cannabisnews.com: High Crimes and Misdemeanors High Crimes and Misdemeanors Posted by CN Staff on September 15, 2002 at 12:05:17 PT By Mike Males Source: Los Angeles Times Whether Nevada voters approve or reject the Marijuana Policy Project's ballot initiative to legalize marijuana for adults, rational drug policy is the loser. A "yes" vote would change little in a state that has legalized gambling, gives counties the option of legalizing prostitution and where pot possession by adults, even after three arrests, is a misdemeanor. What has changed is the drug policy debate. Reform groups like the Marijuana Policy Project now embrace harsh "war on drugs" ideas they once vehemently opposed. For example, the Nevada initiative, while entitling adults 21 and older to buy and possess up to three ounces of marijuana, would constitutionally require the state legislature to "provide or maintain" criminal penalties for persons under 21. Maintaining Nevada law means a young person caught with a single joint would face a $5,000 fine, four years in prison, a felony record and permanently jeopardized student loans, government benefits and employment.The executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, Robert Kampia, has claimed that his group's proposed initiative would "end the arrest of all marijuana users." Since half of all pot arrestees are under 21, Kampia's claim cannot be true.Drug wars traditionally feature two elements. The first is an official crusade to link feared drugs to feared populations--the Chinese to opium, blacks to cocaine, Mexicans to marijuana, immigrants to alcohol, underclasses to heroin. The second is the lobbying of privileged groups for drug-use exemptions. Upper-class patronage of opiates, cocaine and bootleg liquor was rarely punished. Governors are not evicted from publicly funded residences because family members violate drug laws; indigent public-housing residents are.The Nevada initiative similarly invites grown-ups to exempt their own cannabis partying from criminal sanction even as they condone ever-crueler punishments for today's drug-war scapegoat--young people. It doesn't matter that neither the Marijuana Policy Project nor anyone else has shown an apocalyptic difference between marijuana use by a 17-year-old and a 40-year-old--or, better, a 20-versus a 21-year-old--that would justify such different treatment."Marijuana Myths, Marijuana Facts," the reformist Drug Policy Alliance's bible, reviews hundreds of scholarly studies and reports none showing marijuana more harmful for adolescents than for adults. While a few users in all age groups become dependent, marijuana is not an addictive or so-called gateway drug leading to hard-drug abuse. Rather, as government-impaneled commissions consistently conclude, the biggest marijuana danger to young people is getting arrested for using it.The Marijuana Policy Project and other reform lobbies have jettisoned the scientific rigor they once championed in favor of emotional appeals to public prejudice, a staple of drug-war proponents. They twist facts wholesale to support their new position that pot is a fearsome menace to youth in the hope of gaining political popularity. The marijuana-legalization groups invoke as their model a failed U.S. alcohol-regulation system world-famous for fostering drunken excess, further evidence of how these reformers have embraced the worst aspects of the drug-war regime.Kampia, recently told CNN that because marijuana is illegal and unregulated, "the federal government's own surveys show that, year after year, high school seniors find marijuana much easier to obtain than alcohol or cigarettes." He never specified which federal surveys he had in mind. The only federally funded survey of high school seniors, "Monitoring the Future," consistently draws the opposite conclusion. Furthermore, teenagers actually get and use legal, regulated alcohol and cigarettes two to 25 times more often than any illicit drug.Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-males15sep15.story?nullSource: Los Angeles Times (CA)Author: Mike MalesPublished: September 15, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Los Angeles TimesContact: letters latimes.comWebsite: http://www.latimes.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Going to Pot: Nevada Plan to Legalize Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14104.shtmlNevadans Asked to Blaze Trail for Legalization http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14051.shtmlIn Nevada, a Joint Venture Finds Supporters http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14026.shtmlNevada Voters to Consider Marijuana Legalizationhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13409.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #22 posted by CorvallisEric on September 16, 2002 at 01:25:47 PT Mike Males As soon as I saw his name, I knew what it would be generally about. His life's work centers on the notion that teenagers are better than they are given credit for. I usually agree with him even though I'm well into the old-fart category. He does a good job of attacking prejudices against young people. I don't think he is a stooge for prohibitionists; he just allowed his obsession to turn him into an idealist (or fanatic) unable to accept the compromise needed to get anything done. The USA has a uniquely (or at least unually) high legal drinking age at 21. Maybe 18 or even 16 is OK for booze and pot, but having the proposed Nevada limit at 21 is probably necessary to give it a chance of passing. And looks like this may be the only chance we get the next couple years. Bust The Kids, Pass The Bong [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by FoM on September 15, 2002 at 22:06:25 PT BGreen I agree. I'm sorry for how this has stressed everyone associated with WAMM. I know good will come from it though. I just hope Valerie's seriously ill people don't get sicker from the stress it has put them under. It has to be very hard for someone with Aids or Cancer. Stress can push a compromised patients immune system down very easily. [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by BGreen on September 15, 2002 at 21:57:59 PT You have the right to be sad It sucks when your friends are attacked. Valerie knew this might happen again but is fighting for all of us.Bullies are infuriated when they don't get a negative reaction from people. I get angry and sad everyday when I read the articles here, but the fact is I tell everybody I can about the good things I read and about the lies being perpetrated. That makes me feel good.On the bright side, if Valerie and those other blessed angels hadn't been raided the Santa Cruz, CA city council wouldn't be thumbing their noses at the DEAth, Hutchinson and Ashcroft this Tuesday by giving out cannabis to replace that which the gov't stole. [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by FoM on September 15, 2002 at 21:30:34 PT BGreen I really try not to be sad but I have admired the work that Valerie has done for years. I can remember when she was first written up in an MSNBC article. Her motives are good. I don't know her but I feel I do. What they did at WAMM was like a stab in my heart and it hurts. I hope this makes sense. [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by BGreen on September 15, 2002 at 21:20:23 PT Please don't be sad You've got a lot of friends here. This article is just another attempt to confuse the confused, so it's no wonder we don't get it. It wasn't meant to be understood.FoM, your husband was in 'Nam, so you know the US attacks ferociously when they know they've lost the war. I've said all along it would happen and it is. It's only going to get worse in the next few months and it's going to be hard not to projectile puke when we hear the lies.Let's all keep our outlook and attitudes positive. It'll help us mentally and physically, and it'll tick the begeebers out of those attacking us. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on September 15, 2002 at 17:51:34 PT Just a Note I changed a few words in my previous post. They sounded very angry and I was but I'm more sad then mad. There I feel better. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on September 15, 2002 at 15:49:25 PT Thanks Robbie I'm at the point where when I read confusing news articles I don't let them register but wonder why anyone could spend the time writing and not finish with a solution.I'd rather read John Walters just say he hates us and wishes we weren't on the face of the earth then all of his banter.I don't feel that way about prohibitionists. Just leave me alone and let me be. That shouldn't be hard in a "free society". [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Robbie on September 15, 2002 at 15:25:07 PT FoM: just more prohib tricks "Oh, the terrible Question 9, which will hurt the children!" They simply find anything they can to convince people that the whole idea is wrong. I believe the same tactics were tried pre-Prop. 215. They want to muddle the issue and make people question it more. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on September 15, 2002 at 14:33:20 PT p4me I didn't understand what point he was trying to make either. It sounds very intelligent but lacks the heart of the issue and it wind up meaning very little to me.I want to read articles that just spit it out and tell it like it is.I understand why the Nevada Initiative was worded the way it was. People are afraid that their own children will start doing drugs and that is marijuana in many uninformed families minds.I believe if a person under the age in the initiative gets caught smoking marijuana that it should be between the mom and dad and child and that's where it should be left. Parents should be allowed to parent even if they make some mistakes along the way. There is no real school to teach parents what to do to come out with a child who will fit a particular mold so we need to stop acting like there is a solution for all issues when reality says it's impossible. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by p4me on September 15, 2002 at 14:05:20 PT A lot of words, but what did he say? I think he attacked both sides to defend the middle, but it is to garbled to see what his point is to me. He said something about the penalties for people under 21 being to harsh which I see a point to. But the law was crafted so that it might pass. I feel pretty certain that if you asked someone like Kevin Zeese or FoM or Kap or anyone that is for full legalisation they would almost all say 18. It is only bending over backwards to reach some of the converting prohibitionist that makes the 21 number a practical number to submit for voter approval.But what was this guy trying to say. I mean does this article have a theme or am I having trouble thinking while dry? It just sounded like a collection of words sprayed at the Nevada iniative with the need to tell us of Nevada's liberal ways with a stab or two at MPP. No wonder the LA Times stay silent on anything cannabis most of the time, they have pathetic writers on the subject.My point in case I was not clear is this article just sucks no matter what the author was trying to express. 1,2 [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on September 15, 2002 at 13:34:20 PT Rest of Article The LA Times requires registration so here is the rest of the article. I know many people don't like registering. I don't either but I do only because I feel I must.Nothing shocking about that. It's normal for adolescents to experiment with adult behaviors. Accordingly, if Nevada's pot initiative passes, teenage marijuana use is likely to increase. After the Netherlands legalized marijuana, surveys conducted by the Trimbos Institute found that pot smoking tripled among Dutch youth. While, two decades ago, Dutch teens used marijuana one-third as often as U.S. teens, today the levels are equivalent, another matter both drug reformers and drug warriors misrepresent.What reformers should be emphasizing is that the Dutch successfully implemented health measures to reduce hard-drug abuse by shifting resources away from policing youths and adults who use mild drugs. By contrast, the dismal campaign surrounding Nevada's initiative finds both sides hyperventilating over whether someone under the age of 21 might light up.The fatal flaw in U.S. drug debates, past and present, is that while drug crises are real, the feared scapegoats rarely cause them. Addiction to opiates and cocaine was far more serious among white middle classes than among blacks or Chinese a century ago, just as today's white 40-year-olds suffer heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine abuse rates many times higher than teenagers or young adults of any color. Trumpeting drugs as a horror foisted on mainstream society by feared minorities and young people evades the fact that middle America harbors the most addicts.Neither side in today's drug war will face up to this reality. Ultimately, the misguided debate over the backward notion of reform embodied in the Nevada initiative aggravates the uniquely American panic of young people acting like adults, ensuring perpetual teen-drug scares and endless wars on drugs. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by TecHnoCult on September 15, 2002 at 13:24:52 PT Youths different under 2000 Law? Males wrote" Maintaining Nevada law means a young person caught with a single joint would face a $5,000 fine, four years in prison, a felony record and permanently jeopardized student loans, government benefits and employment."Did the law passed to reduce marijuana posession to a misdomeanor only apply to those 21 and older? If not, then they would still have reduced sentences for posession.THC [ Post Comment ] Post Comment