cannabisnews.com: The U.S. Bucks a Trend on Marijuana Laws










  The U.S. Bucks a Trend on Marijuana Laws

Posted by CN Staff on May 31, 2003 at 16:00:18 PT
By Eric Schlosser 
Source: New York Times  

Last week, Canada's governing Liberal Party introduced a bill that would decriminalize the possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana. "Cannabis consumption is first and foremost a health matter," Justice Minister Martin Couchon declared. "It should not result in criminal penalties." Under the new plan, a minor pot offense would be punished with a citation and a fine, much like a speeding ticket.The bill is strongly opposed by the Bush administration, which has threatened to step up drug searches at the border, creating traffic jams and delaying Canadian exports. 
"It is my job to protect Americans from dangerous threats," John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, warned last year, "and right now, Canada is a dangerous staging area for some of the most dangerous marijuana."The conflict revolves around a question being addressed in other Western nations: should marijuana be legal, illegal — or something in between? Canada's move to decriminalize is part of a shift in international attitudes toward pot, away from the "reefer madness" legacy. Spain and Italy decriminalized marijuana in the 1990's. Portugal decriminalized it in 2001, Luxembourg and Belgium the next year. In the Netherlands — where pot has been available since 1976 — "pharmaceutical grade" cannabis is provided, free of charge, through the national health service. Britain plans to reduce penalties for possession this summer, a policy supported by the nation's leading medical journal, The Lancet. It concluded, "moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill effect on health." Meanwhile, the United States has escalated its war on pot. The number of marijuana arrests now approaches three-quarters of a million annually, largely for simple possession. More people are in prison for marijuana crimes today than ever before. Dozens, if not hundreds, are serving life sentences for nonviolent pot offenses. Attorney General John Ashcroft has called for full enforcement of the pot laws and spearheaded a crackdown on medicinal marijuana providers in California, though their efforts are legal under state law.The war on marijuana, however, is by no means a partisan affair. It unites Democrats and Republicans in a uniquely American crusade waged on moral grounds.Though Bill Clinton was the first president to admit having put a joint in his mouth, more people were arrested for marijuana during his administration than under any other American president. Richard M. Nixon may have seemed the nemesis of young pot smokers, but more than three times as many people were arrested for pot while Mr. Clinton was president. "Marijuana is illegal, dangerous, unhealthy and wrong," said Donna E. Shalala, his secretary of health and human services. The prohibition of marijuana in the United States has historically been driven more by a fear and dislike of people associated with it than by reasoned consideration of its actual harm. The laws have been used to sanction racial minorities and nonconformists. Oddly enough, the first American law about marijuana, passed by the Virginia Assembly in 1619, required every household to grow it. Hemp was considered a valuable commodity.Popular fears of marijuana arose in the early 20th century, prompted by the use of the drug by Mexican immigrants. Rumors spread about the "killer weed" that incited violent crimes and drove its users insane.Marijuana was linked not only to poor Mexicans, but also to poor blacks and the new music they played: jazz. Jazz was then regarded much as hip-hop is today in some circles, as a subversive and barbaric threat to the national morality. Not long after marijuana was outlawed in 1937, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics planned to stage a nationwide roundup of black jazz musicians who smoked pot. Harry J. Anslinger, head of the bureau, hated jazz and saw it as a corrupting influence in American life. The plan was thwarted, however, by the inability of its agents to infiltrate the jazz milieu.First Mexicans, blacks and jazz musicians; then beatniks and hippies; now members of the hip-hop world — marijuana has always been associated with minorities and subcultures that seem to threaten mainstream America. America's marijuana laws usually expressed that fear of outsiders in moralistic terms, while proving ineffective at stopping pot use.The hippie counterculture of the 1960's rose at a time when America's marijuana laws were at their harshest; in Louisiana, possessing any pot could mean a prison sentence of 99 years. Pot use flourished, as a form of rebellion, and middle-class parents questioned the stiff laws, once their children were jailed for possessing a joint.The comedians Cheech & Chong became the embodiment of a new stoner culture; far from alarming, it was presented as sweet and ridiculous. In 1972 a commission appointed by President Nixon advocated decriminalizing marijuana, aiming to "desymbolize it." The following year Oregon became the first state to decriminalize pot; 11 other states followed; and President Jimmy Carter supported decriminalization at the federal level. By the end of the 1970's, as marijuana laws were being relaxed in the United States, pot use among teenagers reached its peak and then started to decline.Moral condemnations of pot smokers and long prison sentences were revived by President Ronald Reagan, as a part of that era's culture wars. Mr. Reagan's first drug czar, Carlton E. Turner, felt that marijuana use was linked to anti-authority behavior and insisted pot could turn young men into homosexuals.As marijuana use declined among middle-class families, elected officials saw little political gain in opposing the tough drug laws. Many saw strong opposition to marijuana as an easy way to distance themselves from the excesses of the hippie counterculture.Today, it is largely poor people and minority offenders who are imprisoned for marijuana offenses. Pot smokers can now lose their cars, houses, jobs, student loans and food stamps after getting busted.The nation's harsh marijuana policy increasingly isolates Washington from many of its allies. In February, the Justice Department staged a nationwide roundup of bong and roach clip manufacturers. Even as the nation feared seemingly imminent attacks by Al Qaeda, an inchoate danger, Attorney General Ashcroft announced the success of "Operation Pipe Dream." Among those arrested was Tommy Chong, who now manufactures a line of bongs.The symbolism could hardly have been more fitting. Mr. Chong recently plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge and could face a prison sentence of five years.Eric Schlosser is the author of "Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market."Source: New York Times (NY)Author:  Eric SchlosserPublished: June 01, 2003  Copyright: 2003 The New York Times CompanyContact: letters nytimes.com Website: http://www.nytimes.com/Related Articles:Sex, Drugs and Cheap Vegetableshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16295.shtmlReefer Madness: Notes From the Underground http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16240.shtmlSmoking Out America's 'Reefer Madness' http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16185.shtml

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Comment #37 posted by FoM on June 01, 2003 at 12:41:37 PT
Just A Note
There won't be anymore comments allowed on this thread because it got way out of hand. That's really the only way to stop flaming. I wanted to mention this so we can move on. Sorry for the problems. 
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Comment #28 posted by Jose Melendez on June 01, 2003 at 09:18:52 PT

Noam Chomsky on the Drug-Terror Link
By Philip Smith, DRCNet
February 14, 2002MIT professor Noam Chomsky has long been one of the nation's most implacable critics of US foreign policy and domestic inequity, as well as its highly-concentrated mass media. Lauded by the New York Review of Books as "America's leading radical intellectual," Chomsky has authored dozens of books on US policy in the Middle East, Latin America, the former Yugoslavia and East Timor, among others, as well as "Manufacturing Consent," a scathing critique of propagandistic corporate media. A proud anarchist – he defines anarchism as "a tendency in the history of human thought and action which seeks to identify coercive, authoritarian, and hierarchic structures of all kinds and to challenge their legitimacy, and if they cannot justify their legitimacy, which is quite commonly the case, to work to undermine them and expand the scope of freedom" – Chomsky is a legendary American political dissident whose campus appearances regularly bring out thousands of students. We spoke with the distinguished linguist and essayist from his office at MIT. Philip Smith: During Sunday's SuperBowl, the drug czar's office ran a series of paid ads attempting to link drug use and the "war on terrorism." If you use drugs, the ads said, you support terrorism. What is your take on this? Noam Chomsky: Terrorism is now being used and has been used pretty much the same way communism was used. If you want to press some agenda, you play the terrorism card. If you don't follow me on this, you're supporting terrorism. That is absolutely infantile, especially when you consider that much of the history of the drug trade trails right behind the CIA and other US intervention programs. Going back to the end of the second world war, you see – and this is not controversial, it is well-documented – the US allying itself with the French Mafia, resulting in the French Connection, which dominated the heroin trade through the 1960s. The same thing took place with opium in the Golden Triangle during the Vietnam War, and again in Afghanistan during the war against the Russians. (Snipped)
Interview with Norm Chomsky
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on June 01, 2003 at 08:55:29 PT

ekim
Thanks ekim! We turned on C-Span. I would like to hear more about how Noam Chomsky feels about issues. I haven't followed him so I might learn something new today.
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Comment #26 posted by ekim on June 01, 2003 at 08:45:35 PT

