Arthur Salm: Much marijuana ado about nothing

By Arthur Salm, SDNN

Monday, October 5, 2009

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Arthur Salm is an SDNN columnist.

Somewhere, a dog has bitten a man. And from the desk where I write, I can — by leaning back a little and looking around the orange tree - report that the sun has risen in the east.

Not only that:

Some of the local establishments that have been authorized to dispense marijuana for medical reasons may have been dispensing marijuana to individuals who may have partaken of the substance for non-medical reasons. Worse, the establishments may have dispensed the aforementioned substance with full knowledge, or at least, a pretty damn good idea that their customers intended to go straight home and crank up “Dark Side of the Moon,” and don’t even pretend that you don’t know what I mean.

In response, more than a dozen clinics in San Diego County were shut down last month. San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis declared that “These so-called businesses are not legal. They appear to be run by drug dealers who see an opening in the market and a way to make a fast buck.”

She could well be right about that, because that’s pretty much what drug dealers, whether standing on the street corner or paying rent on a storefront, do: see an opening in the market as a way to make a fast buck. (Of course, that’s what most of us do, in a variety of ways, even if the bucks are slower in coming and of lower denominations than we’d like.)

Now the San Diego City Council has decided to — you’ll never guess — actually, you probably will — create a task force to study the medical marijuana problem; appointments to the 11-member task force recommended by Council President Ben Hueso is listed as ITEM-125 on the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting. And, to be fair, the medical marijuana problem is, in fact, complicated. The city has no real guidelines, for example, so the joints can open just about anywhere that’s zoned commercial. Nobody even seems to be quite sure of how many there are in the county. And - can just about anybody run them? Can just about anybody get a prescription? Is it better to use one rolling paper, or two? Is the scene with the apes at the beginning of “2001: A Space Odyssey” supposed to have really happened, or is it allegory?

But the real problem lies in the premise: that what we are dealing with is some kind of special, deadly serious issue, when it most certainly is not. Marijuana is simply not very harmful, and everyone with a lick of sense knows it. Of course it can be abused, but so can dark-chocolate nonpareils, which is why my mother makes sure there’s only a small handful of them in her apothecary jar when I come to visit.

All of the complications, headaches and frustration we’re grappling with right now spring from nearly a century of American society’s ground-level, fundamental bungling . Cannabis was demonized for a goulash of reasons we won’t rehash here, but not one of them passes the Martian test: Could you explain this to a Martian and not sound like an idiot?

Young marijuana plants are shown Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009, in Seattle. The marijuana is distributed to members of a cooperative of medical patients who have received doctor's authorization to use the drug to treat their illnesses, such as AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Unlike several other states which permit marijuana sales to patients, Washington requires patients to grow marijuana themselves or designate a caregiver to grow it for them. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Human: “Okay, well, we allow people to ingest liquids that alter consciousness. The negative short-term effects can be disorientation, nausea, and, if too much is ingested, death. Long-term effects can include chemical dependence, organ damage, and death. Adults are allowed to drink it, but its sale is regulated; special licenses must be obtained, one for selling it in sealed bottles and cans, another for ingestion on the premises. It is heavily taxed. Leaders of countries traditionally drink a nominal amount in each other’s presence, for broadcast around the world.”

Martian: “Is the same true for inhaling marijuana smoke that likewise, if in a different fashion, alters human consciousness, but to which not a single death has ever been attributed, and to which some medical benefit has been ascertained?”

Human: “No. There are people who smoke marijuana, and others who grow it and sell it to them. But if we catch them, we put them in cages.”

There’s a line about marijuana in “Dispatches,” Michael Herr’s soul-jarring book on the ground-level madness that enveloped the war in Vietnam. The author hears that, in response to a report that the North Vietnamese are using elephants to carry supplies, the American forces were responding by sending attack helicopters to destroy them. Herr muses that — and dammit, I can’t find the quote, but it goes something very much like — “In a world in which men shoot elephants from helicopters, folks are just naturally going to want to get high.”

Somewhere, another dog has bitten another man. The sun has risen so far in the east that it’s now practically in the west. And, so long as men shoot elephants from helicopters, and have their hearts broken by women and vice versa and any combination therein, and loved ones and pets die, and the rent is due, and life is just too damn complex and weird, folks are just naturally going to want to get high.

Sometimes they do it just for the merry hell of it. And when we don’t want to face this hard fact, when we delude ourselves into thinking there’s something inherently evil about it, we end up spending time and money appointing task forces to look into the matter.

Legalize it. Regulate it. Tax it. And while you’re at it, stop shooting elephants from helicopters.

Arthur Salm is an SDNN columnist.

Tags: dispensaries, Health, marijuana, martians, mediCal, San Diego City Council, SDNN

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28 comments

READER COMMENTS

Comment by: TBear Posted: October 5, 2009, 3:13 pm

Mr.Salm…my hat is off to you. Excellent artical. Other questions I’d beg you to ask, would any of the Pharmecuetical Companies ( or restuarants, clothing stores, car dealerships or, Dr.’s, Dentists, Hair Stylists or ….PUBLIC SERVANTS like Bonnie Dumanis bother opening a business, or showing up to work if they couldnt make a paycheck?? Betcha Bonnie wouldnt give up her fat salary. Bonnie Dumanis has a few valid points, however I’d rather see you using my tax dollars filling the jails with illegal immigrants, drunk drivers, theives, rapist pedophiles and Corperate CEO’s who have ripped America off to the point of crashing ECONOMY, rather than people who are helping sick people. Cannibis can be an American product, grown by Americans, for Americans and benefit AMERICANS. Register and VOTE !!!

Comment by: Hansen Posted: October 5, 2009, 4:18 pm

You make good points here and although it makes sense to legalize, regulate, and tax it, people are too nervous to vote “yes”. People are afraid they will be labeled as pot smokers if they vote to legalize it. I think we have to wait until the 20-30 year olds begin taking leadership roles in the government and influencing policy with their more liberal ideas.

Comment by: bob schmelter Posted: October 5, 2009, 5:10 pm

You are right on the money! Much ado about nothing and a task force to boot! Foolish, costly actions are being taken by the San Diego DA’s office, the Board of Supervisors and the various city councils. It is very upsetting to know they waste so much time on something that the voters of California overwhelmingly approved.
A non profit has to have income, the sales and income figures mentioned by the DA’s office have no relevance. Bills must be paid, employees need paychecks and expansion of operations is part of any business.
Many people have very legitimate reasons to indulge in the usage of the good green and so what if they don’t? It is really a private matter how one chooses to deal with pain or stress, isn’t it? What is worse,medical pot or prescribed drugs that will affect you in many worse ways? Ever read or hear the disclaimers when being introduced to drugs on television? Very numerous and scary!
Lets legalize it fully and dispense with the dispensary nonsense!

Comment by: del Posted: October 5, 2009, 5:27 pm

re hansen’s comment:
unfortunately, the 20 to 30 year olds who were supposed to change this are now 50 to 60 year olds and the madness of the drug laws continues.
nice article.

Comment by: Richard P Steeb Posted: October 5, 2009, 6:29 pm

To keep cannabis illegal while tobacco and alcohol are dispensed freely is *MURDEROUSLY STUPID*.

“By any measure of rational analysis”…

Comment by: Cuauhtémoc Q Kish Posted: October 5, 2009, 6:37 pm

“Medical” marijuana is the pathway to legalization, a spoon-feeding if you will. And some of the nervousness is being removed from the arguments for legalization, even in some “government” offices. There is a need for some regulation, however, the stronger arguments for tax revenue will outweigh any future poo-pooing that might have gone on in primitive times (prior to last year’s announcement about CA’s budget shortfall for example). I believe that a proposition is just around the corner, and unlike Prop 8, it’s an issue that has wide-spread bipartisan support. Who knows, some may even find that they could sit through a Presidential speech with a bit of decorum without a need to shout out “you lie.” A better world may be found with the passage of any law that would legalize this natural plant called marijuana.

Comment by: Just Say Know Posted: October 5, 2009, 9:25 pm

It’s amazing that this nontoxic plant that never killed a single person of any age has remained illegal for all these decades. Most people have far more harmful and even deadly substances under the sinks in their home and in their garage. Marijuana is illegal because of corruption, end of conversation. END THE PROHIBITION AND END THE CORRUPTION PROHIBITION FOSTERS!

