Pubdate: Sun, 02 Nov 2014
Source: Bulletin, The (Bend, OR)
Copyright: 2014 Western Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.bendbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/62
Author: Kimball Goddard

IF MARIJUANA IS STILL ILLEGAL, ONLY CRIMINALS WILL HAVE IT

I support the legalization of marijuana in Oregon: Ballot Title 91. I 
believe everyone who will vote on this issue should read the 
supporting and opposing arguments as presented in the Oregon General 
Election Voters' Pamphlet, Nov.4, 2014. My own opinion, as described 
below, is provided to balance the general negative comments I have 
read in The Bulletin.

Full disclosure: I am a child of the '60s, and enjoyed marijuana from 
1970 to 1984. I even grew a pretty good crop one year in a closet. No 
arrests, no providing to minors, no reselling, no DUI, no anything. 
Somehow, despite the comments in the media that it destroys 
initiative, I advanced my career as a scientist and leader to a 
senior executive position in my organization over those years.

I would like to address three points to the issue: 1. Should federal 
or state government make laws or rules that inhibit the ability of 
productive and law-abiding members of society to engage in activities 
that have the potential to be abused by others; 2. Are those opposed 
to Ballot 91 motivated by personal or financial interests?; 3. Should 
the money paid for marijuana in Oregon go to legal businesses and 
state and local government, or to illegal drug dealers?

I will work backward through these points.

Since sometime in the late-1950s, there has been an illegal, 
black-market trade in marijuana in the United States and in Oregon. 
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been exchanged each year, not 
one dollar taxed, and all outside any legal oversight.

Huge drug cartels have evolved in Mexico, as well as the United 
States, and tens of thousands of people have been murdered to protect 
these activities. This will not stop unless marijuana is legalized in 
the U.S. These problems exactly mirror what happened in the United 
States in 1920 when the Volstead Act was passed. The U.S. gave up 
Prohibition in 1933, but we still are dealing with the core of 
organized crime that it created.

So now we have an invasive illegal drug trade in the United States 
and Oregon. If someone wants to acquire marijuana under present 
Oregon law, they have to find someone who can provide the drug. The 
PROBLEM is that said person (drug dealer) can provide other, much 
more dangerous drugs, and is inclined to do so because of the 
financial incentives. This is the real gateway to more damaging 
drugs, not marijuana, but the sourcing.

There are discussions of "Big Marijuana" coming to the front if 
Ballot 91 passes. I agree that there will likely be some sort of 
business plan from organizations that seek profit from the selling of 
such a commodity. But "Big Marijuana" is no different from "Big Beer 
Brewing," which now seems to be so popular in Oregon. I am confident 
that all alcohol businesses in Oregon will oppose Ballot 91, for who 
needs an additional competitive financial interest?

It will be low-key or completely out of sight, for any open 
statements or actions are clearly hypocritical. Anybody familiar with 
the problems that alcohol creates understands that marijuana is far 
less damaging than alcohol, to those who might abuse either drug.

The final point is the freedom of law-abiding America citizens to 
make personal decisions on how to best manage their own lives. I 
would guess that most of the people who are opposed to Ballot 91 have 
never tried marijuana and will never do so in the future no matter 
what the law. Basically you have a group of people wanting to make 
decisions for another group of people with whom they do not have 
common interests. The United States is not a Democracy, it is a 
Republic: " I pledge allegiance to the United States of America, and 
to the Republic for which it stands." The rights of people, who abide 
within the law proposed by Ballot 91, should not be abridged.

- - Kimball Goddard lives in Bend.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom