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Can Marijuana Save California?
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As Californias financial crisis deepens, a question looms over its population: Can Marijuana save California?
Pot, Herb, Grass, Weed, Mary Jane, Reefer, Aunt Mary, Skunk, Boom, Gangster, Pif, Ganja, Kush, Texas Tea, Maui Wowie, Chronic. Anything with more nicknames than Apollo Creed must truly be adored and worthy of serious study. Marijuana, just one of the numerous useful derivations of the Cannabis plant, refers to an herbal form of drug consisting of female flowers (sorry fellas it’s the female plant not the male that gets us “high”) Tetrahydrocannabinal, commonly known as THC, is the active ingredient. Evidence of the use of Cannabis dates back to thousands of years before Christ even enters the picture. Over the last several millenniums, mankind has implemented marijuana for a myriad of different reasons, ranging from medical to religious to cult to spiritual to leisure.
Fast forward to our own colonists in the 1700’s and we see that hemp, also derived from the Cannabis plant, was one of their earliest cultivations. As a matter of fact, even our famous Father, George Washington is known to have grown hemp as it was commonly valued for its strength and used to make paper and clothes. In 1762, the colony of Virginia actually laid down punishment on those who didn’t choose to grow the valuable cash crop. In the 1800’s we begin to see documentation of marijuana’s medical benefits. As a matter of fact, the United States Pharmacopoeia, the classic drug reference manual, listed it in the year 1850, while the 1951 version of the United States Dispensatory suggested the use of Cannabis to ease the symptoms of countless disorders, including gout, rheumatism, cholera, hysteria, depression, tetanus, and neuralgia.
So why all the uproar in California when Democratic state assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced legislation this past February that would legalize pot for non-medicinal purposes? To answer this we need look back over marijuana’s tainted last century of existence.
It wasn’t until 1910 that our country decided we had a marijuana “problem”, and this had much more to do with xenophobia and racism, particularly our nation’s fear of Mexican immigrants thought to be carrying marijuana over the border when they crossed. Incidentally, the word Marijuana is most likely derived from Mariguana, a popular Mexican expression for “intoxicant”. Fueled by propaganda fed to our citizens via sensationalized articles depicting Marijuana as a horrible drug, preferred by the dredge of our communities, that leads one to behave irrationally and violently.
Ironically, it was the state of California in 1915 that led the legislation charge by being the first to impose restrictions upon the drug. Despite this trend, our country’s current attitude and policies towards Marijuana probably would not be in place today if it weren’t for the obsessive-like crusade of Harry Jacob Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Bureau of Narcotics in 1930. Up until this point in time, Anslinger had basically waged a personal and futile war against alcohol consumption, his ultimate goal being complete prohibition. Needless to say, he changed his target to Marijuana and found a great deal more success. Eventually his efforts resulted in the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which, for all practical purposes, illegalized the use of the drug in the United States.
Times have obviously changed, as exemplified by California’s 1996 legalization of medical Marijuana (as it now stands, Proposition 215 generates tax dollars for approximately 200 million dollars of medicinal Marijuana) If passed, the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act (AB 390) would give California control, analogous to that of alcohol, of the drug. The major controversy surrounding the potential passage of the Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act (AB 390) has to do with the fact this legislation would give users access to the drug for their own recreational endeavors.
Opposition tends to focus on values, claiming the Act will quickly lead to moral decay and further contribute to our alleged declining social fabric as a whole. Proponents, such as Ammiano, argue that the move will allow the state to regulate and control the quality of the drug, while at the same time tax (via a system of stamps, licenses, and levies) its sale as a means of bailing out California’s troubled economy (as it now stands, the state has a 24 billion dollar budget gap) In California alone, Marijuana is believed to account for 14 billion dollars in sales per year.
Tax collectors have calculated the proposed legislation would result in over a billion extra tax dollars annually. This would enable California to reinstate many of the social services cuts in the new state budget. Supporters also cite that the proposal would quickly result in new jobs and free the state from having to arrest, prosecute, and imprison non-violent drug offenders. Retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray estimates the latter will save California a billion dollars a year alone.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger urges the state to invest in large-scale research and case studies, aimed at determining potential positive and detrimental impacts, before implementing any new legislation. In the meantime, the debate goes on and in all likelihood, will continue to go on for as long as people inhabit the planet. Might California again be the pioneer? We saw it in 1915 when it opened the floodgate for anti-Marijuana legislation. Switching directions, the state again served as a trailblazer in 1996 with the legalization of medical marijuana, twelve other states have since joined California in this aspect. Could 2009 be another landmark year?
Nicholas Conway is an adjunct professor, teaching Hip Hop Music and Culture at Trinity College, Yale University And SUNY-Albany. He is currently authoring a textbook on Hip Hop and freelances for Deft magazine as well as Albany’s The Time Union, UndergroundHipHop.com and also serves as a guest lecturer on hip hop.
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