“You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
April 16, 1963

Today our nation honors what would’ve been this week the eightieth birthday of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., on the eve of the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of these United States.  I was sixty-four days old when an assassin’s bullet cut down Dr. King in the prime of his life.  Today I am six-hundred forty days older than Dr. King when he was killed.  Tomorrow I will see something few people my age and older thought we’d ever see, yet something Dr. King had dreamed from the start.

There remains a grave injustice to be battled, the most unjust of laws to be disobeyed, a law that by its definition is not rooted in eternal law and natural law: the man made code that declares nature itself to be illegal, the prohibition on cannabis.  Yet when I mention marijuana law reform in the context of the great civil rights struggles in America, so many are quick to dismiss me with snickers of derision.  ”You just want pot legal so you can get high!” is a common refrain.

Read the rest of this entry by clicking here

Related posts

• Phelps Apologizes for Marijuana Use (18)
• Is Phelps Getting Off Easy? (0)
• 14-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps’ marijuana bong photo (18)

Updated: Birmingham’s newest council member expresses remorse for 2003 marijuana charge – Breaking News from The Birmingham News – al.com
New Birmingham City Council member Johnathan F. Austin during a press conference today says he has no plans to resign despite revelations Tuesday that he had pleaded guilty in 2003 to a misdemeanor marijuana charge.

Council members learned Tuesday of Austin’s history, but Council President Carole Smitherman said she doubted the charge rose to the level of moral turpitude, a standard for barring officials from office. She said the council would investigate the conviction and meet soon with its lawyer.

Austin, 29, was selected by the council to represent District 5, filling a seat formerly held by William Bell, who joined the Jefferson County Commission last month. The council did not do criminal background checks on the applicants for the seat, she said.

Court records show Austin was arrested Jan. 25, 2003, after a traffic stop in Tuscaloosa for speeding. Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s deputies found a pipe, about a half ounce of marijuana and a set of scales. Austin was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He pleaded guilty to second-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was placed on two years’ probation and received a 90-day suspended sentence after he agreed to attend court-ordered drug and alcohol treatment classes.
Austin said he no longer uses marijuana.

Austin will serve until the term expires in October. He said he then plans to run for a full term on the council.

As I read the comments on the Birmingham News website, there was a lot of discussion about the scales in Austin’s possession.  Some people said it was so obvious Austin was dealing because he had scales.  Often prosecutors will hold that possession of the scales proves intent to distribute.  Austin probably pleaded guilty as part of a deal to avoid a more serious distribution charge.

Many readers commented in reply that plenty of cannabis consumers keep scales to make sure the black market dealer they are purchasing from isn’t trying to short them.  I’d want to know what kind of scales we’re talking about – if they are those little pocket counterweight clip-to-the-baggie jobs for eyeballing an eighth, they’re certainly not intended for career pot dealing.  If they are those accurate-to-a-microgram triple-beam balances, then maybe you have a better argument.

Regardless, it was 2003, he went through the judicial system, successfully completed probation and state-sanctioned brainwashing drug and alcohol classes.  This story highlights that morality is the strongest reason for cannabis prohibition.  He never spent a day in jail and has been a model citizen since, and that’s still not enough for the anti-drug prudes.  That he used the demon weed is enough to suspect his nefarious intents on the Birmingham City Council over the next ten months!

It’s also a good reminder to tokers everywhere – think about whether you really want to own scales.  If you’re buying a $50 eighth and it’s shy half a gram, you’re out $2.55 ($50 / 3.54 g = $14.10/g vs. $50 / 3.00 g = $16.66/g).  If you were paying 5.1% sales tax on your $50 purchase, it would be $2.55 anyway.  That’s $2.55 instead of a tacked-on distribution charge if you’re ever caught with that scale.

Related posts

• Will you enlist in the war to end adult marijuana prohibition? (15)
• The Top Five States with Most Marijuana Use (7)
• States looking to increase alcohol revenue during budget crisis (1)