Marijuana.com

Lit_Match

High Time?
08-10-07|North Shore Sunday|By Barbara Taormina

If you have teenage kids, sometimes the most gracious thing you can do as a parent is to fade into the background. You probably shouldn’t shop at Abercombie and Fitch, you don’t need to play air guitar and regale your kids with stories about The Who’s reunion concert and you really don’t need to end up in the police log of your local newspaper for possession of marijuana.

From 1990 to 2002, roughly 6.2 million people across the United States were arrested for possession of pot. According to FBI stats, 8,975 Massachusetts residents were busted in 2000. And the biggest fans of the drug aren’t kids smoking in the boy’s room, it’s adults ages 35 to 49, men and women — the folks at the country club, the members of the PTO, the people who sit next to you every Sunday in church.

Groups and organizations bent on changing or reforming drug laws are looking at those numbers and seeing some hope. Here in the Bay State the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition or MassCann has been working to change public policy on marijuana for decades. The organization’s latest push is to place a binding referendum on the 2008 ballot that would make possession of small amounts of marijuana – an ounce or less -- a civil violation, something similar to a traffic ticket. There would be a fine of $100 that would go to the city or town in which the offense was committed.

If all that sounds a little familiar, that’s because it is. In 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006 voters in different representative and senate districts throughout the state checked boxes on ballot questions to

decriminalize marijuana. In those four elections, 484,791 people voted to reform marijuana laws while 277,285 voted against any change.

But those were non-binding questions that were meant to take the pulse of the electorate. This time around MassCann is working toward a binding referendum which, at least in theory, means voters will have the final say.

“This is an issue of fundamental liberty,” says Steve Epstein, a Georgetown lawyer who heads up MassCann. “You can’t criminalize something that 9 percent of the population has done within the past month.”

And that seems particularly true when the 9 percent includes taxpayers with mortgages, cars, kids and dogs. Some battles you win with a quick knock-out punch. In others, it’s endurance that sees you through to a victory.

According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, we now have the most “drug-experienced” generation of parents on record. Even if adults don’t smoke marijuana they are culturally familiar with it and they view it is less of a risk than past generations.

And while that group may not be ready to vote to legalize pot, they do seem receptive to taking the interim step of decriminalizing it.

The costs

This week, the Showtime comedy “Weeds” kicks off its third season. For those who haven’t been watching, the show is about a single mother and two kids who move to an affluent suburb in California. In order to make ends meet, mom starts selling marijuana to her rich yuppie neighbors.

The show has picked up nearly two dozen nominations for Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actor Guild awards in part because it hits a chord. No doubt this is what marijuana use looks like for a lot of people today.

Ron, a 38-year-old machinist from Danvers, says he’s smoked marijuana since he was a teenager. He likes it, and he doesn’t plan to stop.

“It takes the edge off,” he says. “It’s a way to relax. I’m not hurting anyone and I think I’m pretty responsible.”

If it’s on the ballot, Ron says he would definitely vote to decriminalize marijuana. It would put an end to that unpleasant wave of paranoia he feels when buying it and carrying it home, and it just makes sense.

“I know a couple of people who have been busted for weed,” he says. “It’s not like it ruined them, but it was a huge pain in the butt.”

Ending that pain is one of MassCann and Epstein’s big arguments in pushing for decriminalization. According to Jeffrey Miron, an economics professor at Boston University, the state stands to save about $24 million a year if it decriminalizes marijuana. The new law would free up money we’re now spending on police, prosecutors, state forensic laboratories, court clerical personnel, judges, and prisons in connection with marijuana possession offenses.

On the flip side, the new law would be bring some cash into communities – although it’s nothing cities and towns will be able to use to balance their school budgets. In 2004, Beverly reported 40

arrests for possession, Peabody had 30 and Marblehead police arrested 19 people. With $100 fine for each offense, we’re not talking big money.

Peabody Police Chief Robert Champagne thinks MassCann’s math sounds a little sketchy, a little inflated. Champagne says that often, when someone is charged for possession of marijuana it’s because they’ve already been stopped for breaking some other law.

“How often do police go into a living room and charge someone with possession – never,” he says. “We’re not wasting our time and energy on that type of low-level enforcement.”

Champagne thinks decriminalization would be a step in the wrong direction. To him, throwing out the laws means we are tacitly condoning or even accepting marijuana use, and he worries that the social costs are just too high.

“Who’s going to be watching the kids, or watching grandma when mom’s stoned?” he asks.

Epstein acknowledges that marijuana can cause problems for some people.

“I won’t say that marijuana is a harmless substance,” he says. “With some people it becomes such a focus it can interfere with obligations to family and employers.”

But alcohol and tobacco are not harmless substances, and we leave the use of those products up to individuals hoping that personal integrity and responsible use kick in along the way.

What about the kids?

Two years ago, the popular parody newspaper, The Onion, which satirizes events both real and imaginary, ran a short piece about a 16-year-old girl from Dedham who vowed never again to experiment with marijuana after coming homing and finding her parents, Harold and Judy, “obviously baked.”

