Rather than opening wide the gates to pot-fueled nirvana he now espouses the relatively less controversial but lucrative legalization of “medical marijuana,” a move that’s sure to attract many new high quality residents from across the globe who currently spend much of their free time in other places evading the law.
Respicio’s initiative has not gone unnoticed by those attuned to such things. Bloggers already tout Guam as the next great vacation spot where one might relax for a smoke. The senator envisions a blossoming industry that will bring loads of loot to GovGuam coffers through the licensing and taxing of growers and others who’d underpin his “marijuana farmers’ cooperative.”
He probably already knows this, but I must remind him that key elements of the industry are already in place. Marijuana farms abound. Ditto sales networks and customer base. It remains only to identify them all — growers, wholesalers, retailers and qualified users (that last part may be a bit tricky, as the legitimate customer base must be carefully refined) — and ask them all to acknowledge their roles in the “industry” and a willingness to pay those licensing fees and taxes.
All that then remains is to provide the information to our Department of Revenue and taxation for further action. That’s — ahem — the same DRT that habitually fails or declines to collect tens of millions of dollars in delinquent property and other taxes. There would, of course, be a need for large numbers of additional government employees to oversee, control and be otherwise involved with the new industry. It might be necessary to create an entirely new arm of the public safety community: a “pot patrol” as it were.
Is it just me, or do others perhaps wonder just how much pot we’re talking about here? Guam is tiny compared to the Golden State — land of fruits and nuts from which much of our local law derives — which may not be a suitable model for Guam’s fledgling marijuana industry. I mean, how many folks are going to be standing in line at local pharmacies with legitimate prescriptions for wacky tobacky?
I was somehow — perhaps mistakenly — under the impression that marijuana may be of medical benefit under certain rather well-defined conditions. Contrary to what Senator Respicio apparently accepts as gospel in a constituent’s e-mail, I can’t recall a single medical report — reputable or otherwise — claiming that pot cures genetic disorders of any kind. In fact, I don’t recall seeing evidence that it cures anything whatsoever, except perhaps the urge to get a job. One can only wonder which doctor may have diagnosed and prescribed in this case, and why this miracle cure hasn’t captured the attention of the World Health Organization and the AMA.
I don’t oppose legalizing marijuana so long as it’s recognized and controlled as the mind-altering drug that it is.
That would include, at minimum, a workable and rigidly enforced process to control and heavily tax manufacture, distribution and sale. No less important is a means to identify abuse through field tests at least as effective as those now used to measure alcohol intoxication, with zero-tolerance enforcement. Otherwise, how to reliably identify the school bus driver, the airline pilot, the medical practitioner or police officer high on pot? The capability to do that just doesn’t exist here and now.
The bottom line? Medical use of marijuana can be a good thing but legalizing it in Guam now would inevitably open the door to rampant abuse in the name of medical necessity. Maybe someday, but for now it’s an idea whose time has yet to come.
DAVE DAVIS
Yigo, Guam
