cannabisnews.com: Pot Use Could Cut Block Party Problems





Pot Use Could Cut Block Party Problems
Posted by CN Staff on April 30, 2005 at 14:09:01 PT
Guest Column By Gary Storck
Source: Wisconsin State Journal
Wisconsin -- Susan Lampert Smith's column on Thursday, "Mifflin block party may get a visitor to remember," about the young man who fell off a Mifflin Street balcony after having too much to drink was illuminating. One of the things that struck me most was the young man's mother's comments about the patient population at the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center: "Half the people are in there because of alcohol-related accidents. Maybe three-fourths of them, if you count accidents where someone else was drinking and driving."
Many of these accidents are preventable. Everyone reacts differently to the effects of alcohol, and many people cannot tolerate it. In the early days of the Mifflin Street block parties, the use of marijuana was more prevalent than alcohol. Between the pot brownies and numerous joints, the party was more peaceful and safer. Marijuana prohibition forces people to turn to more harmful substances like alcohol, oxycontin, cocaine and meth, causing untold harms to the individual and society.Twenty-eight years ago Madison voters passed Ordinance 23.20, legalizing both private possession and medical use of marijuana in the city. The daily torrent of alcohol related mayhem points to the need for harm reduction, like tolerating possession and sales of marijuana in coffeeshops, as the Netherlands has done since 1976.Last November, Oakland California voters, by a two to one margin, passed Measure Z, directing city officials to deprioritize marijuana possession, cultivation and sales offenses and lobby the state legislature to make changes in state law that would allow Oakland to implement the measure. This implementation would be to establish licensing and regulation for outlets where cannabis would be sold and consumed.Madison should consider a similar measure. Not only would regulation keep marijuana out of the hands of youth, but it would make Madison safer by reducing the use of alcohol and ending the current and sometimes violent black market.Madison's problems with alcohol will not get better until city officials have the courage to explore options that would reduce the harm. Not only would regulation accomplish that, but it would also provide a means of safe and legal access for the city's growing population of patients using cannabis for medical purposes.Storck, Madison, is a co-founder of Madison NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws).Newshawk: Madison NORML: http://madisonnorml.org/Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)Author: Gary StorckPublished: April 30, 2005Copyright: 2005 Madison Newspapers, Inc.Contact: wsjopine madison.comWebsite: http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by Patrick on May 01, 2005 at 19:04:50 PT
Almost makes me wanna move
To Oakland…Last November, Oakland California voters, by a two to one margin, passed Measure Z, directing city officials to deprioritize marijuana possession, cultivation and sales offenses and lobby the state legislature to make changes in state law that would allow Oakland to implement the measure. This implementation would be to establish licensing and regulation for outlets where cannabis would be sold and consumed.I would love to own an outlet like that or two or at the least have one as nearby as the 3 Wal-marts, 2 Denny’s, 2 Home Depots, countless 7-11’s and X-berto’s taco shops to pick up a qp on the way home from work!But alas that is not the case. Today we live in a world where we have an abundance of resources to arrest non violent individuals for growing, carrying, or consuming cannabis plants. In a world with violent terror organizations seeking opportunity to destroy we got law enforcement resources with the time to arrest not just the trouble makers but the sick elderly people who smoke marijuana? Yeah sure Mr. Drug Czar pot brownie baking cancer patients are way more criminal than someone who gets really drunk behind the wheel and kills someone? We don’t waste police resources arresting alcohol consumers unless they become violent and a public nuisance (btw that happens all the time without sending the wrong message to kids about alcohol consumption). Why do we continue to arrest marijuana users to the tune of ¾ of a million a year? Do we really have the money to waste law enforcements time searching for plants when we could acknowledge the truth and regulate the marketplace for hemp and cannabis? Why maybe we could give law enforcement even more tax dollars to fight real crimes at the same time reducing and saving on the ever increasing spiral of incarceration expense burden to house non violent people who consume marijuana and hemp products? Our current system releases longer time served sex offenders among others to make room for the new incoming never been in any other trouble marijuana consumer. And just like that *poof* with a wave of the magical prohibition wand a new criminal is born and a known predator is let free. Barrabas we want Barrabas!!! Maybe just maybe with a little common sense and regulation we would have some money left over in the increased law enforcement budgets to keep searching for Osama who?
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Comment #6 posted by Happyplant on May 01, 2005 at 17:54:31 PT:
 Gary
I was thinking about doing that, but I don't know the process in which to go about doing so. I have sat back and done nothing for far to long. It is time for me to stand up and try to make a difference, any info from anyone would be greatly appreciated.
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Comment #5 posted by Gary Storck on May 01, 2005 at 17:04:44 PT
HappyPlant
I hear you. Unfortunately the politicians currently controlling the state legislature have no sympathy for your position. Ord. 23.20 was put on the ballot in Madison by concerned citizens who collected the necessary signatures in 1976 to put it before voters in 1977.The process still exists at the city and county levels to collect signatures and put a local initiative on the ballot. Perhaps you should consider doing that in west central WI.
It worked here.
Is My Medicine Legal YET?
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Comment #4 posted by happyplant on April 30, 2005 at 21:10:40 PT
ordinance 23.20 should include the entire state.
Thats all fine and dandy, but why just madison , drinking is a problem in the whole state of wisconsin, shouldn't I have the same rights living in west central wisconsin as those living in madison. I shouldn't have to move some where else to enjoy my life. I like where i live now. 
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on April 30, 2005 at 20:46:49 PT
Wonderful, Gary!
Wise words, indeed! Your words need to be heeded. 
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Comment #2 posted by global_warming on April 30, 2005 at 17:45:31 PT
America
1 in every 138 Americans is behind barsAFP[ TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2005 12:10:58 AM WASHINGTON: The US prison population, already the largest in the world, reached a new high of more than 2.1 million last year, with one in every 138 residents of the country now behind bars, according to new government statistics.The data, made public by the Bureau of Justice Statistics on Sunday, put the US far ahead of countries like China and Russia, whose combined population is about five times that of America."The numbers are pretty consistent with what they have been in the last few years," Justice Department statistician Paige Harrison, a co-author of the report, said. "We are seeing continued growth in prisons and jails, but at a lower rate than we had about 10 years ago."The study shows the number of inmates across the country rose an estimated 48,452 people, or 2.3 per cent, in the 12-month period ending on June 30, 2004.In other words, the system was adding to its ranks on average 932 individuals every week. The rate of incarceration reached a record of 726 inmates per 100,000 residents — up from 716 a year earlier.By comparison, the current incarceration rate in Britain is 142 per 100,000 citizens, in China 118, in France 91, and in Japan 58, according to the Justice Policy Institute.US federal prisons that house most drug offenders accounted for the largest increase of the prison population — 6.3 per cent. 
drug offenders accounted for the largest increase of the prison population
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Comment #1 posted by global_warming on April 30, 2005 at 17:31:57 PT
Solutions
"Madison's problems with alcohol will not get better until city officials have the courage to explore options that would reduce the harm. Not only would regulation accomplish that, but it would also provide a means of safe and legal access for the city's growing population of patients using cannabis for medical purposes."So what are they saying?Is Alcohol a problem? Is the growing population of Cannabis users the problem?Some of us older folks, might think that a burning barn, might take precedence to little Jimmy's Bee sting..
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