SMOKING POT

The Low-Down on High Crimes in the United States

There's a drug epidemic in this country.

Each year it claims 100,000 American lives and costs our country an
estimated $58 Billion, according to the Greater Dallas Council on
Alcohol and Drug Addiction. That's enough dough to buy every student
in the United States a state-of-the-art computer.

The potential for addiction is enormous, with 14 million Americans
meeting the criteria for abuse disorders. Users of this terrible drug
are 50 times more likely to snort cocaine, yet it is by far the most
commonly used drug in the country, especially among youth.

With as little as $9, I could buy enough of this substance to
overdose on. It isn't difficult; I just need a friend in the right
place and a ride to Morrisville. Would you believe I can get a hold
of what I'm looking for, not in some back alley or old warehouse, but
from a state-run establishment? I'm talking about the Vermont State
liquor store, which along with an entire industry, profits from the
sale of a powerful depressant, alcohol.

Now let us consider another stack of statistics. The most popular
illegal drug in the United States, Cannabis Sativa (John Law calls it
"dope" on COPS) resulted in 771,984 arrests in 2004 alone.

That's more than all the arrests made of violent offenders that year combined.

In fact, it's a national record.

The penalties for possession and cultivation of marijuana dwarf those
of manslaughter in many states.

If you kill a guy, they may let you off easy, but if you puff a joint
or grow a plant, you're facing some serious federal consequences.

Although marijuana was already being pursued by conservative parts of
the US government in the early 20th century, it wasn't until 1937
that Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, a bogus law which
required a permit to posses marijuana.

The odd thing about the law was that to obtain the permit, you had to
possess the pot, thereby immediately incriminating yourself. (Thank
you History Channel). It took pressure from the southwestern states
(looking for an easy way to jail Mexican immigrants) and some would
say the paper and clothing industry (DuPont was facing hemp growing
as the biggest rival to its textile business) to get the law passed,
but in the end the powers that be had the weed demonized and
succeeded in setting back drug policy in the United States for the
remainder of the century.

Through the use of film, a valuable new tool for propaganda,
government organizations and Hollywood sponsored works like "Reefer
Madness," a story of death and insanity, creating a falsified culture
of fear around pot that exists to this day.

In 1969, the Marijuana Tax act was overturned on Fifth Amendment
grounds, but in its place marijuana became a Schedule One drug in
1970. To qualify for Schedule One (which includes heroin and
cocaine), a drug must have a high potential for abuse, no currently
accepted medical use and a lack of safety for use of the drug under
medical supervision (wikipedia.org). I would argue otherwise: pot has
a lower potential for abuse than alcohol (which could also include
domestic and child abuse as a result), an established and well
documented history of treating glaucoma patients, and only a mild health risk.

In 2006, years after Nixon's "war on drugs" and Regan's "just say no"
campaign, Cannabis continues to be listed in Schedule One
(painkillers/opiates such as Oxy-Contin continue to be prescribed as
legal heroin by doctors today). Unfortunately, our drug of choice,
that delicious booze continues to be big business.

The roots of alcoholism can be traced back as far as civilization has
existed, to the early days of Mesopotamia where beer became society's
first alcoholic beverage.

It was completely entwined in European culture, to the extent that
wine is still served to children in France. Even though Puritans
settled the New World, it didn't take long for alcohol to become the
drug of choice in America. In the 1920s prohibition failed to even
come close to changing this. In fact, it drove up crime to an
unprecedented level, proving once and for all that outlawing any
popular drug will only result in criminal violence and money laundering.

So it is easy to see that one of the main factors in the legal taboo
of grass is cultural.

In Mexican culture, and in many Native American cultures of Central
and Southern America, marijuana is a relaxation and mind expanding
drug smoked after a long day plowing fields.

Followers of the Rastafarian religion accompany smoking "ganja" with
bible study and spiritual enlightenment.

Now let me give you the "low down" on pot. According to Fast Food
Nation author Eric Schlosser in his second book, Reefer Madness, it's
been scientifically estimated that to overdose on the many chemicals
in weed you would have to smoke 100 pounds a minute for 15 minutes
That's 15 trash bags in the amount of time it takes Jon Stewart to
suck up to a celebrity guest.

Addiction to marijuana is purely psychological, meaning willpower is
about the only thing required to break the spell.

Contrast that with alcohol, which requires intensive therapy, moral
support and time to cure (alcoholism is, in all scientific sense, a
brain disease). The negative health effects of smoking pot are there,
from risk of lung cancer to throat problems, but neither of these
reaches the level that Joe Camel rolls into a pack. Though smoking is
the most popular form of delivery, marijuana can be eaten or heated
(vaporized) with little negative effect on the user.

There are a lot of rallying cries to legalize marijuana.

I believe this is a solution that will only create more problems.

It will make the reefer business legal, and I fear that it will
become the next tobacco, susceptible to the same doctoring and
rampant advertising that we saw with cigarettes. To me legalizing pot
is the equivalent of impeaching George W. Bush, and installing Mr.
Richard Cheney into the oval office.

I believe the answer is decriminalization. Take away the penalties
associated with possession for private use, in effect keeping
recreational users (who would be worse off taking a shot of whiskey)
out of our jails.

We could stop wasting tax money on a business that isn't even taxed,
keep those National Guard helicopters out of our airspace, and give
people a choice between getting tanked or watching a movie and eating chips.

It's time to cut the act and give our children a world of truth, not
lies. Put that in your bong and smoke it.