Pubdate: Sat, 25 Jan 2014
Source: Norwich Bulletin (CT)
Copyright: 2014 GateHouse Media, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.norwichbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2206
Author: G. Scott Deshefy
Note: Scott Deshefy is a Green Party member and two-time congressional
candidate.

View from the Left: Marijuana

Marijuana was legal in Connecticut until the 1930s, its fall from
favor less attributable to health concerns than suppressing bootleg
and legal liquor sales.

Marijuana is no more a "gateway drug" than abused prescriptions,
alcohol, nicotine and a long lists of other chemical cravings,
including caffeine. Caveats for legalized marijuana should involve the
same restrictions imposed on alcohol, Oxycontin and Vicodin -- don't
operate machinery, perform brain surgery, or drive a car.

Aside from impaired judgment, statistics suggest occasional, smokeless
marijuana use is significantly healthier than chronic consumption of
animal fats, processed meats and derivative byproducts. Marijuana
alleviates glaucoma, mellows demeanors and boosts "munchies," Jimi
Hendrix and strobe light sales -- not diabetes, cancers, heart disease
and hypertension.

Law unfairly applied

I give kudos to President Obama for saying marijuana is less dangerous
than alcohol, but a bad habit he hopes his children avoid. The
President, who smoked pot as a kid, equated his vice to cigarette
smoking. As most people, he outgrew the former, but got hooked on the
latter.

While any compulsion has potential social problems, marijuana
enforcement is historically skewed against minorities and lower income
groups. Cliff Thornton, 2006 Green Party gubernatorial candidate and
globally-respected advocate for drug-policy reform, tutored me in 2010
that Black and Latino men comprised 6 percent of Connecticut's
population, but accounted for 68 percent of its inmates.

Less violent crimes

Prohibition didn't encourage self-preservation. Folks turned to
illicit, easily concealed hard liquors, including methanol-laced
bathtub gin. Prohibition's repeal, much like legalized drugs in
Europe, lowered violent crime rates -- one reason Law Enforcement
Against Prohibition (LEAP) and other police groups support legalizing
marijuana today.

Colorado's 25 percent tax on recreational pot -- funding elaborate
regulation, public schools and other programs -- produced bellwether
revenues its first few days of legal sales. Connecticut, already
collecting alcohol, gambling, and tobacco revenues, is salivating.

As Thornton advises, however, "Restorative Justice" programs must
replace underground economies in Hartford and other communities now
supported by illegal drug sales.

Marijuana's legalities in Colorado and Washington are valuable
experiments for national decriminalization, not panaceas to cope with
U.S. dysfunction. We must "tune-in" and effect progressive reforms in
America, not merely "tune-out."

Scott Deshefy is a Green Party member and two-time congressional
candidate.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D