They shall not pass

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Milford Selectman Nate Carmen is convinced that passing lanes on Route 101 in Milford – one over Route 13, the other closer to Wilton – should be eliminated because the road has a history of fatal accidents and at least a few of them have involved cars passing one another.

He has an excellent point.

The distance along the bypass from Milford to the traffic light just after the State Police barracks isn’t that great – a few short miles – so people needn’t rush to get there. That being the case, why should they pass?

They shouldn’t.

“How many accidents, how many fatals do you need?” Carmen asked rhetorically at a recent selectmen’s meeting. “You get on that road and you don’t feel good.” Milford police Chief Fred Douglas tried a few years ago to get the state to put in “Jersey barriers” – concrete dividers between lanes – because he was so concerned about the road. All the state would do, however, was put up electronic signs suggesting that drivers use their headlights along that stretch of road. Whoopee! But Carmen’s suggestion shouldn’t be a big deal for the state. The Department of Transportation has scheduled a major repaving project for four miles of 101 in Milford this spring. All the DOT has to do is eliminate the passing lanes. That doesn’t sound as if it ought to be too hard.

Sure, we know people like to drive fast and if they happen to get behind someone who is going only a mile or two over the speed limit or, heaven forbid, a few miles under it, they get antsy and want to hurry, hurry, hurry and pass. But to get four miles a few seconds faster? It doesn’t make much sense, really.

Carmen has also taken up Chief Douglas’ old call for “Jersey barriers,” suggesting them from Market Basket straight to Amherst. That’s not a bad idea, either, but the state has balked before and will probably balk again. Still, at least now Chief Douglas isn’t alone in his call for strong action.

But if nothing else, eliminating the passing lanes is something. And sometimes, something is better than nothing. Not always, but sometimes. This is one of those times.

A step forward

A state House of Representatives committee recently voted 16-2 to decriminalize possession of a quarter once or less of marijuana.

Good for the committee.

Now it would be nice if the state Senate, which killed a similar bill two years ago, woke up, smelled the coffee, and passed it this time.

And it would be extra nice if Gov. John Lynch signed it into law.

But his spokesman said he won’t and we have no idea why.

This is not a bill that is going to mandate, or even approve of, smoking marijuana. All it does is downgrade the “offense” from a misdemeanor, which could bring jail time, to a violation, which would carry a $200 fine and attendance at the drug awareness program.

Yes, the idea that someone who smokes a little weed should have to go to a drug awareness program and someone who drinks a six-pack shouldn’t is anathema, but one thing at a time, eh?

Holding small amounts of marijuana should not be illegal at all. Indeed, it should be sold in state stores as is booze, and regulated and taxed, as is booze. Eventually it will be because it makes sense and eventually, the 20-somethings who smoke it will be 30- and 40-somethings and, with luck, state legislators will remember their roots.

We are such hypocrites about marijuana. First of all, it has been proven effective as a medication in the fight against things like glaucoma. And if you’ve ever lived with someone suffering through chemotherapy and the horrors it brings, how can you justify opposing the legalization of a substance that would help ease their suffering? Well, our species can justify almost anything, a sad truth.

And saying that marijuana leads to heroin is like saying beer leads to whiskey. But isn’t it amazing that Prohibition lasted only 13 years? Because people couldn’t stand not to drink. Did that make them alcoholics?

People who use marijuana responsibly are little different from those who use alcohol responsibly. Why are we treating them as if they are?