Pubdate: Wed, 30 Sep 2015
Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Column: Higher Ground
Copyright: 2015 C.E.G.W./Times-Shamrock
Contact:  http://www.metrotimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1381
Author: Larry Gabriel

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor recently brought up marijuana 
while speaking to students at Amherst College in Maryland. As she 
talked about the need to be passionate, she said, "Pick something in 
your life that you don't like and that you work to change."

She acknowledged that some young people were passionate about 
legalizing marijuana. But then she shrugged her shoulders 
dismissively as though marijuana legalization was small potatoes - 
more or less bullshit.

I got a similar reaction a few years ago in conversation with a 
lawyer who has spent his career fighting for civil liberties. When 
the subject of marijuana came up, he kind of grinned and said, 
"That's not my issue." The way he said it seemed to imply that he 
wouldn't give such a lame concern the time of day.

I understand where they're coming from. When legalization efforts 
really started taking off I generally supported them, but sort of 
relegated the right to get high to the backburner of social concerns. 
Over time, as I've learned more about how drug prohibition is woven 
around so many bad social outcomes, I've come to see it as a key 
element of putting things right in this country.

To begin with, marijuana prohibition started out based on a bunch of 
lies. It was ramped up to the War on Drugs by President Richard Nixon 
in direct contradiction of his own Shafer Commission, which had 
concluded: "Neither the marijuana user nor the drug itself can be 
said to constitute a danger to public safety." Nixon started the War 
on Drugs mainly because most of the people who liked marijuana didn't like him.

In addition the policy has led to a situation where police can smash 
into your home, arrest you, take your money and property, take your 
children and more, all on the flimsiest evidence possible. Even when 
people are found to be innocent, police don't have to return their property.

Prohibition has been particularly hard on communities of color 
because the law is pursued more vigorously against blacks and Latinos 
than in white communities. The results of felony convictions - such 
as families torn apart, the inability to become employed, and losing 
eligible for government education or housing funds - have plagued 
communities of color much more than white communities.

Regarding the question of whether marijuana is medicine, I point out 
that at the congressional hearing for the Marihuana Tax Act (which 
made it illegal) in 1937, the sole person to argue in favor of 
marijuana was the legislative counsel for the American Medical 
Association. Exhibit 2 in this argument is that in 2003 the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services took out a patent - No. 
6630507 - titled "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants." 
Cannabinoids are the active compounds in marijuana.

And then there are the economic effects, from jobs and taxes to the 
tens of thousands of goods made from industrial hemp.

Any one of these points has merit, but when you put it all together, 
reversing marijuana prohibition stands for so many good things it 
stands as a significant social movement. It stands for honesty in 
government, policy driven by evidence and science, it stops a major 
contributor to problems in communities of color, it's an effective 
medicine with few negative side effects, it gives police time to 
chase real criminals, and it can give our economy a boost.

So Justice Sotomayor may give it the shrug, but fixing America's 
marijuana problem is a step toward fixing other problems. In fact, it 
has reverberations around the world. The U.S. anti-drug policy was 
sold around the world and tied to foreign aid dollars. Changing our 
own policy will have an international effect. And that's nothing to shrug at.

Change in Michigan

There's plenty popping right here in Michigan for folks who are 
passionate about marijuana. Some months back, there was talk about 
three different petition initiatives for recreational legalization in 
this state. Now, as rumor has it, there is only one. That one is the 
initiative known as MI Legalize. Chances are that if you've been 
approached to sign a petition it's probably from that organization. 
According to rumor, the Michigan Cannabis Coalition (MCC) has sent 
their paid-for signature collectors home. The MCC's website is still 
up and I called the contact number, but the voice mail is full. The 
MCC has never returned a call to me. The third group, the Michigan 
Responsibility Council, hasn't ever put a petition on the street. So 
at the moment it looks like any significant petition action will come 
from MI Legalize.

In the state legislature, the House Judiciary Committee has passed a 
package of bills that would legalize and regulate medical 
dispensaries, set an 8 percent tax on retail sales, allow medibles 
and other non-smokable forms, and set a seed-to-sale tracking system 
on it. After seven years the legislature is finally addressing the 
practicalities of a medical-marijuana system, but the approach seems 
to be built around fear and squeezing a lot of money out of it. The 
laws create a five-tier licensing system with various fees that could 
easily keep the cost of medication high, and it sets up the hiring of 
113 state regulatory personnel, 34 state police, and four state 
attorney general staff to keep an eye on the medical marijuana business.

Democratic Ann Arbor Rep. Jeff Irwin said, "When we add all these 
layers of regulations, we are increasing the cost in the legal 
market, thereby giving a huge advantage to the illegal market. If we 
grab too tightly, this may squeeze through our fingers, and we end up 
with less control rather than more control."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom