Pubdate: Wed, 06 Nov 2013
Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Column: Higher Ground
Copyright: 2013 C.E.G.W./Times-Shamrock
Contact:  http://www.metrotimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1381
Author: Larry Gabriel

LOOKING AT WORD CHOICE IN THE MARIJUANA DEBATE

A Bud by Any Other Name.

Language and the creative use of words have always fascinated me. 
That's why I find the use of language employed in the War on Drugs so amusing.

Among pro-marijuana activists, there are some who always refer to pot 
as "cannabis." Cannabis is its scientifically correct name and the 
name predominantly used for medical preparations before its 
prohibition. Another popular name was Indian hemp. Referring to the 
plant as marijuana was part of the public relations campaign to 
vilify it. Mexicans referred to it as marijuana and the 
prohibitionists chose to use that name in the effort to tie it 
negatively to ethnic minorities.

"The word marijuana wasn't widely known until it was introduced by 
the Federal Bureau of Narcotics," says Martin A. Lee, author of Smoke 
Signals, a social history of marijuana, and director of the CBD 
Project. "It was known as cannabis. It was a calculated choice to use 
the term marijuana for a xenophobic campaign typified by Reefer Madness."

And there is a certain calculus not to use the word, "marijuana," 
among some activists because it evokes an engrained negative 
emotional response. It's rebranding in the deepest sense of modern marketing.

Cannabis is more neutral. It's scientific and some people don't even 
know it refers to marijuana when they first hear it. Hemp is another 
word for a strain of marijuana that sounds friendly. Most folks have 
come across hemp rope or cloth in their lives. Hemp seed is bird 
food. Hemp oil is used in soaps.

Farmers who otherwise would have nothing to do with marijuana would 
love to grow hemp, the low-THC member of the marijuana family that 
doesn't get people high. As the pro-marijuana movement builds, wide 
arrays of words are used to describe what organizations are about. 
The name National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws is 
pretty straightforward. Its acronym, NORML, makes another statement. 
Pronounced "normal," it makes the point that marijuana users are not 
abnormal, but a normal functioning part of society.

The Marijuana Policy Project's name is pretty straightforward 
regarding what that organization does, but what about Law Enforcement 
Against Prohibition (LEAP)? That sounds interesting. Law enforcement 
is a good, solid concept. Almost every political campaign touts law 
and order; so that's a big social plus. But what's this "Against 
Prohibition" about?

Well, prohibition is a discredited concept in the United States. 
Alcohol prohibition lasted from 1919 until 1933. It gave rise to 
powerful organized crime syndicates. Conceptually tying together 
today's interdictions against marijuana and other drugs (LEAP 
espouses relieving strictures against all drugs) with the failure 
that was alcohol prohibition highlights the commonalities between the 
two crusades.

And then there's Americans for Safe Access (ASA). Here we have 
Americans and safety tied together. There are a lot of people who can 
get next to that idea, but access to what? It takes a bit before one 
learns that they're talking about access to medical marijuana.

But that's a concept that shows how marijuana is turning the corner 
in our thinking. The idea behind safe access is that "regular" people 
who want marijuana should be able to access it safely. They shouldn't 
have to make back-alley transactions with criminals to get their medicine.

And that's another change in viewpoint. Marijuana is not an illicit 
drug; it's medicine, which brings it full circle. It was medicine 
before it was made illegal in 1937, and now the 5,000-year history of 
its medical use is being embraced again.

Now, pro-marijuana groups have names such as Vermont's Protect 
Families First. Names like this have traditionally belonged to the 
conservative Christian arena (for example James Dobson's Focus on the 
Family), but the idea of protecting families from the effects of 
anti-drug policy. The Coalition for a Safer Detroit, which brought 
Proposal M to voters last year decriminalizing use of small amounts 
of marijuana, is another example.

Making Detroit safer? Hey, who doesn't want that? They use the same 
name for other decriminalization initiatives in the state: Coalition 
for a Safer Lansing put that question on yesterday's ballot and the 
Coalition for a Safer Michigan is taking on things statewide.

"It's interesting," says Tom Angell, founder and chairman of 
Marijuana Majority. "Some of those names could seem a little bit 
safer and more welcoming to people, but it seems a little evasive. 
When people find out what it really is they might be annoyed." Angell 
didn't pull any punches in naming his organization. "Marijuana 
Majority is very clear that were talking about a majority of voters 
support changing marijuana laws," says Angell. "Another reason I 
chose it is that it's evocative of the Moral Majority."

The Moral Majority was a conservative fundamentalist Christian 
organization during the 1980s that was instrumental in creating 
today's Christian right movement. We're moral and we're the majority 
it claimed, truthfully or not.

In the marijuana debate, the message in the name can be a key to its 
attraction. One of the most sophisticated anti-marijuana legalization 
organizations out there is Patrick Kennedy's "Smart Approaches to 
Marijuana" (SAM).

The name indicates there are better ways to deal with it than the 
current system. SAM advocates a public health approach to the plant, 
but is strictly against any type of legalization. Its biggest 
contention is that we've got to keep it away from the kids.

Actually that's big on both sides of this issue. Everybody wants to 
save the children. The anti-marijuana people want to save the 
children from the scourge of marijuana; the pro-marijuana people want 
to save the children from the effects of the drug war by regulating 
it only for adults.

Even the growing evidence is split. There is emerging information 
that heavy marijuana use by teenagers can negatively affect their IQs 
later in life. There is also growing evidence that CBD-rich marijuana 
is an effective medication for children who suffer from seizures.

"So much has been made of marijuana's danger to children," says Lee. 
"I think it's amazing the results they're seeing with CBD and 
epileptic kids. It has a miraculous effect for children who are very 
sick, and a great irony that it's turned out that way." What amazes 
me the most is that people are talking about marijuana! It was once a 
hush-hush subject, and now it's being discussed in communities across 
the country and at the highest levels of government. And a lot of 
that discussion is introducing real evidence rather than hysterical opinions.

"Marijuana is a loaded term," says Lee. "It remains a loaded term in 
the culture, even as it is more widely accepted. ... I don't think we 
should run away from the fact that marijuana is a good plant that has 
many benefits. There's nothing to be ashamed of in the word marijuana."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom