UP IN SMOKE OR INTO THE DRINK

David Pepper wants to make high times more scarce by increasing the
penalty for possessing the sacred herb.

Cincinnati City Councilman David Pepper says he's never smoked
marijuana, and he wants to increase the punishment for adults who do.
Pepper, a candidate for mayor, has proposed increasing the penalty for
possession of pot to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. Ohio law treats
possession of less than 100 grams as a minor misdemeanor, carrying a
$150 fine and no arrest or jail time.

Pot is one of the few entertainment venues that seem to have found a
better market in Cincinnati than in Northern Kentucky, according to
Pepper.

"Our lenient law is an open invitation to sell, buy and smoke
marijuana here rather than across the river, where there's actually
real punishment for possession," he says.

The Ohio Patient Network is one of several organizations organizing
opposition to the proposal. A letter from the group urges people to
tell council to leave the law alone.

"Mr. Pepper said it is not about 'marijuana per se'; it really is
about drug dealing," the letter says. "Well, if it's about drug
dealing, then make the law about drug dealing, not possession of a
plant that mother nature has provided that helps people stay alive
during their cancer chemotherapy."

The Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., and Conservatives
for Cannabis are also getting involved. But it's not only people who
smoke pot for medicinal or recreational purposes. Even anti-tobacco
activist Ahron Leichtman questions the wisdom of raising the penalties
on pot. In a letter to Pepper, he asks whether jail time and fines are
more effective than drug treatment and urges him to consider the
impact on jail overcrowding and other long-term policy implications.