Ron Strider
Well-Known Member
Ethan Nadelmann is retiring after 20 years of leading the successful movement to reform marijuana laws in dozens of states. He's worried about the future under Trump. For drug-policy reformers, it is the best of times, it is the worst of times. Marijuana legalization seems to have hit a tipping point, and even Republicans now regard opioid addiction as a health crisis rather than a criminal one. Yet here comes Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a drug warrior from a generation ago, determined to turn back the clock.
There's no more influential drug-policy reformer than Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, who is stepping down after leading the organization for more than 20 years. With his last day on Friday, Nadelmann sat down with The Daily Beast to reflect on his field's remarkable past and uncertain future.
When I first met Nadelmann in the late 1990s, I thought he was nuts. The only people talking about legalizing marijuana were potheads like Cheech and Chong. But here was Nadelmann, a nerdy, wonky, Nate Silver type dissecting the "war on drugs" with cold, hard facts. I was totally convinced by his arguments, but equally convinced that they wouldn't get anywhere.
I was wrong. Twenty years later, 60 percent of the country supports legalizing marijuana outright, up from 25 percent in the 1990s. Twenty-nine states have medical marijuana, up from zero. Eight have legalized it entirely, up from zero.
Nadelmann himself played a role in most of the ballot referenda that made those changes possible, beginning with California's medical-marijuana initiative in 1996. His organization successfully promoted criminal-justice reforms in California, New Jersey, and New York. His TED Talk, "Why We Need to End the War on Drugs," has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.
How has the movement been so successful?
"Some of it was just being disciplined about our messaging," Nadelmann said. "Some was managing tensions between a professional campaign and grassroots activists."
And of course, Nadelmann noted, "I was uniquely able to marshal financial resources," chiefly those of George Soros and fellow billionaires Peter Lewis and John Sperling. Between the three of them, Nadelmann estimated that they spent $30 million between 1996 and 2002.
That's not quite Koch Network-level financing, but it was enough to make a difference; during that period, Nadelmann says "we won 15 to 20 ballot initiatives on medical marijuana, decriminalization, and other issues."
But Nadelmann hastened to add that for all the success of marijuana legalization, there's still a long way to go on the Drug Policy Alliance's other two major priorities: ending "the drug war's contribution to mass incarceration," and "treating drug use and addiction as a health issue."
And that's where things get complicated. Several times, Nadelmann compared the drug-policy movement to the LGBT equality movement, which likewise began with a few idealistic activists and likewise blossomed in the last two decades. "I've always thought of the gay-rights movement as the elder sibling of the marijuana reform movement," he says. And in that analogy, marijuana policy is drug policy's gay marriage: a visible issue with appeal among the privileged, but only the tip of the iceberg.
Mass incarceration, on the other hand, is less about privileged white folks who want to smoke weed and more about underprivileged people of color caught in a cruel, racist system. Nadelmann says he gained "a profound understanding of role of race and racism in the drug war": disparate sentencing (powder vs. crack cocaine, for example), disparate enforcement, and, most recently, the announcement that getting busted for a joint is now grounds for deportation.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Legal Weed's No. 1 Warrior Puts Down His Pipe - The Daily Beast
Author: Jay Michaelson
Contact: Contact Us - The Daily Beast
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
Website: The Daily Beast
There's no more influential drug-policy reformer than Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, who is stepping down after leading the organization for more than 20 years. With his last day on Friday, Nadelmann sat down with The Daily Beast to reflect on his field's remarkable past and uncertain future.
When I first met Nadelmann in the late 1990s, I thought he was nuts. The only people talking about legalizing marijuana were potheads like Cheech and Chong. But here was Nadelmann, a nerdy, wonky, Nate Silver type dissecting the "war on drugs" with cold, hard facts. I was totally convinced by his arguments, but equally convinced that they wouldn't get anywhere.
I was wrong. Twenty years later, 60 percent of the country supports legalizing marijuana outright, up from 25 percent in the 1990s. Twenty-nine states have medical marijuana, up from zero. Eight have legalized it entirely, up from zero.
Nadelmann himself played a role in most of the ballot referenda that made those changes possible, beginning with California's medical-marijuana initiative in 1996. His organization successfully promoted criminal-justice reforms in California, New Jersey, and New York. His TED Talk, "Why We Need to End the War on Drugs," has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.
How has the movement been so successful?
"Some of it was just being disciplined about our messaging," Nadelmann said. "Some was managing tensions between a professional campaign and grassroots activists."
And of course, Nadelmann noted, "I was uniquely able to marshal financial resources," chiefly those of George Soros and fellow billionaires Peter Lewis and John Sperling. Between the three of them, Nadelmann estimated that they spent $30 million between 1996 and 2002.
That's not quite Koch Network-level financing, but it was enough to make a difference; during that period, Nadelmann says "we won 15 to 20 ballot initiatives on medical marijuana, decriminalization, and other issues."
But Nadelmann hastened to add that for all the success of marijuana legalization, there's still a long way to go on the Drug Policy Alliance's other two major priorities: ending "the drug war's contribution to mass incarceration," and "treating drug use and addiction as a health issue."
And that's where things get complicated. Several times, Nadelmann compared the drug-policy movement to the LGBT equality movement, which likewise began with a few idealistic activists and likewise blossomed in the last two decades. "I've always thought of the gay-rights movement as the elder sibling of the marijuana reform movement," he says. And in that analogy, marijuana policy is drug policy's gay marriage: a visible issue with appeal among the privileged, but only the tip of the iceberg.
Mass incarceration, on the other hand, is less about privileged white folks who want to smoke weed and more about underprivileged people of color caught in a cruel, racist system. Nadelmann says he gained "a profound understanding of role of race and racism in the drug war": disparate sentencing (powder vs. crack cocaine, for example), disparate enforcement, and, most recently, the announcement that getting busted for a joint is now grounds for deportation.
News Moderator: Ron Strider 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Legal Weed's No. 1 Warrior Puts Down His Pipe - The Daily Beast
Author: Jay Michaelson
Contact: Contact Us - The Daily Beast
Photo Credit: Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
Website: The Daily Beast
