OPERATION ALESIA IS ANOTHER EXERCISE IN FUTILITY

Operation Alesia has come and gone, and judging by the public's
divided reaction to this extravagant anti-pot campaign, it appears
that many Northern Californians are unconvinced that America is
winning the war on weed. They have sound reason to be skeptical.

Despite statistics indicating that Operation Alesia resulted in the
elimination of some 280,000 illicit marijuana plants — more than all
of the pot confiscated in Shasta County in 2006 — does anyone really
believe that this operation will tangibly reduce the demand or
availability of marijuana in the local area?

It's time for a reality check. State and federal law enforcement
personnel now arrest approximately 800,000 Americans annually and
spend some $10 billion per year enforcing marijuana prohibition.
Nevertheless, the U.S. government reports that domestic marijuana
production has increased ten-fold in the past 25 years from 2.2
million pounds to 22 million pounds. Is this the sign of a successful
public policy?

According to a national report released last winter, nearly a third
of America's domestic pot supply is grown in California, where
marijuana ranks as the state's top cash crop. Does anyone really
believe that Operation Alesia or future law enforcement campaigns
will do anything to change this fact?

Let's be frank. The criminal prohibition of cannabis has had no
discernible long-term impact on marijuana's availability or use,
especially among young people. According to the latest survey data
from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia
University, a majority of teens now say that they can score pot more
readily than they can tobacco or alcohol. More than one-third say
that they can purchase weed in just a few hours. (By comparison, only
14 percent of respondents say they can readily purchase alcohol.)
Annual federal data compiled by the University of Michigan's
Monitoring the Future project reports that an estimated 86 percent of
12th graders say marijuana is "fairly easy" or "very easy" to get.
This percentage is virtually unchanged since the mid-1970s — despite
remarkably increased marijuana penalties, enforcement and arrests
since that time.

It's time to end the dog-and-pony shows like Operation Alesia and
acknowledge reality. The criminal classification of cannabis is
disproportionate to the drug's relative harmlessness to the user and
to the well-acknowledged harmfulness of other substances —
particularly alcohol and tobacco.

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 94 million
Americans — 40 percent of the U.S. population age 12 or older — have
used cannabis during their lives, and relatively few have suffered
deleterious health effects because of their use. Criminalizing these
millions of otherwise law-abiding Americans is expensive, engenders
disrespect for the law, and alienates large numbers of the population
— particularly young people.

A wiser and long-overdue national policy would tax and regulate
cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol — with the drug's sale and
use restricted to specific markets and consumers. While such an
alternative may not entirely eliminate the black market demand for
pot, it would certainly be preferable to today's blanket, though
thoroughly ineffective, expensive and impotent, criminal prohibition
— as epitomized by the futility of neverending operations like Alesia.

Paul Armentano is the senior policy analyst for the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. He lives in Pleasant Hill.