I'm going to inhale and hold it in for the entire time it takes me to write this.

Just kidding.

But there's a good chance that come November, Californians just might roll a statewide blunt and legalize marijuana for recreational use, effectively turning over decades of prohibition and possibly opening up an unprecedented door to decriminalizing the plant from state to state, although it is still federally illegal.

Apparently enough signatures were obtained by legalization advocates to put it to a vote in the next election, and I'll put it on front street: it's about blazing time!




Now, far be it from me to try to convince you that weed has all these great things about it: That it makes you more creative; that it does all these wonderful things for your health; that it clears your skin; makes you a better lover/writer/artist, blah, blah, blah. Really, there's no sound science proving any of that.

It's only prescribed for medicinal use in some states (including California) to ease chronic pain, among various types of patients. Other than that, it has no real health benefits. At the same time, there's no sound science that proves it's harmful either. Although ingesting any fume in to your lungs isn't good for you, it's nowhere near as dangerous as tobacco cigarettes, because nobody smokes a pack of joints a day.

So the amount most recreational users smoke doesn't do much but go to their heads. Besides that, there is no record-historical or medical-that anyone has ever overdosed on marijuana. The plant itself has never killed anyone, and the only thing it can ever really do to you is make you high, make you sleepy and give you the munchies. That's all anyone with any medical or scientific training has ever determined about ganja.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Weed makes people lazy and unmotivated." I used to believe that too. In fact, everyone I know who's a chronic smoker (no pun intended) and is also a lazy bum or temperamental and moody is like that anyway. It's just their personality. They just choose to develop a psychological dependency, and use the herb as a crutch.

Which leads me to my point: although Mary Jane is not physically harmful, what is dangerous about it is that it is illegal. No doctor will ever truthfully tell you he's treated anyone for any long-term injurious effects of marijuana. But many, particularly trauma surgeons, will tell you horror stories about the damage done, the exit wounds stitched, the stab wounds sutured and the death certificates signed because of pot being against the law.

If weed were legal, it would be about as expensive as parsley, really only a few cents a gram, but because it's not, the market cultivated around it and all dope is as lucrative as it is deadly.

To explain, a dime bag costs about $10, hence the name. But before you even put it in a Zig Zag, it comes from a dealer. This person handles the plant in bulk, and has to weigh, separate and package the weed himself, which comes at a cost, plus he's got to dodge the cops, because the amount he's moving could get him serious time in most states if he's caught.

The dealer has to purchase it from someone else who distributes it, who also has to stay a step ahead of five-oh, as well as move it around several areas or even regions of the country. This person might grow it himself, like they do in various parts of California, or he might buy it wholesale from another supplier or even outside of the country.

And that person, if he's part of the chain, has to take the expense of harvesting the plant, flying it in to the country, paying for places to store it and giving people money to look the other way.

Since it's illegal, as I said, not only are people trying to avoid law enforcement, they are trying to protect themselves from each other because at any turn someone is trying to muscle someone else. Dirty deals are made, and people are killed every hour of every day. All of this drives the price of an ounce from about ¢0.50 to $10.

It's the ultimate form of laissez faire capitalism: no government regulation, and no taxes. As long as there is a demand -- and there always will be -- it's just pure profit.

What California would do by legalizing pot is eliminate all of the levels of the industry, making it so that people who wanted it could just go buy it at a licensed seller. It would be taxed and regulated, and much like the marijuana laws in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the law would dictate where you could smoke it.

There would no longer be any need to go to the weed man to get high, when you could go to a weed shop for a fraction of the cost. Plus, with a government stamp, a consumer would know what he's buying and where it came from rather than risking smoking the chemical contaminants that could be laced in street weed. It's the same difference as buying pasteurized or unpasteurized milk.

Almost instantly, the number of drug arrests would plummet, and in fact, it's already been reported that medical marijuana in California has people trending away from dealers and going to licensed sellers. Courts wouldn't be nearly as tied up with cases as they are now, and states would not be spending the $41 billion a year to try and incarcerate offenders.

Think of what that money could do if it went to educate your kid rather than lock him up.

Now, by no means am I saying that everyone should just go out and get stoned. I don't want to work alongside anyone who can't focus on what he's doing. I don't want to go to a physician who's smoked out. I don't want an accountant lighting up while he's doing my taxes.

If I'm an employer and I see that worker is coming to the job high (or drunk for that matter), I can simply fire him. If I'm seeking medical attention, then I'm certainly going to pick the doctor who's cognizant of what he's doing. If I want someone looking at my finances, I'm naturally going to use a guy who understands that the numbers on the page aren't little dancing men.

The illegality of weed never stopped smokers from smoking it, so I don't see the point of keeping it against the law. It's all about using common sense and not waiting for the government to use it for you.

Yeah, I've heard all the nonsense about weed being a "gateway drug." But with that same logic, wouldn't beer be a gateway drug to vodka? Hell, I was at a bar in Lower Manhattan just this evening and watched several people go from Corona to Jagermeister shots in the course of an hour, then stagger home. And there was nothing deemed criminal about that, although that behavior endangered their health and the safety of others far more than weed ever could have.

I also hear arguments from fearful parents about what could happen to their kids if weed is legalized, but let me tell you something, get your head out of the sand. Your kid, if he hasn't already tried it, has been exposed to weed at least once by the time he's 15. If you don't want him to be a weedhead, then set a standard example in your own home. YOU are the parent, that means YOU are the boss. Let him know that there ain't no such thing as "privacy" in your house. Let him know what you will tolerate, and what will get the living daylights smacked out of him. I guarantee you he'll listen.

It's almost time for me to exhale (just kidding). But although I'll never advocate the use of marijuana, it's about time that the nation changed its laws about weed and all drugs. If the "War on Drugs" were effective, it would have been won by now.

But it's been 30 years of rhetoric (some would argue 40) and the result has been an overcrowded U.S. penal system, the largest in the world; once-strong neighborhoods turned into ghettos; families broken by laws targeted at black men; a now second generation of crack babies in the system; an underground economy that kills innocent people and recruits young men and women in to an illicit trade that many never exit alive; and an educational system that loses some of its best and brightest to the dope game. That's about where "Just Say No" has gotten us.

California could well take the lead on changing America's course and could finally get dope out of our lives by taking the money out of it. It's a concept whose time has come.

Shotgun.