Editorial: Sonoma needs to shift with the winds on legal pot

“Yes. I remember. Just a young boy... under the influence of marijuana... who killed his entire family with an axe.” – “Reefer Madness,” 1936

Hopefully, things will turn out a little better when they legalize pot in California.

And, rest assured, that day is coming – possibly with a blunt statement from voters in November 2016, if a likely proposition to legalize recreational marijuana passes. A similar initiative narrowly failed in 2010. Now, with attitudes having shifted even more in favor of controlled, taxable legal recreational pot – and such states as Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington leading the way with legalization – it’s an easy, and very lucrative, precedent to follow.

USA Today has already predicted such an outcome, naming California among the next states to legalize the chronic; the International Business Times describes a “race” to legitimize recreational marijuana use in California.

In September, Gov. Brown signed into law the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety act, a collection of three bills – one authored by our state Sen. Mike McGuire – to establish a regulatory agency to tighten the reins on cultivation and dispensaries of medical marijuana. It’s a move to further legitimize existing medical pot laws.

If California’s pot legalization could be measured on a timeline, the clock would read about a minute to 4:20.

Which is why the Sonoma City Council needs to start thinking about this now.

This article goes to press before the council’s Dec. 21 meeting but, according to the agenda from Monday, the council is very likely to approve a proclamation reconfirming the town’s existing prohibition of medical marijuana dispensaries. But don’t go loco, weed lovers; such a move wouldn’t necessarily convey an aversion to marijuana – according to MMRSA, local jurisdictions must confirm where they stand by mid February, or the state starts calling the shots. Sonoma needs to stake its claim to the decision, before Sacramento does. It’s more a local-control move than a piss-on-the-pot one.

That being said, the Sonoma City Council would be wise to conduct itself in a manner that acknowledges the very real likelihood that we’ll be living in a legalized-marijuana state in the very near future. If and when that happens, we’ll see plenty of municipalities placing moratoriums on the commercial growing and retail of cannabis – would Sonoma be among them? The other choice is strict regulation – and with that comes the alluring tax revenues. And what would the local wine industry have to say about another intoxicant on the block – one that doesn’t induce hangovers? And is marijuana covered under existing second-hand smoke regulations? How about the recent tobacco retail-licensing program, which includes tobacco-like products such as e-cigarettes – is cannabis a “tobacco-like” product? Or, if Sonoma were to become retail-marijuana friendly, would lifting the ban on dispensaries now be a good move toward having a tightly regulated system in place when recreational retail eventually takes root?

We currently exist in a Wild West marijuana culture – with all the petty offenses, organized crime, incarcerations and societal degradation lessons from which we should have learned following previous ill-advised substance prohibitions.

But have no doubt: even the rational legalization of recreational cannabis will result in a Wild West unto its own – one pioneered by the same bureaucratic inconsistencies, hypocrisies and delusions that led to marijuana being demonized next to far more dangerous drugs as alcohol and tobacco in the first place.

The futility of “just say no” may be waning, but new and unforeseen consequences are yet ahead.

Reefer madness, indeed.

Email Jason at jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.