New York – The Jewish Pro-Drug Czar An Advocate For Legalizing Marijuana

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    Ethan NadelmannNew York – Ethan Nadelmann was sitting in a small plane flying low over the remote, hilly farm country of Mendocino County, north of San Francisco, surveying small clusters of marijuana plants scattered among the woods and fields. “You’ll see eight plants in somebody’s backyard,” Nadelmann says. “Or you’ll see six or 12 or 22 out in a field. You see greenhouses in the middle of nowhere. You see tarps.”

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    You don’t see rolling fields of weed, just lots and lots of small clusters—and they’re all over the place. Indeed, in California marijuana is a booming business. Some reckon the state’s annual harvest is worth $14 billion—more than agriculture and wine combined. The local police know who’s growing the stuff but can’t or won’t stamp it out because, frankly, the local economy depends on it. “It’s big enough and legitimate enough that trying to wipe it out doesn’t make sense—not from a law-enforcement perspective or a political perspective, and certainly not from an economic perspective,” says Nadelmann.

    The answer? Regulate it and tax it, he says. As Nadelmann, director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance Network, sees it, the entire “war on drugs” is a colossal failure, a waste of time and money that has caused far more harm than drugs themselves.

    Nadelmann doesn’t quite cringe when he hears endorsements like that, but neither does he entirely fit in with his comrades in the drug-legalization lobby. Yes, he admits to smoking pot occasionally. But you won’t see him posing in High Times with an armload of giant buds, and he’s not some wild-eyed stoner on a quixotic quest to legalize grass. In fact, he’s a wonky, 52-year-old former Princeton professor, a studious kid who grew up the son of a respected rabbi in Yonkers, N.Y., and who graduated from Harvard with honors. Nadelmann went on to earn a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, returning to Harvard to garner both a doctorate and a law degree before settling into a teaching gig at Princeton.

    In other words, he’s about as mainstream as it gets. Had he stuck with the law, today he’d undoubtedly be a partner at some big firm. Had he stuck with Princeton, he’d likely be tenured, with an easy courseload and heaps of time to write books. Instead, he’s cranking out position papers from a cramped office on 36th Street in New York City, and every time he goes on TV he endures a bunch of stoner jokes so he can patiently explain that his crusade has nothing to do with drugs, per se, and everything to do with civil liberties. “I try to make the jokes work in my favor,” Nadelmann says. “It’s part and parcel of the evolution of public opinion. If you can joke about something, it’s a way of saying it’s not a serious issue. And if it’s not a serious issue, then why are we arresting 800,000 people a year? Why are there 50,000 to 100,000 people behind bars on any given night for marijuana?”

    Read the full story at Newsweek.com


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    29 Comments
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    chezky
    chezky
    14 years ago

    Why should it be illegal? Because it kills thousands every year!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    A Jewish Czar? Ze postnisht.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    He is 100 percent right. There is nothing wrong with occasionally smoking pot. I have done it many times and honestly its much better than drinking. And for those who say its a gateway drug, you are wrong. I have not had the urge to try and other drug or pill because a small dose of that can kill me. Driving high is a lot safer than driving drunk.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    smoking pot does not kill thousands every year but cigarettes and alcohol kill millions. i’m not saying it should be legal, but the majority of people who do occasionally smoke it are normal, every day people who don’t do other drugs. again, if it’s illegal then you shouldn’t do it, but if you do, enjoy!

    Pot Head
    Pot Head
    14 years ago

    Doesn’t make sense not to legalize. How is it worse than Alcohol? Since when does the government care about peoples brain cells? They definately don’t have any.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    good idea, its better then cigerttes, i support it, i think ny should legalize it.

    Halachah
    Halachah
    14 years ago

    I think in igros Moshe it says marijuana is assur please let me know if you know what he says on it

    Genuk Shoin
    Genuk Shoin
    14 years ago

    The primary role of government is to protect us from foreign and domestic enemies. Before spending money on other projects, please show a source in the Constitution. This moronic “War on Drugs” has done nothing to curb drug use. All it does is cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars yearly. It also hikes up the price of drugs which is the primary cause for drug-reated crime. And no, I have never used drugs in my life and I think that anyone who does is a pathetic loser. Nevertheless, it is not illegal to be a pathetic loser.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    why didn’t the government learn there lesson after their failed war on alcohol?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    “Closet breslover” I am frum and married with kids. I learned in all the brand named yeshiva’s. I just smoked some pot over sukkos with two friends for the first time. Its really no big deal. We got a little buzz, but were totally logical, and in control. On simchas torah on the other hand, I got really stoned from booze. I was not rational and way more “out of control”. And btw, smoking pot wasn’t even that great or out of this world to make me want to try it again. Really no big deal. So if any of you are curious about it, go gove it a shot and enjoy the buzz! I support medical marijuana!