“Dad got all paranoid about the mortgage rate while Mom spent an hour giggling about how dusty the ceiling fan was. It was so sad and depressing,” says the girl who adds she was grateful to be scared

straight before she made a fool of herself again.

Although marijuana use among kids remains high, study after study has reported a slight decrease over the years. Some worry that decriminalizing marijuana could reverse that trend. But Epstein’s proposals have some built-in safeguards.

In both a decriminalization bill filed by state Sen. Bruce Tarr on behalf of Epstein and the ballot question, anyone under 18 who is caught with marijuana would be brought home to their parents. Like adults, juveniles would be subject to a $100 fine, but unlike adults they would be mandated to attend a drug education program. And if they fail to complete that drug education program within a year, them fine would bump up to $1,000 with both the juvenile and parents liable for that fine.

Still, even some adults who favor decriminalization do have some concerns about how such a move might change drug use among kids. Some, like Chief Champagne, have no doubt that pot is a gateway drug.

Champagne says he’s seen a lot of lives wrecked by drug addiction and abuse and there’s no doubt in his mind that those people started those personal downward journeys by smoking marijuana.

Topsfield police Chief Evan Haglund also feels that marijuana is a stepping stone to other drugs, and like Champagne he feels decriminalizing pot would be a mistake.

“A lot of property crimes are related to drug use,” he says. “It’s really a quality of life issue.”

Epstein agrees that most heroin addicts probably did start out smoking pot. But he likes to take the numbers and turn them around. Of the 80 million people in the United States who have said that they have at least experimented with marijuana only a tiny fraction have gone on to other drugs – and that escalation can often be attributed to a long list of other factors. Epstein does however, concede that there may be a link between marijuana use and hallucinogens – drugs that users often claim expand consciousness and even spark creativity.

Devin, a 19-year-old from Gloucester who regularly smokes pot, says he has no interest in harder drugs.

“It’s not a gateway drug, that’s just propaganda,” he says, adding that most of the people he knows who smoke are intelligent people with full and interesting lives. He has a buddy who’s favorite pastime when he’s high is to go home and read.

Mack, another friend who also smokes frequently, says it’s really no different than going to a bar and having a drink.

“Like everything else, you just have to learn to do it responsibly,” he says.

And that’s no more or no less than what Epstein and MassCann want this time around. Responsible people making their own decision about marijuana use without the fear of criminal prosecution.

This week, the Attorney General’s office is reviewing MassCann’s ballot question to make sure it complies with state law. Once that hurdle is passed it will be up to Epstein and the organization’s

volunteers to collect the 67,000-plus signatures needed to put the question on the 2008 ballot.

And if it turns out to be a go, a lot of people expect to see pro-marijuana groups from all over the country flood in and wage a campaign to win over voters.

But no matter what happens in November, 2008, you can expect to see Epstein and MassCann back in 2010 either with a new decriminalization campaign or push for straight legalization.

“We won’t stop fighting until marijuana is regulated like tobacco and alcohol,” says Epstein.

__________________
Donation links to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) | MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)

 

Buzzby

I really doubt that. Everything I've ever read on the subject indicates that the vast majority of marijuana users quit by the time they're 30. When you've got more to lose, you tend to become more circumspect about taking risks (with the law).

He's right that it would indicate we're condoning its use - as we should. He's wrong about the social costs. The biggest social cost of marijuana use is the aftermath of getting arrested, convicted, and having a criminal record.

Who watches the kids and grandma when mom is drunk? Unless you want to reinstitute alcohol prohibition, this is a stupid argument. Just as with alcohol, most users are responsible people. Punishing everyone for the irresponsibility of a few is not any kind of justice.

That's not too bad, if the drug education program is honest. If it's just more prohibitionist bullshit, it will do more harm than good. People should be informed about costs and benefits of marijuana so they can make reasoned decisions about it. If you catch an eduacator in a lie, you will automatically discount whatever else they might have to say.

The latest research indicates that malt liquor is the drug that seems to promote the use of other drugs, not marijuana.

It's easy to have no doubts when you have no knowledge.

Do I hear an Amen to that, Brothers and Sisters?

__________________

Broliette

Amen......

__________________

Victor_vicious

[quote=Buzzby;800117]I really doubt that. Everything I've ever read on the subject indicates that the vast majority of marijuana users quit by the time they're 30. When you've got more to lose, you tend to become more circumspect about taking risks (with the law).
I really doubt that. Working with the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate care collecting signatures to put Medical MJ on the 2008 ballot, I have talked with just as many folks, if not more, that are closer to my age, I'm 58, who still smoke marijuana. The ages of people that sign this petition would suprise you. Maybe I'm getting a false reading. Maybe folks my age are just more comfortable talking with someone closer to thier age about MJ.
Or maybe more of us have friends , relatives etc. who have debilatating diseases.
I had a gentleman sign it yesterday that lives in one of the more affluent areas around here. His comment was that everybody in that town smokes marijuana. I jokingly told him I knew that wasn't true, cause there aren't many minorities represented in Okemos so I know no one there smokes pot. We shared a good laugh over that.

And amen to that, brother.

Buzzby

Take a look at this segment of a chart from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

Attached Thumbnails