VIRGINIA SHOULD LEGALIZE POT

Virginia is one of 18 states where the government operates a monopoly
on the distribution and sale of hard liquor. Virginia's Alcohol
Beverage Control stores are a holdover from alcohol prohibition.
Lasting from 1920 to 1933, alcohol prohibition was repealed when it
became clear that prohibition was financing organized crime while
failing miserably at preventing alcohol use.

Making the case for ABC privatization, Gov. Bob McDonnell has argued
that selling alcohol is not a core government responsibility. Neither
is criminalizing people who use marijuana.

State alcohol sales generate state revenue. Virginia brings in $324
million a year from alcohol sales. Marijuana prohibition, on the
other hand, squanders tax dollars and creates opportunity costs as
police focus efforts on nonviolent consensual vices. Virginia police
made 19,764 arrests for marijuana offenses in 2009. Six percent of
all Virginia arrests are for marijuana offenses. Police time spent
busting marijuana consumers is time not spent going after child
molesters, rapists and murderers.

Virginia legislators will soon get a chance to end this misuse of
police resources. In the upcoming 2011 General Assembly session, Del.
Harvey Morgan, R-Gloucester, has proposed a bill to decriminalize
marijuana possession. HB 1443 would replace criminal penalties for
simple possession with a civil fine of $500. The bill does not reduce
penalties for cultivation or distribution. Courts would still have
the option of mandating substance abuse treatment for at-risk youth.

In the face of continued budget woes, Virginia legislators need to
ask themselves a simple question. Which is the bigger priority?
Locking up nonviolent marijuana offenders or saving the jobs of
police officers, firefighters and teachers? The cost of incarcerating
three marijuana offenders for a year more than covers the salary of a
police officer, firefighter or teacher. Morgan's bill would save on
criminal justice costs and generate millions in new revenue.

Morgan is no dope-smoking hippy; in fact, he is ideally suited to
push the envelope on this once-controversial but increasingly
mainstream issue. Morgan is a Republican member of the General
Assembly and, more important, an assistant clinical professor of
pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University's medical school. His
bill is grounded in legitimate clinical expertise and fiscal conservatism.

Marijuana decriminalization admittedly faces an uphill battle in
Virginia. Big government culture warriors will no doubt oppose HB
1443. Make no mistake, marijuana prohibition is a cultural
inquisition, not a public health campaign. If health outcomes instead
of cultural norms determined drug laws, marijuana would be legal.
Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose
death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco.

Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but criminal records are
inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.
Studies show that states that have decriminalized marijuana do not
have higher rates of use than states that criminalize users. The U.S.
has double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where
marijuana is legally available.

This is the type of abject government failure that should outrage
proponents of limited government. Tax dollars are being wasted on a
failed government program. Public safety resources are being diverted
to further a punitive nanny state built upon a hypocritical version
of morality.

The ideological arguments being used to make the case for Alcohol
Beverage Control privatization apply to marijuana law reform.
Criminalizing citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis is not an
appropriate role for government.

Fiscally conservative Republicans and tea partiers who truly believe
in liberty and limited government will support marijuana decriminalization.

Democrats who privately support marijuana law reform but fear the
soft-on-drugs label need to get smart-on-drugs and get behind HB
1443. They've got a conservative Republican leading the way for them.

Bottom line, Virginia can no longer afford to subsidize the
prejudices of culture warriors.