41 Years Later: Hash Bash and the modern Sinclairs
41 years ago or so a fellow named John Sinclair was arrested for two marijuana joints. These arrests are still happening in Michigan. That action prompted artists, activists and ordinary citizens to rally in support of the convicted; the Michigan Supreme Court changed the law, Sinclair was released, and the rest is, as they say, history.
Fast forward to April, 2012. 41 years later and we’re still having lives ruined over a single marijuana cigarette. Cannabis is so prevalent in today’s society that every socioeconomic group, every religion, race, creed and profession consume marijuana. Some of Michigan’s Senators and House Representatives, the Attorney General, and well-positioned law enforcement personnel have admitted to being current or former cannabis consumers. Lions, Tigers, Wolverines and Spartans have been jammed up for possessing or using cannabis—even though there was no diminished performance, no associated crime, no risk to society or anyone other than themselves. 41 years after Sinclair’s arrest, it’s time to rethink this failed legal policy.
I am a son of Flint. My elementary school is closed, my high school is closed, half of my junior high school is closed—the other half was ripped down. The road my town has taken from the 60’s to today has been filled with dead ends, potholes and construction signs. Corporate exits, human exodus, economic downturn, crack—you can name the cause and you’d be right. The one thing you cannot say about Flint is that marijuana killed this city. It didn’t. It doesn’t have the power to.
Of all the troubles we could focus attention on, marijuana is the least destructive. Remember that Sinclair guy? He’ll be speaking at this year’s Hash Bash. 41 years later and he’s still going like that battery-powered rabbit on TV. If cannabis is such a threat to our bodies and our cities, where is the proof? There isn’t any. Pardon the pun, but pot is just a smokescreen concealing the real parties responsible for society’s ills.
Who are those responsible parties? That’s an issue larger than the size of this blog column. What we can say is there are people today being placed in educational, financial and societal jeopardy because of the perpetuated illegality of a plant. If you need proof, pick up any newspaper from this last week. Any Michigan paper from any day.
Lions running back Mikel Leshoure failed to report for a court date in northern Lower Peninsula’s Berrien County regarding a marijuana possession charge. Charles Rogers, a former Spartan and Lion, has multiple charges pending against him including a marijuana offense. Current Lions defensive tackle Nick Fairley was arrested in Alabama on Tuesday for possession of marijuana. Derrick Nix of the Spartan basketball team has been suspended indefinitely for possession of marijuana. None of these issues involve violence, danger to others, theft, or mistreatment of women or children.
Look at the opposite example. Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf is now addicted to pills and has taken to stealing things from his friends in order to support his habit. Leaf was arrested and posted a $76,000 bond on a charge of burglary and theft of oxycodone from an acquaintance last Friday, March 30, and was promptly arrested again on Monday, April 2 for doing the exact same thing. On Sunday two Great Falls, Montana, homeowners found Leaf in their home, unauthorized, and after his exit they discovered three bottles of pills missing. During his Monday arrest, 89 hydrocodone pills were discovered floating loose in the pocket of his bathrobe.
This Saturday’s Hash Bash will feature Sinclair but also Steven DeAngelo. DeAngelo has achieved fame through his television series “Weed Wars” and as the leader of the world’s largest dispensary, California’s Harborside. Being the largest sometimes get you the wrong kind of attention: Harborside just paid the IRS a reported $2 million in back taxes over a dispute between state law and federal rules. This week the IRS and DEA raided a California college—Oaksterdam University—and many believe they are looking to give them the Harborside treatment.
Being successful in politics, in business, in education or in sports will not exempt you from being a victim of the DEA disinformation campaign. It will cost people their scholarships, their endorsement deals, their livelihoods and their freedom just to maintain the illusion that marijuana deserves to be a Schedule 1 drug. Redirecting attention from enforcing outdated cannabis laws to preventing and solving violent crimes is the reason behind the Committee for a Safer Michigan’s effort to legalize marijuana in Michigan. Government is not a self-correcting machine. Society has called for a change; we activists are the tools through which that change takes place.
For more information about the effort to legalize cannabis in Michigan,please visit: www.repealtoday.org
Andy S.
10:13 am on Friday, April 6, 2012
I just don't get it. We've been paying cops and customs agents to fight this stuff. People are killing each other over it. Everybody that wants it has got it. Prohibition does not work. Taxation and strict regulation should be put in place. They should be able to sell the stuff at any licensed outlet. They should be able to sell the stuff at a liquor store, right next to the vodka. It does basically the same thing.
Oh and by the way... I don't smoke... I just don't see why we don't loosen up a little bit and let people do what they want to do. Think of the taxes we are loosing and the costs of fighting the war on pot.
Dave
1:18 pm on Sunday, April 8, 2012
I agree with you up to a point Andy. It is a complete waste of money to continue the prohibition we now have against all drugs and legalization of marijuana would be a good test case to see if the law enforcement can change according to the changing laws. We the people have already stated that we wanted Medical marijuana to be legalized, we even set some ground rules as to how much a patient or grower could have in their possession. Ground rules which are completely unrealistic in my opinion... but ground rules none the less. That's where i have an issue with our government, police agencies and even local city councils who have been given a mandate that it is now legal and that it is up to them to come up with their own ways to regulate it. That's where i have an issue with local city councils refusing to address the issue in favor of putting moratoriums and taking a wait and see attitude. They want to wait and see what the next township or city will do and if it works for them... then adopt whatever works rather than coming up with their own plans. That to me is just passing the buck. But on the other hand i can see waiting untill the Michigan supreme court makes some rulings about some issues they will need to consider in their decisions.
The part of your message i don't agree with is the selling of MMJ in party stores, or cannabis for recreational use even. We can already see police can't enforce the laws on the fake stuff now. It would never work for MJ.
Jimmy
10:59 am on Friday, April 6, 2012
I agree with Andy... Ive never smoked pot and don't plan to, but it should be treated like alcohol. Go ahead, smoke it...have a blast...just don't get behind the wheel of a car afterwards. Marijuana is not detrimental to society. Crack, heroine, and stuff like that are.
Dave
1:38 pm on Sunday, April 8, 2012
I agree with both of you that it should be legalized. Regulating like alcohol or tobacco would be a sensible way to do it. I'd even go one step further and since when it is legalized it would be age restricted that it should be sold only in tobacco or retail stores selling alcohol only. It would make it much easier for police to enforce the laws if we restricted the sales to only legally liscensed drug stores first before we even thought about making dispensaries.. which i don't agree with either. I can see no rationalizion for them in the MMMA, and I don't like the idea of copying Steve D's model here in michigan. Who by the way is not in favor of legalization for recreational use according to what he has said in his movies. I just don't like the model of dispensaries for many reasons. Mainly because the people who are profiting from them. They are doing so only because it is still illegal and there is still a black market which affords them premium prices without the risks. I've got no special favor for those drug dealers over any other who wants MJ kept illegal for their own profit motives. If marijuana were truly legalized for medicinal use and a legal distribution system set up from the growers to the sellers to the patients, then the costs of legal production would be pennies per ounce instead of dollars.
I'm in favor of full legalizaion.. but i still need to see that the police can handle the laws that we already have on what's already legal. They can't!
DJG
3:17 pm on Monday, April 9, 2012
I would agree with you Rick, it needs to be legalized and regulated like alcohol.
I disagree it's a harmless/violence lacking drug.
Because of it being illegal...violence, guns and deaths bring a lot of marji to our streets.
Just because Athletes do it, get caught with it...etc. does NOT make it right. Many athletes are total pieces of garbage off the field of play, regardless of sport.
Ryan Leaf is an example of pain killers. Piece of garbage. Warren Sapp just filed Chapter 7 because he couldn't pay the IRS or for his kids child support? What does this have to do with Pot? Nothing...that's my point. Leave athletes, senators and other public figures out of it. They are not helping the case because you'll never see a GOOD headline of a public figure with POT, only bad.
It should be legalized...but your reasoning is a bit off...
Dave
11:36 am on Saturday, April 14, 2012
DJG.. where does the plant get the blame for the violence? That's like saying alcohol was the cause of St valentines day massacre, not the prohibition of it. It is the criminalization of the plant that causes the cartels, gangs, drug dealers and police to commit violent acts.. not the plant itself. MJ actually has the reputation of making people lazy and unmotivated.. not violent. It's the exact opposite of what you might think.
I'm not going to say that just because athletes use it that it's ok either. The way i read the article is it is pointing out that people who get busted come from all walks of life, and some are even famous. You are right that you'll never see a good headline of a public official or athlete that is using it. There are reasons for that too. It's because the media gets paid to run anti-marijuana shows and PSA's.. so, it wouldn't make much sense for them to report anything positive about it. It'd be counter productive. They'd loose too much advertising money if they did.
I am glad that you do see that it should be legalized though. You don't have to like using it yourself to see how much damage keeping it illegal causes. It is this war on citizens who self medicate that causes the violence and crime and puts the MJ in our schools for the kids to purchase.. not the plant itself.
Ronald Wolf
3:53 am on Saturday, April 14, 2012
So many drugs with dangerous side effects have their origins in herbal plants. My concern is for those in intractable pain, those with terminal illness who crave a respite they can control. This drug is not for those who are young and healthy.
