Pubdate: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 Source: Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA) Copyright: 2012 The Virginian-Pilot Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/zJNzcThR Website: http://hamptonroads.com/pilotonline Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/483 Author: Kerry Dougherty, Columnist, The Virginian-Pilot LAWMAKER NOT LIKELY TO RALLY BUDS TO BACK POT RESOLUTION It wouldn't be wintertime in Virginia unless at least one politician arrived in Richmond carrying a bill so wacky that it's guaranteed to garner headlines. And almost no support. Meet Del. David Englin, from Alexandria, who's cooked up this session's juiciest slice of crazy. If you think it's odd that the state is in the business of selling booze, just wait. Englin is noodling with something else for the ABC shelves. Marijuana. His joint resolution, HJ140, calls for the commonwealth to study the revenue it would rake in if pot were legalized and sold in ABC stores. This irony-impaired measure calls for the formation of a "joint" subcommittee to consider the possibility of selling cannabis alongside Crown Royal. Five delegates and three senators would constitute Englin's joint committee, which would be allowed to meet just six times this year and spend no more than $15,040 in an attempt to predict just how much money the state would rake in if it legalized pot. When I phoned the delegate's office Tuesday, I spoke with his chief of staff, John Golden, who didn't seem to be operating under any illusion that the measure - which has already been buried in a subcommittee - is a winner. "He wants to get the conversation started," Golden said of his boss. "Besides, the study could come back saying no one wants to buy marijuana in Virginia." Far be it from me to stomp all over Englin's conversation piece, but it's worth asking how exactly this joint committee, meeting six times - - or even 60 - could possibly come up with any kind of reliable forecast about Virginia's need for weed. Would it study marijuana arrests? Ask law-abiding folks to see whether they plan to start smoking pot once it's legal? Or might it simply hire the same consultants who provide cities with bogus convention center estimates and get them to run some pot projections? Golden assured me that reliable numbers could be found and noted that part of the reason Englin is pushing this measure is that marijuana "is very effective in treating PTSD" post-traumatic stress disorder, something that plagues vets returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ah, a patriotic angle. Very clever. Of course, it's hard to imagine pot being peddled in ABC stores if it were simply for medicinal purposes. Last time I checked, most folks buy medicine at pharmacies. Then again, I'm not saying marijuana shouldn't be legal. It probably should. I'm a small-"L" libertarian when it comes to vices. If the people of Virginia want to legalize marijuana, or casino gambling, it's fine with me. If I don't like it, I'll move. But in the unlikely event Virginia legalizes pot someday, the government should resist the urge to start selling the stuff. Frankly, drug dealers have been doing a bang-up job supplying ganja for generations. Maybe they could go legit and start paying taxes like the rest of us. Oh, look. Here's another measure Englin is pushing this session: HB142, which would allow localities to ban smoking in public parks. Golden said this bill is aimed at Dillon's Rule rather than tobacco but acknowledged that Englin had been a strong supporter of Virginia's sweeping anti-smoking laws. In other words, at least one of the politicians who seems inclined to legalize pot is one of the same legislators who made sure there wouldn't be any public places to smoke it. Welcome to winter in Virginia. The silly season. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.