CALIFORNIA'S VOTE TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA IS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

BOSTON - In the upcoming California referendum on legalizing
marijuana for recreational use, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and
U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske have something in common. Both are
missing the forest for the weed.

According to recent polls, Californians are on the verge of approving
the legalization of marijuana and overthrowing nearly a century of
failed American drug prohibition. Hail to the Golden State.

In the four decades since President Richard Nixon declared a "War on
Drugs," the toll of prohibition includes at least $1 trillion in
taxes spent, according to the Wall Street Journal. Worse are the
millions of lives damaged by prison time and street violence. In
2007, for example, about 500,000 people were in jail on drug charges.

Yet, while drug preferences go in and out of style, total use by
Americans of all stripes remains virtually unchanged.

The toll in Latin America, and especially Mexico today, is even more
tragic. More than 28,000 Mexicans have died in the past four years in
a macabre war among drug cartels and the government. Yet, along the
U.S.-Mexico border, the ruthless cartels remain more powerful than
the government.

And there is no light at the end of the tunnel, there or here.

We parents understandably worry that legalization might encourage
drug use by our children, but that's a management issue, as with
alcohol. The drugs are readily available anyway. Instead of hurting
children, what legalization really does is undercut the gangs, keep
our young people out of jail and reduce the violence.

Still, Calderon and Kerlikowske, with the Obama administration in
tow, oppose the California measure.

Kerlikowske recently went to Mexico City to ensure that the
government there doesn't give in to the growing popular demands by
Mexicans, including former president Vicente Fox, to legalize
marijuana and help stop the spilling of Mexican blood so that
Americans can toke an illegal substance virtually at will.

He needn't have worried. The strait-laced and highly determined
Calderon had hosted an honest national debate on the issue, but in a
visit to Tijuana a week ago, he made clear that he had no intention
of letting up on the fight.

He told the Associated Press that California's legalization would
amount to hypocrisy while the United States keeps pressuring Mexico
to be forceful.

Calderon is right, but only if you don't see the California
referendum for what it is: a step. And a very big one, considering
that California represents one-seventh of American marijuana
consumption and has long been a first-mover in American cultural and
political trends.

Other small American steps, moreover, have already been taken. Since
California approved "medical marijuana" in 1996, 14 states and the
District of Columbia have followed in what is -- let's admit it -- a
veiled sort of legalization by wink. The usage is illegal under
federal law, but the Obama administration, like the Bush one before
it, has largely let states and communities do what they want.

If the California law passes, anyone 21 years and older can possess
up to one ounce of marijuana, enough for dozens of joints. Ingesting
in public or around minors would be banned, as would possessing the
drug on school grounds or driving under its influence. Residents
could grow small plots. Other drugs would remain illegal.

A study released this week by the Rand Corp. questioned how much the
new law might reduce Mexican violence. The study suggested that
Mexican cartels derive 15 to 26 percent of their income from
marijuana, and not the 60 percent often cited. Given also that
roughly half of U.S. consumption is homegrown, cartel export revenue
might only be cut between 2 percent and 4 percent, though it could go
as high as 20 percent if California takes over the U.S. market by
exporting to the rest of the country, the study said.

But what all this means for the United States and Mexico is that more
steps away from prohibition need to follow. Issues such as pricing,
taxation and other drugs also need careful confronting. But marijuana
and California are good beginnings.