cannabisnews.com: Hypocrisy on Drugs Enables Our Real Threats Hypocrisy on Drugs Enables Our Real Threats Posted by CN Staff on November 12, 2002 at 22:16:27 PT By Taylor Armerding, Staff Writer Source: Eagle-Tribune It might be a bit tacky to suggest that Steven Epstein, Esq., of Georgetown, was riding "high" after last Tuesday's vote in more than a dozen area communities in favor of decriminalizing marijuana. Let's just say he was pleased. Very pleased.Not that he, or anybody else, will be allowed to go one toke over, or even under, the line on Main Street after the first of the year. The vote was only advisory. And even if that advice became state law, you still couldn't smoke a joint with the same freedom you can drink a beer. Pot would remain illegal. You just wouldn't get hauled off to jail for using it.Still, a 2-1 vote in favor of making the use and possession of small amounts of the hallucinogenic weed a "civil" infraction, much like a traffic ticket, says something about our attitude toward recreational drugs, doesn't it? So, what might that something be?Probably at least some of what the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition and the NORML Foundation -- the question's chief backers -- have been saying for a long time. An increasing number of people (conservatives and cops among them, by the way) agree that the current sanctions on pot amount to massive overkill. They agree that police time would be better spent fighting violent crime. They agree that jail space would be better used keeping violent criminals off the street, rather than housing peaceful mothers or fathers who are yanked from their family for months or even years, just because they were seeking to alter their consciousness.Indeed, national polls show that an even bigger majority -- 72 percent -- think pot use and possession should be punished with a fine, not jail.I suspect that all of those things are among the reasons for Tuesday's vote. I agree with Epstein that voters are out in front of their leaders on this issue.But, I think the reasons go deeper than money and better public safety.I think it is because people have pretty good radar when it comes to political hypocrisy. And you don't even need good radar to detect the hypocrisy on marijuana.For more than 30 years now, the nonstop refrain from a very large and very outspoken portion of the population has been that there is nothing more important in the life of American citizens than "choice." Of course, this is all aimed at allowing a woman, as it is euphemistically phrased, to "control her own health-care decisions." Still, average people start wondering after a while: If choice is so important, why should it only apply to women, and only for one thing?For about the same amount of time, we've been hearing the gospel of "tolerance" -- that the only unpardonable sin in American life is intolerance. No wonder people start to smirk when they hear about "zero tolerance" for marijuana.Finally, and most significantly, this is a society that permits, promotes and believes in recreational drugs. Sure, there are all kinds of ads and neat skits about quitting smoking. But it remains legal. And public officials simply haven't made a credible case that marijuana is much more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. Nearly half the population has smoked pot, and they know marijuana is no more addictive, or more of a "gateway" drug than alcohol. They know it is no more destructive to homes and careers than gambling. They know pot won't suddenly become easier to get if it is decriminalized. Ask just about any high school students, and they will tell you it couldn't be much easier to get than it is now.If we're really about zero tolerance for drugs, let's ban them all. But we're not, so let's spend our limited resources confronting the real threats to public safety and social order. Pot is not one of them.Source: Eagle-Tribune, The (MA)Author: Taylor Armerding, Staff Writer Published: Tuesday, November 12, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Eagle-TribuneContact: letters eagletribune.comWebsite: http://www.eagletribune.com/Related Articles & Web Sites:NORMLhttp://www.norml.org/MassCannhttp://www.masscann.org/ It’s High Time For Decriminalizationhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14735.shtmlSouth Shore Backs Decriminalizing Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14689.shtmlVoters Send Messages on Pot, Finneran & Casinos http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14686.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by krutch on November 13, 2002 at 10:09:06 PT: Author Makes Excellent Point about Hypocrisy We are not, were never, and probably never will be a drug free society.Nothing is more ironic than watching NFL football on TV and seeing stupid commericals about the dangers of MJ, followed by beer comericials featuring sexy girls in bikinis. The new one I saw features to kids smoking pot in Dad's den. One finds a gun and shoots the other, while assuring him that the gun is not loaded. The kid shots his friend and you hear he gun go off. The message that pot affects your judgement is stated by the narrator. Next comes a Coor's light commerical with a geek in a ski cap singing about his favorite things featuring sexy girls in a hot tub. The total message: Pot makes you do stupid things, but beer gets you laid. Everybody who has used these drugs knows that beer clouds judgement as much or more than pot does.Hey aocp, don't boot any BC bud. Could kill you. Its as bad as heroin:) [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by aocp on November 13, 2002 at 09:17:56 PT excellent article my favorite part...Finally, and most significantly, this is a society that permits, promotes and believes in recreational drugs. Sure, there are all kinds of ads and neat skits about quitting smoking. But it remains legal.Indeed it does. Indeed it does.As an aside, i saw this from the latest article at marijuananews.com ... just incredible:"B.C. Bud," he said, "is so sophisticated that it is literally spewing liquid. If you were to squeeze that stuff out and put it into a needle and mainline it, you'd be killing yourself. That's how powerful that stuff is today."Kinda speaks for itself about the mindset of what we're up against, heya? [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on November 13, 2002 at 08:20:10 PT Just a Note I'm sorry I can't find any news but there just isn't much going on right now. I'll keep looking and we still are in crisis mode with my husband's father. I want to get involved in an Ohio based Cannabis only organization but I'm not sure which one so I'm looking around and trying to figure out which one is the most active. Maybe we all should look at organizations in our own states and see what we can do to help. I just don't want to wait another year and not have something positive happen and this way if I find the right organization I at least can give it my best shot. Until then please don't lose hope. If we quit they won and that is exactly what they are counting on. Keep the faith. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by goneposthole on November 13, 2002 at 07:52:38 PT you got that right "...the current sanctions on pot amount to massive overkill."Wonder where they got that idea.Sad state of affairs, this drugwar. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by p4me on November 13, 2002 at 01:41:20 PT CounterPunch article to end the drug war There is another article calling for an end to the drug war. It also raises the issue of having the CIA going around the world and killing people with armed drones as they did 6 people in Yemen: http://www.counterpunch.org/ It is on the homepage now and will shortly move. The title is "Ashcroft's Narco-Terror War" by JOANNE MARINER.1 [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by p4me on November 13, 2002 at 01:19:05 PT One more thing It is very late and I have spent the night trying to get pot-tv to play with no success. There was a fairly comprehensive article up at Alternet that summarizes the elections very well: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=145261 [ Post Comment ] Post Comment