Cannabis Column - #35

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.
Justice for All

Marijuana reform has had many successes over the last 35 years, most notably widespread decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana in the 1970s and the limited recognition of the medical use of cannabis during the last ten years.

What's been missing from the reform movement has been a serious and credible effort to repeal marijuana prohibition and legalize cannabis throughout the United States.

There has been no lack of arguments why marijuana should be legalized and every now and then one organization or another makes a half-hearted attempt to raise funds and support from marijuana users for some clever plan they claim will produce legalization some time in the distant future.

Most of the activity of the reform movement is focused on the state and county level. Attempts to lobby the US Congress usually concern minor legislative measures that, even if successful, will have little impact on the majority of marijuana users. Efforts to pass a tax and regulate initiative in Nevada, a de-penalization initiative in Colorado, and lowest priority measures in various cities are all commendable for several reasons, not the least of which are their potential, win or lose, to limit or reduce the number of local arrests for marijuana possession and/or increase the visibility and intensity of debate over marijuana laws throughout the country.

Marijuana prohibition, though, is a national problem that requires a national solution. The overall policy of using criminal penalties to reduce marijuana use, sales, distribution, and cultivation is a federal policy. State-level reform, no matter how worthwhile, does not address this national problem. Indeed in many respects state-level reform has the opposite effect at the federal level. By making it easier for state and local level taxpayers to afford their own marijuana laws they become less inclined to challenge the overall federal approach. Widespread decriminalization in the 1970s, for example, did not lead to the consideration of legalization at the national level, and certainly was no obstacle to what became a historic increase in marijuana arrests during the 1990s.

Marijuana arrests doubled during the 1990s and remain at the highest levels ever, in terms of both arrests and arrest rates. The marijuana reform movement's response to this historic trend has been to focus on minor state-level reforms that, viewed in the national context, only affect relatively small numbers of marijuana users. Even worse, these efforts have made little or no attempt to respond to the general public's concerns about marijuana use and their opposition to repealing prohibition.

Some marijuana reform activists believe that achieving legalization is simply a matter of rallying marijuana users to the cause, and conversely that if marijuana remains illegal it is the fault of marijuana users for not being sufficiently politically active. Stoners, though, are not at fault for the failure of activists to overturn marijuana prohibition. It is poor leadership to blame failure on people who decline to follow self-appointed leaders, just as it is poor leadership to blame political failure on the opposition, the voters, or the media. The failure of activists and organizations to legalize marijuana is their failure and theirs alone.

Marijuana legalization will gain public support when activists and organizations make successful appeals to non-marijuana users that explain why legalization is in their interest. Parents want to know how legalization will reduce teenage marijuana use and reduce if not eliminate the availability of marijuana to teenagers and younger children. In fact, marijuana prohibition is really their problem, as they believe that for all its faults, current policies produce lower use and less availability than the alternatives (i.e. further increases in arrests and penalties versus treating it under the law as a legal and regulated product).

In any event, at a minimum, any push for reform at the national level will require the support of marijuana users throughout the country, and in order to gain that support activists and organizations need to advance proposals that will offer something to marijuana users everywhere. Marijuana users need to lobby reform organizations as well as their political representatives. It's time to hold everyone in the political process accountable to the individual interests of their constituents. That's you. Marijuana activists and organizations claim to represent marijuana users, and they ask for your money and support for their programs. Isn't it time marijuana users held political activists accountable for their actions and the success or failure of their plans to legalize marijuana for all Americans?

The goal of the marijuana reform movement is marijuana's legalization for all Americans, not just patients who need marijuana for medical use and not just residents of selected states that provide national organizations with convenient opportunities for limited successes. It's time for marijuana users to challenge the reform movement to fight for justice for all, everywhere across the United States, and to fight for it now rather than making vague promises about reform at some distant time in the future. Justice for all. If that's what you want, then it is time to demand it from the political leaders and organizations that claim to represent you in both the Congress and the reform movement. The marijuana reform movement will succeed when it becomes accountable to both their own constituents and the general public. The best way to begin the process of marijuana's legalization is to demand it from the reform movement.