ALL OUR MONEY UP IN SMOKE

I have more than a few pet peeves. In fact, I'm something of a Humane
Society for peeves.

Waste would have to be one of the largest breeds I keep kenneled, along with
hypocrisy. When one gets a mutt of both, that's a pet no one wants to adopt.
Yet we see examples of it everywhere.

For me the war on drugs always has been an offspring of waste and hypocrisy,
as we spend billions of tax dollars to see few results in stemming the flow
of illegal substances across our borders and through our streets. Our kids
can buy drugs as easily as they can obtain alcohol or cigarettes, and
without paying sales taxes. Every high-profile drug bust the nation's law
enforcement officials hold up before the TV cameras represents an
exponentially greater amount of contraband that flows unnoticed and
uncontrolled.

A much smaller peeve, something in the Mexican hairless or Teacup Poodle
category, is having to look at the power and cable lines that criss-cross my
neighborhood.

I've complained about them as being unsightly and dangerous for years. We've
all paid fees to have them buried, only to see the money that was collected
evaporate in public-private back-room deals. Nine cables run in front of my
home, just waiting to be knocked into the sun-dried canyon below, and I am
powerless to demand mitigation.

Never did I imagine these two distinctly different pet peeves could sire an
offspring. But on July 29, when a National Guard helicopter searching for
marijuana snapped an East County power line, a very expensive problem was
born with the name The Pines Fire.

With more than 60,000 acres burned and the destruction of 37 homes, 116
outbuildings and 169 vehicles, the fire took an enormous toll. The $30
million spent to extinguish the conflagration and the millions of dollars in
property losses do not begin to account for the total damage.

As East County burned, I doubt a single pot-head was left wanting, as the
supply springs from the ground in a million other places throughout the
state. Any money spent trying to stop the marijuana supply quite literally
goes up in smoke and will always do so.

Prohibition in the 1920s proved that efforts to end the use of a product
that is generally accepted by the public as benign will fail. It merely
delivers customers into the hands of corruption, lines the pockets of crooks
and costs taxpayers a fortune in enforcement and incarceration costs.

Imagine how much further that money would go toward educating youth about
the dangers of smoking anything, whether it be marijuana, crack or tobacco.
Imagine how far that money could go toward battling the truly dangerous and
addictive drugs and to treat those who have fallen for them.

As for power lines, the county and state are covered with an overhead maze
of similar accidents waiting to happen. If an accident can cause such
damage, consider what could result from intentional, orchestrated attacks on
these lines.

The drug issue is too emotionally and politically heated to expect a quick
resolution of the obvious flaws in our strategy. In the meantime, I'd settle
for burying the power lines. At least that would be one pet peeve properly
paper-trained.