Everyone, you know how much I hate to give up the microphone - but I have found this piece and wanted to share it with you. The following was written by Sirc Michaels, a playwright and marijuana law reform activist. I'm not sure when the rest of it will be written, but I have been assured a second installment is on the way - and I will gladly put it up for you to read. - Nathan
I’m going to list here my suggestions and ideas for the future. I know most people will have varying views on how things should be, or how they should be done, but I cannot help but share with you the thoughts that have been filling my head lately.
First of all, marijuana law reform activists need to come together and realize that what they are fighting for is greater than simply the right to smoke pot, avoid harsh sentences, or ease their medical woes. Marijuana is a harmless plant that, when ingested into the system, makes a person feel good. Some people may argue that marijuana can cause a person to feel paranoid, or that it makes a person sluggish. That is true, at times. It is also true that drinking alcohol can cause a person to become violent, can eat away the liver, and can eventually kill its user. Marijuana can’t. In all the studies done on marijuana, there have been found no serious long term effects. In fact, there are benefits.
But whether or not marijuana eases nausea or drives people insane isn’t the issue. The issue is that rights have been taken away from us, and then anyone who smokes it has been targeted as an enemy of the country.
You may say “An enemy of the country?! Get real!” But I say yes, and enemy of the country. There are billions of dollars every year that are pumped into our law enforcement agencies with the hope that the additional money will help clean out the junkies. There are men in riot gear that carries rifles that will descend on your house and drag you away if they so desire. In the minds of some people, marijuana smokers are burglarizing, raping, mindless junkies who are ruining our country and need to be rooted out. Do they have any fact to base this on? No. But they do have a lot of propaganda from the government.
So what do we do? We go public. Not only that, we demand our right to enjoy marijuana without recourse from the government. We have suffered at the hands of our government long enough. We are the artists, the farmers, the sick, the elderly, the children, the college students, the hippies, the degenerates, the politicians, the civil servants, the police officers, the immigrants that have seen the stupidity of wasting so much money on a failing system.
We need to change things. And we need to change them soon. If we sit around, I guarantee you that things will only get worse. If you thought it was an uphill battle before September 11th, just wait until everyone gets their breathe back.
We need funding to put ads on television. We need to make a large effort to educate Americans.
Someone said that writing letters to the editors of local newspapers didn’t accomplish enough. (I am paraphrasing) Well, then make some suggestions.
I see Orwell’s 1984 looming over us, and I don’t like it one bit. I’ve given over enough of my rights. And so have you.
There was once a prohibition on alcohol. During that time, people were allowed to make enough for themselves, and if you were caught drunk the consequences were less than they are even right now. We need to make other civil liberties groups realize that this is a good fight, a worthy fight, one that shouldn't even have to take place. We need to get the support of more groups. Somehow, we MUST network together. All these little groups – NORML, MPP & all the others need to share info and ideas. We are all working towards the same goal.
The War on Drugs is only one symptom of a larger problem. The problem is a total disregard for the rights of the average person in this country. Elitists are given top priority. The American Royalty (ie celebrities) are held to a different set of standards that we are. Look at Robert Downey Jr! Jesus! I begrudge the man absolutely nothing. But what if he were an average four-time offender? He’d never see the light of day again.
I constantly get the word out about marijuana reform, I write newspapers across the country and the world all the time. I am on various discussion lists. I tell people at work.
You may not want to take that much of a part in this. Maybe it doesn’t bother you enough that we are being labeled by our government as criminals. You may not realize this, but if you smoke pot you are a criminal. You can go to jail. If you have a plant in your house, you can lose all of your possessions, including your children, and go to jail for a very long time. You’ll be sitting with murderers, rapists, and true criminals who know how to victimize someone.
If you smoke pot or grow it, you have no choice but to help out. If you’d like to see things changed, you need to do more than talk about it. If you want to see certain effects, you must initiate certain causes. It is the way our universe works.
Don’t expect the rest of us to carry your burden while you cry about being harrassed by police. A letter is the easiest tool we have at our disposal. If all of us actually used it, it would be very effective indeed!
