The following speech was given by NORML's Deputy Director before nearly 500 attendees on Saturday, March 13, at the opening plenary of Students for Sensible Drug Policy's 11th International Conference, at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. To read full coverage of the conference, please see DRCNet's report here.
My name is Paul Armentano and I'm the Deputy Director of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and I'm the co-author of the book Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? The many good folks at SSDP invited me to come here today to talk to you about how and why students have a vital role to play in ending marijuana prohibition.
First let's talk about the "why": self-preservation. The federal government has declared war on you.
Since 1965 law enforcement in this country have arrested over 20 million people for marijuana offenses. But when you take a closer look at who is actually arrested you find that, for the most part, it isn't the folks sitting on this panel; it's all of you sitting out there - it's young people.
In short - the so-called 'war' on marijuana is really a war on youth.
According to a 2005 study commissioned by the NORML Foundation, 74 percent of the 800,000 or so Americans busted for pot each year are under age 30, and one out of four are age 18 or younger. That's nearly half a million young people at risk of losing their school loans, or being saddled with a lifelong criminal record at a time when they are just entering the workforce. We're talking about an entire generation - and that's you out there - that has been alienated to believe that the police and their civic leaders are instruments of their oppression rather than their protection.
And the sad fact is: you're right!
The question is: What are you going to do about it?
If we're going to finally end this 70+ year failed public policy known as marijuana prohibition, then we need students to play a lead role. Obviously those of you in this room have already taken a critical first step in leading this charge by joining SSDP and attending this conference. But there's a lot more to be done and there's a lot more that you can do.
I believe that it was Ghandi who demanded that those who are oppressed be a part of there own liberation, and marijuana prohibition is no different. I want you to look around you because it's you all who will ultimately bring about an end to prohibition.
And here's how you start, and it's really, really simple suggestion. Start talking to others about the need to end marijuana prohibition. Start talking about how this policy disproportionately and adversely impacts youth. Start discussing about how this policy limits young people's opportunities at economic and academic success, and has repercussions that adversely affect people for the rest of their lives.
Start talking about how the war on weed endangers young people's health and safety because it enables teens to have easier access to pot than to legal, age-restricted intoxicants like alcohol and tobacco. Talk about how prohibition forces young people to interact and befriend pushers of other illegal, more dangerous drugs. Talk about how prohibition compels young people to dismiss the educational messages they receive pertaining to the potential health risks posed by the use of 'hard drugs' and prescription pharmaceuticals because they say: "If they lied to me about pot, why wouldn't they be lying to me about everything else too."
Most importantly, talk about how criminal prohibition is far more likely to result in having all of you sitting in this room struggling to get over a lifelong criminal conviction than it is in any way going to discourage you or your friends from trying pot.
And when I say 'talk about it,' that's exactly what I mean - TALK. But talk to those who know you - your family, your friends, your parents, your neighbors, your professors, your faculty advisers. These are the people who you have built in credibility with. These are the people who are most likely to share and act upon your concerns because they care about you. They care about what you think, and they actually care about what happens to you.
(You know it's funny, so often I hear activists talk about how they want to spread the word by going out on some street-corner and handing out leaflets to strangers. Or they want to engage in debates with some paid prohibitionist, as if him or her with the facts about marijuana will somehow change his or her position. Or they want to post messages on some anti-drug website. Big deal. Talking to strangers is easy; it's talking to people you know that's hard. But it's talking to people you know that is ultimately going to make a difference.)
So after you're done talking about the evils of the drug war with your friends, family, and faculty - and encouraging them to begin engaging in this conversation as well - then it's time to move the discussion to those who can shape public opinion and policy: the editors at your school paper, the leaders in your student government, your city council, your mayor, you state elected officials. Talk to these folks, and keep talking to these folks. And if they won't listen to you then become one of them. Join the school paper; run for student government; run for city council. If not you, then who?
Here's something else I want you to do to help bring about an end to marijuana prohibition. There's something I want you all to say when you are engaging in your outreach efforts, and that is this: NOT IN MY NAME.
You know, when those who support marijuana prohibition are forced to defend it, they do so by saying that it's all about you: it's all about protecting and providing for the best interest of young people. You know, sort of like "we have to destroy the village in order to to save it."
It's time for all of you in this room to stop being the scapegoats for the abuses and the excesses of drug war. It's time to say: enough! We don't want your criminal policies; we never asked for your criminal policies; and we're tired of having our good names be used to support your failed drug war. The war on marijuana isn't saving us; it's harming us, and we demand that it comes to end before it destroys another generations the same way it has destroyed ours.
Okay, so that's the easy part - here's the hard part. If students - and I'm talking about you guys here, and I'm also talking about all of your friends and colleagues who aren't here - really are going to be the game-changers in this battle, this fight that all of us sitting up here have been waging for far too long already, then we need for you guys to take a pledge:
Don't let your activism be a phase in your life; make it a part of your life.
When I graduated college in 1994 there was no SSDP; there was no ASA. There barely was an MPP. There was the DPA - with one office a handful of employees. There was no LEAP, no SAFER; frankly there was no professional movement. Since then the landscape has changed monumentally.
Today, there are now dozens of organizations working on drug policy reform, and with that, dozens of job opportunities for you to get involved and stay involved in marijuana policy after you graduate college. So I give you a challenge: You really want to end the drug war? Consider making drug policy your career choice. You can start right now by applying for an internship at NORML or a fellowship at SSDP. Many of this movement's current leaders started out this way. They did it, and you can too.
