The Camel's Nose Is In the Tent, and He's Got a Spliff In His Mouth

LA's police chief William Bratton Views With Alarm the rapidly increasing numbers of so-called medical marijuana clinics.

So he's proposing legislation to regulate them, including a ban within 1,000 feet of schools.

Concerned by a 2,350% increase in the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles in a one-year period, Police Chief William J. Bratton is calling for a moratorium on new facilities until strict rules can be adopted governing them.

In a report to the Police Commission, Bratton said he wants to ban existing dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, parks and places designated exclusively for the care of children. He also advocates limiting their hours to 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The establishments are allowed under a 1996 state ballot measure and a more recent state law making marijuana available to patients by prescription to relieve pain or nausea.

Bratton said the number of dispensaries increased from four in November 2005 to 98 a year later.

"This has fostered an increase in … crime problems and caused quality-of-life issues for families and communities, as evidenced by the 110 complaints received from neighbors, business owners and concerned citizens concerning these dispensaries," Bratton's report states.

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"One clinic blatantly resorted to placing fliers on the windshields of vehicles parked in and around Grant High School in an obvious effort to entice children," Bratton said.

The chief did not identify the clinic, but said its flier stated that it is legal to own, grow and smoke medical marijuana and that "qualification is simple and our experienced physicians are more than happy to help you," adding that the visit is free if the applicant does not qualify.

Bratton is right about one thing. These places are not all simply supplying weed to people on chemotherapy. The medical marijuana thing is a way of relaxing controls on the foul weed. Even if the excuse is plausible, like sacramental wine during Prohibition, the exception's being used, as the Chief says (horror of horrors!) for "profit and recreational drug use".

I don't care for the stuff, but if you started out analyzing the deleterious effects of pot and booze, you'd probably legalize pot and ban booze. Pot makes people passive and silly, not combative (although remember the word "assassin" comes from hashishin, the youths the Old Man of the Mountain plied with hashish to give them visions of heaven before he sent them on their missions).

The other noteworthy thing in the Chief's screed is his call for a ban within 1,000 feet of a school. This hypocritical ploy is now used all the time as part of an emotional plea to, so they say, protect children. 1,000 feet is a fifth of a mile, or four blocks. This kind of proposal, blessed by the Supreme Court in the case of so-called adult venues, i.e. pornography, is just an excuse to ban or at least harass an unpopular kind of business. It has nothing to do with protecting children in the real world; it's just a cynical exploitation of fears for children.

And who appointed the cops as moral arbiters? They're supposed to enforce criminal laws, not come up with new ones. Instead the do things like visit schools and tell kids not to use drugs, a program demonstrated to be ineffective.

Legalize it. Strike a blow against the Nanny State.