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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom