Pubdate: Tue, 31 Jul 2007
Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
Copyright: 2007 Tallahassee Democrat.
Contact:  http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444
Note: Prints email address for LTEs sent by email
Author: Gerald Ensley, Democrat Senior Writer
Cited: NORML http://www.norml.org
Cited: MPP http://www.mpp.org
Cited: Florida NORML http://www.flnorml.org
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MARIJUANA LAWS HAVE TO CHANGE

The insanity continues.

Last week, law-enforcement officials busted two local 
marijuana-growing operations. They arrested two men growing more than 
80 plants in the Apalachicola National Forest and one man growing 
more than 730 in Gadsden County.

The cops were just doing their job, enforcing the law. But that's the 
problem: We continue to ban marijuana even as people continue to smoke it.

Surveys show that 28 million Americans smoked pot last year - and as 
many as 47 percent of all Americans have smoked it at some point.

Yet 800,000 people were arrested last year on marijuana offenses, 
almost 90 percent of them for simple possession.

The marijuana laws have to change.

"We've got to deal with the issue that we do not want to treat 
otherwise law-abiding citizens as criminals," said Keith Stroup. "We 
need to regulate, tax and control marijuana just as we've done with alcohol."

Stroup, 63, is the founder of the National Organization for the 
Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). He founded the Washington, D.C., 
organization in 1970, was its longtime executive director and now is 
its general counsel.

NORML has chapters in almost every state, including seven in Florida. 
It has been joined in its national lobbying efforts by the 
12-year-old Marijuana Policy Project. This fall, NORML and the 
project expect to get a bill introduced to decriminalize pot. Stroup 
said it will be the first one introduced in Congress since 1984.

It's a bill that needs to be passed. Marijuana prohibition hasn't 
worked. And it's blatantly unfair in a nation that allows adults 
legal access to alcohol and tobacco.

Studies repeatedly show marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol or 
tobacco. Only 10 percent of marijuana smokers develop a dependency on 
their drug of choice, compared with 15 percent of alcohol users and 
32 percent of cigarette users. No one dies of a marijuana overdose. 
But 50,000 people die of alcohol poisoning and 400,000 people die 
from the effects of cigarettes every year.

Just as damning is the cost of enforcing marijuana laws. Local law 
enforcement spent more than two months on last week's busts. A 
Harvard University economist has calculated the national cost of law 
enforcement and lost tax revenue on marijuana at $14 billion a year.

"Simply put, it is a misallocation of resources," said Tallahassee 
attorney Allen Turnage, legal director of Florida NORML. "We are 
taking a genuinely harmless activity and throwing thousands of police 
hours at it. In the meantime, robbers and burglars are less likely to 
get caught because the cops are distracted by this high headline activity."

The public agrees marijuana prohibition is misdirected. Recent polls 
show 80 percent of people support medical marijuana use and 76 
percent support the decriminalization of recreational use.

"When we started, no more than 25 percent of Americans supported the 
belief that we ought to stop arresting people (for pot)," Stroup 
said. "Now three out of four Americans believe a pot smoker should 
not be treated like a criminal. That's a heck of a step forward."

The problem has been translating that public support into public 
policy. Twelve states have decriminalized possession of pot. Eleven 
of them levy a $100 fine; Alaska charges no fine at all. Yet 38 
states - including Florida - and the federal government still make 
possession of marijuana a criminal offense.

The ultimate goal, Stroup said, remains legalization, including the 
right to grow marijuana just as Americans are allowed to brew their 
own beer. But persuading Congress to decriminalize possession is a good start.

"Politicians tend to run scared; they're afraid to appear soft on 
drugs, which they think will get them defeated," Stroup said. "Yet 
what the polls show is if they speak out, the public is going to be 
behind them."

In some ways, Stroup said, medical marijuana has been a distraction. 
Twelve states allow marijuana to be prescribed by a doctor to treat 
the pain of several diseases and conditions (though the federal 
government has tried to thwart those efforts by continuing to 
prosecute providers and users of medical marijuana).

But medical marijuana users account for only 1 million of the current 
28 million marijuana smokers. Stroup said pro-marijuana forces have 
to shift the debate off medical marijuana.

"Until the mid-1990s, we didn't win a single political fight. Then 
the medical marijuana issue surfaced and gave us something positive 
to rally around," Stroup said. "But now, let's get back to the big 
picture: those 800,000 arrests every year."

It falls on those of us who oppose the marijuana prohibition to take 
an active role.

Money is good. NORML and Marijuana Policy Project budgets depend on 
donations, often of the $10 and $20 variety. Writing letters to 
Congress is good (go online to NORML.org for more information).

But the most powerful tool is the ballot box. Stroup said voters have 
to demand that candidates support marijuana reform - and vote against 
those who don't.

"Those of us who smoke have to take the pledge to never vote again 
for anyone who treats us like criminals," Stroup said. "There won't 
be many (pro-reform) candidates in the first cycle of elections. But 
in a couple of cycles, that 47 percent and 28 million will be one 
powerful voting bloc."

Of course, that was the optimism that Stroup had when he founded 
NORML in 1970 - and thought it would take only 10 or 12 years to 
effect national legalization. Yet he and others remain optimistic.

"We're seeing changes all the time; medical marijuana is an example 
of that," said Dan Bernath, the Marijuana Policy Project's assistant 
director of communications. "People are starting to see the nonsense 
we have been told about these laws is not true. The more education we 
get, the more we have truthful conversations and the better our 
chances become." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake