REEFER MADNESS

Marijuana Controversy Remains A Burning Topic 70 Years Later

Anti-drug forces are warning that summer time is marijuana time for
teenagers. Reminds me of the time I first saw the old Hollywood movie,
"Reefer Madness," produced in the depression days of the '30s.

Viewed in today's culture, the movie is a comedy with its exaggerated
portrayals of the drug's evil effects on human behavior. But it wasn't
funny to the school kids in my day.

The popular "hemp plant," smoked by untold millions in America, is known by
400 or so slang equivalents such as "weed," "pot," "tea," "gage," "grass,"
"hash" or "joint," and many other names.

Long before today's generation of "Mary Jane" smokers, the
euphoria-producing marijuana cigarette was called a "reefer," and I grew up
scared screwy about it. We kids were told that marijuana was "the devil's
hell," and we wanted nothing to do with it. I don't recall ever seeing one.

"It'll make you kill someone you love," I was told. "Even your mother!"

We were warned that the "reefer" was worse than bath tub gin, and we knew
that was bad because poisoned bootleg liquor was always killing some of the
grownups.

"Prohibition" opened up an incredible criminal underworld opportunity in
the "roaring '20s." Some say we have the same thing going today with drugs.
Police tell me that $500 worth of cocaine can bring $100,000 on the
streets. A police chief, once asked why the drug peddlers were so
prevalent, replied:

"It's the money, stupid!"

Drugs not only make the underworld dealers rich, but confiscated cash and
contraband -- including vehicles -- fatten the coffers of local government.
The forfeited police seizures from drug busts are "the best things about
the war on drugs," a sheriff's deputy recently remarked.

Our prisons are filled with drug addicts who rob and steal to finance a
habit that has become the state's burden. Half of the million prisoners in
American jails are there for drug-related offenses -- mostly involving
young people with marijuana -- at a cost of $20 billion a year. Countless
kids are put in prison for possessing "pot." The cost in law enforcement
and judiciary trial time is mind-boggling.

Many authorities believe the drug war is a failure, that more effective
weapons -- with education, rehabilitation and prevention programs -- are
needed. A growing number believes in taxing and regulating some drugs --
marijuana in particular -- like the regulatory laws on alcohol and tobacco
which take far greater tolls than narcotics. About 400,000 cigarette
smokers in America die each year from use of tobacco, the most addicting of
all drugs. You never hear of anyone ever dying from smoking marijuana, but
its mind-altering manner is known to cause casualties in other ways.

Anyway, we're told it's that time of year -- the summer time -- when the
smell of pot might be more noticeable at teenage gatherings.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that "new users" of marijuana
are increasing. For example, the number of eighth graders using marijuana
doubled in the decade between 1991-2001. Since the smokers don't file
statistical reports with the government, or otherwise make known their
pot-smoking preferences, accurate estimates are hard to come by. However,
estimates for Americans range from a minimum of 5 million on up. It's
probably four or five times that.

Some 2 million first time users come on the scene each year, and that was
"volunteer" date from national household surveys as reported by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.

On the other side of those favoring regulation and taxation, with emphasis
on education, treatment and prevention, are those calling for more law
enforcement activity and stiffer prison penalties. Crop destruction of hemp
and poppy plants in South America, Mexico and Afghanistan is a favorite
program of the U.S.A. war on drugs that costs taxpayers $75 billion per year.

These are somewhat extremist positions between the staunch
"prohibitionists" and those who would liberalize drug laws, eliminate the
profits of dope-dealing, and even "decriminalize" marijuana.

Recent published polls show that a majority of Americans -- 54 percent --
favor decriminalization of marijuana. Certainly that wouldn't reflect
Corsicana people, where voters have consistently kept the town "dry" by
outlawing beer and liquor. But laws have been passed in some areas --
California for example -- to make marijuana available for medical use.

I have my own theory: Fertilize the poppy plants and marijuana fields!
Spray them with plant food instead of eradicating them with herbicides. The
resulting bumper crops would deflate prices, send the drug dealers into
bankruptcy, clean up widespread corruption and bribery among public
officials, including some police, and destroy much of the criminal drug
underworld -- like we did Al Capone with repeal of prohibition in 1933.

We've made some progress since the days of "Reefer Madness," but it
wouldn't hurt to mobilize some fresh thought on the costly drug problem.