A ONE-WORD LIE -DECRIMINALIZATION

C-Notes

The Canadian Senate, in September '02, issued a voluminous report
concluding that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, and
urging Parliament to regulate its distribution for all purposes. The
authors of the report explicitly expressed a "preference for legalization
over decriminalization." The extensive study on which the Senate report was
based came in response to a mass movement (triggered by California's
medical marijuana initiative) that has created "Compassion Clubs" all over
Canada.

Last week, while paying lip service to the Senate report, the Liberal
Chretien government introduced a bill that would "decriminalize" the
possession of a half ounce of marijuana. The amount to be "decriminalized"
was reduced from a full ounce after Attorney General Ashcroft and Drug Czar
Walters put pressure on the Chretien government. The U.S. officials made
oblique threats about slowing traffic at the border -absurd bluffs, given
the overriding imperatives of tourism and trade.

At least with our never-give-a-inch Drug War Lords we know where we stand.
"Decriminalization" is a one-word lie. It means that the citizen caught by
the cop with a small amount of marijuana will get ticketed instead of
booked. But the basic relationship between citizen (illegitimate, fearful)
and cop (potential punisher) remains basically the same. No right to
consumption has been established. Marijuana possession is still wrong. Only
the penalty structure gets changed. And the penalties become stiffer for
growers and dealers!

"Decriminalization" entered the lexicon at the end of the '60s, about the
same time as "affirmative action," with which it has much else in common.
Both strategies were devised in response to movements involving millions of
people asserting their rights. Both serve the direct interests of only a
small subset of the large population that supposedly benefits. Both get
sold to the rank-and-file as necessary steps forward, but actually
represent the end-point of the political movement(s). Both are jargon.

"Decriminalization" of marijuana was the well publicized recommendation in
1972 of a Presidential Commission headed by Raymond Shafer, the former
governor of Pennsylvania. The executive director of the Shafer Commission,
Michael Sonnenreich, was a Democrat who'd been kept on at the Justice
Department after Nixon was elected in 1968. Sonnenreich then helped draft
the bill that transferred control over drug policy from the Surgeon General
to the Attorney General (John Mitchell), and gave the AG the power to
create the drug"schedules." Congressional opponents of the Controlled
Substances Act questioned marijuana's placement on Schedule I -dangerous
with no medical use- but were mollified by an Administration promise to
create a commission to review the status of marijuana. Hence the Shafer
Report..

Nixon, of course, tossed the Shafer report into the wastebasket, inciting
NORML and other activists of the day to attack him. They were so roused by
the Shafer commission's call for "decriminalization" that they didn't
protest their failure to revisit the question of marijuana being on
schedule one!

Between 1973 and 1978, 11 states "decriminalized" possession of small
amounts of marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Oregon. Alaska
has since de-decriminalized, and Oregon has de-de-decriminalized. Numerous
cities and counties also passed decrim laws. (In the 1970s liberal policy
wonks, tired from tossing around heavy terms all day, took to calling it
"decrim.") In some "decrim" states a possession charge costs you your
driver's license for 90 days. In New York you pay a $100 fine for
possession of 25 grams or less (an ounce is 28 grams). Paperwork hassles
have resulted in NYers spending the night or weekend in jail.

The Canadian decrim bill is unlikely to pass, according to Richard Cowan of
marijuananews.com., because the prohibitionists consider it a concession
and the reformers are aware of its dangers. Dan Gardner of the Ottawa
Citizen calls the measure "fresh polish on the police officer's boot." Here
are the key provisions as recounted by Cowan:

Possession of 15 grams or less of marijuana, punishable by a fine of $150
for an adult, $100 for a youth. (The Canadian dollar is around US72 cents.)

Possession of one gram or less of cannabis resin, punishable by a fine of
$300 for an adult and $200 for a youth. (This measure reflects the
demonization of hashish, but it also strikes harder at Quebec, which is
historically a hash market.)

In cases of possession of 15 grams or less of marijuana or one gram or less
of cannabis resin where aggravating factors exist, the fines are $400 for
an adult and $250 for a youth. ('Aggravating factors' include being near a
school or in a car.)

Possession of between 15 grams and 30 grams of marijuana. A police officer
would decide if the person should receive a ticket or issue a summons for a
summary conviction. (A summary conviction is the equivalent of a
misdemeanour.) The ticket fine would be $300 for an adult and $200 for a
youth. The summary conviction penalty would be up to six months
imprisonment and/or up to a $1,000 fine. (The police had wanted discretion
on everything, but they only get it for the second 15 grams.)

