Posted on 06/04/2007 11:35:52 AM PDT by cryptical
At a recent backyard barbecue in Miami's Upper Eastside, a group of middle-age, middle-class folks tamely sipped berry cocktails and beers. Among them: a couple of lawyers, a couple of city administrators and an arts administrator. Somewhere between the skirt steak and the apple pie, somebody lit a joint and passed it around.
Nobody blinked. Even in mainstream, white-collar settings, smoking marijuana can be commonplace and unremarkable, like having a little wine with dinner.
Once a stamp of the arty, the marginal and the counterculture, today marijuana's popularity cuts across social boundaries. Yet several high-profile marijuana arrests have recently made headlines, highlighting the hazy double standard that exists around an illegal, potentially harmful drug that continues to encroach into the mainstream:
• In March, Lawrence Korda, 59, a Broward Circuit Court judge, was charged with openly smoking marijuana in a park in Hollywood. Korda completed a drug and alcohol program to erase the misdemeanor charge, and must take monthly random drug tests for six months and perform 25 hours of community service.
• Last month, Utpal Dighe, 31, a prosecutor in the Miami-Dade state attorney's office, was fired after police charged him with buying marijuana from a street dealer in Coconut Grove.
• Also last month, Ricky Williams, 30, erstwhile superstar running back for the Dolphins, probably ended his Miami career by testing positive for marijuana for the fifth time.
For good or ill, people from all walks smoke weed. In fact, 40.1 percent of all Americans 12 years old and up admit having tried marijuana at least once -- and 6 percent acknowledge having used it in the past month, federal drug surveys show. The FBI says 786,500 people were arrested for it in 2005, the latest figures available.
One group at least modestly turning away from marijuana is middle- and high-schoolers, ages 12 to 17. The percentage who have used pot at least once dropped from more than 20 percent in 2000 to about 17 percent in 2005, federal researchers say.
''I don't know if more people are smoking or more people are admitting it,'' said Betsy Wise, a Miami stand-up comic. Wise recently started to freelance for a New York ad agency. She confided in a co-worker that a friend was delivering pot brownies to the office -- and told him to help himself.
''When I got to the agency, all but a few of the brownies were gone,'' Wise said. ``Pretty much everyone partook, right in the office. They all greeted me with smiles. I thought that was remarkable. I would have expected maybe one or two people would have been simpatico.''
More and more, weed is cropping up in the popular culture. It isn't just the domain of hip-hop records with parental-guidance labels. On cable-TV shows like Six Feet Under,The Sopranos,Entourage and The L Word, characters have sparked up casually, the way they might sip merlot, without their marijuana use being part of any plot development or morality tale.
And it isn't just cable. On ABC's Brothers & Sisters, Sally Field's character gets high. The kids on That '70s Show often emerged from clouds of funny smoke.
GOING UPSCALE
''I think there is more of a laissez-faire attitude these days about smoking pot,'' said Jenji Kohan, creator of Showtime's Weeds, about a mother who sells marijuana to make ends meet after her husband dies unexpectedly. 'One of the things that I find interesting is that there are boutique farms that are really into their strains. It reminds me of when wine started to become really popular and people started talking about this vine and that grape. Marijuana has become more upscale. In L.A., dealers have full menus of `unique teas.' ''
Not that marijuana use is a function of wealth.
For $20 on the street, a buyer can score one-eighth ounce of low-grade marijuana from Mexico, Belize or Jamaica -- enough for four or five cigarettes. For $800, the connoisseur can acquire an ounce of exotic, extra-potent marijuana grown from modern hybrids in hydroponic labs or special soil indoors in ''grow-houses'' from Pompano Beach to Coral Gables, said James Hall, director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Substance Abuse at Nova Southeastern University.
''It's like wine; you can buy an expensive one or you can buy the jug stuff,'' Hall said.
The truth is, for all of the marijuana possession arrests, police often look the other way, or let smokers go with friendly warnings.
At a Snoop Dogg concert at a Fort Lauderdale club a while back, a uniformed officer stood by unflinchingly as Snoop, and dozens in the audience, sent up telltale clouds.
''It's selective enforcement,'' said Miami musician Todd Thompson, who doesn't have a problem admitting that he gets high. ``At Langerado [a Broward outdoor music festival], there was smoking going on everywhere. I wouldn't do it in front of a cop, just in case. But cops don't always do something about a little marijuana smoke.''
