hossua34
New Member
So, I wrote this one bored evening when I was high as a kite. I know it's not all so simple... but still. It feels like most of the people in this country know pot should be legal, or AT LEAST are torn on the issue. Still, the legalization movement is CREEEEEEPING forward. Medical MJ laws and decriminalization are great, but how long until we go all the way? So anyhow, take this for what it's worth (probably not much). More than anything it speaks to how I think NORML and the MPP are mismanaged and, if we had better direction to those organizations, we might be puffing on legal ganj right now. To be continued???
PLATFORM FOR LEGALIZATION
1. We need MONEY!
- It's not as though the "big" pro-marijuana lobbies don't already have it. That's why it pisses me off to see the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) throwing an annual bash at the Playboy mansion. To a lesser extent, the same could be said about NORML's support of High Times magazine. I mean, sure, we all love High Times, but it occupies a tiny niche on the fringes of the mainstream, and it will for as long as marijuana is illegal. You can go to a grocery store and buy five different magazines all about guns, but you have to go to a very large bookstore, a headshop or certain record stores to buy a High Times. That says a lot. More money should be going to legal assistance of marijuana advocates and innocent victims of the law, as well as raw publicity and public information campaigns.
2. Answer the religious objection
- While we're making huge strides in changing minds about the alleged "consequences" of marijuana, there is still a large sector of our society (probably between 20 and 40 percent of the general population) who would firmly oppose marijuana legalization for one reason or another. And while some would oppose it out of genuine misguided concern for society, and some would oppose it due to special interests from the alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries, I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of voting Americans would oppose marijuana legalization for the simple reason that they are religious, and zealously religious persons don't look kindly on drugs.
The biblical origins for their viewpoints are not nearly as clear-cut as they'd have you think; the Bible never mentions marijuana at all. What it does say is that the human body is a reproduction in the image of God, and should be treated with the respect and care of God's temple. It says that humans should be prepared as soldiers to fight the wicked influences on Earth. Smoking marijuana would presumably damage God's temple and make the user unfit to do the work of a holy soldier. However, the physical and psychological effects of cannabis are minimal, and purely temporary. There is no reason to believe God would look more kindly upon drinking or tobacco-smoking than he would marijuana use. In all likelihood, he would condemn them all. But this is neither here nor there; the U.S. was founded on religious freedom and a law that can put a man behind bars must have some deeper meaning than simply a religious one.
Interestingly enough, pious opponents of marijuana often turn a blind eye to (or are unaware of) the social injustice done by prohibition. Strains of compassion and concern for one's fellow man are more present throughout the scripture than any urgings to maintain sobriety.
3. Public information campaigning
- Notice that I've been talking about the people who would and would not support cannabis legalization. That's because, like it or not, the legalization movement is firmly planted on the fringes of mainstream society. Most Americans hear something about the subject and say "give me a break". There's so much that needs fixing with this country, marijuana law reform does not come up high on most lists. That's because, in large part, most Americans don't understand what's truly at stake with the War on Drugs. They perceive legalization advocates as mostly hippies and burnouts, who are only concerned with securing legal access to their drug of choice and not being hassled by "the man". This could not be further from the truth. Public attention must be drawn to the real-life injustices brought on by laws against marijuana. Stories like those in the Victims section of the MPP website are very compelling, but few ever hear them. People will begin to think differently when they consider that the marijuana trade claims lives, but marijuana itself doesn't. And in cases where the injustice involves a person imprisoned for a non-violent marijuana crime, publicity never hurts.
Furthermore, the legalization movement needs similar resources to what the government anti-drug agencies have had for years. We need ads — TV, radio and print spots — and we need them on network television and in large-circulation publications. They should be clever and succinct, and should focus on the relative harms of legalization as compared to continued prohibition. Example... Currently, marijuana is unregulated and widely available in many public schools. Under a system of regulated legalization, marijuana would be limited to ID-carrying adults, and teenage marijuana dealers would be put out of business...
