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Marijuana Prohibition and the Sway of the Majority
Mon, Nov 02, 2009 4:21 am
As many of you know, I recently won a competition which allowed me the incredible opportunity to visit the top-secret HIGH TIMES headquarters and basically have senior editor Bobby Black give me a crash course internship in how to make an issue of High Times from conception to publishing. The experience was fantastic and I even got this awesome blog out of it!
So here's the deal... I'm going to start with the 1000 word article I wrote that got me to New York. Feel free to leave comments and feedback and let me know what you want to know about.
Until next time, Peace!
KB Haze
Over seventy years has gone by since Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, effectively outlawing the use of cannabis and hemp for any reason. Recently however, as seems to happen every thirty years or so, cannabis smokers have again begun to emerge from the woodwork of America’s respectable suburban neighborhoods to reclaim their right to choose what they put into their bodies.
The wave of legalization propositions that Americans are currently riding began on November 5, 1996 when California voters showed unprecedented support for the removal of state-level criminal penalties for the use, possession, and cultivation of Marijuana for medical purposes. The proposition was approved by 56 percent of California voters and by the next day the state’s coastal cities seemed to have replaced their smog clouds with the sweet smell of medical smoke.
In 1996 critics were afraid that California’s success would lead to a chain reaction across the country. But they were wrong... until three years later when their worst nightmares came true and Alaska, Oregon, and Washington also passed measures to decriminalize medical marijuana within their states with 58, 55, and 59 percent approvals respectively.
Maine followed in 1999 with a 61 percent approval rating.
The year 2000 saw then Hawaii Governor Ben Cayentano sign into law a state Senate proposed bill on June 14th, followed by Colorado and Nevada which passed their laws with 54 and 65 percent voter approvals.
The next three years were somewhat uneventful until Maryland began allowing the use of the medical defense in marijuana arrest cases in 2003. This seemed to have reignited the spark as the following year Vermont’s Senate passed their medical marijuana bill without then Governor James Douglas’ signature and Montana voters approved their initiative by 62 percent.
Since 2006, Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Michigan have also joined the ranks of their predecessors in demanding their right to use Marijuana as medicine and thus adding to the momentum of the shift in ideas, stereotypes, and compassionate acceptance of the idea that Marijuana should be a health issue, not a criminal one.
While these fourteen states lead the way in changing ideas and attitudes, organizations such as the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), and even student organizations such as Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), are also helping other states and countless voters join in the crusade for a more just America.
In recent months both NORML and The Marijuana Policy Project released television ads calling for the reform of marijuana laws. The MPP ad that aired in California made national news because of its controversial message.
The ad called for the taxation of allmarijuana sales as a way to cure California’s historic budget deficit. While the ad was banned from a number of television stations, MPP still managed to get its message across, to the entire nation as it turned out.
Not long after the MPP TV ad began airing in California, voters in Oakland, California approved a major tax increase on the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries.
Surprising as it may seem, some politicians in Washington D.C. are even joining the ranks, and in fact leading, as Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts, along with thirteen other U.S. Congressional Representatives, introduced H.R. 2835 to the U.S. House of Representatives June 11, 2009.
H.R. 2835 is a federal bill that if passed, would remove all federal penalties for the medical use of marijuana; and yes, that includes prison time and the government’s “right” to confiscate personal property due to arrest. It would allow the states to decide for themselves how to handle the use, possession, distribution, and cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes.
One week later, Congressman Frank gave the House another bill to consider; H.R. 2943 other wise known as the “Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009. This bill, which Mr. Frank introduced last year as well, would federally decriminalize marijuana for personal use by adults, with stipulations of course. Again, the states would be left to decide for themselves.
In a recent Esquire interview with Congressman Frank, he explained that the bill is not a proposition of full-on legalization; rather it’s more like a baby step that is more likely to get through congress. Although, he also added that he doesn’t think it will pass this year.
“There’s a great intellectual flaw at work here,” Mr. Frank told Esquire. “People say, “Oh, you want the government to approve of smoking marijuana.” And the answer is, no, there should be a small number of things that the government makes illegal, but the great bulk of human activity ought to be none of the government’s business. People can make their own choices.”
“This is a case where there’s cultural lag on the part of my colleagues. If you ask them privately, they don’t think it’s a terrible thing. But they’re afraid of being portrayed as soft on drugs,” Congressman Frank told Esquire.
In addition to Congressman Frank’s bills, July 16, 2009, Congress ended a ten year ban of the implementation of a medical marijuana law that was passed in 1998 by 69 percent of D.C. voters.
Despite all these efforts toward more rational and compassionate marijuana laws, there are still those who wage the war on drugs.
Proponents of the drug war, the Drug Enforcement Agency and law enforcement across the country continue to crack down on marijuana despite promises by President Obama that raids of state legal medical marijuana dispensaries would not be a priority for his administration.
So far this summer, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch vetoed a revised medical marijuana bill that came upon his desk and Congressman Mark Kirk of Illinois introduced a bill to the House which calls for heavier penalties for high-grade marijuana trafficking.
Also this summer, a field of 20,000 marijuana plants estimated at nearly $20 million was found growing on U.S. Forestry land in Southwest Oklahoma; this, among a number of other large busts have been made.
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kbhaze
Nov 17 2009, 5:11 pm
http://hightimes.com/blog/bobbyblack/5822
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