Marijuana mayhem

Whether or not voters decide to vote yes this November for
California’s Prop. 19 to legalize marijuana, the laws governing its
use, possession and cultivation must change.
Increasing violence in Sonoma County’s outlaw pot patches,
costly eradication efforts by law enforcement and too many
expensive jail incarcerations all add up to an unbearable and
dysfunctional current set of laws and conditions.
Marijuana — hundreds and hundreds of tons of it — is already
here. It’s not going away, but we need to end the violence and
legal confusion over its use and cultivation. Obviously, we need a
rational conversation on how marijuana use can be better controlled
or be tolerated in our community. Outright prohibition only seems
to bring us more violence and more outlaws. We must give ourselves
the opportunity to talk about marijuana and its many societal
impacts. What about our children, public safety on our roads,
hillsides and workplaces? What should our law enforcement
priorities be?
Does Prop. 19, the “Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of
2010,” offer any desired reforms or potential steps in the right
direction? The federal Controlled Substance Act makes it a felony
to grow or sell marijuana. It’s very unlikely Prop. 19 will
supercede this higher law — if the feds choose to prosecute.
With three killings and more than 300,000 marijuana plants
eradicated by county law enforcement teams this year, it is obvious
that Sonoma County faces a fast-growing menace. Our most rural
private lands and public park spaces are no longer safe for the
innocent public — or even the landowners. Millions of law
enforcement dollars and hundreds of man hours are being spent while
very few arrests have been recorded.
For many, the outright legalization of pot is unthinkable. On
the other side, civil libertarians say it should be treated the
same as alcohol. In the middle of this debate are medical marijuana
advocates and some local law enforcement officials who want the
current set of inconsistent and unenforceable laws brought more in
line.
Prop. 19 would decriminalize the personal use, possession and
cultivation of small amounts of marijuana. Sponsors claim the new
law would reduce the illegal growing and marketing of the drug. But
opponents of Prop. 19 say the more lenient law might encourage more
clandestine cultivation, not less.
Prop. 19 also would allow local governments to set new
regulations and potentially tax commercial marijuana. But federal
laws would make this nearly impossible to implement.
California’s Legislative Analyst Office has estimated the
relaxed personal use laws would “save tens of millions of
dollars” in court and jail expenditures for convicted pot smokers
and dealers.
The California Chamber of Commerce is opposed to Prop. 19
because it believes it would allow “workplace” smoking and unsafe
work places.
Sure to be impacted by the approval of Prop. 19 would be the
medical marijuana industry created by the voters’ approval of Prop.
215 in 1996. These local highly-regulated dispensaries and
registered growers would face new competition from less-regulated
freelancers.
To date, Sonoma County’s medical marijuana industry has proven
to be both good business neighbors and an essential addition to
many patients’ health care regimens. Sebastopol’s Peace In Medicine
dispensary has set an exemplary example in this regard. Other
communities have set moratoriums against these enterprises.
We are not prepared to either endorse or reject Prop. 19, except
to say it does not remotely look like an “end all” solution to our
confusing, expensive and unenforceable marijuana laws.
Perhaps two sets of marijuana reform laws are what is needed.
One set could be based on the successful model of our medical
marijuana industry where more personal use prohibitions could be
relaxed. A second set of reforms should address the large-scale
outlaw operations now spreading across our county and most other
rural areas of northern California.
Marijuana has sometimes been called the “herb of peace.” Not
here, not now.
— Rollie Atkinson