A dozen or so of these spots, plus a handful on radio stations and in newspapers and magazines, and people can be prodded to go online and educate themselves — hopefully by the millions. It must be a possibility, with the money possessed by pro-marijuana organizations and individuals. Someone just has to take over the reigns of the movement and make it happen.
There's more to be done of course, but those are the major, first steps I can come up with at the moment...
PLATFORM FOR LEGALIZATION
1. We need MONEY!
- It's not as though the "big" pro-marijuana lobbies don't already have it. That's why it pisses me off to see the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) throwing an annual bash at the Playboy mansion. To a lesser extent, the same could be said about NORML's support of High Times magazine. I mean, sure, we all love High Times, but it occupies a tiny niche on the fringes of the mainstream, and it will for as long as marijuana is illegal. You can go to a grocery store and buy five different magazines all about guns, but you have to go to a very large bookstore, a headshop or certain record stores to buy a High Times. That says a lot. More money should be going to legal assistance of marijuana advocates and innocent victims of the law, as well as raw publicity and public information campaigns.
2. Answer the religious objection
- While we're making huge strides in changing minds about the alleged "consequences" of marijuana, there is still a large sector of our society (probably between 20 and 40 percent of the general population) who would firmly oppose marijuana legalization for one reason or another. And while some would oppose it out of genuine misguided concern for society, and some would oppose it due to special interests from the alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries, I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of voting Americans would oppose marijuana legalization for the simple reason that they are religious, and zealously religious persons don't look kindly on drugs.
The biblical origins for their viewpoints are not nearly as clear-cut as they'd have you think; the Bible never mentions marijuana at all. What it does say is that the human body is a reproduction in the image of God, and should be treated with the respect and care of God's temple. It says that humans should be prepared as soldiers to fight the wicked influences on Earth. Smoking marijuana would presumably damage God's temple and make the user unfit to do the work of a holy soldier. However, the physical and psychological effects of cannabis are minimal, and purely temporary. There is no reason to believe God would look more kindly upon drinking or tobacco-smoking than he would marijuana use. In all likelihood, he would condemn them all. But this is neither here nor there; the U.S. was founded on religious freedom and a law that can put a man behind bars must have some deeper meaning than simply a religious one.
Interestingly enough, pious opponents of marijuana often turn a blind eye to (or are unaware of) the social injustice done by prohibition. Strains of compassion and concern for one's fellow man are more present throughout the scripture than any urgings to maintain sobriety.
3. Public information campaigning
- Notice that I've been talking about the people who would and would not support cannabis legalization. That's because, like it or not, the legalization movement is firmly planted on the fringes of mainstream society. Most Americans hear something about the subject and say "give me a break". There's so much that needs fixing with this country, marijuana law reform does not come up high on most lists. That's because, in large part, most Americans don't understand what's truly at stake with the War on Drugs. They perceive legalization advocates as mostly hippies and burnouts, who are only concerned with securing legal access to their drug of choice and not being hassled by "the man". This could not be further from the truth. Public attention must be drawn to the real-life injustices brought on by laws against marijuana. Stories like those in the Victims section of the MPP website are very compelling, but few ever hear them. People will begin to think differently when they consider that the marijuana trade claims lives, but marijuana itself doesn't. And in cases where the injustice involves a person imprisoned for a non-violent marijuana crime, publicity never hurts.
Furthermore, the legalization movement needs similar resources to what the government anti-drug agencies have had for years. We need ads — TV, radio and print spots — and we need them on network television and in large-circulation publications. They should be clever and succinct, and should focus on the relative harms of legalization as compared to continued prohibition. Example... Currently, marijuana is unregulated and widely available in many public schools. Under a system of regulated legalization, marijuana would be limited to ID-carrying adults, and teenage marijuana dealers would be put out of business...
A dozen or so of these spots, plus a handful on radio stations and in newspapers and magazines, and people can be prodded to go online and educate themselves — hopefully by the millions. It must be a possibility, with the money possessed by pro-marijuana organizations and individuals. Someone just has to take over the reigns of the movement and make it happen.
There's more to be done of course, but those are the major, first steps I can come up with at the moment...
