Pubdate: Wed, 11 Apr 2012
Source: Livingston County Daily Press & Argus (MI)
Copyright: 2012 Livingston Daily Press & Argus
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/Kk1qVKJf
Website: http://www.livingstondaily.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4265

POT LAWS OFFER UP HIGH DOSE OF ABSURDITY

If a 21-year-old is caught by police smoking marijuana, he could face 
a 90-day jail term. The sentence will be longer if that person is 
selling marijuana.

But if the same person is smoking a tobacco cigarette, he soon will 
face only disturbing pictures, such as a cadaver on a slab or an 
image of smoke coming from a tracheotomy hole. Barring a courtroom 
challenge, the federal government will this year require such photos 
to be prominently displayed on all cigarette packs sold in America.

Such is the insane way that our society deals with seemingly similar 
acts of cultivating a plant so that it can be burned and the smoke 
inhaled into one's lungs.

Marijuana is illegal for almost all purposes. In Michigan, aggressive 
law enforcement has in many places -- such as Livingston County -- 
eviscerated a state law that recognizes that marijuana has some 
medical benefits.

No one claims tobacco has positive medical purposes. Yet, it is 100 
percent legal for all adults, even though even secondhand smoke is 
thought to be so dangerous that most states ban its use in public buildings.

Sale of marijuana in Michigan, however, can land a person a prison 
term of two years to 15 years, depending on how much of the product 
is in one's possession. There is no similar law restricting how many 
cancer-producing cigarettes one can possess.

On the surface, such conflicting standards are insane. But it's 
understandable that many adults are wary about legalizing the drug, 
particularly if they don't -- or no longer --use it.

Are times changing? Perhaps. There were politics in addition to the 
normal aromas in the air during the annual Hash Bash in Ann Arbor 
last weekend as speakers urged those in attendance to support a 
petition drive to let voters decide if marijuana should be legal.

While one can wonder if those who like to get stoned are really 
likely to gather 322,609 signature by July, it is clear that the 
marijuana-legalization push is broadening.

This year, none other than conservative TV evangelist Pat Robertson 
said that marijuana should be legalized because it is apparent that 
the war on drugs has failed.

Robertson is only the latest to say what others have long preached: 
Criminalizing marijuana is a wasteful use of police resources that 
leads to a massively expensive prison system. And it doesn't work. 
Despite decades of harsh laws, the use rate is unchanged.

But will that translate into legalization? It seems an uphill battle. 
Even though Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved the use of 
marijuana for medical purposes, law enforcement officials across the 
state vigorously pursue those who use the new law as a defense for 
growing or distributing marijuana.

Although some, such as Attorney General Bill Schuette, were staunchly 
against the law from the start, others merely say they don't want 
people to use the law as shield for their recreational use.

Thus, while voters favored the medical use of marijuana to ease the 
pain of cancer sufferers, it is not clear that they will support a 
movement to make marijuana as legal and accessible as alcohol.

If so, we will continue to have a bizarre world where it's OK to toss 
down a couple of drinks at a bar, purchase a six-pack of beer at the 
corner party store and then light up a cigarette when you get home.

Everything is legal as long as the cigarette is filled with tobacco, 
which may kill you, and not marijuana, which may only give you a 
temporary high.

It's madness.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom