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U.S. States Tried Decriminalizing Pot Before
Posted by CN Staff on December 09, 2017 at 12:47:45 PT
By Emily Dufton 
Source: Time
USA -- In the past five years, eight states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana for adults. Today, 68 million people live in areas where marijuana is treated like alcohol or tobacco. The drug is sold in stores, millions of tax dollars are being raised from its sale, and an increasing number of businesspeople are profiting in this lucrative new industry. Long seen as either a hippie accessory or a dangerous gateway drug, legal marijuana is booming. Pot is so popular that, in 2015, its sales surpassed Girl Scout cookies, Oreos, and Dasani bottled water. By 2026, analysts predict it will match, and eventually outpace, America’s $50 billion wedding industry.
How did this happen? How did marijuana transform from a primary target of Just Say No into something that, according to a recent Gallup poll, 60% of Americans want legalized? The answer lies in five decades’ worth of grassroots activism, in which legions of the drug’s supporters pushed to move marijuana from decriminalization to criminalization to legalization.But, while legalization proponents may declare victory in the war over marijuana today, history shows that the debate is far from settled.In fact, we’ve been here before. Between 1973 and 1978, a dozen states decriminalized the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Pro-pot activists, many of them young veterans of the anti-war and civil-rights movements, argued that marijuana wasn’t as harmful as the government said it was, and that laws against it were unjust. In the era of Watergate and the Pentagon Papers, they built on America’s growing distrust of the government to pass less restrictive marijuana laws at the state level. It worked: by 1978, a third of the country lived in states where marijuana possession warranted little more than a fine.But a multi-million dollar paraphernalia industry followed in decriminalization’s wake. By 1977, sales of pipes, bongs, rolling papers and drug-oriented magazines and toys were generating $250 million a year (equivalent to $1 billion today). There was little to no regulation or oversight on this booming new industry, however. Products that seemed directly targeted to kids — including Frisbees with pipes on them and bongs shaped like spaceships — were sold openly, often in corner shops and music stores.Before long, a counterrevolution unfolded, as an army of concerned parents tied paraphernalia’s availability to rising rates of adolescent marijuana use. By 1978, nine percent of high school seniors reported smoking pot every day, and children as young as 13 reported that the drug was easy to get. The “parent movement” sought to close “head shops” and rescind decriminalization laws, while organizing local groups to prevent adolescent drug use in their communities.By 1981, the parent movement had effectively overturned many state decriminalization laws, and soon it was guiding the new First Lady in her battle against pot. Unpopular when her husband first took office, Nancy Reagan was encouraged by parent activists to adopt adolescent drug-abuse prevention as her platform, and her approval ratings skyrocketed in response. Despite decreasing rates of adolescent use, Reagan and parent activists continued to declare that adolescent marijuana use was nothing less than a “national emergency.” This emphasis on the danger of adolescent drug use helped fuel the administration’s punitive drug war, especially when new laws were passed in the wake of the crack cocaine epidemic in 1986.With the White House behind them, it took less than a decade for parent activists to demonize marijuana nationwide. These activists were powerful because of how effectively they shifted the debate. Whereas pro-marijuana advocates supported decriminalization on the basis of an adult’s right to privacy and freedom, parent activists said that children had a more important right to grow up drug-free. And though many Americans supported decriminalization in the 1970s, once rates of adolescent use started to rise, and when paraphernalia manufacturers sold items to kids, the country’s attitude toward marijuana experienced a swift reversal.Something similar could happen today. Marijuana has experienced a renaissance since the 1990s, when the first medical marijuana laws were passed. Today, 60% of Americans support legalization, and many tie it to calls for social justice. Organizations like the ACLU and authors like Michelle Alexander argue that non-white Americans have been disproportionately incarcerated for nonviolent marijuana crimes, even though blacks and whites use the drug in equal numbers. A rising national insistence on addressing inequity in policing, alongside over two decades of precedent selling marijuana as a medicine, have birthed legalization’s powerful new shift.But the winds could swiftly change. If large numbers of kids start consuming cannabis, or if the industry grows predatory and unmanageable, or if legalization just isn’t the panacea for social justice issues it’s claimed to be, a new anti-marijuana counterrevolution could unfold, just as it did in the 1980s. It will have the support of the current administration, too, since Attorney General Jeff Sessions remains focused on re-criminalizing marijuana even as the country experiences an unprecedented opioid epidemic. If the new legalization industry regulates itself, however, and avoids the pitfalls that befell decriminalization 40 years ago, it may last longer than America’s previous experiment with loosening restrictions on pot.Pro-legalization activists are celebrating the widespread adoption of new marijuana laws, but if history is any guide, declarations of legal marijuana’s permanence may be premature. Still, America’s previous experiments with both legalization and criminalization can provide clues for how to handle the country’s newest legal shift.Emily Dufton is the author of the new book Grass Roots: The Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America.Newshawk: HopeSource: Time Magazine (US)Author: Emily Dufton Published: December 7, 2017Copyright: 2017 Time Inc.Contact: letters time.comWebsite: http://www.time.com/time/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/ViEd3BQ3CannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #8 posted by The GCW on December 12, 2017 at 19:44:21 PT
Way off topic; I apologies. 
