MARIJUANA LAWS RIDICULOUS, IMPRACTICAL

Being a communist executive in a hippie town, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz
expressed his support for the legalization of marijuana last Friday on
Pulse Madison 1670 AM. Just the previous week, it was revealed a
police officer filed a report detailing how my alder, Mike Verveer
(also a fire-breathing radical), was in a room of a local restaurant
in which the drug was almost certainly being smoked.

Only in Madison, I guess.

Yes, in few other cities would either the mayor's statement or the
alder's whereabouts not have done serious political damage. In most of
our parochial land, giving the only reasonable opinion as to what
should be the legal status of Cannabis sativa, let alone operating
within a 10-foot radius of its consumption, would qualify as political
masochism.

But even here in hippie-dom, having what should be a banal position on
drug use still requires the most pathetic of apologies. Mayor Dave had
to clean up the edges of his remarks by stating this was just his
personal opinion, and he has no policy proposals that would affect
marijuana's criminalization. Meanwhile, poor Alder Verveer gave the
excuse that he was recovering from the flu, which he claims affected
his ability to detect the thick cloud of smoke swirling around his
head.

I didn't see anything," he said. "I didn't smell anything. I didn't
use anything."

While it's certainly the obligation of any open-minded thinker to
consider all the angles on any issue, I confess I can see about as
much legitimacy in demonizing weed smoking as the claims of illegal
campaigning by the victorious opponents of the new ASM Constitution.
It's a freaking plant that, among other side affects, induces a state
of mellowness, introspection and heightened physical sensation. Aside
from the minor toll it takes on the lungs, it's essentially harmless.
I therefore feel completely justified in referring to right-wing Dane
County Executive candidate Nancy Mistele - who in response recently
said she would support drug testing for pro-sanity politicians like
Cieslewicz and Verveer - as a veritable square and demagogue.

Because Verveer can't say it himself, the rest of us will have to say
it for him: Whether he was aware of the marijuana or not, whether he
used the marijuana or not, he did absolutely nothing wrong.

It's a disgraceful statement on our society that the voluntary
consumption of selected substances invites such viciousness and
unreason. Lurking police officers interrupting an individual's private
lifestyle choice in the quiet evening harkens back to what is commonly
thought of as a more intolerant American past, including the days of
Prohibition and criminalization of homosexuality.

Of course, the hysteria surrounding other drugs - especially "hard
drugs," as they have been colloquially termed - is much worse. Ours is
a society in which selling a few grams of white powder to a willing
purchaser can earn one decades of prison time. The social stigma of
non-marijuana drug use is so great its public users could never think
of being treated equally. Drugs and its users have effectively been
relegated to the status of "other" - they are something not to be
understood or respected, but demonized as something substantively
different from the rest of society.

Last year I wrote a column detailing how America's drug war -
something truly unique in the Western world - has little to do with
fighting the ever-hyperbolized dangers of a few plants. Our
government's commitment to outlawing drugs is expensive, violent and,
of course, impossible to win. The war instead serves as a prime
justification for the maintenance and expansion of the police state
and military-industrial complex. It keeps people scared of potentially
rebellious and oppressed populations - namely people of color and the
poor - and justifies their unequal social standing. It's an essential
tool of injustice that bolsters a status quo that is wretched for so
many people.

It's hard to see how anyone who is empathetic and rational would not
instinctually feel sympathy for Verveer in his unluckiness and
Cieslewicz in his forthrightness. These are people and positions with
which students at this university can relate. It should never be
forgotten, however, that most of the victims of America's insane war
against drugs are much less visible and endure far worse
repercussions.

Kyle Szarzynski is a senior majoring in history and Spanish.