High Hi.
I am that cannabis law reform agitator with the bizarre net name: "xxdr_zombiexx".
You can call me Doc.
Being a cannabis law reformer means I am a pot smoker, right?
And being a pot smoker means I am a "skeevy loser" who never finished school and has failed to make anything of myself.
Right?
That means I am just like these dudes, right?
Right?
Wrong.
You are supposed to be prejudiced against 'potheads' like me, but I have come to set the record straight.
Yes....I do smoke 'marijuana'. I smoke recreationally: just because I like it and for no other reason.
But I fail to live 'down' to the stereotypes people have - or, more importantly, are supposed to have - of people who "smoke pot".
Ok, I DO have long hair. I had long hair before I ever smoked pot.
I have been to antiwar protests.
I do play a mean guitar and have played in rock bands.
I have delivered pizza.
And I have said "dude" since before I smoked pot.... I don't normally talk like Cheech, or Chong. Or Jeff Spicoli.
I am nearing 50 years old; I graduated from college and from graduate school. I have a master's degree in education and a professional license to practice psychotherapy.
I work all day at my job. I have one of those. I'm not supposed to be cause pot smokers are lazy and unmotivated.
I work with a program to remove people with mental illness from revolving doors of jail and state hospitals. I have spent 25 years in the mental health field, worked for a county government for nearly 10 years. I am a public servant, of sorts - my whole 'professional life' has been in helping families and people suffering from mental illness.
I am not supposed to be a public servant because I am a lazy, selfish "druggie" who only cares about my next buzz, right?
Then I go home: I have one of those. I am not homeless or living with 10 other guys in Partyland. I have a beautiful, awesome wife. I pay taxes. We have cars and belongings.
In short, I am a "citizen" who is productive and an asset to the community.
I am responsible, serious, and....adult.
It feels good to get this off my chest. It's like I have been living a lie.
The stereotype of the 'stoner' is a de facto form of prejudice
One of my favorite ONDCP/The Anti-drug bits was an ad I saw some time ago - with no handy link available - talked about how, if you smoked pot, you'd be that "skeevy loser who hangs out by video game parlors". I had never heard the term "skeevy" before but I gathered it wasn't desirable.
I had been planning this piece for awhile but I recently had a couple odd comments on a couple of my reform pieces that have provided added motivation to write this.
One was an individual blaming Cheech and Chong for 'giving us a bad name'.
Part of my reply to this went like this
[Cheech and Chong] have been made the prejudicial stereotype, and not by you and not by me.Nor did they do it themselves.
I remember them from when they first came out....They were successful BEFORE the loser stereotype was foist upon them.
The republicans have done this through their focus on repressing marijuana culture, whether you are aware of it or not.
And they finance the very expensive propaganda that makes you think this nonsense with YOUR tax money. You pay to be lied to by republicans.
It's also part of the 'dirty fucking hippie' meme they created the denigrate the more positive aspects of the so-called 'hippie movement': Anti-war demonstrations, resisting government nonsense, etc...
Republican incompetence and ideology is directly to blame
It is my very researched opinion that Republicans can be saddled with 'the lion's share' of the blame for why cannabis is STILL illegal, but I am not going to discuss that here.
It is thus integral to the reform effort for the Democratic Party to be the party that corrects this and enjoys the lions share of the credit for doing so. Republicans will never do this.
As America moves 'center-left' cannabis reform discourse has gone mainstream.
Partly the issue is that more people than one might imagine support the sensible reform of ridiculous laws: as the economy drowns in the toilet, people are talking about ending cannabis prohibition for economic gain.
Others, correctly, cite our prohibition laws as nurturing the insane drag war violence in Mexico, which is so bad the people are forming vigilante armies to protect themselves.
All this is related to pot, but it's not funny. It's really, really serious.
Money and the root of "evil"
"Drugs" are not about "eeeeeevil" - they are about money.
All that violence and all the terrible things we hear about "drug dealers" is about money. Massive amounts of it. Billions and billions of dollars.
All of it leaving our economy. Untaxed. Flowing into the pockets of the worst sorts of people you can imagine, nourishing their wealth, subsidizing and rewarding their criminal endeavors.
Their violent, criminal party (called the "Black Market") ends the day America regulates cannabis sales and those interested can buy it legally and locally. The illicit dealers here are SOL as well. It's like a law of physics.
(For those trained to whine about this: People who would still try to sell without the license/tax stamp that will be required will be real criminals because they are directly cheating the government out of money. You KNOW how serious that is. Relax.)
Prejudice is an emotional state maintained with propaganda and ignorance
So republicans used Cheech and Chong and Jeff Spicoli-type images to denigrate pot smokers. To make people look down on us. To make people think we can't do anything, that we wont be able to accomplish anything.
Intellectually you agree with this, I know you do.
But emotionally - deep down - it's not congruent. There's a feeling that it's just not right and that's because we have grown up hearing this noise all our lives. I used to believe it too. I got better.
Carl Sagan hid his pot smokery because he knew he would be subjected to the 'witchhunt mentality' that still exists in this country.
I believe Al Gore's college dorm room often resembled a nuclear cooling tower. No handy link for why I think this. I just do. It makes me respect and like Al Gore MORE.
Micheal Phelps, of course, just crushed the 'skeevy loser" meme. Even though they made him apologize to the whole world, the damage was done: You do not accidentally win 8 Gold Medals.
Nobody makes movies about most pot smokers because there's nothing entertaining about it: normal people doing normal things and living normal, unexciting lives.
So many different types of people in differnt cultures around the world smoke marijuana it makes the "marijuana smoker" label essentially meaningless.
Unless you are ignorant.
Prejudice and ignorance and fear are lifelong friends, always found together.
They are NOT your friends.
Stop hanging out with them.
Good day.
Update [2009-3-7 17:53:36 by xxdr zombiexx]: Thanks and praises for recommending this, everybody!
I want to direct your serious attention to a document that you paid for. It's a pdf file, for those bothered by such:
Congressional Research Service
Report RL33211
Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and
State Policies
Mark Eddy, Domestic Social Policy Division
November 10, 2008
I suggest, in short, that familiarizing yourself with this report (about 50 pages or so) would have you "up to speed" with where this country is in terms of reform, as well as provide you a concise history of prohibition, show you the state of the main arguments, as well as who supports what argument.
Thanks again, folks!
Doc