The people at Legalize.org asked me to write a guest editorial. Here it is:
As marijuana activists, we often find ourselves in arguments with drug warriors and other prohibitionists about our government’s drug policies. We arm ourselves with every fact and study we can download from the Schaffer Library and other sources. We stride forth secure in the feeling that we’ve got the logic and science on our side. We just know that if only they knew that marijuana never killed anyone, if they knew that arrests for simple possession are fueling our world record prison population, if they knew cannabis was an effective medicine for so many ailments, if they knew you could make houses, paper, food, engine fuel, and so many other items out of hemp — if they only knew the facts, they’d see why marijuana should be legal.
This is the critical mistake we make: assuming that prohibition has anything to do with facts, science, or logic. Marijuana prohibition is all about emotion, fear, and control. It began as racist fears about weed-smoking Mexicans taking our jobs in the Depression. It continued to flourish because of fearmongering and mania about Negro jazz musicians seducing the white women and teenagers gone mad on reefer. It exists to this day as a method of controlling a certain segment of the population, insuring a steady stream of cheap prison labor, and protecting entrenched big business interests.
To argue with a prohibitionist with facts, science, and logic to explain why marijuana should be legal is to cede the notion that there should be a debate as to which plants should be forbidden. The first thing I do when arguing with a drug warrior is to shift the topic to arguing about why marijuana should remain illegal. Force them to defend the indefensible position. To so many, it is just a given that “marijuana is bad so it is illegal”, then we are forced to explain why marijuana is not bad. Make them defend the status quo. Their attempt to do so puts the topic in the frame of criminalizing a plant rather than defending a policy.
Just ask this: “why is marijuana illegal?” Maybe you’ll get the response of “because it is a Schedule I drug.” Be persistent — “no, that’s the statute that describes the crime… I’m wondering why we have that statute?” Maybe they go toward the “it’s a dangerous drug” route — now you hit them with the “no one dies from marijuana” fact. Maybe they go toward the “we must protect the children” cliche — so hit ’em with how we protect kids from tobacco and alcohol. Maybe they go for “it’s a gateway drug” — show them how nearly every heroin addict cites tobacco or alcohol as the first drug they ever tried.
The main point is that to the mainstream, marijuana prohibition is a fact of life and those of us trying to change that are presenting the mainstream with what they’ll see as a radical, absurd, dangerous change. By forcing the prohibitionist to answer very simple, specific questions in defense of the status quo, their own statements will appear to most people as radical, absurd, and dangerous. Most people know the kid who smokes a joint isn’t likely to go on a murderous “reefer madness” rampage. Remember, 90 million Americans have tried marijuana at least once in their life – force the prohibitionist into statements that run counter to people’s own experiences and the prohibitionist will undercut his own arguments.
I have two nuggets of wisdom that I constantly impart to people outside of the movement. One is a quote from the late comedian Bill Hicks, who said, “Why is marijuana against the law? It grows naturally on our planet! Doesn’t the idea of making nature against the law seem to you a bit… unnatural?” I follow that up with a mental picture: “Imagine walking through the forest. It’s a hot summer day and you’ve got a sunburn. You see an aloe vera plant. You break off a stalk and rub some of the gel on your shoulders to ease the sunburn pain. Two policemen jump out from behind a bush and arrest you, charging you with possession of aloe vera. You ask them why this is even a crime, and they tell you it is because when people use it, it makes them feel good.” This little vignette brings the listener back to considering how absurd it is to criminalize nature.
The other scenario I use is to ask people, “Suppose time travel is possible and we can send someone back to Colonial America. How would you explain to Thomas Jefferson the reasons behind criminalizing hemp in the 21st century?” It’s really fun listening to a drug warrior run with that one, especially if you have good knowledge of Jefferson’s ideals, his farming of hemp, the colonial mandate to grow hemp, and the fact that the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written on hemp. Get into character and give them Jefferson’s reaction to their points.
So remember, facts, science, and logic are great, but they get you nowhere until you’ve broken through most people’s cherished fears and ignorance about the plant. Once marijuana is seen as a common flower instead of a dangerous drug, the rest of the prohibitionist’s arguments are toast.
“Radical” Russ Belville
Webmaster, Boardmember
Oregon NORML
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