Marijuana laws are a mishmash among the 50 states. It isn't entirely legal anywhere, but 12 states have at least partly decriminalized it, to the point that in Alaska there is no penalty for possessing an ounce or less at home.
In Florida, possession of 20 grams or less -- 28 grams would be an ounce -- is a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine; having more than 20 grams is a felony worth five years and/or a $5,000 fine.
Over the decades, debate about whether marijuana should be legalized has remained lively.
Said Howard Finkelstein, Broward County public defender and legal guru of the ''Help Me Howard'' segment on WSVN-Fox 7: 'We're making war on our own people. We take good fathers and lawyers and doctors and wives and make them outlaws. We're playing a stupid and harmful game of `gotcha.' ''
Some support for legalization comes from the belief that it's not dangerous to health, says Dr. J. Bryan Page, professor of anthropology and psychiatry and an expert on substance abuse in the University of Miami Department of Psychiatry.
''A student I knew claimed to be part of a group who all had grade-point averages over 3.6 who were very regular users,'' he said. 'She wanted me to study them to counter all the `Just say no' stuff.''
White House drug czar John Walters, not surprisingly, sees it differently. In April, his office released an analysis from the University of Mississippi's Potency Monitoring Project that said the level of THC -- the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana -- has more than doubled since 1983, from 4 percent to 8.5 percent.
`WAKE-UP CALL'
''This new report serves as a wake-up call for parents who may still hold outdated notions about the harms of marijuana,'' his announcement said.
The increased potency is from the exotic new hybrids and sophisticated indoor growing techniques, says Nova Southeastern's Hall.
Marijuana-related emergency-room visits increased from 45,000 in 1995 to 119,000 in 2002, the most recent comparison available, federal drug officials say.
Added Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse: ``Science has shown that marijuana can produce adverse physical, mental, emotional and behavioral changes, and -- contrary to popular belief -- it can be addictive.''
Norman Kent, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and board member of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, scoffed: ``More people died last year from eating spinach than smoking pot.''
Cigarette smoking is evil and should be banned and criminalized.
Marijuana is cool and good and should be legalized.
You can grow it at home and they can’t tax it.
If the goobermint could guarantee a taxable revenue stream, it would be legal. Just like alcohol and cigarettes.
Perfect. Add: Cigarette smokers are exiled while marijuanan smokers are socially adept and welcome in the crowd (this smoke doesn't choke any of them). Really grates on the brain.
They always threaten the higher potency of MJ these days, but then frame the issue as an "it's for the children" one---patently forgetting that the high-potency grass is probably out of the typical yute's price range.
Conservatives who support the Insane, Racist War on (Some) Drugs are a big part of the problem.
Illegal use of race card-- ten yard penalty.
APf
Nah I think he’s right. The drug laws aren’t based on the actual danger of the substances, they have more to do with when the substance was introduced to popular culture and which ethnic group brought it here.
Not in this context, unfortunately. Your call's over-ruled.
No one believes that.
Shoot, we paid $30 an oz for Columbian. The cops didn’t care about it when it was cheap.
“patently forgetting that the high-potency grass is probably out of the typical yute’s price range.”
I’ve been around a bit and the only time I have ever smoked the good stuff was when I was hanging with wealthy adults at some occasion or other. Always preceded by the comment, “I’ve been saving this”, just like one would a good bottle of wide or scotch.
Kids who drink Milwaukee’s Best aren’t likely to buy an $800 oz of weed. Establishing a contact for “the kind” is no easy task in itself. There simply isn’t enough to go around, hence the price.
No way you can get an 8th for 20. Not even dirt weed. Coupla grams will cost you 50...er, according to information I read somewhere.
“Illegal use of race card— ten yard penalty.”
LOL! 99 times out of 100 you’d be right. Unfortunately, history tells a different tale here.
I’ve got a couple of friends that are total weed snobs. Always fun to hang out with those guys. I’m not that picky.
Most quit smoking marijuana by their late 20's, early 30's. Even among marijuana users, these clowns are oddballs.
If they just made 50’s and 100’s one time use like
traveler’s checks. The drug war would be over.
They could catch drug dealers just by pulling over the
suspicious semi trailers full of 20’s.
Couldn’t make much money selling small deals. And, would need
some way of unloading warehouses full of smaller bills.
“Among them: a couple of lawyers, a couple of city administrators and an arts administrator...”
In other words, a bunch of Democrats.
We can’t arrest 12 million illegal immigrants, but we’re somehow gonna round up 50 million potsmokers. Go figure.
