CA Bill To Criminalize Drug Use in Presence of Kids

SACRAMENTO - Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian (R- Stockton) is
sponsoring a bill that would make it a felony for parents to use
marijuana or other controlled substances in the presence of minors
under their care.
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_0251-0300/ab_253_bill_20050208_introduced.html
The bill, AB 253, is ludicrously objectionable in several
respects. In effect, it makes it a more serious offense to smoke a
joint in front of your kids than to willfully harm or injure them.
The penalties it proposes - 16 months to 3 years in prison -
are much harsher than the misdemeanor penalties currently mandated
under California's child endangerment law for anyone who 'willfully
causes or permits any child to suffer, or inflicts thereon
unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering, or having the care
or custody of any child, willfully causes or permits the person or
health of that child to be injured, or willfully causes or permits
that child to be placed in a situation where his or her person or
health may be endangered (under circumstances or conditions other
than those likely to produce great bodily harm or death)" (Penal Code
273 B).
The bill does NOT appear to apply to legal medical marijuana
use. However, it would effectively override California's venerable
marijuana decrim law for non-medical parents who smoke in front of
their kids.
Are the sponsors of this bill worried that drug-using
parents are inherently unfit and apt to endanger their kids? Not
really - the bill says nothing about parents who abuse drugs
secretly, just so long as they don't do it in front of their kids!
Are the sponsors worried about drug use that has actually
been scientifically proven to be harmful to kids, namely second-hand
tobacco smoke? No, tobacco isn't a controlled substance.
This bill epitomizes the most idiotic anti-drug moralism.
Don't punish people by the actual harm they do, but by the "message"
they send to their kids in breaking the sacrosanct drug laws.
Meanshile, it's fine to go out drinking, smoking, shooting, cursing,
and spewing hatred, ignorance and bigotry in front of your kids -
after all, that's legal in the USA.

Legislative Summary of AB 253:

This bill would provide that any parent, guardian, or caregiver of
a minor child who knowingly and unlawfully consumes, smokes,
inhales, ingests, or otherwise uses any controlled substance, if the
act occurs in the presence of, or is witnessed by, a minor child
under his or her care, is punishable by imprisonment in the state
prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years.
Full text at
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_0251-0300/ab_253_bill_20050208_introduced.html

Feedback to Assemblyman Aghazarian may be addressed to:

assemblymember.aghzarian [at] assembly.ca.gov
Capitol Office
State Capitol
Room 4167
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 319-2026
Fax: (916) 319-2126

Stockton District Office
4557 Quail Lakes Dr.,
Suite C-3
Stockton, CA 95207
Phone: 209-473-6972
Fax: 209-473-6977

Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // canorml [at] igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114