In a Red Wire column from January of this year, I wrote that “bills like the Ending Federal Prohibition of Marijuana Act, sponsored by Colorado congressman Jared Polis, will someday have a real chance of passing. And someday, like the ninja-sneaky legalization measures in Colorado and Washington, is likely to arrive a lot sooner than we think.” Someday got a lot closer this week, if not in substance then definitely in style, when the New York Times ran a week’s worth of editorials calling on the federal government to end its prohibition on marijuana.
The six-part series, “High Time,” was led off with an editorial called “Repeal Prohibition, Again,” which was as unambiguous as any American media outlet has ever been on the subject of marijuana legalization. In addition to calling bluntly for the federal government to lift its pot ban, the intro piece noted that anything less “would leave their citizens vulnerable to the whims of whoever happens to be in the White House and chooses to enforce or not enforce the federal law.” “We recognize that this Congress is as unlikely to take action on marijuana as it has been on other big issues,” the article concluded. “But it is long past time to repeal this version of Prohibition.”
Each of the other articles in the series examined a single issue in depth. Part 1 argued for states to be able to decide their own marijuana policies, looking at the disconnect between marijuana’s Schedule I classification under the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (“no currently accepted medical use”) and the drug’s liberalized status in 37 states that disagree with that archaic law. Part 2 focused on the cost in dollars and lives derailed or ended due to the war on drugs, with a special focus on the injustice of black Americans being arrested many times more often for possession than their white countrymen, and Part 3 delved into the history of how the federal marijuana ban was inspired by racism and xenophobia and forced through legislatures on the back of lies about its effects on users.
Part 4 explored what science has to say about the health effects of marijuana, particularly how dependence among users is mild, how it is safer than plenty of popular drugs that are already legal, and how legalization actually makes it easier to keep away from minors. Part 5 was all about the Colorado legalization experiment. Part 6 wrapped up the series with a look at the differences between the systems of taxation in Colorado and Washington, which are both based on price but vary in other important ways, and systems suggested by experts.
Though it may not change anything on its own, the Times’ decision not only to come out in favor of legalization but to devote an entire week to exploring all sides of the issue is certainly a cultural landmark in the movement to overturn the federal ban on pot. So is the upcoming release of Canadian marijuana activist Marc Emery, popularly known as “The Prince Of Pot,” from American prison. Emery was sentenced to five years for “conspiracy to manufacture marijuana” back in 2010, following his extradition to the U.S. for selling pot seeds on the internet. The charges Emery was convicted of stemmed from a 2005 joint operation between the American and Canadian law enforcement, when the Bush administration was still pursuing a full-bore war on drugs and dragging its allies along for the ride.
When he was originally arrested, the Drug Enforcement Agency called it “a significant blow… to the marijuana legalization movement.” But Emery, who won’t be officially released back to Canada until sometime between August 10th and 25th, is coming back to a different world on both sides of the border. The Obama administration has been vastly more hands-off in its approach to marijuana enforcement than its predecessor, allowing Colorado and Washington to move forward with outright legalization at the state level, following with public opinion that has shifted strongly in favor of legalization throughout the country as old conservative attitudes die off. And the Canadian public is heavily in favor of legal pot, too: a poll by the Canadian Department of Justice showing that 70.7 percent of respondents thought pot laws should be loosened was finally released to the Star after being kept secret by the Conservative government for months.
“That was a great thing. That made my time even more worthwhile,” Emery told CBC of the recent American ventures into legalization. We’ve seen the results of 20 years of my activism throughout the world, and the landscape has changed considerably. Most of Canada and most of the United States favors legalization and this is going to come to pass. And a lot of that was due to our early work in Vancouver.”
Emery plans to get involved in politics again upon his return to Canada later this month. American politics is going to see more discussion of marijuana this year, too: Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., will all have legalization on the ballot this fall, as will some municipalities like South Portland, Maine. Depending what happens in those jurisdictions, the story of legalization in America could get a serious jump start. But regardless, the pressure on the federal government to reform its harmful marijuana laws will continue to mount. Today the times are changing more rapidly than ever.
