By "Radical" Russ Belville on July 17, 2009
Should marijuana be legalized? Yes.
What impact would it have on African-Americans? Well, first off, it might mean that not 1-in-3 black men would be under correctional supervision (prison, parole, probation) and there might be more young black men in college than prison.
Posted in ACTIVISM, LAW ENFORCEMENT, LEGISLATION, SOCIETY | Tagged African-Americans, Ethan Nadelmann, NAACP
I am the host of the NORML SHOW LIVE and The NORML Stash Blog. I'm married, live in Portland, Oregon, and I am a registered medical marijuana caregiver in this state. I've worked days as an IT geek and nights as a professional musician. Previously, I have been the host of my own political talk radio show on satellite radio. I've been the High Times "Freedom Fighter of the Month" for my work producing Oregon NORML's TV show, "A Cannabis Community Forum", and for helping to institute Portland's wildly successful medical marijuana cardholders meetings, where we help sick and disabled Oregonians acquire cannabis plant starts, learn gardening, and understand the medical marijuana law. I've dedicated my life to bringing an end to adult marijuana prohibition and re-legalizing cannabis hemp, and I'm honored to be chosen by NORML to be our daily voice.
It depends on the language, of course. Rep. Barney Frank’s bill would decriminalize personal possession of up to 3.5 ounces and the non-profit transfer of up to one ounce for all adults 21 and over. But that’s just at the federal level. States would still be free to be as punitive as they wished, so perhaps Oregonians would be free to carry some weed but Oklahomans would still do decades for a roach. This also doesn’t address cultivation; presumably the feds could still bust you for that. If 3.5 ounces of pot fell from the sky in your hands, you’d be OK, but if you’re harvesting 3.5 ounces off of a plant, the feds could still bust you. Practically, though, the feds don’t really care much about people growing <100 plants, because it’s not worth the cost in money and time for how little time they put you behind bars (the mandatory minimum goes up at 100 plants).
Now, if Sen. Webb gets traction on prison reform and kills those mandatory minimum laws, now we’re talking. With the possibility of prosecutors getting juries to decide technical guilt, only to have a sympathetic judge let the poor senior pot farmers go with probation and time served, it will be much harder for the feds to go after even larger grows. That combined with people in the West Coast, Northeast, and Great Lakes Region having greater access and not fearing small-time possession will lead to more acceptance and eventual legalization in a few states. The minute one state falls, the whole house of drug war cards falls, because the incredible industry and tax revenues and tourism it will create (few of these legalization estimates consider a hemp industry, for example) will be irresistible to their neighbors.
I also foresee some hidden societal changes few people talk about. A brain and talent drain. Smarter talented people choose cannabis, generally speaking. The internet and personal computers would not exist without acid-trippin’ potheads. Go check your music collection and delete the ones who ever smoked weed – and you’ll get the talent part. It only makes sense that when you try alcohol and try pot that you’d try to moderate the former in favor of the latter; your body at age 60 will thank you for it. So as states begin legalizing, the smart talented people start migrating.
But also, a drain of hard working blue collar people and talented athletes. If California legalizes, how do employers and state athletic boards justify continuing to test for its inactive metabolites in urine screens? It’s not evidence of impairment, enhancement, or (after legalization) doing anything illegal. There will be a backlash, of course, from the reefer-mad who predict a workplace apocalypse from the stoned worker and a fork lift or whatever, but activists (if they’re smart, which they are) will push toward electronic impairment testing that actually gets the impaired, not the smoked-a-joint-last-weekend worker who’s just fine.
Smoking in public, however, I don’t see becoming accepted, considering the militancy against tobacco smoking. I do think there will be some outdoor events that will “smoking allowed”, though.
Does that answer your questions? Feel free to ask more.
[...] NAACP did have debate on legalizing cannabis, as reported by Radical Russ Belville in Norml’s …. This debate, however, did not seem to recognize the drug war policies so devastating to the black [...]
Can someone explain if marijuana were to be legalized. How this would effect people without a medicinal license? Would it be worth still getting or not? What kind of effect will it have on harvesting and would smoking in public be accepted?
Who cares how it will effect just African-Americans! Do they care how it will effect
non-african-AMERICANS! This is just another example of how the african community is trying to seperate the American Community. I didnt watch the video because they will never help me in anyway or listen to what I have to say because I am not African-American…Im just an American!
(sorry to distract from the Bigger issue here)
The man who speaks at the end makes no sense. He appears to be arguing that if it is re-legalized kids will be forced to smoke and that parents will be forced to sit back and watch.
Nobody is advocating that the youth be allowed to consume. But if responsible adults “dictate” that it is acceptable for themselves in they’re home why should the courts tell them how to live.
If a smoker of the herb is commiting no crime other than the smoking of the herb…..
What’s the problem?