Ballot Measure 2 is a net loss

Far from being an anomaly, the recent turn of phrases and events typify the millennial stoner mindset. KTVA’s anchor was described by Alaska Dispatch News columnist Paul Jenkins as signing off “with a flourish.” After watching a few times online, I see nothing but an apathetic shrug. Her crude mantra is the unofficial stoner creed: “Forget this job, this ruse, this pretension, the trust of my co-workers and superiors, Imma go get high.” Under current laws, Charlene Egbe — aka Charlo Greene — is free to roast bowls. To follow her antics a few clicks further, she appears to do little else with her platform. How is this proof of the racist oppression she claims undergird drug laws in Alaska?

That she revels in the cyber notoriety and faux civil rights heroism is understandable — chronic drug users don’t gauge reality well. Their senses are dulled, their intellect fogged, and their worldview skewed. Lady Greene spoke the strongest sentiment a pothead is often capable of: giving up. Never mind derailing the message of the pro-marijuana backers, the myopic selfishness on display is precisely what we invite into our state with Ballot Measure 2.

Accepting this measure would codify lowered expectations for our children and at-risk portions of society. The tragedies will visit those already suffering social and familial deficiencies. Drugs sell themselves. They don’t need marketing.

After peppering friends and family with questions about this over the summer, I found a varied response. Be they store clerks, policemen, clergy, pharmacists, thespians, loggers, libertarians, full-time mothers or doctors, there was a familiar hint of ‘f*** it’ when I probed those who answered in support of legal recreational marijuana. There was a sense that stoned losers will always be stoned losers. This is a devastating sentiment, which harms the addict most. Laws must, in their most skeletal form, uphold nobility. People who have departed polite society in order to stay high, they’re worth the trouble of recovering, but it’s often a long road back. Those same people need clear signs of re-entry, lest they flail around in underachievement and claim to be victimized. Step 1: put down the bong. We don’t do them any favors by pretending this is a life-affirming hobby.

A jolt of clarity has come from a quiet source, free from campaigns or juvenile fits. There’s a certain strain of pot smoker you can’t help but respect: one who doesn’t want to register with the government for permission. A Wasilla thirty-something staffing the local smoke shop deadpanned over the counter, “You pass this in November and they’re going to pay more to get less. I just came from a month in Washington, where my relatives all have medical cards… the quality is laughable compared to what real growers turn out.” There goes the argument for uniformity or regulation erasing any need for an underground market. Impacting demand is the answer to reducing drug use, not tampering with the supply. Why does chemical impairment hold appeal for so many people? Can we elevate ourselves beyond the illusory freedom of drug use? Into achievement in the arts, sciences and humanitarian service? Or do we just need more weed? The Yes on 2 materials cite that 16 percent of Alaskans smoke marijuana, placing us a dubious first in the nation. Is this number somehow too low for them?

Must we ask ourselves if excessive alcohol or prescription drug use is quietly fatal in many ways? Absolutely. Could we attack unjust sentencing or illogical criminalization? Let’s do it. But considering Alaska’s abysmal truth of injury, unemployment and suicide, both short-term and long-term solutions will require cooperation and innovation. Brain drain begins long before university level. This isn’t the time to sedate emerging generations.

Central to our state’s story is a graceful tension between federal management and self-direction. Why is the Last Frontier being targeted by the national muscle? It appears we’ve been briefly co-opted by deep pockets who aim to extract customers from our homes and schools. Our penchant for liberty and privacy has been mistaken for weakness. Alaska has enough collective spine to resist those poised to siphon money and motivation from its citizens. Reject Measure 2.

Tiffany Borges lives in Wasilla.