IN CALIFORNIA, SYMBOL OF WINE IN THE U.S.A., A CAMPAIGN TO APPLY LAWS FOR DOMESTIC USE AND SALE (TAXED), OF MARIJUANA IS BEING PROMOTED BY THE “REGULATE MARIJUANA LIKE WINE ACT”

The news, as one can imagine, is totally controversial. In Europe and Italy, instead, new alarms are being launched about the damage caused not only by abuse, but also “normal use” of alcoholic beverages, including wine. Some consumer organizations, such as the consumers association, Assoutenti, and institutions such as the National Institute of Health, would like to see the same warnings put on wine bottle labels as those on packs of cigarettes. Overseas, the alcohol-smoke comparison is completely the opposite.

The state-symbol of American winemaking, California, is promoting the “Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act”, which would mean regulating the production and personal use of marijuana, already legalized for therapeutic purposes (and to refurbish state finances). The promoters have a website (www.regulatemarijuanalikewine.com) and their goal is to regulate the cultivation, production and sale of cannabis, using the same industry standards of grapes and wine. In other words, taxing individuals for the production and sale of cannabis according to the same State regulations applied to wine, allowing production for personal and domestic use and sales.

“We are taking something that is not regulated and putting it into the well known and successfully implemented program of the “California Alcohol Beverage Control Board”, Steve Kubby, co-author of the measure, who also contributed to the drafting and promotion of “Proposition 215”, the first California law on the medical use of cannabis, told californiawatch.org”. “We know,” he added, “that it works fine with wine”.

Besides the measure itself, the main point is that for the first time, alcoholic beverages and a drug, whether or not considered a light drug, are being considered and compared at the same level, in a non-negative way. Up until now, when talking about young people’s highs, some have considered all alcohol beverages (hard liquor or wine) like drugs in the same negative way. We do not know how the story will end in California. But, if part of the population accepts, for better or for worse, the wine-drug comparison, in a State where wine is also a cultural product, it will at least be grounds for serious reflection.