Clearing the Air

It seemed like an April Fool’s joke – as of midnight on April 1, marijuana is decriminalized in Rhode Island – but, no, it was in fact reality. Those caught with less than an ounce of weed will no longer face criminal charges, but rather a simple $150 fine. So as I sit here with 9/10s of an ounce and a check for $150 made out to the State of Rhode Island, I can’t help wondering, what the f&*@ took so long?

I’m going to spare you the freshman-year-of-liberal-arts-college tirade about marijuana legalization: the extolling of the many health benefits of this natural medicine, the stock criticisms of our deplorable and ineffective War on Drugs, the debunking of the “gateway drug” myth, and all the other arguments we’ve been making for legalization since at least the ‘70s. I’m going to assume you know all that and talk to you like an adult.

You smoke pot. Or at least you have at some point in your past – and probably more recently than you’d care to admit in polite company. The same is probably true for at least half the people you know. We joke about it a lot – pot humor always goes a long way because damn near everybody can relate to it. I personally have witnessed some of the leaders of our community smoking up: lawyers, architects, politicians, entrepreneurs, PR professionals, scientists, executive directors of nonprofits – the list goes on. I won’t call anybody out by name, but they know who they are. Does this make them drug users? Potheads? Hypocrites? None of the above. They’re fine, upstanding citizens and productive members of society. They’re also rational adults who recognize that indulging in a little vice here and there is good for the mind, body and soul. The benefits are over-whelming, while the risks are minimal and, until now, mostly of the legal sort.

Though I was never a fan of the TV show Will and Grace, I always respected something about it. For all the credit it was (properly) given for helping to normalize gay characters and their lives on television, the show was also refreshingly honest in another way: it was one of, if not the only, mainstream show I can think of to candidly and matter of factly admit that otherwise responsible young professionals occasionally engage in a bit of recreational drug use. In my experience, more people than not enjoy at least a periodic dalliance in pot smoking. So why don’t we admit that to each other? It’s always something that’s done in secret, whispered about, never mentioned after. The reasons are obvious: legal ramifications and social stigma. We’ve finally had the sense as a state to deal with the former – now it’s up to us to handle the latter.

My advice to all of you out there, whether you’re getting ready to light a joint or wag your finger at someone else for doing so, is this: grow up. For all our bluster and moral indignation, we Americans can be hopelessly childish and naïve, so easily scandalized by nonsense. We’re fine with showing a bloodied, mutilated dead body on television, but scandalized by a living, breathing naked one. We’ll foist fame, riches and adulation on otherwise flawed men just because they can play a game well, then feign shock and outrage when they turn out to be philandering pricks. We’ll spark up a bowl with just the right people in just the right place and time, while aiding and abetting the misguided and counterproductive laws that keep it illegal. And we’ll stigmatize pot smokers while encouraging the legal and doctor-recommended consumption of all the Prozac, Ritalin, Adderall, Ativan, Valium, et al that you can get your hands on. It’s sad, ridiculous and hypocritical, the work of nattering scolds and killjoys, and the enablers who cede moral authority to them. At least now the only judgment passed on weed smokers in Rhode Island will be a social one. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.