Hey there George.

Back in Europe now. Just a quick comment on that ad campaign promoting the legalization of marijuana...

Of course there is the impending comparison with Europe. It's not necessarily legal here but everyone doesn't really care. I've seen people smoke cannibas in on the streets, in bars, etcetera. The only time I saw someone get busted was coming back from Amsterdaam on the train at the Belgian border. The man had been smoking a joint on the train as a task froce with a drug sniffing dog (standard for trains leaving de Nederlandes) was making rounds on the train. He got nothing more than a fine. The point is, just as long as you're not blatant about smoking in most places, no one really cares.

I myself am not for heavy penalties for use of marijuana. In fact, if it were not for the inability of Americans to do anything in moderation, I would be in favor of legalization. In fact, the drug is far less dangerous in terms of its affects than alcohol, a drug that is currently legal right now in the U.S. The only attempt to make alcohol illegal during the 20's ended in vain because our culture, having most of its roots in a European society in which wine and beer have been made for millenia, was not willing to give it up. From my experience, it seems that marijuana has slipped into the American culture. There are very few Americans in my generation that have not at least been exposed to it (even my hard right-wing conservative friends, Jeff Peyton) and an extreme few who have expressed completely anti-marijuana sentiments. I do not see that as a bad thing, just a new idea for Americans to deal with. I find that is is better to roll with the punches than to dig your heels in to fight it as the rest of the world moves forward. Human society is not a static system, and it would be ridiculous to assume that it would remain so.

The fact that something is off limits to a person makes that thing all the more tantalizing to that person. That idea of something that is visible yet unattainable drives the human psyche wild. My grandfather told me that his grandfather one teased him to the point of tears because his grandfather would show him a toy - a simple wooden toy - yet not allow him to play with it. It's the same idea that we have with alchohol in the states. It is illegal for anyone under 21 to buy liquor, so those under this age are preoccupied with obtaining it. When one does obtain it, a person over abuses the substance because it is a very rare and precious substance - kind of like those who grew up during the Great Depression valuing something as simple as food a great deal more than the generations that follow them do.

This is probably one of the reasons why college students binge drink, because it is something that is off limits to them. Europeans can go to any pub at the age of 16 and order a drink. This is probably why you never hear of binge drinking in Europe, since it is not a substance that is off limits to teenagers. My parents always allowed me to have alchohol in moderation, and that is the reason why I have never binged, thrown up or poisoned myself with alchohol.

Could legalization of marijuana actually work for the U.S.? Possibly, but it would have to be done very gently in stages over a period of time. Because of the mentality that one would have towards something that was forbidden that has just become permissable, the outright legalization of marijuana would most likely lead to a ridiculous overusage of the substance by the American public because we can't use anything in moderation. "Maybe when Americans grow up they can learn how to use things in moderation," many of my non-American friends tell me. It may seem strange to us, but we are seen as infantile to some extent by the rest of the world.
Perhaps marijuana will not become legal any time soon, but is highly probable that within the next fifty years or so it will. Contrary to what Mr. Martin may think, it IS accepted in most of mainstream America, although people are publicly afraid to admit it sometimes. From my personal experience, a large portion of those under 30 and a significant amont of those over 30 (y compris ma gand-mère!) think that marijuana usage is not as bad a deed as our society, at least on the surface, has made it out to seem.

We are wasting time and money on busting people in America for usage of marijuana. Why waste American tax dollars in prosecuting a deed that is, in my opinion and the opinion of most in my generation, not offensive or detremental to society - at least to a society who is mature enough to handle things in moderation.

Of course, that is where the flaw lies...

Ciao for now.

(Joey Cheek, electronic mail, January 9, 2001).