Cannabis Column - #39

Jon Gettman is a long time contributor to HIGH TIMES. A former National Director of NORML, Jon has a Ph.D. in public policy and regional economic development and consults with attorneys, advocates, and non-profits on cannabis related research and public policy issues. On October 8, 2002, along with a coalition of organizations, he filed a new petition to have cannabis rescheduled under federal law. This column will track that petition's progress.
Why Pot Remains Illegal

Marijuana cultivation, possession, and use remain illegal in the United States because the public wants it that way, and they will continue to support prohibition until advocates convince them to change.

Public opinion is changing, but it has not changed enough to cause politicians and legislators to make legalization occur.

Sure, there are lots of powerful arguments why legalization is in the public interest. Many of these arguments offer promising tools with which to persuade the public and political leaders to support marijuana’s legalization. They indicate that there are sufficient factors and conditions in the United States for marijuana to be legalized. The big question, though, is what conditions are necessary for legalization? The answer, obviously, is widespread public support.

Many marijuana users are reluctant to become politically active in support of legalization. Many more, though, are committed to political action and support reform efforts in a number of ways, including contacting legislators, participating in public debate, writing letters to the editors of newspapers, providing financial support to reform organizations, participating in political campaigns, writing articles, conducting research, and organizing local community action groups. Tens of thousands of marijuana users and supporters are politically and socially active across the United States and are responsible for tremendous progress in the marijuana reform issue over the last two decades.

But many marijuana users are still reluctant to become active in this national movement to bring about legalization. Some just don’t know how to get involved or just what they can do to help. All they need to do, though, is get involved in any of the various projects designed to increase public participation in support of marijuana reform, such as the HIGH TIMES 420 Campaign or the activities of NORML, MPP, or other public interest reform organizations.

Others who are not yet involved in the reform movement are still a bit afraid that political action will make them vulnerable to arrest and/or other forms of punishment. Indeed, one of the objectives of national policy about marijuana use is to threaten marijuana users with various sanctions and penalties in order to discourage both marijuana use and political participation. It’s no coincidence that the DEA’s website contains material against marijuana use and its legalization, and that drug testing for marijuana use is still promoted across the United States. However the marijuana reform movement is not only a political movement, it is a social movement that provides support and assistance for marijuana users throughout the country.

The overall campaign to suppress marijuana use can only be resisted through building and relying on a supportive community dedicated to reform, justice, and political change, and in this respect the marijuana reform movement is an example of active resistance to prohibition in every sense of the word. One of the goals of efforts to suppress marijuana use is to create isolation among users, the marijuana reform movement, a counterculture in name and deed, combats that isolation through community development.

Still, many marijuana users who are not active in reform activities hide behind a common excuse in one form or another. They argue that marijuana will never be legalized and therefore there is no point in fighting back. Some claim that the government makes too much money from prohibition and they will never allow change, others argue that the pharmaceutical companies will lose too much money from legalization. These are the worst kind of excuses for not being involved in reform activity because they represent a total surrender of freedom and an utter lack of faith in our democratic society. It doesn’t matter why marijuana is illegal, and there are certainly a lot of interesting theories on this subject. What matters is that the citizens of the United States have the power to make marijuana legal, no matter who may oppose this revolutionary change in our laws and society. The choice, for individual marijuana users and supporters of legalization, is simple: surrender to injustice, or fight for freedom!

Marijuana remains illegal because the public is, as yet, unconvinced that legalization is best for the public interest. Marijuana remains illegal because the supporters of legalization have failed, so far, to make legalization appeal to a majority of the public. It doesn’t matter how hard law enforcement works to oppose legalization, nor does it matter how hard the supporters of prohibition work to keep it in place. It doesn’t matter how much the opponents of marijuana’s legalization distort the scientific record or mislead the public, nor does it matter how much money various interests make by keeping marijuana illegal. All of these factors may be sufficient to keep marijuana illegal, but none of them make prohibition a necessity. The most important factor that will determine if marijuana is legal or not is how many people are willing to work socially, politically, and financially for legalization until it is achieved.

Increasing public involvement in reform efforts and convincing the public that legalization is in their interest is what is required to make marijuana’s legalization a political and economic necessity in the United States.