"However, a person who receives a ticket but does not pay it will not face
a criminal conviction. Nor will a person who chooses to challenge a ticket
in court, even if they are found guilty. Fines assessed in court will not
be higher than those set out on the ticket.... Fines not paid will be
collected according to the same provincial rules governing parking or
speeding tickets. Consequently, the fines may largely go unpaid. In
Vancouver, the police are not going to waste time on uncollectible tickets,
especially when the revenue goes to Ottawa.

"The increased penalties for growing are also of uncertain consequences.

An individual found growing one to three plants would face a summary
conviction offence with a fine up to $5,000 and/or 12 months in jail. (A
summary conviction is a misdemeanor.)

Four to 25 plants would constitute an offence punishable by up to $25,000
and/or18 months in jail on summary conviction or, if pursued by indictment,
five years less a day imprisonment. (An indictable offense is a felony.
Although one of the rationalizations for the "decriminalization" of 15
grams was to eliminate wide inconsistencies in punishments across the
country, it is all too easy to see how someone with five or ten plants in
conservative areas would get felony convictions, while in BC people would
get a small fine.)

Growing 26 to 50 plants would result in a sentence of up to 10 years; and
the penalty for growing more than 50 plants would be up to 14 years, double
the current maximum term of imprisonment.

"The bad news is that offenses that are subject to 14 years or more are not
eligible for absolute or conditional discharges, which means that the
victims would be stuck with a permanent criminal record as felons, even if
they complete their probation.

"The good news - at least in BC - is that the Court of Appeals just
overturned a short jail sentence for a first time offender with 1,500
plants, because the province does not want to send non-violent first
offenders to prison! That is not going to change."

A Vote For Kucinich...

'Grats to Carla Marinucci and John Wildermuth of the Chronicle for
eliciting from Dennis Kucinich a promise that, as president, he'll issue an
executive order legalizing marijuana for medical use. It could be the
start of a significant story. If the other Democratic Party presidential
hopefuls don't come out unambiguously for medical marijuana, Congressman K
has a good shot at winning the California primary next March.

C-Notes says he's a lock if he adopts the slogan "A Vote for Kucinich is a
Vote for the Little Man." It's not sexist, it's retro - "the little man"
used to be a euphemism for the working class, and that's who Kucinich says
he's for. Also, an electorate trained since earliest cartoon-hood to expect
the commander-in-chief to be tall needs help shaking off its own subliminal
prejudices. Our slogan does it as gracefully as possible. Kucinich
should purchase the rights to use the image of Charlie Chaplin in his
campaign ads Either IBM owns the image or it has reverted to Chaplin's
estate. It'll cost, but it'll be worth it.

The Washington Post erroneously credited the Kucinich scooplet to the
Associated Press. Also last week the AP erroneously reported that Ed
Rosenthal is facing 60 years in prison (it's 60 months). The erroneous
60-years was cited as fact in a New York Times editorial urging leniency
for Ed. The Ed ed was reprinted -uncorrected-in the International Herald
Tribune... Now that Herb Caen's gone, who's fighting the war on Errorism?

By the time you read this, Ed will have been sentenced by U.S. District
Judge Charles Breyer. Ed says he is not bringing his toothbrush to court on
Wednesday.

A possibly accurate AP story out of Washington May 16 reports that Breyer's
brother Stephen, the Supreme Court Justice, "told a group of [high school]
students that school drug testing is a reasonable way to stop children from
experimenting with narcotics. Breyer explained his deciding vote in a case
last June that gave school leaders nationwide a free hand to randomly test
students who participate in competitive after-school activities or teams..."

Evidently Justice Breyer had not read the new University of Michigan study,
published in the Journal of School Health, showing that drug use remains
the same in grades 8, 10 and 12 whether or not schools test their students
for drugs. The UM study was based on data collected from 722 schools.

Ballad of the Lab Mouse

They fed the mouse some cannabis

And put her on a ring

She ran around,

then she fell down

And started to sing

I'll do anything for science

Sign me up for any new trial

You can alter my mood

Or the genes in my food

Just let me be the one who sets the style

Let me be the one who gets to

nibble that cannibigiberol

feed me bland CBD

Or spicey THC

Just don't make me be the control

I'll do anything for science

Give me an injection or a slug

Be it natural or synthetic

Stimulant or anesthetic

This little mammal needs a new drug