I
recall a quarrel I once got into back when I lived in Springfield, Ill. The
topic was decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana, and the person I
spoke to was determined to believe that this was identical to legalization.
A
concept that totally offended this particular person.
FOR
IT INVOLVES taking the offense of possession and removing the stigma, and
accompanying criminal penalties that can occur when police find someone in possession
of the proverbial “joint.”
Now
I personally don’t smoke. Although I have always thought that too much of the
opposition to marijuana was inspired by the concept that it was punishment for
people of a certain ideological type – based largely on a notion that is some
50 years old and ridiculously out-of-date.
So
to listen to people getting worked up over medical marijuana (the state has begun the process of licensing marijuana dispensaries, and many municipalities have amended their ordinances to regulate where such facilities can be located) always struck me
as more political and ideological, rather than any concern over whether
marijuana has any legitimate medical purpose.
So
while the Chicago Tribune reported that Mayor Rahm Emanuel could benefit
politically by coming out on Tuesday in favor of marijuana being decriminalized
across all of Illinois, I can’t help but wonder about the drawbacks.
THERE
IS A segment of our society that is loud and outspoken who will be more than
eager to demonize Emanuel for backing, as they’ll want to perceive it, the
legalization of marijuana.
They’ll
want to believe that teenage kids will be smoking pot in the high school
restrooms, and the teachers won’t be able to do anything about it. Then again,
they’ll probably envision the teachers of a certain age (the ones pushing close
to retirement with distant memories of being “flower children”) smoking along
with them.
Which
means we’re going to hear a whole lot of nonsense being spewed in coming weeks
and months. People are going to want to rant and rage about this, just as they
want to rant and rage about just about anything that Emanuel supports.
This
was, after all, the man who was a Clinton White House aide whose running for
Congress back in the early 2000s was supposed to make him un-electable.
Instead, he won.
THEN,
HIS TIES to Barack Obama (serving as his White House chief of staff for a
stint) was supposed to make him the ultimate piece of damaged goods.
Yet
Emanuel keeps winning. Which is why I’m not counting out his re-election
desires come 2015.
Although
the fact that he’s going to ask the Illinois Legislature to get in line with
his desires for decriminalization means he’s going to be setting himself up for
attacks from people who aren’t going to be inclined to view the issue the same
way he does.
This
issue could well be yet another one that causes people to view Illinois as a
severely schizoid state split into factions that just can’t seem to agree on
much of anything.
I
HAVE NO doubt that outside of the Chicago metro area, the other third of
Illinois’ population still thinks that the gay marriage issue is one that the
state got “wrong,” and they wish we were allied with Indiana and Wisconsin in
fighting legalization to the very end – instead of being amongst the first
third of the nation to adopt it.
Are
we bound to hear similarly-inspired arguments about marijuana and how the “hippies”
have taken over and turned the state into a batch of freaks? Just writing that
line, it reeks of ridiculousness.
So
Emanuel, in pushing now for decriminalization, probably has some logic and
sensibility on his side. It really would benefit our law enforcement agencies
if they didn’t have to devote so much time and effort to fighting petty crime.
That
ought to be something all of us would desire.
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