Pubdate: Sun, 12 Jan 2014
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2014 The Buffalo News
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/GXIzebQL
Website: http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Author: John M. Crisp, McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Page: H2

POT LEGALIZATION PRODUCES A CHALLENGE OF MODERATION

Colorado took an extraordinary step 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 age 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 19th 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,
middleage 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 video games  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: Matt