“Marijuana-related emergency-room visits increased from 45,000 in 1995 to 119,000 in 2002, the most recent comparison available, federal drug officials say.”
And how many Alcohol related ER visits were reported last year? Hmmmmmmmmm?
They would not have a problem with that. Have you read the medical studies on just how dangerous marijuana is to the lungs, heart and how it increases schizophrenia and bi polar illnesses? I think it's a little more complicated than the dollars and cents of taxing it!
For that matter, you can make Alcohol and grow Tobacco at home. I have, I’m not very good at it so I buy both. I also grow tomatoes apples and buy them as well. The only thing I grow and don’t buy and get taxed on is Chicken Eggs.
“No way you can get an 8th for 20. Not even dirt weed. Coupla grams will cost you 50...er, according to information I read somewhere.”
Not from the South are you? ;) $120 an oz. 1/4 for $40. Never known anybody who would bother with eighths.
...from what I’ve heard, anyway.
See what you did? It's your fault.
Nice. I guess the extra mileage up I-95 has its price.
Not exactly true. Tobacco is regulated in some states. You must have an allotment to grow it.
Why?
Because they want you pay the taxes. Anyway, growing tobacco is a nasty business.
And when they say "today's marijuana is xx times as strong as it used to be", "marijuana" is some carefully selected, high-thc content parts of some exotic hydroponically grown strains. When they talk about "marijuana posession", or "marijuana seizures", "marijuana" is any and all (root, stalk, stem, and leaves) of anything that belongs to the cannabis genus.
As soon as politicians lose elections for being Tough on Drugs, the drug war will end, over the complaints of the law enforcement lobby, lawyer lobby, and the other WOsD profiteers.
I can’t at the moment think of any politician elected on the platform of ending WOsD, or any “mainstream candidate” who was for decriminalization, reform, or legalization. Wait, didn’t Bill Richardson come out against WOsD when he stepped down as governor?
I've certainly noticed 2banana, but I've noticed that we conservatives fall prey to the same dichotomy. "Freedom for me, but not for thee." I think the left is worse about it, but it does seem to me that whichever side comes to power, they feel that it's ok to turn the screws on the other.
‘One group at least modestly turning away from marijuana is middle- and high-schoolers, ages 12 to 17. The percentage who have used pot at least once dropped from more than 20 percent in 2000 to about 17 percent in 2005, federal researchers say.’
ROTFLMAO! Uh huh, cause we know the 12 - 17 crowd is completely and totally honest on all matters great and small....(chuckle)
The marijuana laws are based on bigotry and racism, folks. Look up Anslinger’s testimony in the 1930’s before congressional committees and see for yourself.
My favorite is Anslinger telling the congress ‘marijuana makes the black man uppity, and causes him to desire white women, to the point of raping them...’
(rought paraphrase)
Personally, I fail to see the "threat" that higher potency MJ represents.
If it is more potent, those who smoke it need to smoke less to get the same effect. That means inhaling less crap into their lungs.
I guess it might be more likely that someone might overindulge with more potent pot, but the "threat" of higher potency pot seems like mostly spin to me. It seems like they are trying awfully hard to convince people how bad pot is, but not doing a very good job of coming up with a convincing argument.
I'm not saying that pot use doesn't have the potential to be harmful. However, the arguments that it is somehow worse than alcohol always seem to come up short.
And regardless of quantity or potency, Willie Nelson is gonna walk.
My roommate in college went to buy some local weed. They were growing it in corn rows near their house. They gave him a baggie that he could stuff as full as he wanted for $15. He got almost two ozs in that baggie. That was some seriously harsh weed but it got the job done.
I’m sure someone will try to convince me that $800 an oz is that much better than $15 for two ozs. But I doubt it.
If you could grow it in the yard, why would you pay for the government taxed weed?
1/8 is $20, for crappy pot. But $800, even for good weed? That’s a rip off. The MOST I’ve uh, heard of, good pot going for is $500 an ounce. That’s for GREAT stuff. The average is $300.
If it is more potent, those who smoke it need to smoke less to get the same effect. That means inhaling less crap into their lungs.
I don't think you were actually supposed to think about it. As soon as you heard "xx times more potent" you were supposed to immediatly assume TEOTWAWKI.
Oh my, I hope I haven’t been breaking the law. I know the regulations on alcohol (I can’t sell it).
Do you know the Virginia Laws on Tobacco or where I can find them?
