Good For What Ails You

I oft mention how I'm not going to be voting for California state initiatives any longer. The initiative process seems flawed to me, in that we weigh in on how chickens are raised, how some archaic rules for auto insurance are calculated, what special interest receives funding for stem cell research, etc. A whole lot of little shit adds up to a big pile of shit, to the extent that the Legislature is hamstrung trying to work around mandatory educational spending requirements and so on and so on and so.

In any event...I suppose after reading the text of the upcoming proposition 19 to legalize decriminalize marijuana, I'm not exactly sure I'll follow my own advice, and might indeed vote on this one.

I really don't like pot, having tried it numerous times as a kid and adult. What I don't like is really good marijuana -- I can't stand the high and I wonder "how can anyone not consider this illegal?" I can't imagine being behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle (or my own bicycle, for that matter) while under its influence. It can be an extremely potent and debilitating high, and in my mind, dangerous.

Then again, even if this proposition passes, it'll still be illegal to drive impaired, and employers may still discriminate against users. What I like about this proposition is that it decriminalizes an action that many do already, and I personally don't believe in the slippery slope arguments of gatewaying. I don't think this is something that will be easily taxed, either, and the arguments that it will increase state tax revenues is probably bogus. I like the idea of legalizing it because people, such as myself who can't stand the stuff, will quickly discover their own limits regarding its use, and this proposition is not a free license; that is, you can abuse alcohol today, drink all you want, but there are limits to when and where you are entitled to do so. I see pot being managed in the same fashion, and managed effectively.

That said, I must say that our two female plants (one sativa, the other indica) are doing quite well in the backyard, both having started budding nicely:

I say "our," but indeed they are only my wife's, for only she has a valid state-issued identification card and we are legally entitled to cultivate six mature plants here. Remember -- in every graduating class of doctors, there is always one who graduates at the very bottom of his class. The guy below him didn't get to be a doctor. He's the one who, with a 20-minute visit and an $80 bill, will write you a prescription for whatever ails you.

These plants seem to grow quite well in the Elk Grovian sun...better than anything else around here. For years years! I've tried to grow tomatoes, eggplant, garlic, and a hundred thousand other vegetables and all have failed miserably in my north-facing backyard. But alas! Pot grows like a weed!

MADD is opposed to this proposition. I can understand their point; I can't possibly see myself within 25' of a set of car keys while under the influence of marijuana, but then again, it will still be illegal to drive while impaired. Indeed, as a regular bicycle commuter in traffic on Franklin Blvd., I am most certainly passed by thirty times as many drivers who are loaded than who are legally drunk, and for whatever reason I don't consider them dangerous. Personally, from my own observation -- I am much, much more afraid of a 42-year-old sober female Asian minivan driver than I am a 24-year-old stoned white male truck driver. I would be much, much more afraid of that last-in-class doctor, recently divorced, driving his expensive imported machine while emotionally frayed and loaded on really killer prescription pain meds, knowing his ex is gonna take him to the cleaners.

That's what I worry about...