The dope dudes must be scratching their heads, wondering whether their campaign to persuade Alaska voters to legalize marijuana in the November election is -- poof! -- going up in smoke, hijacked by greed, zeal and wackiness.
Victory seemed certainly possible only a few weeks ago. Huge money from the Marijuana Policy Project, after all, is pouring into the "Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Alaska," which is pressing to have this state become the third -- behind Washington and Colorado -- to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. Everybody was climbing aboard, from lawyers anxiously envisioning profitable new practices to businesses wanting a taste of Big Dope. The only thing standing between them and truckloads of dough is voter approval of Ballot Measure 2.
The opposition, with the less-than-flashy moniker, "Big Marijuana, Big Mistake, Vote No on 2," appears anemic and poorly funded -- despite the Yes side's moronic Big Alcohol Conspiracy gibberish. The No group is, frankly, a trifle schoolmarmish, even stodgy, a disparate, but sizable coalition of lefties and conservatives that would make anybody a little itchy. It appears doggedly determined and has political inertia and Alaska's conservatism in its corner, along with the nagging logic of those wanting to gauge legalization's fallout elsewhere before leaping aboard the marijuana train.
It also has a completely unexpected gift: The drive to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in Alaska appears to have gone profanely, arrogantly nuts -- right in front of God and everybody.
The public could not help but notice when television "journalist" Charlo Greene abandoned her KTVA job on-air Sunday night with a flourish and an F-bomb after admitting she was an owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club -- a medical marijuana business she had just reported on.
In recent months, Greene reported extensively on the ballot measure to legalize marijuana -- including a five-part series on KTVA, whose managers should have suspected something was not kosher. The No group and the Alaska Association of Chiefs of Police, after all, had complained of bias in Greene's coverage.
Her on-air betrayal of journalism principles, her employer and her co-workers drew international attention and sparked an Internet maelstrom. It made her a diva in pot legalization circles.
Greene told the website Vice.com she was frustrated by what she described as legalization opponents' misinformation and used her TV job to level the playing field; that she went public because "polling is showing support is slipping" for legalization.
If the Sunday night meltdown on television left questions about the motives of those pushing for marijuana legalization, there would be even more only a few days later.
Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, fresh from his Senate campaign travails, has been hosting get-togethers across Alaska on Ballot Measure 2 and other initiatives on November's ballot. This past week, he took the show to Anchorage's Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center for a Ballot Measure 2 discussion.
The newspaper says about 70 people showed up. An observer who has attended other venues where the Yes and No factions faced off said this one was not much different; that the Yes bunch was aggressive, rowdy, rude, wrapped around the axle about the mythical Big Alcohol Conspiracy they push as part of a strategy to continually link the law's treatment of dope and booze. They yakked about their rights, heckled, interjected, shouted down the opposition. A video showing Greene chiding a member of the No faction during the gathering -- using yet another vulgar expletive and then complaining that it was her right -- seems to bear all that out.
Treadwell repeatedly tried to keep things civil, but he had real problems.
All of this is manna from heaven for those opposed to legalization. So much for the image of the mellow pot smoker. What voters now see are dopers verging on Brown Shirts and a "reporter" who used her job to boost her business, even telling Vice.com, "Why not just use the position I was put in to make sure that my next chapter is just wide open for me?"
Why not, indeed?
It would be unsurprising if that particular take on life does not sit well with grown-up Alaskans who believe in fair play, civility, integrity and character. They might wonder, as I do, about those pushing so hard for marijuana legalization that they would engage in unethical behavior or shout down the opposition.
If Greene et al. represent legalization, it is in trouble.
Paul Jenkins is editor of the AnchorageDailyPlanet.com, a division of Porcaro Communications.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.