No clear answers here

So, I-502 goes into effect December 6^th in Washington state. For those of you who reside elsewhere, this is the questionable result of an initiative aimed at legalizing marijuana in the state. Which has now come to pass.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I do believe our jails and prisons are way over-populated with people whose crimes harmed no one but themselves. On the other hand, I’m not enthralled with the idea of more people being encouraged to toke up.

The bottom line for me is that the government must have, as the Supremes are wont to say, a ‘compelling interest’ when it moves to constrain the activities of its citizens. And truly, I don’t see how cannabis represents a more compelling risk to the populace than booze. The last time we tried to outlaw alcohol, I don’t believe it actually went all that well.

Now that a couple of states have declared marijuana legal for recreational use, I’m going to be very interested to watch the Feds’ reaction. When the Washington Supremes and the 9^th Circuit come head to head on this issue, as eventually it seems to me they must, we may just have an interesting discussion of states’ rights. Too bad it will be over such a silly issue.

Marijuana  has long represented a conundrum for parents who grew up as I did in a time when pot was widely available and a three finger bag without too many seeds or stems cost ten bucks – or so I’ve been led to understand, doncha know. You really don’t want your own children getting stoned and driving over the center line. But then they ask the question and what do you do – lie?

For those of us in the “Yes I tried it once – for about six years” category, it’s become increasingly difficult to counsel abstinence while looking your offspring in the eye. And frankly, one look at my midriff might easily lead the impartial observer to wonder just how many times I heard the Call Of The Munchies over the years.

As I said, I’m torn on this one. But it comes down for me to the fact that as a government of the people, we just have more important things to do than incarcerate something on the order of 40,000 people for marijuana-related offenses while drunk drivers are allowed to keep re-offending until they kill someone. It’s a matter of balancing priorities.

Putting people in jail for toking is just not one of mine. Sorry if that offends you.