Noam Chomsky 12et C-Span 
C-Span Ch 350 Dir TV. 12 eastern time. Michael Moore will be live on C-Span 2 at 4:30 eastern time from LA book tour.
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on May 31, 2003 at 22:43:10 PT

In Case You Missed This - Marijuana and Me
CBC - Web One FeatureMarijuana and MeAlison Myrden has Multiple Sclerosis. Her condition causes her constant pain, bladder problems and leg spasms.
The drugs prescribed for her conditionrender her comatose.Instead, Alison chooses medical marijuana.Come spend a day with her and find out why. http://www.cbc.ca/webone/alison/index.html

Cannabis News Canadian Links
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on May 31, 2003 at 21:35:53 PT

Just A Note
Because of the volume of news recently I've been archiving articles too. For those who aren't aware of this feature I thought I'd post the link.http://www.cannabisnews.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/cnews/newsread.pl?25000
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on May 31, 2003 at 21:26:17 PT

ekim
Thanks ekim I'll check it out then. Please remind us when it starts so we won't miss it. I've heard him a few times and would like to hear what he has to say.
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Comment #13 posted by ekim on May 31, 2003 at 21:19:03 PT

please lets work together -- stay on mission
C=Span Sun. 12et 9pt noam Chomsky three hour interview live. Ch 350 Dir TV. what Ch is C-Span on Cable.
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Comment #10 posted by The GCW on May 31, 2003 at 20:26:57 PT

For Decency's Sake
1. Editorial: For Decency's Sake, No More "No-Knock" Drug Raids
  http://www.drcnet.org/wol/289.html#nomorenoknocksDavid Borden, Executive Director, borden drcnet.org, 5/30/03Two weeks after the death of Alberta Spruill during a "no-knock" 
raid on her apartment prompted by incorrect information from a 
confidential informant, New Yorkers continue to express rage and 
shame and dismay. Police leaders have been fired, city officials 
have apologized for the failure of current practices that led to 
the tragedy.The fundamental travesty is the use of such paramilitary-style 
police tactics in the first place. It has become commonplace in 
the US drug war for teams of black-clad anti-drug officers to 
knock down doors without warning, often in the middle of the 
night, setting off stun grenades, tackling confused residents to 
the ground and handcuffing them or waving guns in their faces or 
holding guns to their heads -- sometimes even children.What police portray as a necessary strategy in the war on drugs is 
in reality a horrifying display of Stalinist-style police state 
tactics run amok. There is no good reason to rely on paid, 
confidential informants -- who often are deeply involved in 
criminal activity themselves -- and to take the extreme measures 
employed by Alberta Spruill's killers based on the "information" 
they provide. And there is no excuse or valid rationale for no-
knock drug raids to begin with. Tragedies like Alberta Spruill's 
are nothing new; they are the inevitable result when SWAT teams 
are let loose in ordinary, everyday situations, as has become the 
norm. To allow no-knock drug raids to continue is to guarantee 
that more innocent people will die from them.And die for nought. Even if Alberta Spruill had had illegal drugs 
in her dwelling, for use or distribution -- even if she'd had 
pounds, or tons -- invading her home to find that supply would do 
nothing to reduce drug use or abuse, nor anything in the long term 
to shrink the drug supply. The drug trade is illegal, but it is 
no less a market because of that. Just as food suppliers expect 
some of their product to go bad in transit or rot on grocery store 
shelves before being purchased, drug traffickers know that some of 
their heroin and marijuana will be seized and not reach the users 
whose dollars provide their profits. So they simply produce and 
distribute a quantity of cocaine and methamphetamine equal to the 
total of the consumer demand for the drugs, plus the losses they 
expect from drug seizures, added together. Indeed, the 
trafficking organizations have more accurate data on those numbers 
than any agency or think tank ever could, because they're the ones 
doing the selling, and they don't share their records.Some will still say we have to do something about the drugs; we 
can't just leave them to leave the homes in which they're hidden 
to be sold on our cities' streets to our nation's adults and 
youth. Efforts should be made to prevent mistakes and unnecessary 
tragedies, they'll say, but we have to get the drugs off the 
streets, and the element of surprise is necessary to preserve the 
evidence, protect the lives of police officers, etc.But doing the wrong thing can be worse than doing nothing. What 
could be more wrong than continuing the police-state raids, and 
killing more Alberta Spruills, even if only occasionally, all the 
while knowing that even raids done correctly and without 
casualties do nothing to reduce the drug problem?There is only one right answer to the Alberta Spruill tragedy, 
only one way to solve the problem and give her death real meaning: 
Ban no-knock warrants, stop the drug raids, stop the war on drugs. 
For decency's sake.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on May 31, 2003 at 19:35:34 PT

