The Case For Pot – Seattle Magazine

A great article on the upcoming Seattle Hempfest, with some key quotes by top reformers:

The Case For Pot | Table of Contents | All modules | Seattle Magazine: The Premier Seattle Monthly
“People who dismiss us as a bunch of people smoking pot in the park are completely missing the point,” says [Vivian McPeak, executive director of Hempfest]. “This movement is about people losing their homes, their jobs and their kids, kids getting kicked out of school, people being incarcerated for an equal or greater amount of time than those committing violent crimes. It’s not funny.”

[Seattle’s former police chief Norm Stamper] recently recounted a story from his rookie year as a cop when he arrested a 19-year-old for marijuana possession, handcuffed him, put him in the back of his squad car and started driving toward the station. As he looked at his charge in the rear-view mirror, he realized he’d just arrested a young man who hadn’t been hurting anybody. “I could have been doing real police work,” Stamper says. “I could have been intervening in domestic violence. I could have been stopping people from hurting other people—that’s noble, honorable work.”

When asked why he’s chosen to focus on marijuana rather than other pressing social issues, [travel writer and TV celebrity Rick Steves]’ answer is simple: “Anybody can talk about homelessness and everyone claps, but people are afraid to talk about marijuana…. I can speak out and survive. I don’t need to be elected or promoted.”

The key to winning on this issue is to make it everyone’s issue, and part of doing that is talking openly about marijuana and proudly proclaiming there’s nothing wrong with using it responsibly.  That’s why you’ll hear me draw parallels with social alcohol drinkers – we need the average person who doesn’t smoke pot on our side, and for that we need them to empathize with the injustices we face.

I had a fellow activist criticize me for that rhetoric.  “You shouldn’t talk about treating marijuana like alcohol, because alcohol is a poison,” he told me, “You’re going to make people think marijuana is a killer like alcohol!”

“You’re right about that,” I replied, “as far as marijuana being far safer than alcohol.  No argument there.  But I have to convince people who think marijuana is far more dangerous than alcohol.  People just can’t flip in a day from ‘marijuana’s evil’ to ‘marijuana’s good’.  If I can get them down from ‘marijuana is worse than alcohol’ to ‘marijuana is a lot like alcohol’, then maybe they’ll treat it like alcohol and legalize it.  After a generation of alcohol and marijuana competing head-to-head, people will naturally move from ‘marijuana’s a lot like alcohol’ to ‘alcohol is worse than marijuana’ just by observing the evidence.

“People need a ‘hook’.  We’re trying to get them to imagine something that doesn’t exist.  If we can match it to an established pattern that does exist – a social intoxicant that is taxed, controlled, and regulated – it will be easier for them to imagine.