publisher / By Judy Hodgson

A Law Worth Copying

(July 10, 2008)  hwarzenegger signed an emergency bill early last month that got little notice here on the far North Coast. It fixed – in a hurry – the state law governing home winemaking. Someone discovered that the law as written actually was ridiculous: It prohibited competitions like many county fairs have held for decades because legally homemade wine could not legally be transported off your property to be judged. Nor could you share your product with friends; only immediate family members could imbibe. Of course those parts of the law were widely ignored and once discovered, the law was amended – especially since the popular California State Fair home-winemaking competition was about to begin.

I mention this law because it may be one to copy when and if we legalize and regulate marijuana.

First, let’s review what’s wrong with current marijuana laws:

The laws are widely ignored. If a law makes so many otherwise law-abiding citizens criminals, there might just be something wrong with the law. (Think prohibition.)

The laws make a bunch of liars out of our friends and neighbors. Most medical marijuana card-holders are not telling the truth. They want a 215 card because they like to use marijuana as a recreational drug and they don’t want to be arrested.

The laws turn otherwise law-abiding doctors into co-conspirators. There are a few physicians, no doubt, who write prescriptions for 215 cards purely for money, but the majority likely do it because they are learned, informed men and women who know marijuana is not the bogeyman gateway drug some claim and that it is infinitely less harmful to our society’s health than, say, tobacco. They know that some ill people get some relief, but even if they don’t, the drug is not unlike anxiety-lowering Xanax.

The laws are a colossal waste of our law enforcement dollars. Do you think most cops want to be out there enforcing a bunch of fuzzy pot rules when they should be targeting drunk-drivers, breaking up a few more domestic disputes, or going after serious drugs like meth and heroin?

The laws waste the resources for courts, jails and prisons.

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