America's Love-Hate History with Pot

With a New CBS News Poll Finding 41% Now Support Legalization, CBSNews.com Examines Changing Views of Marijuana in the U.S.

(CBS) 
The anti-marijuana laws toughened up with the passage of the Boggs Act in 1951, enacted with the same justification that New York City invoked a generation earlier -- that while marijuana was not addictive, it could invite users to switch to heroin. First time offenders could receive up to five years in jail. For second-timers, the range was between five and ten years, while third-time offenders could wind up sitting in prison between ten to twenty years.

This federal act increased penalties for drug violators -- marijuana newly included -- and the individual states followed Uncle Sam's lead. But it was the return of the stepping stone thesis which made headlines. Once again, testimony surfaced linking marijuana with harder narcotics, and Anslinger returned to the microphone to sound more alarm bells.

"The danger is this," Anslinger said. "Over 50 percent of these young addicts started on marijuana smoking. They started there and graduated to heroin. They took the needle when the thrill of marijuana was gone."

As the Beat Generation discovered its voice after World War II, it nonetheless remained a dangerous time to be caught with a joint. The hipsters remained a distinctly small minority, and movies like "High School Confidential" (1958) depicted marijuana infiltrating a small town high school. Marijuana possession was considered a felony in all 50 states punishable by punitive prison terms.

But social upheaval loomed. When the youth counterculture emerged in the 1960s, its embrace of drugs forced lawmakers and police to deal with a sudden demographic change: Marijuana was no longer a problem confined to Hispanics and blacks. The sons and daughters of the white middle class were also toking up, and in significant numbers.

Although public opinion was slow to catch up to the shift -- only 15 percent of the American people polled in a Gallup poll at the time favored marijuana legalization -- by the end of the decade, the laws recognized the difference between marijuana and more dangerous narcotics.

Taking stock of the chronology of events in February 1970, the New York Times noted: "The problem has begun to come home to roost -- in all strata of society... suddenly, the punitive, vindictive approach was touching all classes of society. And now the most exciting thing that's really happening is the change in attitude by the people. Now we have a willingness to examine the problem as to whether it's an experimentation, or an illness rather than an 'evil.'"

In subsequent years, the push behind marijuana legalization began to receive broader support. It was even supported by conservative icon William F. Buckley, who argued that the war against pot was wasting time and money.

"Most transgressors caught using marijuana aren't packed away to jail, but some are, and in Alabama, if you are convicted three times of marijuana possession, they'll lock you up for 15 years to life," he warned in 2004.

Gradually, but consistently, social acceptance of marijuana continued to climb. By the 1980s, over 80 percent of high school students said they had easy access to marijuana. By 1988, no less an authority than the Drug Enforcement Administration's administrative law judge, Francis Young, concluded that "marijuana may well be the safest psychoactive substance commonly used in human history."

As they do each April 20, when pot enthusiasts gather for so-called "smoke-out" events around the nation, the pro-legalization movement points to the greater acceptance of marijuana use as a harbinger of legal changes. Keith Stroup, founder of the marijuana legalization organization NORML, earlier this year told CBS News.com that "within 5 years we're going to stop arresting responsible marijuana smokers in this country."

Meanwhile, medical marijuana initiatives have carried the day in several states, including California, Washington, Hawaii, Oregon, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada and Maine. And even though federal law continues to prohibit smoking marijuana even for medicinal purposes, the Obama administration has said it would no longer send federal police to conduct armed raids against dispensaries in states where voters have legalized medical marijuana.

As for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use: So far, most politicians seem wary of the topic, and are being more conservative in their public statements than polls would suggest.

When Mr. Obama, who has admitted to smoking pot, held a virtual town hall meeting in March, tens of thousands of Americans voted via the Internet on questions that he should be asked. Marijuana legalization was by far the most popular topic, with questions such as this one: "What are your plans for the failing, 'War on Drugs', that's sucking money from tax payers and putting non-violent people in prison longer than the violent criminals?"

The president's answer: "No, I don't think this is a good strategy to grow our economy."

