We’ed Rather Not

Enough of this puffery, but even in the most conservative states, there are liberals, and likewise in the most liberal states, there are strong pockets of conservatives. In Texas, red is morphing into a Latino-driven purple in certain urban centers and even in that bastion of legislative right-wingism, Austin, there are an lot folks in that city that are at or left of center. Some states have clearly defined pockets of blue – like Santa Fe and Albuquerque in New Mexico – or the coastal regions in tech-driven Washington State vs. the farm country, appropriately to the right (on the map as well). And oddly enough, even liberal areas have boundaries they are loath to cross, particularly in smaller, more traditional regions.

So introduce powerful statewide legislation reversing decades of contrary legal structures, shaking and vibrating in the sweep of new personal social freedoms that have crossed into acceptable, and you are going to find pockets of resistance whose cry of NIMBY (“not in my backyard”) will immediately swing into action to reverse the impact of the new laws. It’s not a whole lot different from communities defying court decisions by indirect actions… like implementing new medical licensing rules that effectively give abortion clinics nowhere to locate.

California has that lovely green cross market, denoting medical marijuana within, and states from Florida to New York are considering parallel initiatives. Meanwhile, Colorado and Washington have gone one giant step beyond, legalizing an entirely new recreational industry for demon weed. States are licking their chops – kind of like governmental munchies – at the prospect of all that new tax revenue, mixed in the savings of law enforcement costs – that creates more than a boon to week-lovers and their local “entrepreneurial” dealers. Gangs hate it too, because their precious industry has just been encroached by government-sanctioned competition.

But the above-noted pockets of conservatism and traditionalism just plain don’t like the whole notion of legalized weed, no matter what the sweeping social acceptability might be elsewhere. There are local governments hell-bent on banning week trafficking, no matter how legal it may be. Zoning restrictions, making using weed illegal just about anywhere it is likely to be consumed to out-and-out ordinance defying the state legislation. In some communities, primarily rural, Democrats and Republicans often see eye-to-eye on this issue, noting that the big weed community is almost always urban… unless you are a weed farmer, of course!

“[T]he fight also signals a larger battle over the future of legal marijuana: whether it will be a national industry providing near-universal access, or a patchwork system with isolated islands of mainly urban sales. To some partisans, the debate has echoes to the post-Prohibition era, when ‘dry towns’ emerged in some states in response to legalized alcohol. ‘At some point we have to put some boundaries,’ said Rosetta Horne, a nondenominational Christian church minister here in Yakima [Washington], at a public hearing … where she urged the City Council to enact a permanent ban on marijuana businesses.

“Though it seems strongest in more rural and conservative communities, the resistance has been surprisingly bipartisan. In states from Louisiana to Indiana that are discussing decriminalizing marijuana, Republican opponents of relaxing the drug laws are finding themselves loosely allied with Democratic skeptics. Voices in the Obama administration concerned about growing access have joined antidrug crusaders like Patrick J. Kennedy, a Democratic former United States representative from Rhode Island, who contends that the potential health risks of marijuana have not been adequately explored, especially for juveniles — and who has written and spoken widely about his own struggles with alcohol and prescription drugs.

“’In some ways I think the best thing that could have happened to the anti-legalization movement was legalization, because I think it shows people the ugly side,’ said Kevin A. Sabet, a former drug policy adviser to President Obama and the executive director and co-founder, with Mr. Kennedy, of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. The group, founded last year, supports removing criminal penalties for using marijuana, but opposes full legalization, and is working with local organizations around the nation to challenge legalization.” New York Times, January 27^th.

Transitions take time, and sometimes they fizzle out. But the feelings about marijuana usage are often strongly felt, on either side of the issue. Legalizing something that many already-convicted are spending years and years in prison over is a tough call, with lots of legal, moral and ethical issues. How do you feel about the ability of a local community to opt out of legalized marijuana? How about their right to opt out of other legislation that they oppose?

I’m Peter Dekom, and change often carries long-standing resistance that can take a long time to reverse… if ever.