Jones a Democrat won the Senate in Alabama taking the seat Sessions held.Beat what I consider an undesirable (twice ousted) person.I don't know what Jones' stance is on cannabis but it's surely better than Sessions and likely better than Moore's Republican beliefs.Marginal gains is a gain.
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Comment #7 posted by Sam Adams on December 12, 2017 at 18:20:51 PT
Coffeeshouses coming to Massachusetts
exciting news today, a tentative plan for coffeehouses has been approved by our regulatory committee - even yoga studios and spashttps://www.leafly.com/news/politics/massachusetts-taking-first-steps-to-allow-cannabis-clubshttp://www.fox25boston.com/news/cannabis-cafes-may-be-in-massachusetts-future/662971063http://www.wbur.org/news/2017/12/12/cannabis-cafes
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Comment #6 posted by Sam Adams on December 11, 2017 at 14:49:39 PT
the author 
is clearly delusional.  HUGE difference between mid-70's and today - almost the entire population has used cannabis, or been exposed to cannabis, and 60% of the population supports repeal (legalization). In the 70's people over age 35 had never used or seen cannabis and only 20% supported legalization.This horse is SO far out of the barn.....never going back in! this is wishful thinking from a fundamentalist right winger. People in Massachusetts have been growing and swapping seeds like crazy, thousands of new gardeners, and we're never going to stop. 
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on December 10, 2017 at 18:58:14 PT
Excuse me... I meant to correct that...
Mr. Ed Forchion is The Weedman. THE Weedman. He's done a lot of good. A lot.
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on December 10, 2017 at 18:56:17 PT
Mr. Ed Forchion
I've been wondering how The Marijuana Man has been doing. As N.J. edges toward legalizing marijuana, a key character in the saga sits in jailhttp://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/as-n-j-edges-toward-legalizing-marijuana-a-key-character-in-the-saga-sits-in-jail-2-20171211.htmlHe is a bold, hard working, and courageous man.
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Comment #3 posted by HempWorld on December 10, 2017 at 12:41:31 PT
How did this happen?
My answer:The internet played a huge role here. Debunking prohibitionists lies and disinformation, people were able to look up the stats themselves and get informed and lastly, the blogs and websites that inform the public about this plant, its many benefits and its rich history which shows us it's all good!
Been here for a long time, now it is our time, finally, truth!
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on December 09, 2017 at 21:27:07 PT
Interesting
How Uruguay made legal highs workhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/10/how-uruguay-made-legal-cannabis-workI enjoyed reading this and gaining insight about Uruguay regarding cannabis and otherwise & want to share it.
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on December 09, 2017 at 18:06:04 PT
I get the point...
Cannabis "is treated like alcohol or tobacco"!IN ACTUALITY, cannabis is not treated like alcohol or tobacco in any location. We've made progress, however, cannabis is treated with discrimination in comparison to those 2 more dangerous substances.-0-"history shows that the debate is far from settled."!IN ACTUALITY, there is no debate. It's settled. There is no sane argument or debate which makes it ok to cage responsible adult Americans who wish to use the relatively safe and extremely popular God-given plant cannabis. -There are only powerful people who have enough control and influence to create and enable such a sinful policy.-0-"authors like Michelle Alexander argue that non-white Americans have been disproportionately incarcerated for nonviolent marijuana crimes, even though blacks and whites use the drug in equal numbers"!IN ACTUALITY, This is NOT something that one individual (Michelle Alexander) argues about; it is a prevalent verifiable fact which most sane citizens acknowledge. -0-Perhaps the point, other than to sell books is to make an argument about cannabis prohibition perhaps not ending.Guess what? IT'S ALREADY OVER, EMILY. WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF CROSSING THE T's AND DOTTING THE I's.
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