cannabisnews.com: EDITORIAL: Marijuana for Everyone 





EDITORIAL: Marijuana for Everyone 
Posted by FoM on October 19, 2000 at 09:29:11 PT
Staff Editorial, The Chronicle Duke U.
Source: U-WIRE
 On Nov. 7, Alaskan voters will decide whether the state should legalize marijuana and give automatic amnesty to those convicted of marijuana-related charges. They should vote yes. It is a waste of government resources to prosecute marijuana users. Marijuana consumption, if properly regulated as alcohol is, poses no threat to society and should not be illegal. Alaskans should be free to choose whether they consume the drug, much as they may choose whether to consume alcohol. 
In fact, alcohol abuse poses a far greater threat to society, often leading to aggressive and violent behavior. Marijuana users do not face the same side effects, and studies have shown that they become less aggressive when they consume large quantities of the drug. Furthermore, a form of amnesty should indeed be granted to those who were imprisoned. People who were convicted of marijuana laws should not have to suffer any further for breaking a law that was not correct to begin with. Still, Alaska's impending vote raises larger questions about the conflict between state and federal law. States should not be in the habit of passing laws that violate the spirit, if not the letter, of federal law. It creates a dangerous precedent for other, more far-reaching legislation: The civil rights movement of the 1960s faced opposition from states that were trying to subvert federal mandate. To avoid these federalist/antifederalist conflicts, lobbyists should really be pouring their energy into creating coalitions that advocate a change in federal law. Some states have already held similar referenda legalizing the medical use of marijuana and lobbyists should concentrate their efforts on members of Congress from those states. Opponents of marijuana legalization have argued that the drug serves as a gateway to more dangerous substance abuse. However, those critics cite statistics that don't actually prove marijuana use causes users to abuse other drugs. It is common for people who have used more destructive narcotics to have also used marijuana, but the converse is not nearly as common. Furthermore, if marijuana were legal, people would no longer go to drug dealers who distribute more dangerous drugs in addition to marijuana. This decrease in accessibility would not actually encourage any further drug use. There is one problem with the proposition. The Alaskan pro-marijuana legalization lobby has gone too far in suggesting that the state create a council to study giving restitution to those who were imprisoned for marijuana-related charges. People knew what the law was when they broke it and should not be paid back for their punishment -- amnesty is sufficient reparation. There needs to be a nationwide effort to decriminalize marijuana and bring an end to laws that create nothing but inefficiency and frivolous prosecution. Alaska is a good place to start. (U-WIRE) Durham, N.C. Updated 12:00 PM ET October 18, 2000 (C) 2000 The Chronicle via U-WIRE Related Articles & Web Sites:Free Hemp in Alaskahttp://www.freehempinak.orgHemp 2000http://www.hemp2000.org Alaska Voters To Consider Hemp Legalization http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7369.shtmlDetails Cloud Debates For, Against Prop. 5http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7356.shtmlHemp Initiative is Foolish and Dangerous http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7317.shtmlHigh Hopes in Alaska for Sweeping Pot Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7173.shtml 
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Comment #3 posted by mungojelly on October 22, 2000 at 04:48:49 PT:
"when they broke it"
"People knew what the law was when they broke it..." -- that they did, but blind obedience to the law is no virtue. If we acknowledge that this law is unjust now, then we must acknowledge that it was unjust when these people were imprisoned, their cars and houses confiscated, their records marred, their hands confined by steel and their souls confined by far worse restraints. Unless one asserts that marijuana has drastically changed in some way which makes these laws less just than they once were (which is even more absurd than the New Potent Pot line), it follows that those who have broken this unjust law were not mere criminals but adherents to the greater, divine law of true justice. 
mungojelly
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Comment #2 posted by freedom fighter on October 19, 2000 at 16:21:32 PT
Alaska got 1200
Pot-POWs. It cost 36 millions a year to keep them penned. That is just one state.
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Comment #1 posted by legalizeit on October 19, 2000 at 11:39:52 PT
Amnesty - and then some
>People who were convicted of marijuana laws should not have to suffer any further for breaking a law that was not correct to begin with.How about one step further - some type of compensation for those in the past who have had to waste part of their lives in jail or otherwise get screwed (asset forfeiture, etc.) for simple possession of cultivation of The Herb?We'll probably not see that happen, but given the billions of good $$ wasted on the drug war each year, compensation for those who have already served time unjustly would be just spare change.
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