Sam: Modern marijuana legislation debate in need of a more family-friendly face and maybe a haircut

Marijuana sure has come a long way since Daryll Gates, the founder of DARE, famously remarked that “casual drug users should be taken out and shot.” By any metric, it would seem that the US of A – once more identifiable with Saudi Arabia in its drug policy than a Western democracy – is well on its way to legalizing a fundamental right.

But nothing kills good policy like the excesses of its beneficiaries, and if Madison’s annual Harvest Fest is any indication, marijuana’s last hurdle is the public’s perception of its consumers.

During the celebration, hundreds of legalization advocates put on their finest tie-dye, smoke – the originality! – on State Street and finally amble to the State Legislature, where they shout slogans in front of that dubiously august body. Conveniently for any aspiring Republican governors out there, the next day’s papers display a graphic, one-sided vision of the future: It’s hair in dreadlocks and smoking in front of your children. Such mischaracterizations need not be honest. They are seen.

Then again, certain trends are inevitable. It would take a hefty preponderance of gratuitously clich?d Bob Marley acolytes to kill the long-coming shift toward a more sensible – and humane – marijuana policy. But to argue that there is anything remotely intelligent or influential about Harvest Fest and its sibling acts of degeneracy is to neglect the fundamental reasons for pot’s increasingly pleasant future in the first place. Marijuana has inched with painful slowness towards legality mainly because the most recent generation of voters grew up consuming it without any tangible debasement of their collective intelligence.

If serious advocates really do want to eradicate one of this country’s last de facto impositions of Shari’a, they should not be so quick to discount the middle-aged suburbanites who habitually decide such things. These centrists, among whom I count my parents, were appalled by the excesses of the Drug War, particularly the mass-incarceration of minorities that followed. They likely see no problem with consenting adults relaxing with a hot one after work, but tend to look unkindly on someone else’s constitutional good fun getting rubbed in their faces. For them, conspicuously adult-like advocacy which stresses medicine on one hand and sociological humanity on the other is the only argument with any currency.

Fortunately, Daryll Gates’ rather appalling nostalgia for the glory days of fascism will probably soon cease to have any role whatsoever in public policy, public tantrums or no. But when all is said and done, we should still aspire to an intelligent refutation.

Allegra: Ruling out those who take to the streets for Harvest Fest leaves the rest both high and dry

In the late 30s, a whole host of anti-marijuana propaganda films came out that played on the theme of a raucous party and some kind of death at the hands of a dope-addled teen. Today we would scoff at the complete ludicrousness of the scenarios, but the films do bring up two items of note: one, that people have always had misconceptions about pot, and two, that people have been toking up for over 80 years.

In that time, attitudes towards pot have slowly but surely headed towards acceptance. While pot has had a steady underground following throughout its tumultuous history in the US, in recent times it has become more and more bold in breaking the surface. The media has practically guaranteed marijuana’s place in the mainstream as music, TV shows, movies, and even popular books are peppered with references to people burning one. Pot has officially left the VW van and entered locker rooms, penthouses, and living rooms everywhere, and there are stats to prove it.

Yet, while a whopping 25.8 million Americans admitted to having smoked pot in a 2008 poll, many of them have kept quiet when it comes to pushing for pro-pot legislation. Take Harvest Fest as a case in point. The event is designed to bring together people who all rally behind a common cause and put real people behind the movement to get high legally.

Unfortunately, not everyone who smokes pot is willing to be labeled as such, and Harvest Fest attracts those who aren’t afraid of the stigma. As a result, you see a lot of stereotypical “stoners” there. The professionals, students and average Joes that enjoy pot in the privacy of their homes are less likely to show for fear of being seen. Thus, when innocent June and Ward take a stroll down State Street, they have to cover little Beaver’s eyes to protect him from the sight of dreaded (pun intended) hippies shoving their lit joints in all the non-smokers faces. Give me a break.

The argument over pot is decades old, and biases towards or against it are already firmly in place in Washington. Sure, maybe politicians would have more respect for the legalization movement if their fellow professionals admitted to smoking, and it would probably make June and Ward less queasy too. And yes, a parade of men in suits sparking their pipes would probably have more of an impact than the more humble crowd that came out. But at least the attendees of Harvest Fest had the guts to put their face to a movement they believe in. That’s more than I can say for most of us.