Pubdate: Mon, 24 Oct 2011 Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Copyright: 2011 Hearst Communications Inc. Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1 Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388 Author: Jon Carroll IT'S HERE TO STAY. LEGALIZE IT. A new Gallup Poll says that 50 percent of the American people believe that possession of marijuana should be decriminalized. This number has been rising pretty steadily as the demon drug has made its way into suburban living rooms all across the nation. You have to wonder, with that kind of support, where the politicians are. There are certainly lefty politicians who pay lip service to the idea, but it's not as if they're sponsoring bills or anything. Meanwhile, thousands of lives are being ruined every day by draconian drug laws. Libertarians are for it too, but only if you ask them nicely, preferably in a dark corner. And the so-called mainstream politicians just won't touch the issue, even though the arguments are so overwhelming in its favor. I will not bore you with those arguments - I've been doing that for a quarter of a century - but I am a little stunned that this orphan issue, apparently supported by at least 100 million people, can get so little traction. Perhaps they are afraid that people will think that they personally have had a pleasurable experience with the vile weed. And yet you don't need that; just listen to people who really know what they're talking about. Similarly, you don't have to be gay to support gay rights. It's just the right thing to do. There are, of course, big-government conservatives - not that they would refer to themselves that way - who believe that personal habits should be a matter of concern to the federal machinery. They're against contraception and abortion and gay rights and, indeed, apparently anything that has to do with the wanton commission of sex outside strict biblical delineations. But they are a minority. Most conservatives, most people in this country in general, drink alcohol to experience the mild euphoria it brings. Now, of course, there are problems with alcohol abuse - binge drinking, drunken driving, unwise videos - but it's legal. Marijuana, which is far less dangerous than booze in every way, also produces a mild euphoria - and you can go to jail for owning a little. Wait, I'm making the arguments for legalization again. Sorry. The president certainly isn't going to get involved in this. I'm sure he's been told that it isn't a winning issue, but it's more than that - - there are just certain causes where his heart apparently is at war with his common sense. You can see that in his, ahem, evolving position on gay rights. He saw (I'm projecting here) where his principles should take him, but he really had a tough time handling it. His Justice Department has stepped up raids on medical marijuana dispensaries. Whitehouse.gov, the president's official website, has been offering people a chance to petition the government for redress of grievances. When the issue of marijuana comes up, though, the rules change, more signatures are needed to make that petition viable and suddenly it's a nonissue. And no one in the press corps will ask the president any questions, lest the general suspicion be confirmed that we're all a bunch of potheads anyway. And meanwhile there are people in prisons, real prisons, for possession of marijuana. In prison, of course, they will learn real criminal skills. Thank God government support for higher education still exists in some sectors. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.