
that is Proposition 19, the initiative that would legalize marijuana use.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. got dragged into the cauldron. The giant
Chico brewery belongs to an organization called California Beer and
Beverage Distributors, which took a stance against Proposition 19.

The hypocrisy was thick - brewers picking one vice over another, as
if people are allowed just one.

Sierra Nevada learned that pot smokers are nothing if not organized.
I could have warned them. Whenever the newspaper writes a story or
editorial about marijuana, we get nasty e-mails from smokers all over
the country. They must have Google alerts or a listserv advising:
"The newspaper in Chico, California, wrote about marijuana. Write to
the editor and tell him he's an idiot who needs to stop pandering to
the police state." Then for the next day or two, I get loads of
e-mails from places like Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Chippewa Falls,
Wisc., telling me just that.

Often they read like extremely long manifestoes, as if they have been
sent out to others before, or maybe the writer just had a lot of
excess time to muse.

The folks at the brewery apparently suffered the same fate. They too
were flooded with protests, prompting the company to release a
statement saying it isn't taking a position on the proposition and
prefers to steer clear of politics - always a good policy.

Sierra Nevada brews beer. They're not used to dealing with people
like marijuana advocates, who need to do a much better job of picking
their spokespeople.

The legalization crowd would stand a much better chance if some of
the stoners speaking up for Proposition 19 would just stay quiet.

A couple of weeks ago, I was watching the Bay Area TV news when they
interviewed a young adult with long hair and bloodshot eyes, who said
Proposition 19 should pass because we need more tax money for the
police force in Oakland. That could be the first and last time you'll
see a marijuana advocate arguing that we need more cops.

Give him credit for this: He knew the message that would resonate
with voters. But it didn't sound at all believable coming from him.

The marijuana advocate in Chico that I've had the most interaction
with, Joel Castle, was in the newspaper this week. He's the guy whose
van is usually parked near City Plaza with signs about the need to
legalize weed.

I've had too many conversations with Castle where in one minute he'd
be threatening, and five minutes later he'd call back, mellowed out,
saying he was sorry and everything was cool.

When he tired of alternately berating and then apologizing to me,
he'd call "Tell It to the E-R" and do the same on the recorded
message line, where nobody could talk back to him.

Now he's in court, where his attorney is trying to determine whether
he's mentally competent to stand trial after allegedly trying to
trade pot for a guitar to an undercover cop.

Unfortunately, there are too many people like Castle, the kid from
Oakland and the angry people who write to newspapers and Sierra
Nevada, trying to win people over to their side. It's not working.