Just as tobacco can cause cancer, pot possibly could lead to permanent brain damage and should be restricted to prescription until it is studied fully.
Dave
11:00 am on Saturday, April 14, 2012
Alot of drugs have some origin in some plant. The rain forest is full of plants, yet to be discovered that can be used for medicines. I know of a group down in panama that has listed over 200 medicinal plants and trees so far that are native to that country. There are even alot here in the US which most people don't pay any attention to.. you can look em up in a website called plants for a future. It lists every plant known and it's uses, whether as medicine or food or clothing or building materials etc. It's a good site for those wanting to learn about plants and their uses.
Now the dangerous side effects.. well let's see what they are pushing on TV.. there's drugs that'll make you walk in your sleep, have bloody noses, or crap your pants.. just listen to the side effects they name off on one of the commercials for "legal" drugs that they push on TV. Yep those are dangerous too. Guess you gotta take the bad with the good if you want any relief.
You are wrong though on the permanent brain damage statement. I'd like to know where you came up with that one? If you elaborate a little more i might be able to figure out what you're talking about there. As for it being a cancer cause just like tobacco I would of tended to believe it myself if i didn't know better.. it would make sense that anything smoked would do some damage. But, studies have even shown that it can be usefull in fighting cancers. Not the THC part.. but cannabaloids that don't even get you high.
Ronald Wolf
8:17 pm on Sunday, April 15, 2012
Don't bogart while you read Dave. I said "possible" brain damage, and "needs to be studied". Observational evidence in cultures where smoking herb is common points to lassitude, and a general slowing of the mental precesses man. Real potheads have so much of the crud in their lungs it only takes them a couple of tokes to get high. The roach which where most of the THC is concentrated you know, but that is also where most of the most toxic and carcinogenic tars are deposited. About twelve times the amount in your average Kool cigarette (old hippies could always be spotted smoking kool, or Salem).
Pot to my knowledge has never put anyone in a hospital, or in an insane asylem, but it MAY contribute to mental changes not YET thoroughly researched. As to why weed has not been thoroughly researched the answers are obvious. It makes no money for the drug companies and never will unless its licensed and regulated.
A Canadian study came up with the supposition that today's grass has had the beneficial cannabaloids bred out of it while adding to the THC part.. Todays buds are not Mr.Naturals marijuana, or the kind that was stashed behind the couch fifty years ago.
Dave
11:07 am on Monday, April 16, 2012
LOL.. i've never been accused of bogarting before! I haven't even heard anyone say that in at least a decade... now the more common saying is "puff, puff, pass" which is a little more subtle way to tell someone to quit hogging the joint.
And you did say "possible" which is why i thought you may have had some study which would provide more information on it. I still remember the old readers digest articles which used to claim the same possible damage.. but of course none of it was ever based on any actual study because back then no one was allowed to do any testing of any kind because the MJ itself was illegal. The U.S. studies for the most part have only come about since it was legalized for medicinal use. And I'm all in agreement for doing as much studying as they possibly can to determine both the beneficial uses and the detrimental effects. We don't get that with the fake weed they sell as incense.. no testing whatsoever.. and I know some of those ingredients are used to make insecticides out of. How is that right? Where we differ is on the criminalization of something, be it MJ or salt, or alcohol; just because it may be over used or misused. You're smart enough to know smoking is just one way to use this product. When they do legalize it for everyone i'll be the first one on the market with MJ butter. You'll find it in every drug and grocery store right along side of the beer coolers. But untill then I'll just keep putting the crud in my lungs.
Dave
12:09 pm on Monday, April 16, 2012
Ronald.. I can see where you're coming from now. It should be kept illegal because it hasn't been proven to be absolutely safe. My view is the opposite, it should be legalized because it has a long history of as you say it "never putting anyone in the hospital." My argument is that there is no evidence to show it to be any worse than any of the other legal drugs and it should not be held to a higher standard. Not only can they not prove it's worse.. they can't even prove it's as dangerous. We have drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, incense and prescription drugs which are far worse for a person to use, and yet those are legal. Whether they're properly regulated and enforced or not is another story, but, they are far worse. The problem as i see it is that when we do make new laws we don't follow thru with enforcement of those regulations. As the police will tell you themselves they have regulations against selling that incense stuff to children and yet 50% of the high school students report that they or someone they know have tried it. That looks to me like someone is dropping the ball on the enforcement side. After all there is no black market in incense yet.. they know where the stores are that sell it. We can't keep making everything illegal when they can't control what they already have illegal. They're just losing more ground.
On the cannabaloids being bred out.. as a plant breeder i tell you they can also be bred back in. FYI they've also bred hemp without THC