We’re mostly stoners now

I am not a marijuana smoker myself, so I don’t have a horse in this race. And I might add that if I were to actually try marijuana, it might make me claustrophobic and cause me to wander the pavement at night, startled by sounds such as kids on skateboards, and afraid to go indoors. Then I might see fit to eat every frickin’ morsel of carbs in the house. That’s what I think might happen, so I don’t mess with it.

But here’s a new poll, done by “conservative leaning” O’Leary, that shows that 52% of the public favors legalization of pot.

These 52% are free to join the 70% or so that favor single payer health care. They may now stand in the hall and wait for class to end. They are no longer relevant.

Drug policy is not health policy. Some drugs, like crystal meth, are truly harmful, and we should educate people about them. Others, like pot, are merely recreational. I’ve known potheads – people whose brain seems to be saturated in ‘don’t give a shit’ juice. That’s not good, but they don’t belong in prison any more than the habitual drunk or gambler. That cross-section of society will always be with us. Perhaps they are people who are simply not a fit in our agricultural society – hunter-gatherer remnants who don’t regiment easily. Maybe they merely yearn to breath free and cannot, and so take refuge in mental escape. Maybe they just like a buzz. Whatever. Leave ’em be. They are not hurting (or helping) anyone.

I’ve heard various stories about criminalization of pot, from the Hearst effort to suppress production of hemp (see here, scroll down to 1898) to Chomsky’s assertion that it is done to take control of the pesky minority populations. (Suburban white people don’t have to worry about their doors being busted in while they snort cocaine. But in poor and minority neighborhood, people have to be extremely vigilant, as the cops are looking to bust anyone who sneaks a joint.)

Others simply say that we need some reason to get rid of surplus population of young males, and we can’t put them all in the military. So we throw them in prison.

This I know: Marijuana will remain illegal, and millions of people, mostly minorities, will be kept in prison because of it. It’s not drug control. It’s people control. Government will not easily give up its hammer.

PS: Here’s a fascinating Glenn Greenwald piece on his experience with legalization of drugs in Portugal. It’s been an unqualified success, with drug use down, treatment up, imprisonment nonexistent, and money formerly used for prosecution and incarceration freed up for other uses. Greenwald and CATO are in league on this.