The good news is that a movement to decriminalize cannabis for
medical and for private purposes is sweeping the country. However, the weed is still classified
as a schedule 1 drug by the federal government, and is therefore illegal. That
means that the state assumes the right to punish you, if in any way you break
the weed laws, and there are still people serving life sentences for their
infractions.
A schedule 1 drug like marijuana is defined as having a high
potential for abuse and has no known medical use. The ominous Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has directed a
task force to re-examine the policies for sentencing and incarcerating pot
criminals. This is about privileging federal over state law, and as the
directive states, is part of preparing to deal with violent crime. Sessions conception of cannabis seems to
derive from the 1936 camp classic, Reefer
Madness.
The call for this State Department review of marijuana
policies from Trump’s Attorney General is—like Trump himself—shot through with
mendacity. Marijuana--schedule 1? High potential for abuse? Like tobacco? Last time I checked 480,000 Americans a year were dying from
smoking-related illness, at a cost to the nation of $300 billion. Is this what is meant by a “high
potential for abuse”?
Or was anybody thinking of alcohol? About 100,000 Americans die yearly from
alcohol-related causes. About 5
thousand of that number are teens, their alcoholic deaths exceeding those
caused by all other drugs combined.
My question is: Why aren’t alcohol and tobacco schedule 1 drugs? Hundreds of thousands of corpses
turning up everywhere all the time—does that count as abuse? And what of the countless thousands of
family and friends who suffer the consequences of these drug-caused tragedies?
And of course to stay abreast: many thousands of innocent
Americans of all ages, places and economic classes are losing their lives to the
current killer opioid epidemic. Prescription drugs—OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax
and Soma—are causing more deaths than heroine, cocaine, and other street drugs
combined.
All these killer drugs are perfectly legal. Needless to say, there is absolutely
nothing remotely comparable that can be imputed to marijuana. But marijuana is illegal. The situation is
morally absurd and grotesque.
Another criterion for schedule 1 is that a drug not possess
any medical benefits. In fact, the
medical benefits of marijuana are legion.
I know this is true from my own experience. A colleague of mine at a university was suffering from the
early stages of multiple sclerosis, and we discovered that his symptoms
disappeared when we partook of the good weed together. Later, this discovery was confirmed by
published scientific reports. Besides reducing symptoms of MS, here is a list
of other conditions that evidence indicates marijuana can benefit: pain, depression,
schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress-disorder, epilepsy, brain damage after
stroke, prevention of formation of Alzheimer plaques, opioid and other
addictions, anxiety, arthritis, glaucoma, and nausea.
The criminalization of cannabis is not just itself a crime;
it throws into relief the worst kind of moral depravity. A substance of versatile benefits is
proscribed as illegal and used to feed the least powerful of society to an
ever-voracious prison-industrial complex.
Meanwhile, killer recreational drugs like tobacco and alcohol and killer
prescription drugs are not only legal but promoted by powerful lobbies and
corporations. As Peter Gotzsche (an insider to the field) proves in
overwhelming detail, big Pharma makes organized crime look like small
potatoes. The medical,
pharmaceutical, and political systems have conspired with big Pharma to
deceive, exploit, and, if Profit decrees, kill
consumers (See Gotzsche’s massive indictment, Deadly Medicines and Organized Crime {2013}).
The hypocrisy and the stupidity of criminalizing one of the
plant-wonders of nature is bad news. The good news is that America is waking up
and one of the signs of this is a definite state-centered movement toward the emancipation
of cannabis, not just for its various medical properties and potentials, but
for its so-called “recreational” use.
But what exactly does that mean? There are two senses of the word; in one, it refers to
activity apart from work done for enjoyment.
Okay, but that misses the point about the intelligent use of
marijuana. There is an older sense of the word from late Middle English that
should be underscored-- “mental or spiritual consolation”--from the Latin, recreare, “create again, renew.” The
image of self re-creation seems more to the point. I like to think of Mary-Jane as a goddess figure to invoke in
the daily re-creation of myself, in my case, by making perception new and
thought elastic.
The ignoramuses of the Justice Department who continue to
criminalize cannabis should read Ronald Siegel’s Intoxication (1989). According to what Siegel found, in addition to
hunger, thirst, and sex, “intoxication is the fourth drive.” What may be surprising is that
throughout nature animals of almost every kind search for, find, and enjoy
substances with intoxicating effects.
Fascinating descriptions of birds, cats, cows, elephants, et cetera, getting stoned and
disoriented clearly illustrate the author’s thesis. The whole of living nature
seems driven toward transcendence—wants to escape its characteristic rut and get high—however risky and perhaps
comical these efforts turn out to be.
The task is learning how to negotiate the dangers while maximizing
the benefits. The problem is that
everything is arranged in America to prevent that from happening. The state has empowered big Pharma and
criminalized marijuana. It
supports drug companies that make billions but kill their human consumers;
meanwhile, it criminalizes a plant known for its medical and recreational
benefits, and with nothing of the collateral human damage associated with the
legal drug business. Let the motto for those who prefer life to death be: Cannabis
yes we can.
1 comment:
More than likely, the desire to keep marijuana illegal is because there is considerable profit for various law enforcement agencies, local and state governments, and the whole "for profit" prison systems. In 2015, more than 600,000 people were arrested for marijuana violations, more than any other illicit drug. Civil forfeiture, where law enforcement officers can seize assets from persons suspected of marijuana activity, is very popular with law enforcement for obvious reasons. In recent years, the Federal Government has netted at least one billion dollars from seizing personal and real property suspected of being used for/to manufacture or distribute Federally illegal drugs. This includes marijuana in states where marijuana is legal. A person doesn't have to be arrested or convicted of possession of marijuana, the mere "suspicion" of illegal activity is enough for the police to petition for seizure of property and/or assets. It is all about the mighty dollar.
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