I have been thinking, dreaming more like it, of the day when marijuana can be bought legally in a store. I have stared at my navel, thought about the meaning of life and tried to imagine the utopia of legalized, regulated marijuana. But there is always one question, how can we sell it legally and still ensure to the best of our abilities that it does not get into a youngster's hands or is sitting on a small onion paper on some dude's lap waiting to be rolled up into a joint at the red-light beside you. I do not want people opening a can of beer with one hand while the other hand is on the steering wheel, nor do I want someone rolling a joint while the light turns green. So what do we do? How can we regulate the sale? While dreaming of the little creatures, smaller then any electron-microscope can see, forming civilizations on the edge of the hairs around my navel, I decided to venture into how I would regulate the sale, in my world.
Here in Alabama we have a strange regulation on the sale of whiskeys. Beer and wine can be bought in a gas station, but liquor and whiskey has to come thru a state board called the ABC Board. The ABC Board purchases all the whiskey in the state, warehouses it in Montgomery, then distributes it throughout the state to state-owned stores called ABC stores. These stores are not privately owned, they are run and regulated by the state of Alabama, all employees in these stores are state employees. From here private package stores can buy the whiskey, at a discounted price, from ABC stores that are designated to sell to these private stores and must follow certain procedures. I have worked in these ABC stores, they are well regulated and security is strictly enforced for the most part, but life is not perfect and nor are humans, people have and will be fired for breaking regulations. However since it is state regulated and run, the regulations and policies on the sale of whiskey is stricter then it would be at a private buisness whose policies revolve around the whims of the BoD or store owner.
Now why have a big, long paragraph on how whiskey is sold in Alabama? Well, because in my world this is exactly how marijuana would be sold if legal and regulated. The state would buy from a marijuana distributor, the marijuana would be shipped directly to a warehouse(or central location)to be distributed to the state-owned stores in that state. The employees would be state employees and would have to follow strict policies and procedures, like they do now to sell whiskey. In my world, however, private stores would be forbidden from selling marijuana. I feel that private stores cannot regulate the sell as efficently or as strict as a state-owned and controlled store can. But to each state their own, states rights and all that.
Okay now on that tiny hair on my navel, the tiny creatures have created this magical way to regulate the sale of marijuana but they still need a way to package it. This is the tricky part, but when you think about it we can still use the technology we have now. Once again, my state of Alabama has open container laws. I am not extremely familiar with them, but I know you cannot have an open beer or Absolut bottle open in your car while driving. Once again, same rules apply to the transport of marijuana after the sale. Cellophane wrappers, same as those on cigeratte boxes, can be sealed around the package of marijuana and sealed with an official state seal. This can be done by the distributor or once the state recieves the marijuana. Open container law applies here, the cellophane wrapper and seal must be intact while in a motor-vehicle. If the seal is broken, mandatory sobriety field test. Now you say "what happens if the seal is torn on something in the car?", well that is why I used the Absolut vodka example(and because I love Absolut Vanilla). The seal on a bottle of whiskey can break as well, it can snag on something or some mischievous worker can break the seal before it is sold. However, the police do not accept these excuses for alcohol, why would it be different for marijuana? You can beg your case all you want to the trooper who has pulled you over, but if the seal on the bottle of Old Crow bourbon is broken you are going to have to take a field sobriety test-same rules apply to marijuana.
I have not gone into detail on how to field test for marijuana sobriety, there are many ways to test and an equal number of people who feel strongly one way or the other. In meatwad's world though, it would be a saliva test.
Saliva testing, unlike urinalysis, detects the presence of parent drugs, not drug metabolites (inert compounds produced from chemical changes of a drug in the body). In general, parent drugs are detectable in the saliva for less than 24 hours. However, the test does not indicate impairment.
Another example is pupil dilation. I would want the best, least invasive yet generally reliable test available. As spiderman's uncle said, with great power comes great responsibility. If we are given the power to regulate the sale of marijuana which has been banned in the United States for over 50 yrs, then we must also ensure that we are responsible with it.
This diary has been forming, rotating and swirling around in my mind for a while now. It is a response to those who question, sometimes sincerely and sometimes trollish-y, how it would be sold. What I have written is not a science, it is not a fact and probably not even a theory. I am open to all discussions and hope there is one, the more we talk openly and maturely about this the more we will accomplish and maybe change some minds in the process.