Comment by: Norman Ellis-Flint Posted: October 5, 2009, 9:37 pm

Thank you Arthur

Comment by: Chelsea Posted: October 5, 2009, 10:24 pm

Here-Here!

Comment by: Sir Loin of Beef Posted: October 6, 2009, 6:05 am

Provincial fears and social victorianism are the forces used to declare this useful substance illegal, but the motivations for the prohibition are far more specific and disturbing.

Textiles, fertilizers, pesticides, Big Pharma, brewers and distillers….all had and have very substantial economic reasons to keep this hardy, easy-to-grow, and multi-beneficial plant, and its industrial cousin hemp, off of our farms and out of our factories.

Comment by: Ken Kuhlken Posted: October 6, 2009, 6:19 am

Hmm, I discern a connection between marijuana and dark chocolate nonpareils.

Comment by: Outraged Posted: October 6, 2009, 8:52 am

Very good point, Mr. Beef. This is yet another way the corporate profit motive runs our lives, and not benevolently (think health care).

Comment by: freznin Posted: October 6, 2009, 9:20 am

Very well said! It is very unfortunate that these supposedly “educated leaders” at the city, state, and federal levels are so pathetically brainwashed that they still buy into the “evils of marijuana”. It’s either the former or they are “bought off” by PhRMA. Ignorance and greed are the obstacles, and now these same folks seek to waste more taxpayers money on a marijuana task force? Brilliant!!!!!!!

Comment by: nh9 Posted: October 6, 2009, 10:42 am

Any San Diego residents reading this, please do not forget to call or write Ms. Dumanis to express your displeasure at her use of your tax dollars in these economic times.

Phone calls and letters are very effective, unlike comments in a blog….

Comment by: Will B Hardigan Posted: October 6, 2009, 11:33 am

Has anybody seen who they’re nominating for the task force? What a joke!! This is happening today.

http://dockets.sandiego.gov/sirepub/cache/2/tt0i3r550d0jmw55qhbsfz45/12368910042009053515618.PDF

Comment by: Lark Posted: October 6, 2009, 1:11 pm

One of your best columns ever, and you set a high bar every time. (Pun certainly intended.)

Comment by: kdx80 Posted: October 6, 2009, 3:11 pm

Amen this is so true. I myself drank and smoked pot once I took out the drinking I felt better I was functional. I love pot I smoke it everyday sometimes little sometimes a lot. I like the whole ritual of it. That sweet smell has always been a part of me since my early days as a freshman at a private school. Please legalize it!!! It would make this world a better place. Promise!

Comment by: Jon Walker Posted: October 6, 2009, 3:52 pm

Don’t Bogart that excellent article, pass it on… as opposing forces are busy in the framing of countervailing spin and mendacious claims, your column is a rare and welcome voice of rational thought. Something in short supply at the DA’s headquarters…

Comment by: Terrie Best Posted: October 6, 2009, 8:31 pm

Bonnie is the only opportunist I see here: Seizing the opportunity to boost her conviction rate with the plea bargains of patients made vulnerable by the murky medical marijuana laws. Despicable.

Comment by: Jeff Bennett Posted: October 7, 2009, 4:29 am

Thank You For Thinking.

Comment by: mr. ihavehadit Posted: October 7, 2009, 5:33 am

Republican view of marijuana http://www.foxnews.com/freedomwatch/

Comment by: Eric Posted: October 8, 2009, 9:54 am

Thank you for a very rational article on the subject — they’re surprisingly hard to come by.

Comment by: CraigOlympiaWA Posted: October 8, 2009, 1:52 pm

Excellent article; I love the “Martian Test” premise.

Keep the momentum building, the momentum for freedom, logic and truth.

Comment by: Bill Harris Posted: October 10, 2009, 7:44 am

One need not travel to China to find indigenous cultures lacking human rights or to Cuba for political prisoners. America leads the world in percentile behind bars, thanks to ongoing persecution of hippies, radicals, and non-whites under prosecution of the war on drugs. If we’re all about spreading liberty abroad, then why mix the message at home? Peace on the home front would enhance global credibility.

The drug czar’s Rx for prison fodder costs dearly, as life is flushed down expensive tubes. My shaman’s second opinion is that psychoactive plants are God’s gift. Behold, it’s all good. Canadian Marc Emery sold seeds that enable American farmers to outcompete cartels with superior local herb. He’s being extradited to prison, for doing what government can’t do, reduce U.S. demand for Mexican.

Only on the authority of a clause about interstate commerce does the CSA (Controlled Substances Act of 1970) reincarnate Al Capone, endanger homeland security, and throw good money after bad. Administration fiscal policy burns tax dollars to root out the number-one cash crop in the land, instead of taxing sales. America rejected the plague of prohibition, but it mutated. Apparently, SWAT teams don’t need no stinking amendment. Father, forgive those who make it their business to know not what they do.

Nixon passed the CSA on the assurance that the Schafer Commission would justify criminalizing his enemies, but it didn’t. No amendments can assure due process under an anti-science law without due process itself. Psychology hailed the breakthrough potential of LSD, until the CSA shut down research and pronounced that marijuana has no medical use, period. Drug juries don’t seat bleeding hearts.

The RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993) allows Native American Church members to eat peyote, which functions like LSD. Americans shouldn’t need a specific church membership or an act of Congress to obtain their birthright freedom of religion. John Doe’s free exercise of religious liberty may include entheogen sacraments to mediate communion with his maker.

Freedom of speech presupposes freedom of thought. The Constitution doesn’t enumerate any governmental power to embargo diverse states of mind. How and when did government usurp this power to coerce conformity? The Mayflower sailed to escape coerced conformity. Legislators who would limit cognitive liberty lack jurisdiction.

Common-law must hold that adults are the legal owners of their own bodies. The Founding Fathers undersigned that the right to the pursuit of happiness is inalienable. Socrates said to know your self. Mortal lawmakers should not presume to thwart the intelligent design that molecular keys unlock spiritual doors. Persons who appreciate their own free choice of path in life should tolerate seekers’ self-exploration.

Comment by: Mark E. Smith Posted: October 11, 2009, 7:08 am

What about all the affordable housing demolished and residents forced into homelessness by a city council run by developers out to make a buck?

What about the trillions spent on high-tech weaponry that kills fifty innocent civilians for every military target it hits because of a federal government run by defense contractors out to make a buck?

What about the trillions wasted on bailouts for people who ran mortgage and derivative scams to make a buck?

What about arrests of nonviolent people so that the prison industrial complex, the largest in the world, can make a buck?

What about all the needless deaths from insurance denials or approved drugs that turn out to be deadly from a health care industry that is out to make a buck?

Our Constitution didn’t say we have the inalienable rights to sickness, homelessness, and hunger, to prison, and to buy whatever widgets are advertised on TV, it said we have the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now all we need is a new Constitution that vests the supreme power over government in the people rather than in officials who cannot be held accountable. We vote for medical marijuana and “our representatives” decide they don’t agree with the will of the people and won’t abide by it? That means it is time for heads on pikes.

Comment by: Mlee Posted: October 13, 2009, 7:22 pm

The dispensary that opened down the block from me is packed with gang members and low-lives who congregate on the street and drive up and down my block. The neighborhood is up in arms and of course nothing can be done because 22-year old gangsters from Southeast SD are “patients”. What a load of BS, this state and this city have become parodies of themselves and we all pat ourselves on the back at how progressive we are as we destroy the fabric of our own neighborhoods.

Comment by: Terrie Best Posted: October 14, 2009, 10:04 am

Arthur, I read your article again and liked it even better the second time. Jeff Bennett above, said it best: thank you for thinking!

Comment by: Randolph Ortlieb Posted: November 1, 2009, 11:47 am

Newsflash - Marijuana is a schedule 1 drug and illegal for any use under Federal law. The chances of the U.S. Congress removing marijuana from schedule 1 in the next 5 to 10 years are between zero and negative 100%. And don’t kid yourself about Eric Holder - read his statement and there is no doubt that recreational use of marijuana and the activities which support it - including growing, transporting, and selling - will be vigorously prosecuted by the U.S Attorneys across the USA and in San Diego County. Maybe legalization would be a ‘good’ thing - highly debatable - but it’s not happening in our lifetimes.

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