Pubdate: Mon, 4 Oct 2010
Source: Daily Nexus (UC Santa Barbara, CA Edu)
Page: 10
Copyright: 2010 Daily Nexus
Contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.dailynexus.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2729
Author:Kevin W. McCarty
Note: Kevin McCarty is a fourth-year English major.

Yes We Can: The Cannabis Chronicles

Last Thursday, Governor Schwarzenegger decriminalized marijuana.
Somewhere in the chronic haze of my mind, I might have expected this
to happen: The Terminator saves the kid from robots trying to take
away his civil liberties -- or something like that. He was sent with a
mission from the future, you know. After Google Earth becomes SkyNet
and takes over operational command of the United States military,
people are definitely going to want to smoke weed. Now they can
without fear of arrest. Thanks, Arnold! I can say I've never been more
proud of you in your term as Governor of California. Now on to the
other $25 billion in the state budget shortfall...

Of course, this act changes little within the letter of the law, with
the fine for possessing up to an ounce of cannabis capped at $100, but
now as a civil rather than criminal offense, there will be no jury
trial for defendants. I suppose you will simply pay the fine if
caught, and the state will save big on lawyer fees. By virtue of the
fact that people now caught possessing weed for their own enjoyment
will no longer receive arrest records, I am glad for this change of
rules.

This victory is still a preamble, with Proposition 19 emerging on the
horizon through the grape blunt smoke... and seven percent of California
voters are still undecided, according to the PPIC Statewide Survey.
The bright news in this survey is that 52 percent of "all likely
voters" support the passage of the marijuana legalization measure.

This is a challenge from the universe to see if stoners can get up off
their collective ass for one day to make a change in marijuana law.
Imagine the siege of Iwo Jima except with American smokers raising a
giant pot-leaf flag on the summit of a mountain of bullshit,
non-science and misinformation: That is what Nov. 2 could be,
California. One day. Make it happen, Cap'n.

Not all people engaged with the cannabis industry are supportive, and
understandably so. Many growers rely on the covert aspect of the
marijuana market to live as a small-scale niche supplier.

Some of these people have families, and full legalization has big
business implications that could snatch away the very niche in which
they thrive. This is a legitimate concern for them, but I feel that
these fears are overplayed. We are talking about one of the most
innovative, resilient and people-based markets that exists on the
North American continent today. There are a million opportunities to
make money in a refined marijuana market that commands higher value.

A person might, for example, open a restaurant on State St. that
serves various fine cuisines, but the customer is offered the option
of ordering a dish either the standard "delicious," or the
alternative: "glorified." Glorification would involve the addition of
marijuana butter at a certain stage in the preparation of the dish. A
customer, if they desired, might also be able to enjoy, courtesy of
the house, a crisp rolled joint ready to smoke just to the right of
the soup spoon on the table.

Would you frequent such a restaurant if it were permissible? I sure as
shit would.

For reasons such as this and those more obvious, Prop. 19 is a round
benefit to average Californians more involved with the toke after work
than any 'industrial activity.' Easier access to herb, combined with
home 'gardening' and the freedom to smoke a pack of blunts at a
concert ... Well, I am in favor.

For the remaining California citizens who abstain completely from
marijuana and other dangerous drugs, they might consider the
likelihood that their state is on the fast track to becoming the next
Greece with its dismal budget outlook.

Once a certain great number of public employees and institutions are
eviscerated of their funding, the human brain seems to revert to a
primal and anarchic program: Riot! Nothing like that has ever happened
in Isla Vista, right?

The cultural transition to a stable and tolerant "post-war" society is
steadily manifesting. People who are capable of rational decisions
unfounded on fear are not so dense to lump all "drugs" into one
category. Such rational people must decide on evidence.

The drug "marijuana" has never directly killed a single person in all
of recorded human history.

The holistic medical herb, Cannabis sativa, been a regular aid to
human life for at least 5,000 years and will continue to be for as
long as humans exist.

To deny such reality is fantastically naive.
_______________________________________

_______________________________________________
THS mailing list