Marijuana Policy Project

As the Union Leader has reported, activists in Keene have been engaging in daily public "smoke-outs" to protest marijuana laws. Encouraged by a few activists who do not believe in changing bad laws through the legislative process, these individuals have been gathering on Keene's Main Street to smoke marijuana in defiance of state law.

If some of these people are truly interested in reforming marijuana laws, and not just acting out for the sake of acting out, perhaps they should first consider a lesson from history.

When alcohol was re-legalized in 1933, it wasn't because drinkers had finally revolted against the tyrannical policy and demanded their rights. The concerns of drinkers were only a small part of the overall equation. Instead, repeal advocates managed to focus the public's attention away from those pesky drinkers and onto the unintended consequences of prohibition: increased violence, the enrichment and empowerment of criminals, poisonous liquor of questionable origin, innocents caught in the crossfire, rampant disrespect for the law and the noticeable rise in reckless and irresponsible behaviors associated with drinking.

Once people learned to distinguish between the harmful effects of drinking and the harmful effects of enforcing prohibition policy, repeal quickly became a no-brainer. Also contributing to the repeal of Prohibition was the fact that the country was mired in a severe economic depression. Under those circumstances, taxation and regulation suddenly seemed like a much better option than to continue such an expensive policy failure.

We should all be glad this disastrously utopian social experiment did not last much longer, because if it had survived another 10 or 20 years, people might have forgotten what life was like before Prohibition was thrust on America. The alcohol policies that have followed Prohibition have not been perfect, but they have been largely successful at minimizing the harms associated with this dangerous and potentially lethal drug.

Today, virtually all Americans agree that laws should protect the right of adults to drink responsibly, but not the right to drink too much and drive, and although the drinking age is often disputed, there is a nearly universal desire for laws to keep alcohol away from children. One fact especially relevant to the marijuana discussion is that most Americans also support laws against drinking alcohol in certain public places.

That's what's so hard to understand about these protesters. They might actually have a chance at convincing the Legislature that marijuana should be legalized and regulated similarly to alcohol, but is smoking pot in public really the way to convince people? Would marijuana legalization, if passed by the Legislature, include the right to smoke in a public park or on the side of Main Street? I seriously doubt that it would.

Incidentally, the folks who are least amused by the recent wave of protests are the seriously ill patients who have been advocating all year for a medical marijuana law. The legislature will vote Oct. 28 on whether to override Gov. John Lynch's veto of HB 648, the tightly crafted bill that would allow doctors to recommend marijuana for serious illnesses.

Two-thirds majorities will be necessary to override this veto, and it will be possible if legislators understand, correctly, that the effort to pass HB 648 has nothing to do with these people on the side of the street. This bill will not allow these protesters to use marijuana legally, and it will not allow anyone to use marijuana in public places.

While these activists appear to have no trouble accessing marijuana for recreational purposes, a person who is diagnosed with a serious illness late in life may have no idea where he or she can turn for relief. This is a tragic situation, and the only way to fix it is to pass this bill.