California's Prop 19 is really moving us into a brave new world. Legalizing marijuana? Decriminalizing possession? Are we ready for it?
In my personal opinion, yes we are. Our legal system is clogged with petty possessors that take up time, money, and resources from law enforcement, district attorneys, and counselors assigned to manage and monitor them, similar to those caught from drinking offenses. The difference is only in the perception of the user from the perspective of society in general, alcohol is legal and acceptable, pot is not. Many a drunk gets a ride home for the night without a matching pair of silver bracelets, but a pothead taking a night stroll is likely to get arrested if encountered by John Law. It's not hypocritical, its conditioning. Alcohol use is social acceptable, pot is an illegality that requires immediate intervention.
This is your brain... this is your brain on conditioning...
In my professional experience, I have never had a violent encounter with someone high on marijuana. The encounters have actually been quite funny and memorable. Drunks however have this amazing habit of wanting to fight everyone, especially people wearing polyester with various devices designed to make you say "ow" in varying and specific ways. Give me a pothead over a crackhead any day. I'm just saying...
The social stigma about marijuana use is wearing off too. Pot is mainstream, but the mainstream users won't admit it. There's is still a social shyness about marijuana use that keeps it a covert conversation, the legal ramifications not withstanding. Some folks just don't want it to be known that they indulge in pot even though they may be getting some highly efficacious results form use. Prop 19, for Californians any way, might relax social tensions and make the effects more lasting. It also might make the "taboo" quality go away like when underground fads go mainstream and thus lose their flair with the original players.
The problem is those who can't handle being high. The same goes for people who can't handle being drunk. It boils down to responsibility. What a person does behind closed doors is no business of mine. Unless it's in plain view and my responsibility as a law enforcer kicks in, I have no reason (or desire) to kick in a door because someone is lighting up a joint.
Let's put the skunk on the table: marijuana is in more bloodstreams right now than any government or private anti-drug organization would either acknowledge or want to hear. Legalization of marijuana is not pragmatic, its practical. We all know there is big money in drug enforcement, but maybe saving the taxpayers from the burden on the front end would allow us to use enforcement assets to combat real killers like meth, cocaine, heroin, and steroids. A clean, reliable, and regulated source would shift the revenue from court fines to tax collections, and would create a cottage industry overnight.
Package it and punish it like alcohol. Kids don't get it until 21. Driving high is still bad, and the sentences need to hurt. Being high and irresponsible in public should cause you some retribution. But having some friends over around a bong instead of a bourbon bottle might not be the end of the world.
Chip Grefski
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