WANTED: TOKERS IN SUITS

Time For Greying Potheads To Come Out Of The Closet And Back
Anti-Prohibition Battle

There's no doubt that baby boomers' political activism was responsible
for significantly advancing the equality rights of the poor, racial
minorities, women and homosexuals.

But baby boomers' psychedelic aspirations, which found musical
expression in John Lennon's tangerine dreams and marmalade skies,
seemingly came to an abrupt halt at the end of the 70s when most of
the leaders of psychedelia either died, joined the Republican party or
became overprotective parents.

The psychedelic 60s did not leave a very bright legacy on an issue
that is the very essence of that era, the use of illicit mind-altering
drugs.

Some of these hippies still indulge, but fear of stigma born of the
state's construction of deviancy, forces many responsible users to
take a vow of silence about their indulgences. There are very few
boomers who speak out against the laws they flouted in their youth.
They've become the very hypocrites they rebelled against.

The literal meaning of "psychedelic" (the term was coined in 1956 by
Saskatchewan's Dr. Humphry Osmond, who began clinical experiments with
hallucinatory drugs as a remedy for various psychiatric illnesses) is
"mind-manifesting."

Early users of LSD, mescaline and psilocybin hoped to undertake a
spiritual journey into unexplored regions of the mind and soul. Just
as we have forgotten those original lofty aspirations, we now ignore
and deny the fact that middle-aged boomers and senior citizens
continue to indulge in illicit drug-taking behaviours.

When it comes to cannabis, for example, we know that consumption rates
doubled between 1989 and 2004, and that some 3 million people use the
plant every year.

Most people assume that this 3 million largely consists of youthful
experimenters who will eventually mature and abandon the silly pursuit
of non-alcohol intoxication.

The reality is that pot smokers are a greying population of parents,
principals and politicians. The fact that pot remains illegal and that
the state has declared it harmful to health does not deter 34 per cent
of doctors and 56 per cent of lawyers in Canada from getting high on
occasion.

In 1977, only 18 per cent of cannabis smokers were over the age of 30,
but in 2001 the percentage shot up to 49.

Considering this changing demographic, it's surprising that our drug
laws haven't been reformed and liberalized. Most people blame the
looming presence of the U.S. "war on drugs," but I think we've failed
on the road to rational drug law reform because aging drug users
rarely come out of their smoky closets to enter the political debate.

It's obvious that politicians do not really care about the vast number
of young people who enjoy illicit drugs. They're either too young or
too indifferent to vote. So while people of influence remain silent
about drug law reform, the Tories are poised to announce yet another
National Drug Strategy that, like all the others, is grounded in more
minimum sentences.

Drug-taking behaviour will always be constructed by the state as a
product of youthful indiscretion or stupidity and of little interest
to law-abiding, productive and mature adults. This image can only be
maintained if the state also maintains a consistent image of drug use
as deviant behaviour.

Aging lawyers, doctors, corporate executives and religious leaders
have to publicly acknowledge that they can and do enjoy illicit drugs
and do not conform to the state-sponsored stereotype of the degenerate
drug abuser.

When the late Pierre Berton boldly acknowledged his love of the plant
and demonstrated his joint-rolling prowess on Rick Mercer's television
show, this single act of courage had greater potential to dismantle
the war on drugs than the collective hubris of thousands of youthful
activists taking to the streets and parks to smoke gigantic joints
when the clock strikes 4:20 pm.

Alan Young is a professor of law at Osgoode Hall. His column appears
every other week in NOW.