Why be NORML?

Cannabis reaching skyward -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Let me preface this article by saying I don't use marijuana. That being said, I'm a socially progressive person who believes in "live and let live". If a crime is victimless, and it's arguable that the perpetrators have not damaged themselves any significant way, I have to wonder why society is so intrusive about it. Cards are on the table, let’s proceed.

I don’t have to tell anybody what marijuana is; it’s the popular herb cannabis that releases a psychoactive chemical called THC when smoked or ingested. It’s been used to that effect since prehistory, but in modern Western society it’s been criminalized and maligned – users can face felony charges for using or selling it. Favorite arguments against it fall along a couple of lines:

ALLEGED DRAWBACKS

Apparently smoking cannabis can draw ammonia, hydrogen cyanide and nitrogen oxide into your lungs. Similar drugs may also be induced by smoking tobacco, though not as concentrated. Cannabis causes no such problems if ingested with food. Other studies indicate that cannabis might lead to anxiety, psychosis and depression. Alcohol, which is legal does the same thing only to a greater extreme and in a shorter period of time. Why the discrepancy?

A second argument frequently given is that cannabis is a "gateway drug". There is no widely accepted study or proof that cannabis leads to harder drugs. Whatever it may lead you to is very similar to the path established by tobacco and alcohol. A study in Europe suggested that cannabis when smoked was indeed a gateway – it led to the smoking of tobacco as well.

WHY BE NORML?

The hypocrisy and double standards surrounding cannabis have confounded progressive people for years. In 1970, the Playboy Foundation seeded a group called NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) with a mere $5000. The organization has grown to 135 chapters, including 550 lawyers. NORML claims that marijuana is the 4th largest cash crop in America, despite 32% of new seedlings being seized each year by drug enforcement. NORML has been credited with medical cannabis being allowed in some limited situations and also the lightening of some sentences related to it. However much work is left to be done. Their latest campaign was a boycott against Kellogg's for dropping Olympian, sometimes toker Michael Phelps as a product spokesperson. This leads us to …

WHO IS NORML?

Politics makes for really strange bedfellows I must say. To look at NORML’s advisory board is to chuckle, nay to laugh outright. I’d love to see one of their meetings. We have: Willie Nelson, Barbara Ehrenreich (feminist author), Woody Harrelson, Bill Maher and Tommy Chong (of Cheech and Chong fame). I’ve read Ehrenreich’s editorials in TIME – she’s kind of an unfunny tight-ass on other things. Who would imagine she likes to get high? Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalist, was a former member – he may not be such a good spokesperson since he offed himself with a shotgun. The other living members are celebrated for their love of the weed, and bringing them together would be a hoot. I can only imagine what the pastries would be.

In conclusion, I can only say there is a certain collective obsessive compulsion with our punishment of cannabis users. We have as a society, such a slight grip on things like abortion, Iraq, gasoline prices and property taxes – we have to clamp down with a vengeance on something that’s “controllable”. Only, is it really that controllable? 4th largest cash crop in America? Why don’t we bring the hammer down on people and situations that actually do harm – and leave Woody and Chong to their own hemp-loving devices.

© 2009 blogSpotter