Miles's blog

No more marijuana jokes.  I have made my share of them, but enough is enough.  At lunch today the newspaper article about creating a per se level for driving under the influence of alcohol came up and my friend began recounting some of the e-mails he and others created about testing for marijuana-impaired drivers.  The old jokes about putting cheetos in front of them, etc. etc.  I told him I am not laughing at these anymore.  That made me a humorless tool, but I believe we need to stop this kind of thinking.

For more than a year I was part of the drug policy task force of the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice.  During that time we drafted a bill with significant changes to the drug statutes.  Everyone recognizes the danger from cocaine, methamphetamine, even prescription medications, but when it comes to marijuana, people want to treat drug use as a big joke.  It is time to change.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the relative lack of severity of marijuana usage compared to other drugs.  I agreed to reduced penalties, even for distribution.  But that does not mean I think marijuana usage is no big deal.  The Cheech and Chong picture of amusingly dysfunctional stoners tends to denigrate the seriousness of marijuana use.  People have an image of marijuana users as getting high, then wanting to do nothing more than sit in a corner with a bag of popcorn and listen to Pink Floyd.  It is this image which allows recreational marijuana users to convince large numbers of non-users to vote for decriminalization and medical marijuana.  All of these jokes play into their strategy.

Alcoholism used to be funny, too.  Dean Martin had a regular routine of acting tipsy, when apparently he wasn’t, and a comedian named Foster Brooks based his career on being the funny drunk.  Watching those skits now is somewhat discomfiting.  Once we all accepted that drunks are not humorous lives-of-the-party, but scary and violent threats to those around them, the public debate about alcohol began to change.  DUI penalties increased and enforcement stiffened.  Bond and probation conditions reflected a zero tolerance policy.  So while alcohol remains legal, and moderate drinking acceptable, drunkenness is now seen as both a health problem and safety threat.

I don’t believe the myth that nobody commits crimes under the influence of marijuana.  I have seen cases to the contrary.  I do believe marijuana is a gateway drug, especially for those who start young.  There can be no question that a driver under the influence of marijuana is just as impaired as a driver under the influence of alcohol.  Making light of marijuana usage does a disservice to efforts to control its usage.  I am not laughing anymore.