CALIFORNIA: GOING TO POT OR TO SENSIBLE REGULATION?

In their op-ed, the former DEA administrators appeal to the Department
of Justice to speak out against Proposition 19 in advance of the
November vote. But according to a same-day news article in the Journal
("Democrats Look to Cultivate Pot Vote in 2012," Election 2010) the
odds of a strong stance by the DOJ seem very long indeed. The article
reports that Democratic strategists are studying whether pot
legalization measures are a way to "energize young, liberal voters in
swing states for the 2012 presidential election."

In California, 59% of young voters support Proposition 19, as do 60%
of Democrats. One imagines then, that in a smoke-filled room of
political deal making, the prospect of galvanized cannabis fans
stumbling to the polls to vote for Democrats far outweighs the
importance of the Constitution's Supremacy Clause.

On the bright side, the generational theft by baby boomers who will
leave their children and grandchildren buried under a mountain of
debt, will be a lot more tolerable if future generations are stoned
most of the time. Meanwhile, the Constitution goes up in smoke.

Dennis P. Ryan

Columbia, Md.