MARIJUANA LAWS: FREE SPEECH AN ILLUSION

It seems that practically everywhere I look, I can see signs of the
decrepit system, that uses human beings as mere tools, beginning to
crumble. If you've read any of my articles in the past, you will
probably come to the conclusion that I believe the Drug War is a
senseless waste of resources and does more to destroy lives than to
rebuild them. Mind you, that is just my opinion, though there is a
whole heap of evidence supporting my claim.

Right now, the federal government is being sued over a little clause
that was attached to the FY2004 spending bill passed last year. The
fact that these kinds of riders, which on their own wouldn't stand a
chance, can become law, and do so quite regularly, speaks very ill of
our political process. This is nothing new, though; the waste in
Washington is so commonplace that "pork" now has meaning other than
"the other white meat."

This rider which I speak of, sponsored by Rep. Istook (R-OK), denies
federal funding to local transit authorities who display advertising
promoting "the legalization or medical use" of any Schedule I
controlled substance. He should have just prohibited this kind of
advertising about marijuana, as this is what the bill was really aimed
at.

A political advocacy group, Change the Climate, has been placing ads
in large cities for a few years now, trying to stimulate some debate
about marijuana legalization. You would think in a democracy that free
and open debate, about any subject, would be encouraged. Well, not in
this "democracy." Istook took offense to one of the ads that the
DC-based Metro displayed, an ad that suggested that marijuana users
can enjoy better sex. This was not a vulgar ad; you see much worse on
network TV. Further, Metro had to show it as this was a PSA sponsored
by the non-profit Change the Climate organization.

Perhaps this ad could be considered offensive by some; but if it is
the sex-related content, then Istook shouldn't be attacking just that
ad. No, what really got to him was the fact that someone would
actually publicly announce that they do not agree with marijuana
prohibition. Maybe he thinks that prohibition is a good idea, but
there is this little thing called the First Amendment, which
supposedly guarantees all citizens the right to publicly express their
own thoughts.

Rather than accept the notion that we are a democracy, Istook decided
that he knows best for the whole country. And so, in last year's
spending bill, there was a little note that forbade any transit
authorities from showing any ad questioning our government's
competence over the drug issue. Why not just drop the other shoe and
forbid any dissent whatsoever?

I hear it works great for Castro.

An ad sponsored by several groups, which advocate drug policy reform,
along with the ACLU, was recently rejected by Metro, in accordance
with this newly passed law. You can view this ad at
changetheclimate.org, though I must say that there is really nothing
controversial or offensive about it. It says "Marijuana laws waste
billions of taxpayer dollars to lock up non-violent Americans," along
with a picture of several locked-up Americans.

This ad is stating a fact: there is no scientific evidence that
marijuana use promotes aggression. However, our politicians and
bureaucrats don't need sound science to make their decisions.

Time and time again they've shown us how to conveniently ignore a
whole slew of studies that seem to indicate their policies are not
based on reality.

I'll admit it can be pleasant to live in a fantasy world, though I
think people managing real events should keep fantasy and reality
strictly separate.