[HMF]

No, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano isn’t high. He’s well aware that federal law prohibits the legalization of marijuana sales in California. He also knows President Obama opposes changing the federal law.

So what’s the San Francisco Democrat up to with AB 390, his proposal to legalize and tax weed to ease the state’s deficit?
Think of it as a conversation starter — a necessary first step toward bringing more reason into U.S. drug laws. They won’t change without pressure and leadership from states such as California.

And while legal pot shops won’t be opening anytime soon, Ammiano is taking an obvious first step toward sanity in drug enforcement: decriminalizing marijuana for personal and private use. That would recognize reality and take some pressure off the state’s overwhelmed criminal justice system.

Marijuana is California’s biggest cash crop, creating a $14 billion market. Prohibition isn’t working any better for pot than it did for alcohol. The drug is widely available and used across age and income groups. Enforcing laws against it, smoking out growers and jailing users, is wasting hundreds of millions of dollars that are needed for education and health care.

The first step, which could be accomplished this year, is for California to reduce penalties for the personal, private use of marijuana, making it more like a traffic offense. This can be done under federal law, and California would not be first. Colorado and Alaska — yes, conservative Sarah Palin’s domain — have already done it. Eleven other states have decriminalized pot use to some extent. New York now is re-examining its extreme Rockefeller-era drug laws on the theory that easing penalties for nonviolent users would be good fiscal and social policy.

The more radical proposal to legalize pot raises more questions. Ammiano estimates that selling the drug under a regulatory structure similar to the one for beer, wine and liquor would bring in $1.3 billion a year to California’s treasury. However, the state Board of Equalization estimates that legalizing marijuana could increase consumption by as much as 40 percent, an attention-getting, if speculative, figure.

Even if that’s true, it might be less damaging to individuals and society than the current policies. Beyond the cost of arresting, prosecuting and jailing nonviolent users, lawmakers can’t ignore how much the present laws are contributing to the growth of gangs, both here and in Mexico. Taking away the illegal market for the most common drug could improve public safety.

It’s not just San Francisco liberals who advocate changing U.S. policies on drugs. Republican George Shultz, the former secretary of state, and past conservative icons such as Milton Friedman and William F. Buckley have argued that the harm from fighting the war on drugs outweighs the benefits. Recent polls show increasing numbers of Americans support legalizing marijuana.

It’s past time for a rational public policy conversation about California’s marijuana laws. Thank Ammiano for opening it.

Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2009 San Jose Mercury News
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