"If (politicians) weren't congenital cowards, they would do it. But nobody wants to be the first to jump into the pool," said Jack Woehr, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress three times in Jefferson County, Colorado, where he argued that marijuana decriminalization is a civil rights question. "I think it will happen in the next six years. Somebody's going to do it, and the politicians will discover that the other side simply doesn't care that much."

Another impetus that has been prompting calls for legalization is the lingering disparities in the legal treatment of affluent users who have tried marijuana -- and poorer Americans arrested on drug possession charges who are unable to navigate the legal system.

Nationwide, police arrested over 820,000 people for marijuana possession as of 2006, according to FBI statistics, or one arrest every 38 seconds. Even in famously liberal San Francisco, possession of greater than 28.5 grams of cannabis is punishable by up to six months in jail, and racial and wealth disparities remains an issue.

Carol Ruth Silver, a former Freedom Rider who served on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors for more than a decade, had worked with the local sheriff's department as director of prisoner legal services until earlier this year. But in February, she resigned her post over frustration that prisoners are still being incarcerated on charges of felony possession of marijuana.

Silver said: "I had never seen or fully understood how totally wrong and unjust laws are that are keeping vast numbers of people in jail for exactly the same behavior that our presidents, law students and judges have engaged in -- which is the recreational use of drugs. Some people get caught and wind up in jail. Some people wind up in the White House. It became very difficult for me to have to look at somebody and say, 'You're in jail for something that I did and my friends did and the president did -- but you have to stay here when I walk out the door.'"

[nostraden]

Trying to LEGALIZE this DRUG.......That you SMoke or shoot up...But NI SMOKING CIGARETTES...hmmmmmmmmmmm Talk about an UPSIDE DOWN COUNTRY....

[nostraden]

Hey weeds good Like ALCOHOL right ? Just dont SMOKE CIGARETTES the PASSIVE SMOKE KILLS EVERYONE right ????? WRONG

[ellensmithee]

Who hates weed?
Only people who have never tried it.
People who have smoked it know it's no threat to society.
And it's a shame our industries can't utilize its many great properties.

God knows it's much, much safer than alcohol.

[sphinx1919]

You know it is quite hilarious, how the people who do market a product that surpasses gold in price ounce for ounce,along with the federal government do not want prohibition to end either. Why is that?

1.)Prohibition WILL NEVER WORK.

2.) The government doesn't want to hurt the big bucks from pharmecuetical companies that are so afraid of a plant giving so many resources in the terms of medicine. "Oh no son nature cannot provide for you the fine quality of drugs we have here at pfizer. We have degrees and lobbyist, that "devil weed" uses a deadly concoction of photosynthesis.

3.) If prohibition ended thats money out of their pocket. growers trying to compete with factories turning out perfectly rolled J's. Oh no let the madness continue (haha, price goes up.) and whom do you think puts that kind of power into the business...it is a direct decent from you guessed it the prohibition of marijuana via the U.S. Government. The Government are the ones who create ANY violence or criminal action surrounding cannabis, NOT THE FLOWERING PLANT CALLED MARIJUANA.

4.)Because the Federal government has wasted so much money portraying these fabricated lies about Cannabis that it just simply could not go against that.

NOTE:Government of the United States...YOU ARE WRONG!!!

[fred2258]

The Last Word
By John Silveira
Backwoods Home Magazine
www.backwoodshome.com




Let prisoners get high on marijuana

Anyone who reads this column knows I don?t think drugs should be illegal. I?m not saying I want to take them, because I don?t. I?m just saying that what you want to do with your own body is your own business and not the state?s nor your neighbor?s. The primary reason the United States imprisons a greater proportion of its own citizens than any other is because of drug laws. Make most, if not all, drugs legal and the prisons will empty out. In fact, the price of drugs will plunge so far that you won?t have to steal to buy an ?eighth? of weed any more than you have to rob or burgle to buy a six-pack of beer.

Speaking of prisons, I?ve been watching documentaries on The History Channel, National Geographic, and others about American prisons and prisoners. Prisons are very violent places. I wouldn?t want to be in one, not as a guard, not as an inmate. Then it suddenly dawned on me what the solution to prison violence could be: Let those who are incarcerated smoke marijuana, as in weed, pot, grass, maryjane, cannabis, etc. Let ?em smoke as much as they want. All day! Twenty years? Hey, do the time calmly. What do we care. Let ?em grow it in their cells.

