Is It Possible the War on Pot Is on Its Last Legs?

By Nathan Comp, In These Times. Posted April 20, 2009.

As a medley of border violence, recessionary pressure, international criticism and popular acceptance steadily undermines America's decades-long effort to eliminate drugs and drug use, the U.S. movement to legalize marijuana is gaining unprecedented momentum.

Once derided and dismissed by lawmakers, law enforcers and the law-abiding alike, marijuana reform is sweeping the nation, although the federal government appears committed -- at least for the time being -- to largely maintaining the status quo.

A week after Attorney General Eric Holder announced in March that raids on state law-abiding medical marijuana dispensaries would end, the Drug Enforcement Agency effectively shut down a San Francisco dispensary, claiming it violated both state and federal laws.

But to paraphrase Victor Hugo, not even the strongest government in the world can stop an idea whose time has apparently come.

Indeed, support for legalization is at an all-time high, and continues to grow. In 1969, just 12 percent of Americans favored legalizing marijuana, the Holy Grail of cannabis advocates; this number had tripled by 2005, according to a Gallup poll. Barely three years later, another poll showed 44 percent of Americans support legalization.

"If we continue on this curve -- and there is no reason to think we won't -- we'll hit 58 or 60 percent by 2020," says Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "We're seeing also that the government is finally playing catch up with the people."

In February, a California state lawmaker introduced a bill to legalize and tax pot, and marijuana reform bills are being debated in at least 37 other states. (Last November, Massachusetts became the thirteenth state to decriminalize adult possession, while Michigan became the thirteenth state to legalize marijuana for medical use.) All told, more than one-third of Americans now live in a state or city that has legalized medical marijuana or decriminalized its recreational use.

"It's the busiest period for marijuana law reform ever," says St. Pierre. "Legalization is definitely on the political horizon."

Growing Calls for Reform

Arguments for ending the war on weed -- that marijuana is safer than alcohol and that its prohibition leads to violence, exorbitant enforcement costs, billions in lost tax revenue and infringements on civil liberties -- haven't changed much since the 1970s.

But the arguments have taken on unusual gravity over the last year, as drug-fueled violence along the Mexican side of border has excited fears that the carnage and mayhem will spill over into American cities. Testifying before a House panel in March, a top Homeland Security official warned (PDF link) that the cartels now represent America's largest organized-crime threat, having infiltrated at least 230 American cities. Already, police in Tucson and Phoenix have reported a surge in drug-related kidnappings and murders.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently acknowledged that America's "insatiable" appetite for drugs has helped fuel the cartel-related violence. In fact, the Mexican cartels reap as much as 62 percent of their profits -- and derive much of their power -- from American marijuana sales, which total $9 billion annually, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

But Mexican weed represents only a sliver of America's annual cannabis consumption. Each year, Americans spend a whopping $39 billion on domestically grown marijuana, and another $7-10 billion on weed smuggled in from Canada. In short, untaxed and unregulated marijuana is America's -- if not the continent's -- largest cash crop, more valuable than corn and wheat combined, according to DrugScience.org.

The growing sense that America's marijuana policy is more harmful than the plant itself is leading some cash-strapped states to rethink the efficacy of locking up non-violent offenders and consider taxing medical marijuana, despite the federal prohibition on doing so. Several California cities are already taxing medical marijuana sales. Oregon's legislature is debating whether to regulate and tax it as well. (Last year a bill that would have allowed Oregon liquor stores to sell marijuana failed.)

And in the first such step by a state government, New Mexico's Department of Public Health is now overseeing the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana, brushing aside legal concerns that state employees could face federal drug conspiracy charges.

Although marijuana reform has gained little traction in Congress, last year Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) cosponsored a bill to protect medical marijuana patients and decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. "It's no longer just potheads who want this," says Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "We're at the tipping point, in that we're seeing the most sustained discussion ever by media and policymakers."

See more stories tagged with: marijuana, obama, legalization, pot, medical marijuana, decriminalization, holder, weed

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from DrugReporter! Sign up now »