Treat Pot Like Liquor: Marijuana Speech #17

17 ^th speech in this series to the Josephine County Commissioners, September 30, 2009.    

Another reason that you should ask the legislature to pass the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act is: “WHEREAS there is no reason to treat marijuana and its users any more harshly than alcohol and its users;”

Actually, there are a lot of reasons that people should be given more freedom to buy and use this herb than people have to buy and use alcohol, and many reasons that the state should not so strictly control access to alcohol.  But government moves best when it moves slowly regarding any non-emergency, and for now it would be good just to put these two most-widely-used substances on an equal footing in state liquor stores.

Alcohol is implicated in many traffic accidents; the same cannot be said for marijuana.  In fact, the National Transportation Safety Board has found that drivers under the influence of cannabis, unlike drunk drivers, know precisely how impaired they are and compensate by driving a little more slowly and cautiously than when they are straight.  This extends, among people who are not used to it, to refusing to drive if they feel that they are too impaired.  Chronic users like me are not impaired by cannabis.

Alcohol is not only implicated in many car accidents; it is also involved in many other kinds of accidents, for the same reason: feeling ten feet tall and bulletproof.  Alcohol depresses reflexes and balance, and throws caution to the winds.  The drunk does not know how impaired his reflexes, balance, and judgment are.  Cannabis users are under no such illusion.  People don’t drown or fall off of cliffs because they are stoned.

Studies have also shown that, where cannabis is more available, alcohol is less used, especially among the young.  This can result in fewer drunk driving and other accidental deaths among the young. 

Even though both substances would be sold in liquor stores where only those over 21 could buy it, since it is easier to grow pot than to make liquor, pot will be more available outside of liquor stores, and youth will have more access to weed than liquor—at a far lower price than now for either, which is important. 

Right now, teens are our pot dealers, but weed is expensive, while alcohol is relatively cheap, though somewhat harder to get.  If the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act is passed, cannabis will be a lot cheaper and little harder to get, but not as hard to get as alcohol, since many people will grow it and will have some to give away. 

Since it will be far cheaper than it is now, there will be little profit in stealing it, while the risk will be about the same as it is now—substantial.  We currently have a problem with people stealing medical marijuana.  Theft of weed should drop to almost nothing when every adult is free to grow his own, and most kids will know someone who is growing it. 

Our current situation, with a few licensed, limited growers who cannot legally sell weed and a lot of people who are willing to pay high prices for it, is a stumbling block for the dishonest.  There are plenty of other temptations to evil; this one can be removed.

Rycke Brown, Natural Gardener         541-955-9040         rycke@gardener.com