What would a prison full of pot smokers be like? As many others have pointed out, when some guy?s about to rob a bank, beat his wife, or steal a car, the drug he?s going to take is a drink of alcohol, not a puff of pot. A puff of pot and all the plans go up in smoke. Stoners I?ve known want to socialize, not victimize. Inmates will be sitting around ?zoning??moving slowly, talking slowly. Many will just want to sleep.

The story of Clyde, the poker player

When I was young and playing lots of poker, drunks were tolerated in the game as long as they didn?t slow it down. Drunks lost their money. But stoners? I hated them at the table. They couldn?t lose their money fast enough to make up for the time they wasted. All they wanted to do was talk, socialize, or stare off into space. They couldn?t focus on the business at hand. Everything slowed down. I figured in the games I ran, hands were dealt at about 20 to 30 hands per hour. More hands meant more money for me. But one stoner in the game slowed it to about seven hands an hour?one hand every 8½ minutes. It killed my hourly earnings.

One guy who frequented our game often showed up stoned. Each time the action came around to him he had to have everything explained to him again.

?Your bet, Clyde ....Clyde, your bet ...CLYDE!?

?Huh??

?Your bet.?

Who?s in??

I?d patiently explain to him what each player had done before him?who had checked, bet, called, folded, or raised. He?d stare at his hand for several seconds, examine his cards carefully, then he?d ask, ?What?s the game??

I?d tell him.

?Who bet??

Again, I?d go through who had checked, bet, called, folded, or raised. He?d call, then resume socializing or staring.

There?d be cards drawn, or another stud card dealt, or a community card flopped, and then the next betting round of the hand began. The action would get back to him, and I?d say, ?Clyde, your bet ...Clyde ...CLYDE!?

?What?s up, man??

?The bet?s to you.?

He?d look around the table. ?Who bet??

I?d take a deep breath and go through the entire process once more. I?d even have to tell him, again, what the game was. Too many games of seven stud, with all of its betting rounds, made for a long night.

The downside is fat prisoners

In a poker game a guy like Clyde, when stoned, is exasperating. But if I were a prison guard, a warden, or especially if I were a fellow prisoner, that?s what I?d want around me or occupying the next cell?guys like Clyde. Nice, slow inmates afflicted with logorrhea.

The downside? About the only things I can think of is that prisoners would exercise less, eat more, and gain weight. So what! The food bill would be going up on far fewer inmates. And gang warfare? Stoners aren?t violent. Most would just want to socialize and satisfy the maryjane-induced munchies.

I know someone?s going to say people will be committing crimes just to go to jail for the free weed. But I don?t believe it. I don?t know anyone who?d willingly go to prison, with the exception of some who have already been in so long that they?re capable of nothing other than institutionalized lives. And even if there are some, don?t worry. As I said, decriminalize drugs and there will be plenty of room for the few who think a nice way to spend what remains of their three score and ten is in a six-by-eight concrete condo.

You think I?m joking? Irresponsible? Insane? I?m not.

Legalize marijuana and we?ll empty our prisons, and those violent people who do end up there will be more docile, making the prisons safer for both inmates and guards.

But for the love of Pete, whatever we do, let?s keep it illegal to smoke the stuff at poker games.

[Chris44pot]

