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Marijuana's Potency & Why The Law Should Change
Posted by CN Staff on September 04, 2010 at 08:45:57 PT
By John McKay, Special to The Times
Source: Seattle Times
Seattle, WA -- I don't smoke pot. And I pretty much think people who do are idiots.This certainly includes Marc Emery, the self-styled "Prince of Pot" from Canada whom I indicted in 2005 for peddling marijuana seeds to every man, woman and child with an envelope and a stamp. Emery recently pleaded guilty and will be sentenced this month in Seattle, where he faces five years in federal prison. If changing U.S. marijuana policy was ever Emery's goal, the best that can be said is that he took the wrong path.
As Emery's prosecutor and a former federal law-enforcement official, however, I'm not afraid to say out loud what most of my former colleagues know is true: Our marijuana policy is dangerous and wrong and should be changed through the legislative process to better protect the public safety.Congress has failed to recognize what many already know about our policy of criminal prohibition of marijuana it has utterly failed. Listed by the U.S. government as a "Schedule One" drug alongside heroin, the demand for marijuana in this country for decades has outpaced the ability of law enforcement to eliminate it. Perhaps this is because millions of Americans smoke pot regularly and international drug cartels, violent gangs and street pushers work hard to reap the profits.Law-enforcement agencies are simply not capable of interdicting all of this pot and despite some successes have not succeeded in thwarting criminals who traffic and sell marijuana. Brave agents and cops continue to risk their lives in a futile attempt to enforce misguided laws that do not match the realities of our society.These same agents and cops, along with prosecutors, judges and jailers, know we can't win by arresting all those involved in the massive importation, growth or distribution of marijuana, nor by locking up all the pot smokers. While many have argued the policy is unjust, few have addressed the dangerously potent black market the policy itself has created for exploitation by Mexican and other international drug cartels and gangs. With the proceeds from the U.S. marijuana black market, these criminals distribute dangerous drugs and kill each other (too often along with innocent bystanders) with American-purchased guns.Our wrongheaded policy on marijuana has also failed to address the true health threat posed by its use. While I suspect nothing good can come to anyone from the chronic ingestion of marijuana smoke, its addictive quality and health risk pale in comparison with other banned drugs such as heroin, cocaine or meth. Informed adult choice, albeit a bad one, may well be preferable to the legal and policy meltdown we have long been suffering over marijuana.Not only does our policy directly threaten our public safety and rest upon false medical assumptions, but our national laws are now in direct and irreconcilable conflict with state laws, including Washington state. So called "medical" marijuana reaches precious few patients and backdoor potheads mock legitimate medical use by glaucoma and chemotherapy patients. State laws are trumped by federal laws that recognize no such thing as "medicinal" or "personal" use and are no defense to arrests by federal agents and prosecution in federal courts.So the policy is wrong, the law has failed, the public is endangered, no one in law enforcement is talking about it and precious few policymakers will honestly face the soft-on-crime sound bite in their next elections. What should be done?First, we need to honestly and courageously examine the true public-safety danger posed by criminalizing a drug used by millions and millions of Americans who ignore the law. Marijuana prohibition has failed it's time for a new policy crafted by informed policymakers with the help of those in law enforcement who have risked their lives battling pot-purveying drug cartels and gangs.Second, let's talk about marijuana policy responsibly and with an eye toward sound science, not myth. We can start by acknowledging that our 1930s-era marijuana prohibition was overkill from the beginning and should be decoupled from any debate about "legalizing drugs." We should study and disclose the findings of the real health risks of prolonged use, including its influence and effect on juveniles.Third, we should give serious consideration to heavy regulation and taxation of the marijuana industry (an industry that is very real and dangerously underground). We should limit pot's content of the active ingredient THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), regulate its sale to adults who are dumb enough to want it and maintain criminal penalties for sales, possession or use by minors, drivers and boaters.Federal criminal law should give way to regulation, while prohibiting interstate violation of federal laws consistent with this approach. In short, policymakers should strive for a regulatory and criminal scheme like the one guarding that other commodity that failed miserably at prohibition, alcohol.As my law-enforcement colleagues know well from chasing bootleggers and mobsters, this new regulatory and criminal approach will still require many years of intensive investigation and enforcement before organized criminal elements are driven from the vast marijuana market. DEA and its law-enforcement partners must therefore remain well equipped and staffed to accomplish this task: to protect our families from truly dangerous drugs and to drive drug cartels, gangs and dope dealers from our society.John McKay is a law professor at Seattle University and the former United States attorney in Seattle. Source: Seattle Times (WA)Author: John McKay, Special to The Times Published: September 3, 2010Copyright: 2010 The Seattle Times CompanyContact: opinion seatimes.comWebsite: http://www.seattletimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/1kwqF5KKCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #20 posted by FoM on September 06, 2010 at 06:49:11 PT
The GCW
That's so funny. Thanks!
