POT COMPROMISE ISN'T THE END OF THE STRUGGLE

On Nov. 2, 2004, marijuana won in a landslide in Columbia. Proposition 1,
known as the "smart sentencing" proposition, won with 61 percent of the
vote. On any other issue, a 61 percent victory would have shut up the
opposition. However, this is pot.

On Monday, after months of haggling, the City Council ratified changes
to the marijuana decriminalization ordinance passed by voters in 2004.
As president of the MU chapter of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws, known as NORML, I'm close to this debate. I
won't go into the changes adopted, though in the interest of being a
good citizen, if you don't know them, I encourage you to find out.

Rather than wait a year to see what the true impact of the marijuana
ordinance was, a few angry parents and the Columbia Police Officers
Association put up their anti-pot sandwich boards and began collecting
signatures to put the issue back before the voters. However, if they
put it on the ballot during the school year when college students
could and would vote - as they had publicly promised to do - they
feared they'd lose again. Meanwhile, those of us who had worked so
hard to get the issue before the people were faced with the reality
that if the issue got back on the ballot, the low turnout of
non-presidential elections could spell disaster. We hadn't worried
about low turnout in the frenzy of the 2004 presidential election,
when more than 80 percent of registered voters cast a ballot. Trying
to achieve such turnout simply on a marijuana proposition would have
been an expensive campaign. Neither side was assured of victory, so
they sought a compromise.

I see both sides. On one hand I resent a few of the changes made to
limit the scope of the ordinance, which in some ways makes it a three
strikes rule. However, just because a majority - even a supermajority
- - supports something, that doesn't make it infallible. Someone once
said, "The minority opinion is sometimes wrong, the majority opinion
always is." I'll never live in a world where everyone appreciates the
utility and potential of marijuana, and that's comforting. Many people
don't like enemies, but most like some opposition.

For better or worse, this topic has been laid to rest. For the
pro-marijuana crowd, there's no more talk of further liberalizing
Columbia laws. NORML will continue efforts at the city level to
educate. We have a regional conference on March 3 and 4. There is a
medical marijuana bill in the Missouri House of Representatives, and
we have so very far to go. And to those who helped make the landslide,
thanks.