Finally, even if you don't wish to pursue marijuana law reform as a career, I encourage you to stay active in the movement. Between the Internet, podcasts, list-servs, social networking sites like Facebook, you now have access to unparalleled quantities of drug-law reform information in real time. Just this past week NORML launched its own Iphone app.
In other words, it is now easier than ever to stay plugged in to your networks and continue to educate yourself and your friends about drug policy reform. Check out NORML's daily podcast, the Audio Stash, for the latest breaking news, or check out NORML's capwiz page to instantly learn about upcoming state and federal votes in legislation that affects us all. And use what you learn to continue to move this conversation forward.
The bottom line: all of you in this room have the power to change these laws, and today you have an unprecedented opportunity to do so. So get out there and do it!
This is similar to the 1970's when it was students who got the voting age lowered to 18 because we figured that if we can fight in Vietnam, we should have a say in our government. Then, we also got the drinking age lowered to 18 but that got overridden by Republican Secretary of Transportation Liddy Dole who made federal money contingent on rasing the age back to 21 (nice states' rights there, Liddy!) But nonetheless, we, the students, got that done.
Now, the issue is reforming the drug laws and getting the federal govenment off it's addiction to drugs. It can be done. We've done it before.
(and these are not "teenagers" as in "kids". These are people old enough to fight our wars in lonley foreign countries. They are old enough to vote, own property and have majority rigths. They should be pushing for the reform of these archaic laws. And to resort to referring to them as "teens" and "kids" is a small, desperate act)
I thought it was about students getting behind legalization because of the damage prohibition can do to their lives. Lots of college student experiment with cannabis some get busted and their lives are forever changed. Legalization is the only way to protect your futures.
Let's look at the reality: over 850,000 people, most of them young people, are arrested for marijuana charges every year. This means losing student aid, federal housing, and possibly their jobs, among other consequences. Plus there is the criminal record that follows, making future job searches more difficult as a "drug criminal".
True, anyone who wants pot can get it - 85% of high school seniors say it is "easy" and easier to get than tobacco or alcohol, which they are carded for. That's more argument for legalization, not to continue the prohibition that does nothing to protect kids from using drugs.
As for "getting high", are you ready to prohibit tobacco and alcohol (again)? If not, why not encourage adults to make a safer choice by using cannabis?
Drugs have been around for a long time, and some only became illegal, and thus more expensive, and in some cases, more desirable, in the 20th century. Opium poppies, coca plants, and marijuana plants and so forth all come from nature. You're taking something out of nature, refining it, and using it for a given purpose. Ok, no real harm, there. But wait, now it's illegal, and the government has a gigantic army, and law enforcement arm, and telling you you can't do this. So, you do it anyway, and then you get into this whole anti-authoritarian escalation that results in violence and basically only really serves the Devil, so to speak, so, why not take a more civil, mature approach to the issue of drugs, which will probably also de-popularize some drug use, as people kind of realize that being high all the time isn't really 'where it's at', and now that it's not illegal anymore, it's not really that fun anymore, either...
Dear Roger,
From this Jim Wallis story,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-wallis/biblical-social-justice-a_b_493875.html
” Glenn Beck says Christians should leave churches that use the word ”social justice.” He says social justice is a code word for communism and Nazism.
But since the Catholic Church, the Black Churches, the Mainline Protestant churches, more and more Evangelical and Pentecostal churches including Hispanic and Asian-American congregations all consider social justice central to biblical faith, Glenn Beck is telling all those Christians to leave their churches. Of course, Christians may disagree about what social justice means in our current political context — and that conversation is an important one — but the Bible is clear: from the Mosaic law of Jubilee, to the Hebrew prophets, to Jesus Christ, social justice is an integral part of God’s plan for humanity. ”
My question is, is it all right with you to claim we too are in favor of ”social justice?” I sure thought so, but I’d like you to weigh in on the subject as our church elder. I think it gives our church credibility for it’s ministers to weigh in on moral and religious topics from time to time. Thanks,
Reverend Lauren Unruh
THC Ministry
Pleasant Hill, CA
This is why I almost never contact my friends. I consider it religious abuse, and it really upsets me. Here is a story of the raid,
Multiple DEA Raids Target Marijuana in Hawaii
http://cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2010/03/14/Multiple-DEA-Raids-Target-Marijuana-Hawaii
I do not call that a coincidence, I call it my religion being the subject of a bogus ’criminal’ investigation.
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
And from my church,
Cultivation and enjoyment of Cannabis sacrament is a fundamental human right provided by God and protected by the first Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It is our opinion that Cannabis is the original sacrament of Hebrew, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Shinto, Buddhist, Rasta and more, and fulfills the prophesies to ‘raise up for them a plant of renown…’
http://www.thc-ministry.org/
Reverend Lauren Unruh
THC Ministry
For background history I recommend,
Marijuana – The First Twelve Thousand Years
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/first12000/abel.htm
Cannabis in the Christian Bible – THE HOLY ANOINTING OIL
http://www.thinkingbaptists.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=94
Although debating what Moses put in his oils is pointless, whether the substance in question was calamus, galangal, or cannabis is less relevant than is the fact that all three substances have psychotropic properties. At some point we may have to face the fact that most religions use or have used psychoactive substances in their rituals. We also have to face the fact that that doesn't make it wrong or invalid. An altered state of consciousness is a centerpiece to nearly all religions although it is often reserved for the priesthood.
Those that base their faith upon watered down and washed truths will find this a hard pill to swallow.
Of course as Gibran said, he who wears his religion but as his best garment were better naked".
Good luck with your church (I can't see anything wrong with it) and try not to get your friends in trouble.