Our country seems to be constantly at odds with itself. There are any number of topics that will immediately spark heated arguments. The players in this battle are often referred to as ‘Liberals’ and ‘Right Wingers’. This is a misperception. It is as negligent as saying all black people listen to rap, or all rich people have maids. It is a stereotype. Stereotypes are probably one of our biggest hurdles in this issue, and as human beings. When it is engrained into your head that someone will behave a certain way in a certain set of circumstances, it is hard to think they may act otherwise. You may say ‘I never stereotype!’ You may never think about it, but it happens. It can’t help but happen. It is part of our social conditioning.
What we need to do, then, is not worry about what ‘kind’ of person we are approaching. We just need to approach them and talk to them. We need to make people sympathetic to our cause. How do you do this?
1. By sharing information. Show people every group and organization that has published material supporting marijuana law reform. Have those materials on hand in case someone wishes to see them for themselves, or in case you need to quote from them
2. Offer alternatives to The Drug War. There must be a discussion on how to change things. We talk and bitch so often about how marijuana users are treated, but we haven’t really talked about what our other options are. This is essential to success. There are many people who may support one position on marijuana reform but not another. We need to make sure that any changes are as open as possible, and allow for the most freedom. Anything less would not be a compromise. It would be an insult.
3. Make people aware of the history of marijuana and hemp, and the roots of marijuana prohibition as a tool for use against ‘undesirables’, the Chinese, and blacks. There are several excellent pieces written that detail these events. Always remember to know what laws were in place and who supported them.
4. Tell them to look for themselves. With all of the resources we have at our fingertips, people are as lazy as ever. We need to encourage people to find information for themselves and share it. Intelligent discussion and debate is the way to bring this issue into the open. Give people the basics so they can go after the rest on their own.
I’m sure there is more, but I just wanted to jot down a few thoughts – not draft a manifesto.
It seems to me that above all, America is supposed to be about freedom. Freedom to choose your god, freedom to live your life however you want, freedom to pursue happiness however you wish to.
It is also evident to me that certain leaders in political circles and religious circles think that this means as long as we all agree with them and want what they want.
These narrow-minded people are mistaken and, in fact, are pushing anti-American agendas unbeknownst to them. America was made ‘for you and me’. Not for you and me, as long as we’re both of same religion, morality, and heterosexual.
Government cannot determine the behavior of a people. Only people can – and the society in which they live. There are crimes, and crimes should be illegal. These include murder, rape, acts of violence in general, theft. However, the WAY a person lives their life cannot be justified or outlawed by the government. If two men wish to marry, that is their right. Why? Because this is America. If you don’t like it, argue about it. But don’t you shouldn’t be able to get backing from our government to prevent it.
If a person wishes to smoke marijuana, that is their right. Why? Because this is America. In America we let people have their vices and be responsible for their own actions. If they can’t handle what they do with their body, they can go to a rehab center.
If they commit a crime to support a drug habit, blame them. Blame their irresponsibility. Do not blame the drug. If I am drunk and I run someone over, is it any worse or better than if I were sober? Why should there be additional charges? The fact remains that someone was run over with a car.
If I burglarize a house, does it matter if I want to buy drugs with the money or just need to pay my rent? No. Burglary is burglary. There is no difference in the crime and there should be no difference in the punishment.
Accountability is the name of the game, folks. America is steeped in it. Over the last hundred years, as we’ve become lazy and powerful, as our life expectancies have gotten longer, and as we grow accustomed to having our leaders play larger roles in our lives, we have decided that people should not be able to think for themselves. The government should do it for them.
That is a scary, anti-individualistic view of the world. I believe I know what is best for me. Don’t agree? Good. Argue with me. This is America, after all. But don’t ask the government to tell me that it will decide what is best for me. To have our government decree how people should live and pursue their happiness challenges the very principles the country is founded on.
The War on Drugs is wrong because its very premise is wrong. The government cannot but hope to fail when it meddles in social issues. Why? Because wasn’t designed to do so. It was meant to govern, to stay small, for men to work part time in the government and keep farms.
Social issues are best left to churches, hospitals, clinics, and those places best equipped to handle them.
There is more, so much more I wish to write and say on this, but I think I’ll pause for now and send this.