Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jun 2005
Source: Reason Online (US Web)
Copyright: 2005 The Reason Foundation
Contact:  http://www.reason.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2688
Author: Matt Welch
Cited: Gonzales v. Raich ( www.angeljustice.org/ )
Cited: Office of National Drug Control Policy (
www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)

LYING: THE GOVERNMENT'S DRUG

How Raich helps us delude ourselves

In my thankfully limited experience with observing addiction it has always
seemed to me that the true "gateway drug" is not marijuana, or even
California Coolers, but lying. First comes the nervous exaggeration, then
the covering-up of various misdemeanors... and by the time those lies start
sounding true, the main barrier to destructive behavior is access to the
poison itself.

Well, the Supreme Court just gave the Drug War addicts in Congress and the
White House the constitutional equivalent of a lifetime supply. No longer
will the Commerce Clause present even a tiny weak spot on the dragon of
national drug policy. As Drug Czar John Walters all but giggled Monday,
"Today's decision marks the end of medical marijuana as a political issue."

Those who fret about morality in America, take note: Raich v. Gonzales
codifies our status as a Nation of Liars.

Most of us--including vice presidents, Supreme Court nominees, governors,
Beltway journalists--will sample illegal drugs during our lifetimes with
zero negative long-term effects, and then vote every November for political
parties who spend billions in tax dollars on nonsensical, ineffective ad
campaigns like "Just because you survived drugs doesn't mean your kids
will."

Our cops will lie about their pot-smoking past to get onto the force. Our
diplomats, as I have observed personally, will lie about their pot-smoking
past to get onto the Foreign Service, and in some cases enjoy the occasional
recreational joint throughout the course of a distinguished and honorable
career. Freelance journalists and other between-jobs white-collar workers
will sooner leave the room than allow any second-hand pot smoke to seep into
their systems, for fear of pre-employment drug tests at jobs that require no
physical precision.

At the tip of the Lie Pyramid is Drug Czar Walters, which is hardly
surprising, considering the Drug War's core fallacy. Despite using the
fearful language and powerful tools of national emergency, governments on
all levels are spending around $40 billion a year on a massive enforcement
project in which 40 percent of all arrests are for possessing a drug that
isn't remotely dangerous.

As any addict can tell you, a big lie needs to be supported by a network of
smaller fibs, and so the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has
willfully lied about stronger pot leading to more addiction, about the
notion that marijuana "probably won't kill you" (ain't no "probably" about
it); and, in what my colleague Ron Bailey described as a "horrific lie,"
about how recreational drug users directly finance terrorism. Walters has
used federal tax money to campaign against state medical-marijuana
initiatives, finished what Bill Clinton started with a doomed $1 billion
advertising effort to convince Americans that their own harmless drug
experiences were aberrational, and enthusiastically disguised a bunch of
that as unlabeled pop culture propaganda.

The problem with constant lies, on an individual level, is that they're
corrosive and addictive. Until you get caught, they can be an effective
shortcut to a cherished goal, at the price of putting off urgent problems
and creating new ones in their wake. When uttered collectively, with the
full force of the government behind them, they can and have become powerful
instruments to bash away at constitutional liberties that seemed untouchable
20 years ago.

Justice John Paul Stevens, in his majority opinion denying California
medical marijuana users protection from federal agents who should have
better things to do, pointed to "another avenue of relief"--Marijuana could
be reclassified in the regulatory scheme, and "perhaps even more important
than these legal avenues is the democratic process, in which the voices of
voters allied with these respondents may one day be heard in the halls of
Congress."

Taking Stevens seriously means confronting head-on the tissue of lies that
binds a policy that Americans themselves violate every day, with very few
side effects. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.)
are reportedly reviving their amendment, voted down 272-153 two years ago,
prohibiting federal law enforcement from spending one dime cracking down on
medical-marijuana consumption now legal in 10 states. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
has also recently introduced the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act.

There has been some commentary these past days from federalist-leaning
analysts along the lines of "well, it's not likely to have much practical
effect anyway, so no need to get too upset." While understandable, this
sentiment essentially makes peace with violence. Pooh-poohing Washington's
expansion of the War Against Marijuana is a strategy that has played out,
and failed. It's the lie we don't believe anymore.

Associate Editor Matt Welch is a columnist for Canada's National Post. His
work is archived at mattwelch.com, where he also blogs.
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MAP posted-by: Josh