A TIP FOR VOTERS: GET THE
FACTS
Among the mysteries of modern life is the
knee-jerk, jump-up-and-shout
reaction a lot of people have to
marijuana.
I've seen with my own eyes an officer of the court, cigarette
in mouth and
martini in hand, ranting about how people who smoke dope should
be locked
up. When I mentioned his own habits, he sneered.
"I'm
talking about drugs," he said.
I mean, the guy has graduate
degrees.
For the record, I don't use marijuana. I have used it (inhaled,
too), but
not since the Nixon administration. No personal interest
here.
In November, Nevada voters will see a ballot initiative that
would
decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot. Early polls show it
will
fail, which is OK with me.
OK, too, though, if it passes, because
it would show people trying to
force-feed us manure that we're not pure
fools.
One is John Walters, head of the federal Office of Drug Control
Policy
(motto: "We are, too, accomplishing something"). In Las Vegas
recently,
Walters said that Nevada is a "pawn in a nationally funded
campaign" aimed
at legalizing marijuana.
The rhetoric! The rhetoric!
When you call someone a pawn, you imply that
he's being used, he's too dumb
to see it (could he be slightly backward?)
and it's your duty to protect
him.
Walters trotted out all the icons - "criminal organizations" that
are a
"dangerous threat" to our "democratic institutions" - and
called
decriminalization "a great con." If he gave evidence, it wasn't
reported.
On the same side is Washoe County District Attorney Dick
Gammick, who has
said marijuana advocates are "dishonest" and part of a
"national coalition
(supporting) the legalization of all illegal
drugs."
Oh, poo. I'm a lukewarm advocate, and the only national coalition
I belong
to is the Sierra Club.
Decriminalization's backers say we're
throwing $10 billion a year at weed,
yet it's still America's No. 3 drug of
choice, behind alcohol and tobacco.
About 30 percent of us have used
it.
In social terms, the cost of marijuana is invisible next to those
of
tobacco and alcohol. And the proposed law wouldn't legalize it,
only
decriminalize it. Personal use would not be a crime. Selling in
quantity
would, as would supplying to minors or driving while zonked. The law
is
similar to one proposed by Richard Nixon's Commission on Marijuana and
Drug
Abuse 30 years ago, and by several bodies since.
You can read
summaries, and get a look at the other side of this issue, at
www.norml.org, the Web site of the National
Organization for Reform of
Marijuana Laws. It's not unbiased, but it's no
more biased than the stuff
you're seeing
now.
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