Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jan 2014
Source: Daily Review (Towanda, PA)
Copyright: 2014 The Daily Review
Contact:  http://www.thedailyreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1015
Author: John M. Crisp, MCT News Service

POT LEGALIZATON PRODUCES CHALLENGE

Colorado took an extraordinary step last week when, on Jan. 1, it 
implemented a law that legalizes the sale of marijuana for 
recreational use. The state of Washington isn't far behind Colorado, 
and it's likely that if their experiments play out reasonably well, 
other states will legalize pot, as well.

In fact, the Washington Post reports that proponents for legalization 
have collected enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot this 
year in Alaska, and they have hopes for Oregon next year and six more 
states by 2016.

At least 18 pot shops were open for business in Denver on Jan. 1, 
selling up to an ounce of marijuana to Colorado residents over 21. 
Out-of-state customers are limited to a quarter of an ounce.

Dozens of additional stores are expected to open in coming months, 
and officials are anticipating that marijuana sales could add up to 
$200 million to Colorado's economy, as well as produce close to $70 
million in tax revenue.

The trend is probably inevitable, but I'll admit to misgivings. 
Consider the role and uses of "stupefaction" in our culture. The term 
is quaint, but I use it in connection with the Russian writer Count 
Leo Tolstoy, the author of very big books like "War and Peace" and 
"Anna Karenina." After a dissolute youth and a long, productive life 
Tolstoy adopted a radical version of Christianity and a rigid 
asceticism that resulted in 1890 in a short essay that asks a 
poignant question, "Why Do Men Stupefy Themselves?"

Tolstoy laments the excessive use of drugs in late 19-century Russia, 
substances like vodka, wine, beer, hashish, opium, morphine and even 
tobacco. Tolstoy's definition of a stupefacient was anything that 
dulled the mind enough to make it lose sight of its conscience.

It doesn't take much: Tolstoy implies that the fictional murderer of 
"Crime and Punishment," Raskolnikov, was pushed over the edge by as 
little as a glass of beer and a cigarette. In fact, he speculates 
that the work of philosopher Immanuel Kant wouldn't have been written 
in such a "bad style" if Kant hadn't smoked so many cigarettes.

It's interesting to consider what Tolstoy would have thought of our 
culture's insatiable attraction to stupefaction, which we achieve in 
all sorts of ways - alcohol and illegal drugs, of course, but also 
plenty of legal drugs, food, TV, consumerism and enormous amounts of 
electronic entertainment, diversion and distraction, more than enough 
to keep our consciences at bay, as well as the realities of the bad 
things that happen in the world.

In fact, Tolstoy might have thought that a few cigarettes and a glass 
of beer are preferable to the stupefaction of the modern pot-bellied, 
middle-age American man who watches three football games on Saturday, 
two on Sunday, one on Monday, one on Thursday, and maybe Friday, as well.

Tolstoy's answer is total abstinence, a bar that is probably too high 
in a land where stupefaction, in all its forms and degrees, has 
become a synonym for pleasure. Besides, stupefaction in moderation is 
fun - it feels good! - and few of us would want to return to the 
pleasure-denying Puritanism prominent at the beginnings of our country.

Unfortunately, humans - and, maybe, especially Americans - don't have 
much genius for moderation, and nearly all stupefacients - from 
cocaine to videogames - are somewhat addictive.

Certainly, Colorado and Washington deserve credit for doing away with 
some of the irony and hypocrisy in our attitude toward marijuana, 
which accepts and even admires its admitted use by celebrities (Bill 
Maher, Willie Nelson, Cheech and Chong) and presidents (Bill Clinton, 
Barack Obama), while running up the world's highest incarceration 
rate by the disproportionate prosecution of minorities.

But the challenge for citizens in both states will be avoiding 
self-indulgence and achieving a level of moderation that enhances, 
rather than diminishes, their lives. Unfortunately, we've never been 
very good at balancing abstinence against obsessive stupefaction. 
But, please, Colorado, do your best.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom