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September 11, 2007
Letter from the Gulag
I’ve been struggling (as usual) to keep up and also make good on my commitment to trace the origins of today’s pot market.Just when I wasn’t sure what to do next, Dustin came through with a letter he’s had typed (or maybe typed himself) with the clear intention that I would OCR it and post it to the blog. That text, with edits only for spelling and punctuation, follows. I've added a few comments of my own.
Then, time permitting, I hope have a few comments-- perhaps even the first installment of an explanation of how today’s huge pot market came into being.
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Hi Doc,
Interesting tidbits enclosed, each pertaining in its own unique way to the Medical Marijuana Movement:
One has to do with a prison reform group's planned march on Washington. This is an obvious opportunity to reach out and begin to build a coalition, but the Medical Marijuana Movement is not (yet) involved. Why is that?
Editor: I don't know Dustin's basis for thinking reform isn't interested, but I do know that the people at November.org sometimes feel they are treated like like second class citizens by other reformers.
Next, is an AP report that appeared in a West Texas Newspaper of a Narc who turned against the War on Drugs and now makes a living peddling CDs on how not to get busted for drugs. What is most interesting about this particular story are the comments by NORML executive director Alan St. Pierre. He said the Cops "take great professional umbrage at this," and went on to basically, say the cops are our friends and we shouldn't upset them. Could've fooled me! If the cops are our friends, why don't they give us a pass like they do when they stop illegal immigronts, instead of that cheesy Bullshit we hear now about how they enforce Federal law? One wonders what St. Pierre has been smoking, and this is no isolated incident. In the April,2007 issue of LA Magazine, St. Pierre come out swinging again, this time saying that most of the supporters of Prop 215 were Anarchists.
Editor: The activities of Barry Cooper, the ex-cop he's referring to, have been extensively debated on drug policy discussion lists. It's an issue that comes up all the time: "harm reduction" measures can do considerable good. They can also generate profits for entrepreneurs with a helpful message. I haven't visited Cooper's web site, but I'm sure it's easy to find.
C'mon Alan, that really isn't rain I feel on my leg, is it? Perhaps Benedict Arnold would be a more appropriate name for Alan St. Pierre. Third, I included a copy of three letters to the editor that appeared in the 8/30/07 edition of the Wall Street Journal, all pro legalization and damning to the War on Drugs. What I found interesting about them was that they appeared in the Wall Street Journal, a notoriously Machiavellian bastion of neocon ideology. It's a good thing, a signal of sorts that the War on Drugs is losing favor on the right. When you consider that, along with the recent tete a tete between Ethan Nadelmann and former Newt Gingrich Chief of staff, and notorious fascist prick, Grover Norquist, supposedly seeking ways to end the War on Drugs; and Dale Gierenger's born again gushing about the Legalization buzz in California, I almost get warm fuzzies. Is there a sea change afoot?
If there is a change in the wind, it is only because of the hard work and courage of the California Medical Marijuana Movement, and the increasing militancy of our more courageous activists. BRAVO!! And shame on Poobahs like St. Pierre. I don't know what NORML expects to achieve by schmoozing with the cops, whose shiny new pigmobiles and swat team funding depend on Federal grants. making them Uncle Sam’s bitch. Maybe they actually believe the hype that these badge-heavy jerks would have us believe ... disgusting!
Sorry about the typos. All we have to use here are crappy typewriters, and just being able to use them is a privilege. My cataracts have progressed to the point that I'm nearly blind now. It doesn't help when it's time to proof-read.
The good news is the Feds may fix my eyes soon...
More Later...
Dustin's Address is:
Dustin Costa 62406-097
Federal Correctional Institution
Big Spring TX 79720
Genesis of the Modern Illegal Pot Market
Now that I've been educated by pot smokers I try to educate new patients, not only about how they compare to the others I've seen, but also about what I think it all means. One of the concepts that seems most difficult for many to grasp is that the huge national pot market we have now has only been developing since the mid Sixties, and that its growth has literally been a function of the widespread pot initiation in high schools and junior high schools since then. As each year's newcomers try pot, an unknown percentage of initiates either became steady consumers right away or took it up after an interval in which they may have tried other drugs. Their subsequent long term use of cannabis is clearly what has been adding repeat customers (and value) to the still-growing illegal market for just under four decades.
This is a fact the feds, for obvious reasons, have chosen to ignore, and professional drug policy activists, for reason of their own, have chosen not to address. While I understand the sensitivity of reformers to the "kids" issue, I also see the unaddressed ABYM issue as a big problem in California; also, beyond all rhetorical arguments, I believe the purpose of research is to learn the truth. The truth is that, starting in the mid Sixties, inhaled cannabis joined alcohol and tobacco as the third entry level drug tried by over half of all American teens. In addition, a number of other revelations- that after young people become chronic pot users, they inevitably drink less and try to quit smoking cigarettes-- are powerful arguments against present policy which, when "successful," steers adolescents away from pot and pushes them towards alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
Beyond that, an overview of the entire population I've seen has me very comfortable with the idea that insecurity and anxiety are the symptoms most people are addressing with repetitive use of any psychoactive drug except prerhaps caffeine. From that perspective, cannabis is by far the safest alternative for most. The bottom line is that I have yet to meet patients I thought would be well served by my refusal of to provide them with a recommendation to use pot.
Those with an interest in the genesis of the Modern American Pot Market are invited to do some preliminary reading on the 1937 Tax Act: first read the minutes of a January 17 meeting of a gaggle of federal conspirators who were already committed to a "transfer tax," but groping for the right words. Then read the finished MTA itself (by April 2, 1937) and the on-point overview by David Solomon.
Within the next few days, I hope to link the historical phenomena which led to a the drug fueled counterculture of the Sixties and suggest why we haven't seen its worst excesses repeated since the mid Seventies.
Doctor Tom
Posted by tjeffo at September 11, 2007 08:33 AM