cannabisnews.com: Culture Clash Culture Clash Posted by CN Staff on November 30, 2004 at 13:38:19 PT By William F. Buckley Source: National Review It is disappointing, for those of us alternately engaged in teaching Iraqis how to square off democratically on divisive issues of state, to sit down and disconnect the telephone, intending to spend a few uninterrupted hours on the issue argued on Monday before the Supreme Court. The issue, of course, is whether individual states can legislate with regard to drug laws if the federal government has already staked out a position on the matter. We have very concrete circumstances here: 35 states grant exemptions of one kind or another to producers, retailers, consumers, cons, and ex-cons involved with cannabis. The arguments made before the Supreme Court were blissfully simple, in one respect. What the government lawyers argued was that the states were in violation of the Constitution, which gives to Congress, and only to Congress, authority to regulate commerce. Accordingly (they argue) all those state laws are stuff and nonsense. One jurist wants even more: He wants punitive action taken against those states that, acting on their various plebiscites and propositions, have been less than rigorous in enforcing the anti-narcotics laws. An Iraqi surveying the scene would be struck by the application of the democratic canon, as he is led to understand it. For a century, the Constitution forbade the treatment of black Americans by standards different from those applied to other Americans. What we learned was that actually to enforce the ban on unequal treatment you had to have a felt political commitment to passing a new law or enforcing the existing ones. The Supreme Court justices are faced with pretty outspoken contrarieties on the drug business. In 35 states, legislators have taken action to squirm out of the totalist ban which is a part of our legacy, and so the focus became techniques of evasion. There was a great flowering of these back during Jim Crow, which culminated in the elderly, scholarly Negro arriving at the polling booth and being told that he could vote only if he could read Greek. The ballot in hand, the petitioner muses, “Ah kin read Greek, aw right. It says here: ‘No nigger’s goin’ to vote today.’” That made for civil-rights barracks humor, but it held the feds at bay for about 75 years. The modern version of the civil-rights plea is: Unless I can have marijuana, I will suffer, I will vomit, I will, finally, die. The hardliners haven't neglected a defense on this matter. Hand on a bible, they will swear that all the effective ingredients in a cannabis plant can be leached out and poured into a cookie of sorts, the taking of which will relieve you just as a draw on a cannabis weed would do. The scientists have a hard time here, because it is difficult to argue with a flesh-and-blood-human being who says take your effing placebo and run it up your behind. A colleague of mine, the author of four outstanding books on American history, put it roughly like this: I am telling you I tried the placebo, and I tried marijuana. I continue wretchedly sick with the fake stuff and hugely solaced by the grass. I am an honors graduate of Yale University, politically a conservative opposed to drug legalization and please leave off the cant about how it doesn't make any difference, because I had cancer, and it does. The complications in a comprehensive ban are manifest. What is the proper punishment for the mother who brings a reefer to her son's cancer bed? And there is the putative respect paid to the medical community. Does the article in the Constitution that gives Congress the right to regulate commerce extend to writing law on the uses of a drug, given that medical experience is uniquely qualified to pass on such questions? The Iraqi who is looking in on how we handle our political conundrums will jot down that one way to do it is not to force the point. People in the western states especially have been drawing on cannabis with virtual impunity, but what the Supreme Court is being asked to do is to say: One set of laws is right, another set of laws is wrong, and we're going to tell you which is which. Sometimes, the observer will say to himself, nothing less than that can be done, as when we were coexisting with unequal treatment under the law. Sometimes the mature democracy will say: We have to adjudicate. After all, we did it for Dred Scott.Note: States, drugs, and the Supreme Court.Source: National Review (US) Author: William F. BuckleyPublished: November 30, 2004Copyright: 2004 National Review Contact: letters nationalreview.com Website: http://www.nationalreview.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:Raich vs. Ashcroft http://www.angeljustice.org/Angel Raich v. Ashcroft Newshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/raich.htm A Kinder Pot Policyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19924.shtmlCourt Hears Medical Marijuana Casehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19919.shtmlHigh Court Must Take Lead in MMJ Debatehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19917.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on November 30, 2004 at 16:54:22 PT Oh, Bill "The complications in a comprehensive ban are manifest. What is the proper punishment for the mother who brings a reefer to her son's cancer bed?"We already know what their punishment is for this - Take the son & throw him into federal prison for 5 years! (Tod McMormick)Right about now, Cheech & Chong should make another movie, & have legalization be a sub-plot or theme. Throw in a few rappers & it will make big bucks. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by The GCW on November 30, 2004 at 14:42:16 PT William F. Buckley is in there. I have been watching for William F. Buckley's perspective on this issue. He hit some bulls-eyes, again.And Cheech and Chong in Aspen? That's the place to be after You ski. (How's Your Aspen?) [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by dr slider on November 30, 2004 at 14:28:27 PT: won't you come home Bill Buckley Shoulda known it would take this icon to finally lay it out amidst the noise.Unless I can have cannabis I will suffer, I will drink, I will vomit, I will die. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on November 30, 2004 at 14:02:08 PT On The Lighter Side Cheech and Chong Reuniting in Aspen Stewart OksenhornNovember 30, 2004The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival has announced that the stoner comedy duo of Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong will reunite for the first time in 20 years at the upcoming festival in Aspen.Marin and Chong will make an on-stage appearance to talk about the pot-loving characters they created in a series of iconic movies, including 1978's groundbreaking "Up in Smoke," in which the two, in the roles of Pedro de Pacas and Anthony "Man" Stoner, smuggled a van made entirely of marijuana across the Mexican/U.S. border. The two followed with "Cheech & Chong's Next Movie," "Nice Dreams" and "Still Smokin.'""Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong are the embodiment of what we celebrate at the festival," said John Moffitt, executive producer of the USCAF. "What began as a standup routine evolved into a cultural phenomenon."The two met in the '70s in Vancouver, where Chong was guitarist for the rock band Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers. The duo put together a stand-up act and released several comedy albums before bursting into film stardom. After parting ways in the '80s, both continued to act.Chong was featured in such films as "After Hours" and "McHale's Navy," and plays Leo in the current TV series "That '70s Show." He is set to join the cast of the off-Broadway production of "The Marijuana-Logues." Marin has appeared in the films "Born in East L.A.," "Tin Cup" and "Masked and Anonymous," and has a regular role as Ignacio Messina in the TV series "Judging Amy."Previously announced to appear at the 2005 USCAF are the makers and cast of the 1997 mockumentary "Waiting For Guffman," including director Christopher Guest and actors Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Bob Balaban and Parker Posey; "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau, who will receive the Freedom of Speech Award; and Jim Carrey, who will be honored with the AFI Star Award in a ceremony hosted by Conan O'Brien.Also to be featured are The Rise of the Graphic Novel, with such comic-book artists as "Maus" creator Art Spiegelman; and a celebration of the Harvard Lampoon, with such alumni as "Simpsons" writer George Meyer and "The Critic" creator Mike Reiss.Additional acts have yet to be announced. The USCAF regularly features stand-up acts, one-man shows, alternative comedy, industry programs and the Film Discovery Showcase, featuring new and vintage comedy features, documentaries and short films.Ticket packages for the 11th annual USCAF, scheduled for Feb. 9-13 at various Aspen venues, are available at 1-800-778-4633 or at: http://www.hbocomedyfestival.com/Vail Daily, Vail ColoradoCopyright: 2004 vaildaily.comhttp://www.vaildaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041130/AE/111300004 He's Taking One Big Hit [ Post Comment ] Post Comment