Law-enforcement types always fear the carnage on our highways or the laziness of our citizenry should marijuana become legal. Jerry Brown actually asked how we were going to compete with China if everyone is stoned. This idea is rooted in the vaguely religious fear that the “sin” of pot-smoking is so damn attractive that as soon as it become legal, everyone will rush out and plunge her face into the nearest bong. But my experience suggests that anyone who wants to be legal in California is already legal, which suggests that anybody who wants to smoke pot is already smoking pot. On the way back to my hotel, in fact, I passed two similar establishments within two blocks: the Green Goddess Medical Marijuana Collective and Canna Safe. The cat is out of the bag, folks. The law is nothing but a fig leaf that can be purchased with an $80 medical exam from any barker on the boardwalk.

It’s a joke. And it’s not good policy to make the law into a joke.