Pubdate: Mon, 15 Nov 2010
Source: Whittier Daily News (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
Contact: http://www.whittierdailynews.com/writealetter
Website: http://www.whittierdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/497

FIXING STATE'S MARIJUANA LAWS

California has two minds on marijuana. Voters in 1996 thought it was 
OK for medicinal use, and just about any adult can get a 
"recommendation" to legally consume medical marijuana. But on Nov. 2, 
voters just said no to fully legalizing pot for recreational use and sale.

It's technically illegal to sell medical marijuana in California 
(it's supposed to be shared among collective members), yet several 
cities have enacted gross receipt taxes to raise revenue off the sale 
of medicinal pot. The city of Los Angeles is currently considering 
taxing medical marijuana. And voters from La Puente just approved a 
measure to tax medical marijuana sales in the city.

Meanwhile, last month Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a new law 
that reduced the penalty for possession of an ounce of marijuana from 
a misdemeanor with arrest to an infraction with a $100 fine - no more 
serious than a speeding ticket.

And he went on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," this week and 
declared, "No one cares if you smoke a joint or not."

That may be true, yet, in California it's still a felony to grow, buy 
or sell marijuana for recreational use, even if you're growing your 
own personal stash.

To sum up the state's schizophrenic drug policy: Nobody cares if you 
have a joint, but you could end up in jail for acquiring that joint.

As California has slowly begun to decriminalize the use of marijuana, 
the state has failed to address the very serious question of where 
marijuana comes from.

Unfortunately, we see the results the crazy policy plays in our parks 
and in the Angeles National Forest, where elaborate illegal pot 
plantations have been discovered, and on our southern border. Just 
last week, federal authorities discovered 25 tons of marijuana in a 
San Diego warehouse that was the end of the line for a 1,800-foot 
long tunnel running from Mexico.

It was just one of the schemes Mexican cartels have used to smuggle 
marijuana into California and the United States. So far, the state 
has been largely insulated from the horrific murders and violence 
perpetrated by the cartels south of the border, but how long before 
the drug war heads north?

But California policy ignores the fact that the appetite for 
marijuana and the decriminalization of pot possession will only fuel 
these illegal grow operations and the Mexican cartels.

Marijuana advocates figured legalization was the solution to state's 
schizophrenic drug policy, but Proposition 19 wasn't the answer. The 
measure would have allowed local governments to craft their own 
regulation and taxes on the sale of marijuana, which would have 
created a confusing patchwork of rules. And the federal government 
was expected to crack down on any attempt in California to legalize 
the sale of marijuana.

If California's leaders are going to go down the path of 
decriminalizing marijuana possession, then they need to take a hard 
look at the growth, distribution and sale of marijuana. It's simply 
illogical to make possession an infraction and acquisition a felony. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake