cannabisnews.com: Just Legalize It 










  Just Legalize It 

Posted by CN Staff on August 16, 2002 at 13:39:40 PT
By Keith A. Owens 
Source: Detroit Metro Times  

Surely we know by now that the only real difference between taking a sip of Scotch whisky at the Polo Club and smoking a joint under cover of darkness is an outdated, hypocritical, embarrassing law that needs to be scrapped. That probably explains why the Nevada Conference of Police and Sheriffs — the state’s largest police organization — has decided to endorse a state ballot initiative that would allow grown-ups to legally possess small amounts of marijuana.
Yep, you heard right. Just last week the board of the 3,000-member group, which represents about 65 percent of the state’s street-patrol officers, voted unanimously to support a change in the state constitution that would decriminalize possession of up to 3 ounces of marijuana. Under the proposal, marijuana would be sold in state-licensed shops and taxed like cigarettes and other tobacco products. A distribution system would also be put in place to provide cheap reefer for medical uses.Prior to this enlightened attitude adjustment, Nevada had the country’s harshest laws prosecuting marijuana possession.In order for the proposal to become law, however, Nevada’s voters will need to approve the measure this November, then again in 2004. Unfortunately, federal law currently bans marijuana possession, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that states aren’t allowed to make exceptions, not even for medical use.But that’s just for now. Every movement has to get a bit of a shove before it can gain any downhill momentum, and this is definitely a movement that deserves momentum.Legalize it.Meanwhile, here in Michigan, it seems a similar attempt to embrace reality could get back on track. Election Tuesday was supposed to have been the day when Detroit residents were to be given the chance to amend the City Charter to place possession of marijuana for medical use at the bottom of the municipal law enforcement priority list. Funding for prosecutions related to such possession would have been eliminated from the city budget — and considering the condition of the city’s budget, I’d say we could use the extra cash elsewhere.As those of you who bothered to vote may have noticed, there was no such proposal.“We did everything we were required by law to do to get this issue on the ballot, and the city basically said, ‘Fuck you, we’re not putting it on the ballot,’” says Tim Beck, founder of the Detroit Coalition for Compassionate Care, the group pushing the medical-marijuana issue.According to Beck, Detroit City Clerk Jackie Currie notified the group Feb. 26 that the issue would not be placed on the ballot. After a month of trying to negotiate the matter with the city — which argued that the charter doesn’t allow budgeting by referendum — Beck’s group got fed up and filed a lawsuit. Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny heard the case, then ruled against Beck’s group May 13. The case is currently under appeal on an expedited basis.“We expect oral arguments to begin any day now,” says Beck.So even in a hip, soulful city like Detroit, there are still those out there who would argue that legalizing even medicinal marijuana is immoral, bad for kids and a dangerous step down the slippery slope that leads to hell — or something ridiculous like that.“City Council won’t touch this issue with a 10-foot pole,” says Beck.Gee. Now there’s a shocker.Yes, there are probably health risks associated with marijuana just as there are risks with tobacco and booze. So? Listen, I’m one of those who believes adults ought to be permitted a few pleasurable risks in life so long as those risks don’t bring serious harm to anyone else.The first time I smoked a joint, nothing happened. I mean not a thing. I was about 13 years old and walking through the park late at night with a group of friends. I was the only one in the group who hadn’t been stoned before so, naturally, something had to be done to correct this situation. I was a little nervous, but my buddy Doug had assured me that getting high was just like taking a huge drag off a cigarette and then holding it in your lungs as long as possible while walking briskly down the street. Having already tried that one for kicks — with Doug, naturally — I figured I was ready for the big deal.I was so ticked off and embarrassed when nothing happened that, after a number of determined, useless tokes, I started trying to act like I was stoned just to make my friends feel better. Didn’t want them thinking they’d wasted good reefer, you know?Months later I tried again, several hours before I was supposed to sing in the choir for the school Christmas pageant. Let’s just say I made it to school but not to the pageant. I spent the evening hiding under the vice principal’s desk whacked out of my mind and scared to death that I wouldn’t come down before I had to go home to face the folks. I can still hear Mr. Riley, the choir director, striding up and down the hall asking loudly, “Has anyone seen Keith? Has anyone seen Keith?”Yes, I admit it. I did inhale. Big deal. And I admit I’ve been high a number of times since then. The last time I touched the stuff, however, was about 20 years ago. I do realize that a Just-Say-No mentality is prevalent these days, and that I should tearfully confess that terrible experiences getting high led me to quit. The truth is that a lot of my times high were great, and I’m not sure why I decided to quit. Probably because, unlike some of my friends, I couldn’t write and play music when I was high, so it started to get in the way of my life.I also couldn’t stand to hurt my mother. That’s the other truth.I still take a drink now and then, and I used to smoke nearly a pack a day. However, I have yet to read anything in any reputable medical journal that says cigarettes and beer just may help cure glaucoma. The potential medicinal value of marijuana for such illnesses as glaucoma and other health matters has been recognized the New England Journal of Medicine and other respected medical journals.It has also been recognized by one hell of lot of musicians as a pretty decent way to unwind.Legalize it!Keith A Owens is a Detroit-area freelance writer and musician. Source: Detroit Metro Times (MI)Author: Keith A OwensPublished: August 14, 2002Copyright: 2002 Metro Times, Inc.Contact: letters metrotimes.com Website: http://www.metrotimes.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:Detroit Medical Marijuana Initiative http://www.newagecitizen.com/DMMI.htmMarijuana Activists Push for Legalizationhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12739.shtmlMedical Marijuana Could be Relief for Pain http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11700.shtmlDrug-Law Fight Launchedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11664.shtml

Home    Comment    Email    Register    Recent Comments    Help





Comment #6 posted by The GCW on August 16, 2002 at 23:01:31 PT
Colorado did not have a level playing field either
I have been a part of helping Colorado get the medical use of Cannabis a step closer to reality, through the election process. It was not done on a level playing field, and I’m reminded of that fact when I read this article. This following letter was written, while the issue was current for Colorado, and is not edited for today, yet is revealing. Please read it for the inspiration that All Truth, brings. Through Christ God and the Holy Spirit of Truth, Cannabis IS a blessing, with a God awesome safety record.friend / brother, with the commandment of love.4:20This is a story brought to me by the Holy Spirit of Truth. It will help clearly illustrate our Creators will regarding the issue of caging humans for using cannabis for health reasons. It would seem obvious to my most dinful brothers from the conservative, right wing Christians, that it is wrong. Perhaps their conscience is seared by a branding iron. The name has not been changed to protect the guilty and since the guilty is dead, I apologize for not using an alternative story for illustration, but nothing else works better than Gods stroke of the brush. No alternative story does the same thing to show how our Lord sees it.Some people visiting Colorado, mentioned something about the marijuana law just passed, Amendment 21 or 20 and couldn’t remember which it was. I said I have a story inspired by God that will help you remember which one it is, forever. You know our creator basically decides when we come and go. There are too many coincidences that occur to simply call it chance. I believe in the Lords timing, which is too great to underestimate! Those coincidences are of the Lords control and may have more signs than we usually will catch. Time, perhaps, is the Lords currency. Timing is of Gods time. We are here on Gods time and NO ONE has ever been able to escape that fact.Are you familiar with the underground code for lighting up a joint, bowl, or bong etc. and getting high? It is 4:20, and so at 4:20 in the afternoon people have been firing up around the world for many years. There is now in fact the Pot TV news broadcast that is live at 4:20 pm weekdays. http://www.pot-tv.net/ is the site for Richard Cowens news Broadcast. Younger citizens may be more aware of the code than older people but the fact remains, 4:20 is the Internationally, excepted underground term for, fire up. The informed know the truth. A few years ago, a group of citizens organized to get enough signed petitions to put a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot. Colorado Secretary of State Victoria Buckley miscounted the petition signatures and ruled it inadequate whereby the organized group etc. took the matter to court and the judge ordered Buckley to recount the petitions, but again Buckley, came up short. With so many more signatures than what was needed the group knew this was wrong, and vowed to fight it further. So it then would be left on the actual ballot ‘cause the decision came after it could be removed from the ballot, yet Buckley said the ballot would not count. Election Exit polls showed it would have passed app. 60% to %40. Well, after the election, one day, all of a sudden Victoria Buckley dies of heart failure while holding office, with enough uncounted signed petitions in her desk to have made the ballot measure legal. Here we have a young, person who the Lord has decided to take at this very instance, having those uncounted petitions hidden in her private desk, becoming exposed. I do not think our creator gets pleasure from seeing someone, cage someone for using cannabis. The Lord, perhaps even LESS gets pleasure from seeing someone, cage someone, for using cannabis for necessary health reasons. This is an example of our creator showing us, blatantly, that the truth will be exposed, always, as written in the Bible. We’re given the sign. Luke 12:2. John 8:32. But that is not the only sign God gives us.Now for the rest of the story.Once the truth became evident, the new Colorado Secretary of State automatically put the amendment on the next election ballot. It was on the old ballot as Amendment 19, when Buckley didn’t count it. Now, through the power of the Lords timing, it was automatically placed as the first proposition on the 2000 Ballot and now known as Amendment 20. It appears that through the Lords will it automatically went from Amendment 19 to 20, just like that. In the Colorado underground in quickly became known as VOTE 4:20! That is not just a coincidence that pro cannabis types can control, but a big kick by our Father in Heaven, showing a sign, we should all be able to get. Young people across the state, who do not trust the government and display deep contempt for government’s use of patent lies to perpetuate the war for profit, concerning the issue of cannabis, received the message from our creator, loud and clear. Does this help show our Lords interest on the issue?This may be a good time to prey to our creator, prey for Victoria Buckley and ask to know the truth…That you may use the truth to set you and your neighbor free. To know the truth about how to treat our neighbors who choose to use cannabis. To see the signs, in Gods perfect time. Gods perfect timing. Prey, that you will never be the departed in 1 Timothy 4:1-5. Prey for those the departed.Our brothers and neighbors who are sick and wish to use cannabis might as well be saying, I desire compassion and not sacrifice. My neighbor may ask that you give mercy and compassion, instead of sacrifice, like Christ in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7. Through Christ, all things including the mercy and compassion are possible.I will vote for leaders who are not afraid of making the necessary changes in our countries drug laws. Caging your neighbor for using cannabis is a sin. Please help end the war not escalate it.Those who cage today may appear barbaric tomorrow.Those who vote to cage are the problem in our society not cannabis.
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by FoM on August 16, 2002 at 17:24:03 PT
Thanks The GCW
I fixed it in the article.
[ Post Comment ]

 


Comment #4 posted by The GCW on August 16, 2002 at 17:12:28 PT

contact:
letters metrotimes.com The other contact doesn't work. 
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #3 posted by FoM on August 16, 2002 at 16:30:59 PT

el_toonces 
I thought of you went I was setting the article up to post. Glad you liked it and told Mr. Beck to watch his potty mouth! That's good! LOL!
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #2 posted by el_toonces on August 16, 2002 at 16:26:39 PT:

Thanks, FoM....
I like this article that appeared in our local rag....told Mr. Beck to watch his potty mouth though:).
[ Post Comment ]


 


Comment #1 posted by The GCW on August 16, 2002 at 15:48:39 PT

Pattern...
In many cases, this issue does not meet a level playing field.
[ Post Comment ]





  Post Comment