In January 1920, as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was about to become effective, the evangelist Billy Sunday, one of America’s great crusaders against the scourge of “John Barleycorn” proclaimed that a grand new era was about to emerge.
“Men will walk upright now, women will smile and the children will laugh,” Sunday told a crowd in Norfolk, Va. “Hell will be forever for rent.”
Of course, things did not turn out that way. The battle against booze was lost and Prohibition was repealed after 13 years. But, attempts to use the force of law against intoxication and addiction persist to this day – even as they continue to be ineffective. Forty years after President Richard Nixon formally declared a “war on drugs,” Americans are signaling at the voting booth and in opinion polls that they are ready to consider certain forms of tactical retreat.
Michigan policy makers should heed that sentiment as they consider possible changes to the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, passed overwhelmingly by Michigan voters in 2008.
At this point, I should explain that I am not a marijuana user and I don’t particularly approve of regular, recreational use of pot. Mary Jane supporters are just wrong when they argue that the drug has few ill effects. For some people I have known, it has proved to be psychologically addictive and a destructive force in their lives. On the other hand, I have been completely convinced that the medicalbenefits of marijuana are real.
People I know well and respect – in at least one case, this includes a person who had in no way ever been part of the American drug culture – have benefitted greatly from the medical use of cannabis to control nausea and relieve pain. It seems counter-intuitive to think that anything that is smoked can actually be used as medicine. However, marijuana works in cases in which other drugs fail. Nobody suffering from a serious disease should be denied access to marijuana if they can benefit from it. Nobody who needs the drug should be denied employment or housing strictly because he or she uses it.
On that score, I think the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act was a huge step in the right direction. But, I can see where critics likeMichigan Attorney General Bill Schuette are coming from when they say the law is too vague and needs to be clarified. Like anything health-related, the pot business needs to be effectively regulated. We also need to be sure society is protected from the dangers of users driving or operating dangerous equipment while intoxicated.
It’s also true that the fledgling medical marijuana industry in the state has a lot to gain from good-faith regulations that could give consumers confidence in the quality of the products sold and ensure medical use of pot is not just recreational use in disguise.
What we can’t have are regulations that restrict the medical pot business so tightly as to effectively ban it. We also should avoid heavy handed actions to “enforce” legal interpretations that are untested in court and/or subject to clarification by the legislature. Groups like the recently formed Michigan Association of Compassion Centers, a trade group for the medical marijuana industry, are right when they imply that recent raids of pot dispensaries have the feel of intimidation.
Michigan voters were serious when they voted to approve the use of medical marijuana. Any legislation passed should respect that. If it doesn’t, then Gov. Rick Snyder ought to veto it and voters should take notice.
Side note: Anybody interested in the history of the Prohibition era – and Michigan’s role in its downfall – really should check out Detroit native Daniel Okrent’s fascinating book, “Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.” You’ll never look at the Detroit River the same way again.
