POT SMOKERS OFTEN VICTIMS, NOT CRIMINALS

Growing up a teenage pothead in central California, I had many run-ins with
authorities and am still here and record-free to tell about it.

The first time I was parked in front of a lake when a cop rolled up. He
threw our pipe in the water and sent us on our way with a reprimand.

The second time I was walking down the street, stoned and acting stupid. I
was stopped and coerced into turning over my bag. The officer wrote me a
ticket.

I went to court and, with the aid of a court-appointed lawyer, was
sentenced the same day to 20 mandatory Narcotics Anonymous meetings. I had
never heard of such a thing, but it was worthwhile to talk to the aged addicts.

I was 17 or 18 and my parents still don't know about it.

The final time I got caught with weed was in my dorm room at San Francisco
State.

The police officer employed the usual trick of knocking gently and covering
the peephole, so a friend opened the door for her and let her in. There was
a bong behind my head, and I hid as much weed as I could sneak out of my
bag under my leg before offering my stash to the cop.

She didn't touch the bong; I never had to stand up. She took my proffered
bag and wrote me a ticket. When I went to my court date, I was not even
booked. Clean break!

So the argument against me is apparent: Obviously the lax laws allowed me
to continue in my illegal habits. Obviously.

But I grew up and moved on and am now so broke and absorbed in school that
smoking isn't really an option any more.

But had I been arrested and jailed and put into the system, I wouldn't be a
successful senior about to graduate with almost straight A's in my major. I
would be stuck in California paying off legal debts while college went on
without me. I would be barred from getting decent jobs. I would be labeled
something I am not: a criminal.

I am not a fan of the legalization efforts. I don't really think it would
be fruitful. But what needs to happen in Alabama is decriminalization.

In Alabama, we get atrocities like Odyssey-fest, where hundreds of
peaceful, pot-smoking music lovers were plucked like apples from an orchard
and carted off to prison.

In Alabama, I hear stories of hippies rotting in prison from marijuana
busts in the '70s.

In Alabama, I have known more good kids, good students, good people with
legal problems from weed-busts than I ever did in California.

Out here there is such stigma attached to all things illegal, and the state
doesn't seem to realize that putting these people into the system will
hinder their futures more than smoking weed will.

People who smoke weed are our neighbors, sons, teachers, parents, coworkers.

Everybody knows a smoker, whether or not they know it. They are not
criminals. Potheads aren't violent like drunks and meth-heads. They are
more likely to be laid back and down-to-earth than any other addict.

Potheads aren't bad people. They're are average folks with a lot more going
in life than their habit. Why is that threatening?

America is so addicted to normalizing drugs like antidepressants that weed
could be intimidating to corporate America because it will see no profits
from sales and because someone who smokes might just see beyond the
corporate box.