I am a 49 year old man and I have chosen to use marijuana continually as an adult starting since age 9. I find that the more correct term of cannabis is seldom used. I consider it an anti-Catholic, anti-Mexican slang term which is involved with the disqualification of Americans like myself who made a 34 minute movie in high school in Pittsford, NY, in 1976, and was denied by the high school to even enter my film in a competition in Buffalo, NY, for a scholarship. I was told years later by a local friend who worked in TV, that if my film had been entered, "I would of had a house bigger than his." Although, my only intention was to facilitate a scholarship to be a film editor in Radio/TV and pay for my education. I also worked to decriminalize marijuana in NY state standing on street corners in all weather conditions, but marijuana was decriminalized on Sept. 1, 1978, upto 7/8th's of an ounce. President Jimmy Carter tried to federally decriminalize up to 2 ounces Federally unsuccesfully. Possibly this is because most American states have reclassified marijuana over time from a narcotic to a hallucinogen to, currently, a mild euphorant, however, I do not believe this is in the international language of the laws of the United Nations which are primarily involved in International traffic controls. The easy way would of been to legalize cannabis by import only ,having no production, advertisement, or resale in the US. The UK has completely decriminalized cannabis and permits full medical marijuana potential. The United States must not continue schizophrenic policies which have backed it into a corner which now must be addressed again with locality and medical cannabis compound problems. The Federal change would permit the cost of law enforcement/interdiction to be discontinued and no law enforcement agency loses when the American system continues to assert itself to its advantage. Full legalization without limit of amount which involves traffic or sale is the last option. We cannot continue this ignorance into the next century. The developing world has limited its childbirth rate and reforestation in many Middle Eastern and Eurasian states and does not need to continue the industrially and falsely societal prohibitions implaced by American Statesmen primarily since the 3rd decade of the 20th century.

[Chris44pot]

I am a 49 year old man and I have chosen to use marijuana continually as an adult starting since age 9. I find that the more correct term of cannabis is seldom used. I consider it an anti-Catholic, anti-Mexican slang term which is involved with the disqualification of Americans like myself who made a 34 minute movie in high school in Pittsford, NY, in 1976, and was denied by the high school to even enter my film in a competition in Buffalo, NY, for a scholarship. I was told years later by a local friend who worked in TV, that if my film had been entered, "I would of had a house bigger than his." Although, my only intention was to facilitate a scholarship to be a film editor in Radio/TV and pay for my education. I also worked to decriminalize marijuana in NY state standing on street corners in all weather conditions, but marijuana was decriminalized on Sept. 1, 1978, upto 7/8th's of an ounce. President Jimmy Carter tried to federally decriminalize up to 2 ounces Federally unsuccesfully. Possibly this is because most American states have reclassified marijuana over time from a narcotic to a hallucinogen to, currently, a mild euphorant, however, I do not believe this is in the international language of the laws of the United Nations which are primarily involved in International traffic controls. The easy way would of been to legalize cannabis by import only ,having no production, advertisement, or resale in the US. The UK has completely decriminalized cannabis and permits full medical marijuana potential. The United States must not continue schizophrenic policies which have backed it into a corner which now must be addressed again with locality and medical cannabis compound problems. The Federal change would permit the cost of law enforcement/interdiction to be discontinued and no law enforcement agency loses when the American system continues to assert itself to its advantage. Full legalization without limit of amount which involves traffic or sale is the last option. We cannot continue this ignorance into the next century. The developing world has limited its childbirth rate and reforestation in many Middle Eastern and Eurasian states and does not need to continue the industrially and falsely societal prohibitions implaced by American Statesmen primarily since the 3rd decade of the 20th century.

[sugar_maple]

You can go and drink "energy" drinks which can give you a heart attack if you drink too many. You can drink a bottle of 190 proof liquor and kill yourself or someone else. You can buy an AK-47. You can smoke cigarettes until your lungs are full of cancer. You can buy toys made in China that have lead paint. You can order a fast food meal at Burger King and clog your arteries. You can go the the doctor and get prescribed a box full of pills if you tell them all your problems.


BUT you still can't legally smoke a bong, joint, spliff, eat a brown or cookie, or use a vaporizer with cannabis.

Now you tell me what is wrong? It sure the hell isn't marijuana.

Thank you CBS for this unbiased look at cannabis.

Legalize, regulate, and CONTROL cannabis finally.

[dragon8me]

Your survey suggest that 41% are for legalizing cannabis. Surveys depend on who you ask, a small sample of people and where you ask. Recent surveys on the west coast suggest 90-95% in favor. Another thing, some people are too affraid to admit they've even tried it and some may be affraid to admit they are in favor of legalizing it. When it comes to surveys like these the error is always going to be less in favor than actually feel that way.
Something else to consider, the demise of the family farm started with the prohibition of hemp. There we're other factors of course but between this and other government controls like subsidies have led to less families being able to keep their farms.
One more thing, go to Jack herer's site and check out his book "The Emporer Wears No Clouths".

[MalloryDavis]

Oregon James...You're the MAN!