LET'S MAKE POT BORING

It is time for us to be realistic and manage the trade and usage of
marijuana instead of simply moralizing about it. The honest facts are
that today marijuana is the largest cash crop in California (No. 2 is
grapes); with illegal dealers there are no controls whatsoever on
quality, quantity, age restrictions, price or place of sale; and most
of the big money goes to groups like the Mexican drug cartels,
juvenile gangs and other thugs, and they don't pay taxes on any of it.

It is also a fact that the voters are ahead of the politicians on
these issues. Yes, most of the vocal politicians and current law
enforcement officials have taken a position against Proposition 19,
but many retired law enforcement officials, who are much less subject
to political considerations, are speaking out in its support.

For example, I belong to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
(http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com). My fellow members are people
like former Los Angeles Police Department Chief Deputy Steve Downing,
former San Jose Police Chief Joe McNamara, former Seattle Police
Chief Norm Stamper, and thousands of other former narcotics officers,
prison guards, prosecutors and others, all of whom are stating the
obvious that our nation's policy of marijuana prohibition is not working.

Holland's and Portugal's experience will shed light on what will
happen when Proposition 19 passes. Holland decriminalized marijuana
possession and use for those 16 and older in the early 1970s, and
several years ago, the minister of health was quoted as saying that
they have only half the marijuana usage, per capita, as we do in our
country -- both for adults and teenagers! "We have succeeded in
making pot boring," he said.

Of course, our country glamorizes marijuana by making it illegal, and
also by having such obscene profit motives in getting others to sell
it to you, your neighbors and your children. And you will also note
that today young adults are not selling Jim Beam bourbon or Marlboro
cigarettes to each other on their high school campuses. But they are
selling marijuana to each other all the time.

Proposition 19 will reduce those problems, just like it did in
Portugal when they decriminalized all drugs in 2001. What were the
results? The CATO Institute found that even though the drugs were
legal in Portugal, usage of them did not increase. In fact it
actually went down about half a percentage point. And problem drug
usage was reduced by half! Why? The problem users were no longer
afraid of their own government because now if they came forward, they
would receive drug treatment instead of being punished.

Those findings make the alarmists in our country who say we would
become a "nation of marijuana zombies" look pretty silly. In fact
just ask yourself, if Proposition 19 were to pass, would you use
marijuana? From my standpoint, you could give it away on street
corners and bless it by every religious leader in town, and I am
still not going to use marijuana (unless my medical doctor recommends
it to me for some illness or disease). And most everyone else feels
the same way. In fact as a practical matter, anyone who would use
marijuana if Proposition 19 were to pass is probably using it already!

What do the other opponents of Proposition 19 say? Some say that we
would still have an illicit market for selling marijuana to young
adults if Proposition 19 were to pass, and that would be true. But
when alcohol prohibition was repealed, it was no longer moonshine
alcohol that was being sold to minors by people like Al Capone, it
was alcohol that was mostly bought legally and then illegally
transferred. The same would be true with marijuana. So that would
still undercut the illegal dealers.

There are basically three other groups of opponents. The first is
people who say that the cities would not be able to handle the
administrative responsibilities of setting up programs for the sale
of marijuana, the second is some employers who are concerned that
marijuana users would be able to run rampant over the workplace, and
the third is some of those who make money at medical marijuana dispensaries.

Regarding the cities not being able to set up their own systems, that
really is a non-issue -- they do it all of the time. And besides, one
of the beauties of Proposition 19 is that it will still be illegal to
sell marijuana within a city's borders (except under Proposition 215
for medical marijuana) unless that particular city expressly opts
into the program. In reality what will happen is that the cities will
learn from each other. So if one city tries something that is
successful, others will tend to use that system, and the opposite is also true.

As to the workplace issues, Proposition 19 expressly states that it
would not affect any of the current regulations of the workplace.
Employers still can require drug testing as a condition of being
hired, and still, just like alcohol, can test employees if they have
some cause to believe the employees are impaired in the workplace.

Finally, it is true that people supplying marijuana within
Proposition 19 will probably be more organized. That will very likely
reduce the price of the marijuana, even after the payment of
applicable taxes, which will, in turn, take the market away from both
illegal sellers and also some of the medical marijuana dispensaries.
That is an understandable reason for people presently operating
dispensaries, but it is not a reason for the rest of us to oppose
Proposition 19.

On Nov. 2 you can help us repeal the failed policy of marijuana
prohibition, and bring our state's largest cash crop back under the
law. This is probably one of the most important elections of my
lifetime, and I hope you will further look into and support Proposition 19.