California’s Proposition 19 was destined to be a contentious one from the start.  Entitled the “Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010,” it would legalize personal use of marijuana.  Whether your for it or against it, chances are that your position is based on a sincere belief that it’s the right/wrong thing to do.  That isn’t the case for everyone.

Via Turley, it turns out that there’s internecine warfare abrewing between the forces of intoxication.

The California Beer and Beverage Distributors contributed $10,000 to the No on Prop. 19 campaign, also known as “Public Safety First.” The industry has also spent considerable funds to fight other pot-related legal change, including opposition to Proposition 5, the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA), which attempted to reduce marijuana possession from a misdemeanor to an infraction.

The obvious fear is that pot will drain away beer drinkers, and perhaps a couple of chard guys, thus reducing the post-temperance take.  That’s bad for business, if you happen to be a beverage distributor.

Much of the discussion over at Turley’s is about the relative merit of pot over booze.  I leave that to others to discuss, as it hardly seems worth the effort.  What does strike me as significant is that few give much thought to the players and agendas hiding behind the platitudes, and too often the lies, that influence public opinion.

When you’re involved in a particular battle, the likelihood is that you will gain a level of familiarity that enables you to recognize that things aren’t always what they appear to be on the surface.  We think others, people of good conscience and intelligence, will naturally understand it as well.  We assume they know about it, and indeed they might, and from this we assume they understand it. 

As to Prop. 19, it comes as no shock that the booze industry wants to keep its monopoly on legal intoxicants.  That’s what they sell, and any competing product is likely to cut into their products.  The issue isn’t beer or pot, but Mercedes Benzes and Porsches, the ones the distributors will buy with the money they make from selling beer.  Some may argue that pot smokers get the munchies, and need to wash it down with something, meaning an even greater need for beer.  The beverage distributors aren’t counting on it working that way.  No matter, they’ve picked their side.

The other day, when I asserted that the public’s awareness of the flaws in our criminal justice system was inadequate, Lee Stonum responded in a comment.

I’d disagree that the general public is not more aware of the flaws in our justice system than they were a decade ago. Panels will routinely acknowledge having read about problems with ID testimony, forensic analysis, false confessions. As you and I noted recently, the herculean task is getting them to believe its happened in THIS individual case. That is exceedingly hard to do.

While we both agree that the task of getting people to believe that, “in THIS individual case,” a problem exists is the critical task, Lee gives people more credit than I do.  They may hear the words, watch the video, but it doesn’t sink into their consciousness sufficiently for them to think about it.  When they don’t think about it, they don’t understand that subtext or ramifications.  They don’t question the underlying agendas.  They hear only the platitude, the sound bite, the most superficial aspect of the problem.  From there, an opinion is formed.

On its surface Prop. 19 seems like the basic conflict between the forces of good and evil, stoners versus law and order types who watched Reefer Madness one time too many.  As should be apparent from the beverage distributors putting their money where their profits are, there are forces in opposition which have nothing to do with whether marijuana smoking is, in itself, good or bad, healthy or dangerous.  There are others as well with interests at stake, like prison guards and probation officers, the guys who make the Breathalyzer 5000 and the Ignition Interlock Device.  Even criminal defense lawyers have a horse in the race.

If you’re waiting for someone to tell you about all the hidden agendas, all the nice folks who speak sweetly to you and tell you how they’re only thinking of your welfare, you may be disappointed.  There are plenty of folks out there happy to spoonfeed us, but what we’re getting isn’t always good for our health.  In fact, most of what we’re fed is exactly the stuff we shouldn’t be digesting.  

It’s up to each of us to take responsibility for ourselves to think these things through, to question and wonder about it.  It’s hard work, thinking, and it makes people’s heads hurt.  Still, without it, we’re just pawns in someone else’s game.

I’ve known more than my share of guys and gals who sold marijuana.  Most were very likeable people.  They were not, however, spiritually motivated, but just people who sold an intoxicant because they wanted to make money.  We talked long ago about the possibility of pot being legalized, sold at the corner store just like beer, and they hated the idea.  It was the death of their business, as some corporation would seize control of their street corner within seconds and they would never be able to pay the mortgage on their Chalet.  

There are all sorts of agendas behind the issues that matter to you.  If you don’t think about it, chances are you will never know what they are and who is manipulating your opinion.