Judge Says Marijuana Is Okay!

Letters from America by Ken Mufuka

There is never a dull moment in these United States. Last week, I wrote about a California judge who said it is alright for a man to marry a man, and a woman to marry a woman.

 This week, another California judge, James Gray, says it is a waste of resources and time to catch and throw marijuana users in prison.

Gray says that by making marijuana legal, no kid in his or her right mind will bother with it. It will not be cool to smoke a reefer which every Jim and Jack can procure at the local shops. The judge, who is some kind of Greek scholar, says that the word cannabis is the same word for hemp (rope) and that marijuana has a more portent rope qualities than hessian. In addition, marijuana makes a better quality ethanol than corn (maize).

So, in his opinion, with the stroke of a pen, the country can be free from oil dependence on Arabs and save itself two wars presently. It can shame kids into non-smoking as no kid would dare smoke an approved drug and be cool at the same time.

The government can yield US$1.3 billion for the treasury without any sweat whatever. If that is not cool thinking I don’t know what is. Legalized marijuana could become the most boring uncoil leaf to smoke, he said. I am becoming convinced that Judge Gray may be a cool judge after all.

The background is that marijuana sometimes called weed or hashish or grass, or simply dope falls under controlled substances. It is already legal in California and Arizona to smoke weed if one has a license from a medical doctor. One can therefore keep under his protection some amount for personal use, or cause to be grown for his own medicinal applications.

The trouble comes when a citizen tries to share with relatives and friends a controlled substance, use in an unregulated amount, manufacture, grow or distribute, without proper authority. The smallest amount of one ounce can land one in jail for up to five years plus a US$5 000 fine.

Because of these regulations, the judge says that procuring any amount usually leads one to a lifestyle outside the law, frequently involving shady characters who distribute it and cheat the government out of US$1.3 billion in taxes. The judge also says whether we realize it or not marijuana is the second largest crop, after grapes, in California. It therefore goes without saying that a huge number of workers involved in this form of employment are outside the legitimate economy.

Citizens for a Safer Detroit have placed on the ballot box for November an item for referendum which proposes that an ounce of marijuana be permissible for personal use. So the judge is beginning to gather some support.

The main issue, says the judge, is that the prohibition of marijuana, creates an inclusive criminal climate in which of the 5.1 million offenders on probation and parole, 84 percent are in some way or other within the ambit of drug use, drug association, activity with a purpose to obtain marijuana, false illusions and trafficking for the purpose of enabling the procurement of marijuana.

The learned judge has probably made two serious errors of judgment. It is not the less lethal marijuana (marijuana leaf) that has sent thousands of people to jail. It is the crack-cocaine, combined with the racist structural disparity in sentencing that leans heavily against blacks.

White boys in possession of less than an ounce of marijuana are usually allowed to pass even as we speak. The policeman makes that judgment. Black boys in possession of any form of crack-cocaine go to jail for a minimum sentence of between five and 25 years. While in jail they become hardened criminals and sexual perverts, unless they convert to Islam. The highest numbers of Muslim converts are found in jails.

The second error concerns the ruthlessness of the Green environmental movement in the US. This movement has virtually run the tobacco companies out of restaurants, college campuses and converted a lawful activity into a state crime. Smokers must do so in the streets, a pitiful sight when it is raining. They are not even allowed to smoke in their own cars. Children are taught to report “smoking mothers” to the authorities if they dare smoke inside their own houses. Tobacco companies have been expanding abroad, especially in India and China, as the environmentalists chase them out of the US.

How on earth the judge missed these facts, I am unable to comprehend. As soon as marijuana is legalized the environmentalists will jump on its tail and begin to take ruthless measures to drive it underground.

Oh, I forgot about a nefarious theory that tobacco sales must include a tax big enough to pay all the hospital bills caused by lung cancer.

The judge did have the last word of cause. He reflected that we do not treat alcohol with such ferocity. Imagine if we charged National Breweries a tax to cover all the medical expenses caused by drunken drivers, injury to persons, and rehabilitation of alcoholics and police costs as well.