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Comment #19 posted by The GCW on September 06, 2010 at 06:33:26 PT
Pack Of Dogs Attack Alligator in Florida
Pack Of Dogs Attack Alligator in Floridahttp://www.sharenator.com/Pack_Of_Dogs_Attack_Alligator_in_Florida/
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #18 posted by FoM on September 05, 2010 at 19:43:10 PT
Paint with light
That's right. My one niece that is up from Austin hates leaving her dachshunds. Whether they are big or small they are good for us.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #17 posted by Paint with light on September 05, 2010 at 19:03:54 PT
Quote Charlie Brown
Happiness is a warm puppy (or older dog also in your case).
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #16 posted by FoM on September 05, 2010 at 18:52:51 PT
Paint with light
The best part of my day is when we came home and my very big adult rottweiler flipped out and was on his back and then licking my face and was so happy to see me. He is 28 inches tall at his withers and stands taller then me when looking out the window. My puppy still wants to nip and play but she was beside herself with joy to see us too. What would I do without my rotties and Sassy my sweet old husky dog? I don't know.
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Comment #15 posted by Paint with light on September 05, 2010 at 18:22:33 PT
Balance with some good
You and stick have had it rough the past twelve months.I have always found it helpful in times of extreme sadness to try and balance it a little by making a conscious effort to recall some of the good times or funny times that came before the pathos.Our hearts are with you.
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on September 05, 2010 at 18:07:18 PT
Paint with light
Thank you. It was a very hard day. Lots of tears and sadness. We will probably go back up tomorrow if she makes it thru the night. The morphine pump is keeping her pain to a minimum and for that I am so grateful.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #13 posted by Paint with light on September 05, 2010 at 17:58:15 PT
FoM
Love and sympathy from Tennessee.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #12 posted by FoM on September 05, 2010 at 17:12:58 PT
Sam
Thank you. I got the article posted now too.
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #11 posted by Sam Adams on September 05, 2010 at 16:01:12 PT
Washington Post
FOM that is tragic news, I'm very sorry to hear about the tough time your family must be going through right now.here is a fantastic article I just found that made it into the Washington Post:http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0450.htmlor you can get a free acct & go here:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090302205.html
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #10 posted by b4daylight on September 05, 2010 at 12:06:16 PT
So basically
What we have been doing for the last 40 years doesn't work. Yet we were allowed to keep the jim crow laws around, keep a job, and make it appear we are above everyone else. Looking around it doesn't look good for us as science has defeated every baseless claim we made. Made us look foolish and ignorant. Now the people are doing what we refuse to do. Based on the dictatorship we hold so dear. Well maybe we can hold onto what we got for a few more years and then retire with our golden parachutes.
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Comment #9 posted by ekim on September 05, 2010 at 09:34:26 PT
John your job is or was to silence the FEW
While many have argued the policy is unjust, few have addressed the dangerously potent black market the policy itself has created for exploitation by Mexican and other international drug cartels and gangs.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on September 05, 2010 at 05:11:02 PT
Just a Comment
I haven't found any articles to post. I do hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. The weather is beautiful here. Soon we will head into the election season and it should be very interesting. I will be gone again today and maybe tomorrow. The family has come home from as far as Florida and Texas since my niece only has at the most a few days to live or maybe only hours the hospice nurse said yesterday. She is comfortable and we are all doing everythng we can to support her and each other. I love all of you.
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Comment #7 posted by runruff on September 05, 2010 at 01:50:35 PT
Hemp industry workers.