But the argument that alcohol is bad, alcohol is legal, therefore marijuana should be legal, is equally silly. For historic reasons (mankind discovered fermentation 10,000 years ago), alcohol has wound itself so thoroughly into our culture that we cannot ban it. That doesn't mean we should embrace and legalize every other vice.
The argument is similar to the one made against tobacco -- companies were intentionally increasing the nicotine content to "hook" teens. There was even talk at that time about regulating nicotine content.
If marijuana is ever legalized, I wouldn't be surprised to see THC content regulated by the government as an appeasement to concerned parents. Leading to more homegrown and/or gang-supplied, of course, and less tax revenue.
I don’t mind if they legalize weed as long as at the same time they allow me to discriminate against people who smoke it for being stupid.
I’m not sure more people died from spinach than Pot, because I can’t find statistics on people dying from pot. But of course, last year was the tainted Spinach year, and there are a LOT more people who eat spinach regularly than smoke pot regularly.
There’s no reason to believe that pot, if it was a normal as spinach, couldn’t also get contaminated and kill people. Of course, spinach won’t naturally harm you, like Pot can.
I agree with you -- I think they lie. They lie and say they've used it when they really haven't to look cool.
So that number's probably high.
Ever heard of Prohibition or dry counties?
SO, lets get this straight, 60% of the people have never touched the stuff, and 94% of the people have not touched it in the last month.. but its use is as common as Beer? Oh I don't think so, this story is a complete sham.
Someone lights up a joint at my dinner party, they are promptly asked to leave and will never be at my home again. The only places I've been where pot is found are parties with people you are absolutely unsuprised if they didn't light up.
I've never looked to my left or right and seen someone I would not expect smoking pot, dragging on a J.
And before some moron confused individual states that the above implies that rape should then be legal if committed on private property: rape, murder, theft, assault, etc are crimes with real victims (having had their negative rights infringed) regardless of location, and the role of the state to help protect individual liberty supersedes private property rights and freedom of voluntary association in such circumstances. When you endorse the notion that the government should play a role in securing POSITIVE rights, you are endorsing Marxism. If you cannot formulate a rationale for a particular law or regulation in terms of the protection of individual negative rights, the law has no place in society.
“I can’t find statistics on people dying from pot”
Because it doesn’t happen.
You're exactly right, of course.
Is the Sistine Chapel better than a Velvet Elvis?
‘I agree with you — I think they lie. They lie and say they’ve used it when they really haven’t to look cool.
So that number’s probably high.’
‘Who broke the lamp?’
“I dunno....”
The defense rests, your honor....(chuckle)
I just read a story about some kids in a traffic accident who they think were smoking pot. I couldn’t find it on the google search though.
It’s like trying to find stories about people using guns to save themselves. It happens all the time, but if you don’t pick up the local papers you’ll never know about it, because the national news doesn’t care to let people know about it. Maybe the national news doesn’t care to let people know about pot smoking dangers.
Given that you do smoke pot, and that the act of inhaling any burning fumes into your lungs increases your chance of lung cancer, above and beyond the specific tar problems with tobacco, it’s just wrong to say nobody dies from smoking pot.
Of course, people don’t smoke joints like they do cigarettes, but that’s because they are illegal and expensive.
If you made pot legal, it would be cheap because everybody can grow it, and people would smoke all the time and everybody would wander around high and causing accidents and being unproductive and boorish. :-)
No it is not.
Freedom does not need to be justified. Restrictions on freedom need to be justified.
Unless the government can provide solid reasoning why something should be illegal, they have no reason banning it.
Our society has decided that some recreational drug use is acceptable. Unless the government can say how allowing pot use causes more harm than already allowing alcohol use, they have no business banning it.
For historic reasons (mankind discovered fermentation 10,000 years ago), alcohol has wound itself so thoroughly into our culture that we cannot ban it.
We, as a nation, did ban it at one time. Then after seeing the effects of the ban, we changed our minds. We can ban alcohol, we simply choose not to do so because our society felt that the benefits of banning it did not justify the constrains on people's freedom.
That doesn't mean we should embrace and legalize every other vice.
Legalize does not mean embrace. There are a great many things I don't agree with that I strongly feel that the government has no right to criminalize.
Is our government there to tell us what we are allowed to do, or is our government there to place only what restrictions on us that are necessary for a reasonably functioning society and to protect members of our society from abusing acts by others?
It is the difference between having a government that serves it's people and in being ruled.
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