AlterNet: Medical Marijuana Apartheid: Different Rules Apply for Rich and Poor Pot Smokers

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Medical Marijuana Apartheid: Different Rules Apply for Rich and Poor Pot Smokers

By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted December 6, 2009.

A California hipster can hit the vaporizer without fear of harassment, but a lower-class person smoking a blunt may not be so lucky.




About 80 percent of Americans approve of medical marijuana laws, but some conservatives are incensed that state legislatures keep passing them. In a recent column, George F. Will, the Washington Post's bow-tied curmudgeon, decried the reefer madness he sees taking over California, sweeping across Colorado and perhaps even coming to a normal state near you.

The pundit seemed especially incensed that states like Colorado and California had effectively legalized the drug through a "back-door" process, writing that medical dispensaries "serve the fiction that most transactions in the store -- which is what it really is -- involve medicine." He lamented that "fifty-six percent of Californians support legalization," and concluded: "They essentially have this."

But Will is only half right. Pot in California is only legal for those of a certain class, or those who live in certain areas. It is effectively illegal in most communities of color. It's not legal for pot smokers in many conservative counties and municipalities. And it's effectively out of reach for California's poor.

It's not hard to imagine George F. Will overlooking the poor and disenfranchised from his lofty perch at the Washington Post, but they're right there, basking in the California sunshine. And every day they get busted for marijuana, and every day they enter the criminal justice system as a result. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/144530/medical_marijuana_apartheid%3A_different_rules_apply_for_rich_and_poor_pot_smokers