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MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS
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November, 2004
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We don't need no stinkin' dope votes
By Jules Siegel
Doper
support will be the kiss of death for Kerry, subscribers sneered on massively
liberal dailykos.com when I posted the news that voters were being registered
at the Washington State Hempfest. Do these people think that drug users don't
vote? That they have no influence? That they still dress in bell bottoms and
wear flowers in their hair?
The right wing is way ahead on this. Libertarians are almost uniformly in
favor of immediate legalization. Even hard core conservatives are anti-drugwar.
On far right FreeRepublic.com, a drugwar abuse item typically pulls about 75%
outright antidrugwar comments. The culturally tolerant fiscal conservative
could be Kerry's key swing voter.
William F. Buckley, the orthodox conservative's Pope, complained that
marijuana laws are based on "moral fanaticism."
"What is required," he said, "is a genuine Republican
groundswell. It is happening, but ever so gradually."
Buckley pointed to a 2003 Zogby survey showing that 40% of Americans
believes "the government should treat marijuana more or less the same way
it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it and make it
illegal only for children." In the National Review, Drug Policy Alliance's
Ethan A. Nadelmann writes that 72% now favors fines rather than jail for simple
marijuana possession. At least 50 million have tried grass.
Orthodox leftists, however, seem to be incapable of understanding the size
and -- very important -- intensity of the anti-drugwar movement. They tend to
support the enforced treatment model without fully understanding how nasty it
is. Even when they are drug users themselves, many still privately think of
smoking marijuana as a vice that they regret. Anti-drugwar activists see it as
self-medication, not just for physical pain, but for the otherwise usually
intractable irritations of life in groups.
Many anti-drugwar activists in forums such as DrugWar.com plan either to
vote for Nader or abstain because Kerry is just another cop, even though he's
softened his positions on drug enforcement since the campaign began. These are
outspoken opinion leaders with very effective media information programs. Any
convincing statement of sympathy would instantly move them.
Kerry could come out for a complete review of all drug policy issues by a
blue ribbon panel of renowned experts. He needn't demand legalization,
decriminalization or any other specific action. If asked, he would answer that
he wants to know the facts before offering any positions.
No independent panel has ever found marijuana worth criminalizing. Drugs
such as heroin, cocaine and the amphetamines will always be controlled
substances, I'm sure. But mandatory sentences are already under heavy attack
from the local governments that can't afford to pay for them. Only D.E.A.
shills deny that the drug war is an utter disaster.
Political campaigners don't care if illegal drug use is a vice or not, just
how many net votes the issue will produce, and whether or not the number is
worth the fire-alarms that taking a position will set off. Given the size of
the prison and treatment industry, deafening sirens will suffocate any
legislative drug reform enthusiasm.
Congressional Democrats are mostly either joined at the liver with the
Republicans on drug policy, or too cowardly to speak out. Although it would be
a devastating October surprise, Health and Human Services does not seem eager
to use its power to reschedule marijuana as a therapeutically useful drug. The
judiciary, however, is ripping mad about being throttled by Ashcroft's
theological police.
Thus there's only one practical consideration left for the anti-drugwar
side. Who will appoint the judiciary, including as many as three Supreme Court
justices?
The Supreme Court can legalize marijuana by fiat. Think of it -- no
negotiations and tortured lobbying, but genuine experts expounding on the
facts, constrained by rules of evidence.
Pick one: Bush or Kerry. Which candidate is most likely to name judges who
will interpret the Constitution of the United States according to facts in
evidence rather than DEA propaganda?
JULES SIEGEL covered the youth culture for Playboy, the Village Voice and
Rolling Stone. His essay "The Last Word on Drugs" is featured in
Preston Peet's "Under the Influence -- the Disinformation Guide to
Drugs" (The Disinformation Company, October, 2004).