The Mainstreaming of Marijuana

[babylonsister]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/humannature/archive/2009/04/27/the-mainstreaming-of-marijuana.aspx

The Mainstreaming of Marijuana
By William Saletan


Six signs that pot is being legalized de facto, courtesy of articles published this month by the Washington Post and New York Times:

1) 13 states have legalized medical marijuana. ...

2) arijuana is now available as a medical treatment in California to almost anyone who tells a willing physician he would feel better if he smoked. Pot is now retailed over the counter in hundreds of storefronts across Los Angeles. ...

3) U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced that the Drug Enforcement Administration will no longer raid such stores.

4) {G}overnment surveys show that 100 million Americans have smoked pot or its resin, hashish, in their lifetimes, and 25 million have done so in the past year.

5) {A}dmission of marijuana use by the Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps was largely forgiven with a shrug.

6) {W}ith the recession prompting bulging budget deficits, some legislators in California and Massachusetts have gone further, suggesting that the drug could be legalized and taxed ...

{I}n California, pot is such a booming growth industry that lawmakers are being asked to consider its potential as a salve to the state's financial woes. Betty Yee, chairman of the California State Board of Equalization, endorsed a bill in February to regulate the estimated $14 billion marijuana market, citing the state's budget problems. California currently collects $18 million in sales taxes from marijuana dispensaries, and Yee said a regulated pot trade would bring in $1.3 billion.

Together, these developments convey the steady demise of the pot taboo. We don't really think marijuana use deserves prosecution. We're looking for ways to rationalize its legalization. One rationale is medical, and we don't seem to care much that this is largely a fraud. Another is financial: We know pot smoking is ubiquitous, so we might as well get some public revenue from it.

My guess is that criminal laws against marijuana use have become culturally untenable. At this point, if you want to maintain criminal laws against more dangerous drugs, you're better off conceding the legality of marijuana, lest the public lose respect for drug laws in general.

[NightWatcher]

1. "mainstreaming" is kinda strong. As long as cops harass smokers

and Eric Holder is AG, I dont see it happening.

I will not be satisfied with a little freedom or leniency for medical marijuana users. I want the decriminalization or legalization for recreational ADULT users

[hedgehog]

2. I'm afraid thsi will mean that wealthy whites will be allowed to smoke

but anyone else is liable to end up in prison.

[babylonsister]

5. Huh? Why would you even think that? Who'd ever condone or support

that? I think you're very wrong.

[hedgehog]

6. I'm thinking that upper and middle class whites rarely are arrested for the same

activities that send lower class whites and others to prison. Having the legality of an activity subject to the judgment of the arresting officers and/or the local prosecutor is an invitation to injustice.

[babylonsister]

9. Then maybe this is the best reason to legalize weed.

If there's a law on the books, the arresting officers shouldn't be able to discriminate.

[hedgehog]

10. Oh, absolutely! Maybe I read the OP too fast, but I thought it was about

places where state law legalizes "medical" marijuana (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) but federal law still makes all marijuana illegal.

[Beam Me Up]

11. Don't disagree -- but isn't that true across the board.

Who gets away with "white collar" and most other crimes?

What Oakland, where I live ("Oaksterdam" to some) has done through the http://www.smartvoter.org/2004/11/02/ca/alm/meas/Z/">Measre Z Referendum is make marijuana investigation and arrest law enforcement's lowest priority:

Shall the ordinance requiring the City of Oakland (1) to make law enforcement related to private adult cannabis (marijuana) use, distribution, sale, cultivation and possession, the City's lowest law enforcement priority; (2) to lobby to legalize, tax and regulate cannabis for adult private use, distribution, sale, cultivation and possession; (3) to license, tax and regulate cannabis sales if California law is amended to allow such actions; and (4) to create a committee to oversee the ordinance's implementation, be adopted?

OVER 65% of voters said YES on Z. This could serve as a model for other cities. It isn't "legalization" which can't occur until MJ is removed from the Schedule 1 position in Federal statutes but it is close.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. that is already the situation

drug arrests and more importantly punishments are already, and have been ever since the stupid war on some drugs used by people we don't like are racially and class biased against poor people and people of color

[bertman]

3. "and 25 million have done so in the last year." Does anyone really believe that everyone

who smoked pot in the last year is going to admit it--even to a pollster? No way. I'm thinking that number is way low.

As long as the "authorities" can put someone in jail for possessing an ounce there is no "mainstreaming".

But, I do agree that the atmosphere seems to be more tolerant, which is hopefully a sign of change in the offing.


B-)

[reggie the dog]

15. No that is 25 million who smoked today.

Today I sampled some great homegrown a buddy gave me back in October and I saved a bit of it. Tonight I smoked some top quality Moroccan blonde.....

[suede1]

4. Good that it's going in the right direction. Took a long time.

[Beam Me Up]

8. Lost respect for the drug laws a L O N G time ago. 1966, to be exact. n/t

[DCKit]

17. It's something I've never seen in writing before...

and I can't imagine it could have been said any better.

We still need to fight. Of the 2/3 that never partoked, there's a large percentage that believe the "WOD" hype and those stupid commercials. Without more support, only the legal system and the prison industrial complex are winners.

[Fly by night]

12. "One rationale is medical, and ... this is largely a fraud." Bullshit.

I am tired of commentators viewing medical cannabis completely through the California lens. There are 13 states with legal medical cannabis programs (soon to be 17 or more) and only one of them (California) caters to anyone who asks for med pot.

In most of the other states, medical cannabis remains primarily limited to a relatively small group of seriously ill patients who derive significant benefit from it. So don't refer to medical cannabis as a "fraud". Look beyond California and see that access to this 7,000+ year old medicine is having a meaningful impact on people living with AIDS, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury; people trying to overcome hepatitis C; and people dying from cancer and all of the above.

Medical cannabis is not a fraud. Myopically California-focused commentators are, as well as being insensitive and ignorant to boot.

[hedgehog]

13. I am glad that marijuana can be used to relieve pain. That is a blessing.

A lot of Californians are obtaining marijuana under the guise of medical treatment, hence my use of quotation marks. They aren't really the hypocrites here, it's the laws that ban marijuana use.

For the record, I don't use anything stronger than tea and chocolate. Too many alcoholics in the family, I guess. Still, I am sick of seeing lives ruined by the "justice" System.

[polichick]

14. "steady demise of the pot taboo" - hopefully, part of the demise of the culture wars.

[tabasco]

16. My friend has a felony conviction for growing plants in his closet.

Doesn't seem too mainstream to me.

[intheflow]

18. Thirteen states have decriminalized small amounts pot for personal use.

They aren't even all the same 13 states! Actually, NORML lists 14 states that have passed medical marijuana laws:

Alaska
California
Colorado
Hawaii
Maine
Maryland
Michigan
Montana
Nevada
New Mexico
Oregon
Rhode Island
Vermont
Washington

And the states that have decriminalized:

Alaska
California
Colorado
Maine
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Mississippi
Nebraska
Nevada
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon


So I agree, it is mainstreaming.

[nilram]

22. So that's 21 states that have given some level of permission

For the numerically inclined, that's 42% (not including districts and territories).

Wonder what percentage of the population those states comprise. Anyone feeling ambitious?

Alaska
California
Colorado
Hawaii
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon
Rhode Island
Vermont
Washington

[Fly by night]

23. Maryland doesn't have a medical marijuana program, though they ...

... do allow medical necessity as an affirmative defense in the event that a user is arrested. The other thirteen states have established medical marijuana programs (almost all housed in their departments of health) that oversee procedures for eligible patients to apply and be approved to grow and use mmj.

Unfortunately, patients still do not have immediate access to mmj after being approved except in Caifornia where some of the cannabis produced in the illicit market is sold through their dispensaries. Two states (New Mexico and Rhode Island) have attempted to license larger-scale mmj producers. Rhode Island's authorizing legislation is still in process (passed their Senate, now in their House). New Mexico's authorizing legislation passed two years ago, but their regulations (released 15 months later than the legislation required) lays out requirements that will so limit mmj production as to be useless for the great majority of eligible patients there.

I put lots of time into providing feedback to New Mexico officials, but it was time (mostly) wasted. That's a real shame because northern New Mexico is the best place to produce mmj, in my opinion.

[Oldenuff]

19. Mainstreaming is far better than

Mainlining in my opinion...:)


Still,it's far past time to legalize the right of adults to decide for themselves.

I know several Med patients who receive valuable benefit from MMJ.But for me,it's a rights issue more than anything else.

[seemslikeadream]

20. There is absolutely no reason hemp should be illegal

No reason on the face of the earth
IF YOU KNEW THE TRUTH WOULD YOU CARE? MARIJUANA aka HEMP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiBqU_Y1t6E





NORML National Marijuana Forum Part B - Dr. Robert Melamede - CU Boulder 2009


Filmed by Christopher Pezza of April 19, 2009. World-renowned Medical Cannabis Research expert Dr. Robert Melamede has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the City University of New York. Dr. Melamede is a retired Chairman of the Biology Department at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in 2005, where he continues to teach and research cannabinoids, cancer, and DNA repair. Dr. Melamede is recognized as a leading authority on the therapeutic uses of cannabis, and has authored or co-authored dozens of papers on a wide variety of scientific subjects. Dr. Melamede's current focus is on integrating far from equilibrium thermodynamic physics with the biology of life and health and the unique evolutionary role played by the endocannabinoid system in these processes. Dr. Melamede also serves on the Editorial Board of The Journal of the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine, the Scientific Advisory Board of Americans for Safe Access, Sensible Colorado, Scientific Advisor for Cannabis Therapeutics as well as a variety other of state dispensaries and marijuana patient advocacy groups. Dr. Melamede frequently serves as an expert witness in cannabis-related trials. Dr. Melamede's testimony was critical in the recent trial of growers for the Vancouver Island Compassion Society that resulted Canadian Court's ruling that their current medical marijuana laws were unconstitutional.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlndKmlmWSg

part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzNM96rPd90

part3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiLq0-UT9q4

part4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YUmxg5L-sI





NORML National Marijuana Forum Part C - Hemp - CU Boulder 2009


Filmed by Christopher Pezza on April 19, 2009. Until the end of World War II, hemp was a vital resource in the American industrial textile industry. Hemp refers to the non-psychotropic cannabis strains that can produce various products including oil, fabric, and food. This panel will present the history of the American hemp industry, its current legal status, and possible solutions to climate disruption and economic recession.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxOicaEcn2A

partC2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUoow06DShU

partC3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzEo92VZgDo

partC4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipfWme2yNvI



NORML National Marijuana Forum Part D - Prohibition - CU Boulder 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJThqi7JIgA

partD2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzxZVOZp42Q

partD3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP06AjN_vw8

partD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzxZVOZp42Q

[Initech]

21. After two weeks in the Netherlands I will say that everyone should take a trip there.

My mind was fairly opened by that trip. The war on drugs has definitely taken a backslide there. When I got back to the states I wondered why we even had the "war on drugs" in the first place.

I'm reminded of the words of the late great Bill Hicks - "George Bush says we are losing the war on drugs. You know what that means? That there's a war being fought and the people on drugs are winning it! Some smart, creative people on that side. They're winning a war and they're fucked up!".

Really pot should be legal. There's nothing that should stop it from at LEAST being decriminalized.

[Echo In Light]

24. And on that note, a K&R for both the thread, and the late dissident, Bill Hicks!

[Dogtown]

25. K&R n/t