There is a saying, no good deed goes unpunished and once again it comes true.  The government legalized marijuana on the road to expunging all those with criminal records for simple possession.   In so doing we have made one major mistake I doubt society can fix.  This is not the time for I told you so.  It is bigger than that.  There were promises made that will go unfulfilled.

First we heard the song and dance about keeping pot away from kids.  We didn’t.  The promise of driving illegal production of pot and illegal dealers out of business is not going to happen either.  The promise of a fair market, with safe product is only marginally true.  The only promise valid is it will be a government revenue stream.

The government set the rules to favor large and corporate interests.  Local governments set the business cost and conditions to favor the large operators by virtue of the cost to play.

Here is a couple of points that will be controversial.  First those under age can’t buy pot legally.  The result they are buying it illegally as they always have.  In fact they are buying the most potent of the supply with no guarantee of purity or what’s been added.

Here is the grand twist of hypocrisy.  About a week ago a valley community was debating whether or not a pot shop application was too close to a school.  For a reason I am about to make clear it does not matter.

We have legal pot shops with government citified product that is considered by pot standards to be safe.

All adult pot users have access to safe product.  However all those under age are smoking illegal product that is more potent and god knows what additives are in it.  I can hear the chorus singing.  “It is illegal for under age kids buying illegal product.  I have Breaking News,  Kids are going to get access, they are going to buy it and smoke it.  The only thing we have done is get them closer to their illegal dealer.   Surely we are not naive enough to think because it is illegal the under age crowd will abstain.

This being the case we are expunging the criminal records of adults and filling the criminal files for procession with the names and mugshots of the youth.  I am not condoning the use of pot by the young I am merely pointing out the reality of life.

There is one more thing to draw to your attention.  It is a personal and a litmus test.  Introducing mirror mirror on the wall asking this question above them all.  At the teenage stage did I smoke, drink or toke?  Don’t say NO if you can still taste the whiskey in the Dixie Cup when you drank out back of the dance hall.  Did you even toke up once in someone’s basement when their parents were away?  So when we heard it is illegal, we in many cases didn’t listen either.

So how is it with best intentions of protecting the children, we provide government so called safe product to adults and parents while leaving our kids buying the black market unsafe product?   Is there something wrong with this picture? Just asking.

Fred Steele