POT LEGALIZATION EFFORT RETURNS

Proposition 19, an initiative to legalize the recreational use of
marijuana, was soundly defeated in the November election after the
state's political establishment, Democratic and Republican, came out
strongly against it. We had concerns with a provision related to the
ability of employers to combat marijuana use at the workplace, but we
are glad to see that advocates are planning to take another stab at
the issue for the November 2012 election.

It really is time to look at ways to reduce the drug war and all the
costs, injustices and assaults on individual liberty that this war
entails. A starting point could be marijuana legalization, given its
wide use and nonaddictive nature, although the devil always is in the details.

The Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act of 2012 would "repeal all
California state laws that prohibit marijuana possession, sales,
transportation, production, processing and cultivation by people 21
years of age and older." It does not repeal laws regarding "driving a
motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana; using or being under
the influence of marijuana in public or in the workplace; smoking
marijuana in the presence of, or providing, transferring or selling
marijuana to, a person under the age of 21."

The measure's chief proponent is former Orange County judge James
Gray. At first reading, it seems to answer concerns raised by Prop.
19, although it's early and we advocate an open and honest discussion.

Opponents in the Prop.19 debate mainly argued that marijuana
legalization would lead to widespread drug use and spark a crime
wave. As advocates for a freer society, we do not believe that
government action -- legalization or prohibition of substances -- is
the key to determining how people behave.

If government bans produced improved behavior, then alcohol
Prohibition would have been a rousing success and all the many
efforts by the environmental community to ban things (plastic bags,
etc.) would be legislative models for action.

Furthermore, marijuana use essentially is already decriminalized in
California, which defangs the idea that legalization will take us
into some new and dangerous territory.

Beyond the freedom issue, there are practical reasons for legalizing
marijuana, and other drugs for that matter.

We don't condone drug use but, instead, recognize that government
bans drive up the cost of these products and thereby create strong
incentives for the most brutal crime syndicates to become involved in
their production and distribution.

That point was rarely discussed during the Prop. 19 debate.

Another missing point, made eloquently by the late conservative
writer William F. Buckley, was that the drug war leads to wanton
violations of civil rights and procedures -- civil forfeiture, for
example -- typically found in less-free nations.

We recall a National Review editorial from editor Buckley's days :
"[I]t is our judgment that the war on drugs has failed, that it is
diverting intelligent energy away from how to deal with the problem
of addiction, that it is wasting our resources, and that it is
encouraging civil, judicial and penal procedures associated with police states.

We all agree on movement toward legalization, even though we may
differ on just how far."

We're glad to see the new proposition circulated in the hope that
some of the above issues can be seriously debated.