Pubdate: Wed, 17 Jun 2015
Source: Seattle Weekly (WA)
Column: Higher Ground
Copyright: 2015 Village Voice Media
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Website: http://www.seattleweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/410
Author: Michael A. Stusser

CALL ME CANNABIS

Comparing Pot Use to Something Else That's None of the Government's Business.

Before I launch into this analogy, I would like to say that I 
understand how many will find it inappropriate, and that I came up 
with the notion while stoned out of my mind.

I'm starting to think about cannabis as having a similar journey and 
backstory to Olympic gold medalist and transgender reality star 
Caitlyn Jenner. Until recently, like Jenner, trailblazers on the weed 
front have organized in secret closets and basements, hoping one day 
to live safely, truthfully, and freely in the great wide open. And, 
like Jenner, marijuana-aka Mary Jane-has been an accomplished, 
harmless, and friendly sexpot all along . . . but has recently 
undergone a full makeover and is beginning to dress things up with PR 
campaigns, professional packaging, couture oils, and all-important accessories.

Let's start with the name. Bruce took the name Caitlyn (notice her 
refusal to use the letter K-as in Kris, Khloe, Kourtney, Kendall, and 
Kimye) to reflect her change (and independence). Marijuana, on the 
other hand, has reverted back to cannabis, after being identified 
first as marihuana, then bad-mouthed with slurs such as loco weed, 
grass, pot, killer bud, the Devil's weed, dope, schwagg, even shit 
(as in "THE shit"). Antidrug propaganda created "marihuana" in the 
1930s-a sad attempt to scare the public with a "new" and terrifying 
substance (used by jazz musicians!), even though the plant had been 
sold in pharmacies for over a half-century in America. Marihuana 
sounded "foreign" (read: Hispanic), and Reefer Madness was used to 
incite fear, round up immigrants (especially during the Great 
Depression), and scare the masses to outlaw it. (By 1931, cannabis 
was illegal in 29 states, and in 1937 it was criminalized through the 
Marijuana Tax Act.)

The legal documents for the new Ms. Jenner's identity will be 
challenging. It can take months for name- and gender-change 
applications to be approved (what I wouldn't give to be in the DMV 
line that day), and these ID docs-often requiring background 
checks-affect everything from bank accounts to Social Security cards, 
to say nothing of her Twitter handle.

Similarly, those in the cannabis community have had challenges of 
their own: States requiring medical-marijuana patients to sign a 
registry (including Washington) are forcing them to admit to a felony 
at the federal level, clearly in violation of HIPAA laws. For 
canna-businesses, both dispensaries and recreational stores have been 
unable to utilize banking and insurance services for fear of criminal 
investigations, while at the same time navigating massive tax 
payments to the IRS.

Sadly, anyone in the LGBT community is butting up against 
conservative moralists, gender assumptions, and entrenched cultural 
ideals on a daily basis.

The process of cannabis' conversion has been similarly dramatic and 
life-altering-going from the tyranny of the War on Drugs to only 
recently being accepted and fully legalized in four states.

It's as if the subject has lived two entirely separate lives.

As with one's sexuality, your use of cannabis doesn't affect anyone 
else. It's a private matter (that is, until I Am Cait airs on E! in 
August), and one your employer, and the government, should have no 
say or stake in. While it's been argued otherwise (as in Elinor 
Burkett's New York Times article "What Makes a Woman"), Jenner's 
transition doesn't undermine feminism or women's identities, it 
doesn't challenge masculinity, it is not immoral, and it doesn't hurt 
others. Correspondingly, ganja doesn't hurt others-that is, unless 
you're hot-boxing or too stoned to drive (or, in Jenner's case, 
haven't had experience driving in high heels and crash while avoiding 
paparazzi). Pot also doesn't undermine the other legal drugs you may 
be drinking, smoking, or popping.

Fighting gender stereotypes and stoner stereotypes, of course, are 
not the same. Being a pothead is a choice, while Jenner's identity is 
baked in, so to speak, a part of her biology (though surgery, plastic 
or otherwise, is not a requirement). But just as transitioning 
individuals must be taken seriously and their choices respected, 
those who partake of cannabis need their rights recognized. Sadly, 
many parents have their children taken from them for marijuana use 
(including medicinal), while others lose their jobs; veterans with 
PTSD cannot access it for relief; and over 650,000 citizens a year 
lose their freedom when arrested for marijuana-related offenses.

The opposition to Jenner has been fierce, phobic, and ridiculous. (A 
campaign is underway to take away Jenner's 1976 Olympic Gold medal in 
the men's decathlon.) When a man becomes a woman, it's a complex 
issue that may take some explanation, patience, and, above all, 
tolerance and compassion. The legalization movement is also locked in 
debate, full of nuances, ignorant tirades, continuing arrests, and 
Washington's own version of medal take-aways: Despite legalization's 
convincing statewide victory, hundreds of city councils are banning 
marijuana in their jurisdictions.

Times are changing.

Just as Jenner went from Wheaties cover boy to Vanity Fair cover 
girl, cannabis has gone from "The Marihuana Menace: Assassin of 
Youth" to this month's scientific centerfold in National Geographic. 
In the end, both Caitlyn and cannabis are elevating the 
dialogue-about personal truths, the right to choose your own path and 
be legally recognized and protected, and what it means to be free.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom