Reefer Madness Abates, Somewhat

[IndianaToker]

By John Beydler
Source: Quad-City Times

Reefer madness still rages in the land, but ever less virulently. The Iowa Supreme Court, on a split vote, this month rejected an AIDS patient's argument that the marijuana he was charged with possessing was a medical neccessity. The ruling was on fairly narrow technical grounds -- the court noted that the Legislature has instructed the Iowa Board of Pharmacy Examiners to establish guidelines for the use of reefer for medicinal purposes and declined to anticipate the outcome of that legislatively launched process.

Justice David Wiggins, in a dissent, said the court shouldn't wait, given such facts as testimony from a medical professor from the University of Iowa that ``one could say that marijuana might have been lifesaving in this particular case.''

Iowa lawmakers have at least requested medical-marijanua guidelines, which makes them more sane than their fellows in Illinois. A medical marijuana bill died last week on a 4-7 vote in a House committee after White House drug 'czar' John Walters flew into Springfield to testify against it. He dragged out all the old lies about marijuana being addictive, leading to hard-drug use and said the fact that it helps sick people feel better is no reason to OK its use.

Fewer and fewer people are willing to listen to such nonsense, given the mounting body of evidence -- gleaned through formal studies and personal experience -- that says otherwise.

Voters in Montana, a very RED red state, approved a medical marijuana initiative last fall by a 62-38 margin. The vote made Montana the 11th state to OK marijuana for medicinal use, and in most every case the approval came through referenda.

That fact should give pause to those hundreds of lawmakers around the country who believe the only safe thing to do is to try to be more anti-marijuana than the next guy. Also bothersome to reflexively 'anti' lawmakers is what happened in Vermont last fall. Pro-medical marijuana forces targeted six legislators who voted against that state's medical marijuana law and beat three of them.

A great many ordinary folks are willing to go even further. In Alaska, a referendum to legalize personal possession of less than ounce of marijuana was defeated, but the margin was just 56-44. Referenda on the same subject in a number of smaller jurisdictions passed.

Rundown of November, 2004 marijuana initiatives: http://www.mpp.org/victorygrid.html

Even some cops are willing to bail out. Chicago police Sgt. Thomas Donegan said last fall he'd done a study of the way the courts handle minor pot posssesion cases, and had concluded it was pointless to arrest people. Instead, he suggested, they should be given a ticket and fined a couple of hundred dollars.

The reaction from Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a former prosecutor and a law-and-order kind of guy? He said the sergeant was on to something, and that its a colossal waste of time and money to be hassling people for small-time pot possession.

It can also be a colossal waste of other valuable resources. But more on that later, perhaps, as the misdemeanor pot possession case against a local school teacher plays out.

John Beydler is news editor at Quad-Cities Online.

Source: Quad-City Times (IA)
Author: John Beydler
Published: February 24, 2005
Copyright: 2005 Quad-City Times
Contact: opinions@qctimes.com
Website: http://www.qctimes.com
Link to article: http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread20280.shtml