Pubdate: Sat, 04 May 2002
Source: Rapid City Journal (SD)
Copyright: 2002 The Rapid City Journal
Contact:  http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1029
Author: Bob Newland
Note: Bob Newland is Founder and president of SoDakNORML, an affiliate of 
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MARIJUANA PROHIBITION INSANE PUBLIC POLICY

Marijuana. Can you think of a more polarizing word? Say it to someone, with 
no further context. The listener will recoil in disgust or fear, or 
(s)he'll grin. Speak more definitively about the cannabis plant, and most 
listeners will reveal only the most rudimentary knowledge of the world's 
most polarizing herb.

Public school teachers are permitted only to speak of the evils of 
cannabis, forbidden to teach its 5,000-plus years of history of service to 
man. Politicians spout absurdity after slander when they speak of it at 
all. Misinformed people are moved to anger, threaten violence, or wax 
childish ("Oh, wow!") when the subject confronts them.

Within this melee of babble, a large and growing number of credible people 
are expressing doubt about the efficacy of marijuana prohibition. The 
politicians and their sycophants accuse us of advocating "giving drugs to 
babies." They say we're "supporting terrorism." They even make absurd 
statements like State Rep. Stan Adelstein made at a speech to the United 
Campus Ministries luncheon at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology on 
Nov. 22, 2001:

"I know the marijuana laws work, because only one of my three sons smoked 
marijuana. The other two didn't smoke it, because it's illegal. They told 
me so."

Adelstein refused to answer when asked if he thought his son who smoked 
marijuana should have gone to prison for it, as millions of others have.

Fact is, Adelstein's family is squarely in the mainstream. The National 
Institute on Drug Abuse's annual national household survey continually says 
that about one-third of adults in the U.S. have smoked marijuana. Yet, we 
continue:

- - Arresting people at the rate of one every 45 seconds for possession or 
sale of marijuana.

- - Confiscating folks' cars, houses, cash and children for mere suspicion of 
trafficking in marijuana. If they're convicted, we throw them in prison, also.

- - Paying snitches to create marijuana crimes so that law enforcement can 
confiscate even more property and children.

- - Allowing law enforcement agencies to keep most of the plunder they steal, 
thus perpetuating the vicious and counterproductive cycle.

- - Preventing legal access to marijuana for sick, disabled and dying people 
who currently benefit from it, albeit illegally.

Caught up in this insanity is industrial hemp, which has a potential 
worldwide market of $500 billion or more, but which is banned from 
production in the United States (but allowed in Canada and 30 other 
nations). Even more insanely and cruelly, the politicians maintain that 
there is no medical use for cannabis, in spite of disagreement from 
thousands of doctors and tens of thousands of patients.

How arrogant and stupid to make the statement that an herb has "no medical 
use." A fifth-grader wouldn't even make such a blanket statement about 
tomatoes or horseradish. Here is the simple truth. Cannabis was first taxed 
out of the market, then made illegal in the United States in order to 
benefit the stockholders in a large consortium of industries which now do 
not have to face competition from industrial hemp. For that purpose, the 
politicians are willing to imprison millions and cruelly deny medical 
relief to tens of thousands of sick people.

When one understands that industrial hemp can be used for any purpose 
served by trees, cotton or flax, and petroleum, and that hemp seed is the 
most nutritious single food item in the world, one begins to understand the 
scope of the industries served by keeping it illegal. One begins to grasp 
whose ox will be gored by re-establishment of industrial hemp at the 
forefront of American farm products.

These are some of the reasons I've staked my life, my possessions, and my 
honor on exposing the truth about cannabis, knowing that, like countless 
others, I could be stopped, "found" in possession of something illegal, and 
imprisoned at the whim of the politicians. It's just one more of the cruel 
truths of the so-called "war on drugs": that innocent people are sometimes 
silenced by police who frame them by "finding" drugs on them. Cops have 
unlimited access to drugs to use for such purposes. It's also sad that we 
must paint all policemen and women with the same brush, because the bad 
cops' and the good cops' uniforms look the same.

And it is for these reasons that SoDakNORML organized the Rapid City 
segment of the Million Marijuana March, an educational event being held in 
over 160 cities worldwide today. We're appealing to governments everywhere 
to stop all cannabis arrests, to stop lying about cannabis, to release 
cannabis as medicine to sick people, and to stop imprisoning people for 
simply trying to feel better.

There's more good information about cannabis on the Internet than just 
about any other subject. Simply inquire "hemp," "cannabis," or "marijuana" 
on any search engine. For a tragic laugh, see what the major disseminators 
of misinformation, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and 
the Parents for a Drug-Free America (whose largest funder is 
Anheuser-Busch) have to say on the subject.

It's time for all good people to help end this horrible cycle. Civilian and 
soldier, cop and just-folks alike, we must hold our local politicians and 
our federal delegations accountable for the carnage and economic damage 
created by marijuana prohibition.
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MAP posted-by: Ariel