Why Did They Even Mention Marijuana?
Steered to Extremism at Early Age Family Figures Pursued Anti-Semitic, Survivalist Causes 
 
 
 
By Frank Ahrens, Washington Post Staff WriterSunday, June 1, 2003; Page A10 Eric Robert Rudolph was a stoner who lolled at his sister-in-law's Nashville home in the early '90s, eating pizza and watching Cheech and Chong movies on television, which he called "the electronic Jew." He was a Nietzsche-reading Western Carolina University dropout who had traveled to Amsterdam to procure high-quality marijuana seeds for the crops he raised behind his mother's western North Carolina house, on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.He was one of six children who, after losing a father to cancer in 1981, was steered by his mother into an anti-Semitic religious movement. He adopted an anti-government survivalist as a surrogate figure and wrote a ninth-grade class paper denying that the Holocaust happened.Complete Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63209-2003May31.html?nav=hptop_ts

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Comment #7 posted by Virgil on May 31, 2003 at 19:26:25 PT

HIGH. I am delighted to hear some truth
This article had one great tone of reason. I think the NYT has yielded to the Rising Tide and decided to give voice to reason. The jig is up and after insulting people of intelligence that gave up their paper and read more from the Internet they absolutely blushed from shame. There are thousands of people whispering, shouting, crying, down to miming with their dying bones that reason the same way and now the Times abandons silence to give reason a voice. It has been about 18 months since I bought any paper or magazine and since Tom and Rollie were executed I have bought 3 and only because of an outside party. I am through with them forever. The Times has lost reputation and readers forever. All I know is if they want any reputation at all they better start singing FREE CANNABIS FOR EVERYONE all the way to the LLOGICAL CONCLUSION. Stop the goddamn train. We are turning around. 
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Comment #4 posted by professional391 on May 31, 2003 at 19:02:58 PT

Well Kinda
I think he's a guest columnist, and Eric's new book is really something great. He came and spoke at my workplace about a month ago.As far as the times is considered though, I think they purchased this piece looking to show a front of 'balance.'
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Comment #3 posted by cloud7 on May 31, 2003 at 17:04:22 PT

Prohibitionist Times no more?!?
I am really suprised to see this article. I feel the tipping point on this debate has passed. The swell of positive and rational articles, court rulings and so on have been increasing at a very rapid pace. Although I've been following the legalization push for about 7 years and have numbed my excitement at any positive news down to almost nothing, I really think we are seeing the beginnings of the end.
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Comment #2 posted by ngaandi on May 31, 2003 at 16:40:19 PT:

medical mari
Sydney NSW Oztralia medical marijuana about to be trialed in coming months .... willpost more when we hear about it
 the states of South Australia & A.C.T. have decriminalised pot users can have 28grams in 1 bag if busted with more they get a fine similar to speeding ticket
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on May 31, 2003 at 16:01:17 PT

Way To Go New York Times!
Another great article from The New York Times!
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