I want to see farmers and vendors and crafts people making a good living off of a healthy, green industry.I want to see the good folks with jobs and opportunities. The very same people and industry cops have for years thought themselves heroes or at least, "the good guys" for suppressing.I want to see thousand of cops and DEA in unemployment lines, seeking jobs and salaries more suited to their
abilities. I want to see judges and prosecutors asking me, "would you like to super-size that hempburger"?What do they call a shipwreck with a 500 lawyers and prosecutors on board? A good start!So don't come whining about how, Oops, I woke up on the wrong side of the drug war this morning! This is one idiot who has lived long enough to see Marc's prosecutor beg for work, beg for economic mercy! Shout for help from his Quicksand bog.You know, this guy had better wise up and speak more kindly to his future!
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Comment #6 posted by Paint with light on September 04, 2010 at 22:17:16 PT
some good, some bad
What was disturbing about this piece to me, is sometimes he was very correct and sometimes he was very wrong. "....... And I pretty much think people who do are idiots."Very wrong."Our marijuana policy is dangerous and wrong and should be changed through the legislative process to better protect the public safety."Very right. Especially protect the public from out of control cops."Congress has failed to recognize what many already know about our policy of criminal prohibition of marijuana it has utterly failed."Very right."....the demand for marijuana in this country for decades has outpaced the ability of law enforcement to eliminate it."Very right. "Brave agents and cops continue to risk their lives in a futile attempt to enforce misguided laws that do not match the realities of our society."Should read....
Coward agents and cops continue to risk the lives of those they pursue in a futile attempt to enforce misguided laws that do not match the realities of our society.That would make it very right.Then he goes along pretty good until he gets to...."While I suspect nothing good can come to anyone from the chronic ingestion of marijuana smoke...."Very wrong but the rest of the paragraph, very right.Then he is sorta on track except he doesn't seem to acknowledge the number of patients that get help through cannabis.Then he says," it's time for a new policy crafted by informed policymakers with the help of those in law enforcement who have risked their lives battling pot-purveying drug cartels and gangs."Why do we need cops making policy? They have consistently endangered the public more than the drugs. In almost all cases the only lives they have risked is the public's.What happened to, "We don't make the laws, we just enforce them."?His second point is very correct.His third point is overkill."We should limit pot's content of the active ingredient THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), regulate its sale to adults who are dumb enough to want it and maintain criminal penalties for sales, possession or use by minors, drivers and boaters."Should read, We should discourage its use by minors unless there is a medical need, and we should regulate impaired drivers boaters, and chicken pluckers as we do now by measuring real impairment.....not micro molecular presence from three weeks ago."Federal criminal law should give way to regulation, while prohibiting interstate violation of federal laws consistent with this approach. In short, policymakers should strive for a regulatory and criminal scheme like the one guarding that other commodity that failed miserably at prohibition, alcohol."Legal like alcohol? What a crazy idea that is, lol.The last paragraph was covered pretty well in comment #5 except I thought runruff thought more of his dogs' behinds than to let a cop that close to them.Legal like.....uh....alcohol?
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Comment #5 posted by runruff on September 04, 2010 at 18:19:49 PT
So fund the DEA into perpetuity?
Weasel, beg! We did not need your vile services during prohibition and I am sure we will not be needing your sorry ass any time soon!The nerve of this monkey breath to think he can con the public into funding him and a bunch of dead weight into perpetuity just in case we might need them!If I need someone to wipe my doggies behind....I'll give them a call!
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Comment #4 posted by Canis420 on September 04, 2010 at 18:17:09 PT:
This guy
What can I say...he called me an idiot. He is a scumbag and will always be one. He knows he has lost and he is lashing out by calling me childish names...too freakin funnee
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on September 04, 2010 at 17:52:19 PT
parasite
this sounds like a guy that knows he's about to lose and look like a fool. Go Prop. 19!
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Comment #2 posted by Hope on September 04, 2010 at 12:03:53 PT
McKay
He's still all about being a horse's hiney. But it does sound like he sees the reality of needing to negotiate this all down to a much saner place. Like for one thing... people to stop killing people over it and what they stir up because of their attitudes about it all. Reefer madness. It truly has been and still is in many places.
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Comment #1 posted by por1 on September 04, 2010 at 09:30:04 PT:
John McKay
You agree that the policy has failed, yet you prosecuted Marc and how many others.Its time ppl in your position stand up for what is right.Im sure you would say you were just doing your job.But you were sworn to uphold the constitution.YOU could have refused to prosecute OR YOU could have informed the grand jury of there rights to nulify.Free Marc
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