Users of Marijuana Sow Seeds of Dissent in the War on Drugs

While Congress was considering sweeping anti-drug legislation, four men recently squeezed into a run-down camper that reeked of marijuana smoke. A 33-year-old Burbank man named Barton Gilbert had called the group together. His purpose: To plan strategy for the war against the war on drugs.

Gilbert is the driving force behind the California Marijuana Initiative, a hopeful effort to legalize pot by 1988. His small group of supporters nodded earnestly, their knees nearly touching in the cramped quarters, when Gilbert warned that the national anti-drug campaign poses a serious threat to marijuana smokers.

“It’s important that somebody stand up to this hysteria,” said Gilbert, a thin man who sports a marijuana leaf pendant around his neck. “President Reagan’s programs rightfully take the glamour away from dangerous drugs like cocaine. But marijuana doesn’t belong in the same category.”

The President may not be inclined to make the same distinction. But Gilbert and other marijuana users throughout the country are patiently planting seeds of dissent against the powerful anti-drug forces. A measure similar to Gilbert’s comes before Oregon voters next month. And the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws reports that after a significant drop, membership has doubled in one year.

The upsurge in activity comes in direct response to the narcotics wars sweeping the country. Marijuana advocates, who successfully campaigned for the decriminalization of simple pot possession in 11 states during the 1970s, see the cultural tide turning, and they are concerned about the prospect of harsher penalties.

“Extremism is waking some people up to the real threat the drug war poses in our society,” said Kevin B. Zeese, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a Washington-based group with 6,000 members. “The government is very effective at polluting marijuana by mentioning it in the same breath with cocaine.”

The pamphlets distributed by the pro-marijuana lobby characterize pot as a friendly substance akin to beer. Backers say there is no evidence suggesting that marijuana causes drug addiction or disease. They also contend that pot should not be classified alongside chemical-based drugs such as cocaine.

Government agencies dispute those contentions. Officials say the marijuana used in the United States has become increasingly potent, and recent studies have shown that chronic marijuana use can lead to a variety of health problems, including lung disease.

Detective Milt Dodge of the Los Angeles Police Department’s narcotics division said marijuana also poses a serious threat to juveniles. “Marijuana and alcohol are still gateway drugs for many kids,” said Dodge, adding that affordable pot is readily available on the streets. “It would be a real disservice to decriminalize it. If anything, the laws should go in the opposite direction.”

In California, marijuana has been a key focus of authorities for several years. The Campaign Against Marijuana Planting this year has seized nearly 500,000 pounds of pot with a street value of $21 million.

Campaign Against Marijuana Planting Cmdr. Jack Beecham said he favors tougher penalties for marijuana cultivation, sale and possession. Cultivation and sale are already felonies punishable by prison. But simple pot possession (generally meaning less than one ounce) is a misdemeanor in California, Alaska, Maine, Colorado, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Oregon.

“If it is considered a crime to grow it and to provide it, it certainly should be one to possess it,” Beecham said. “And it wouldn’t surprise me if it happened. The mood of the country is certainly moving in that direction.”

That is where Barton Gilbert comes in. Gilbert envisions a day when marijuana will be available at convenience stores. He contends that pot would pose less of a threat if it is legalized because pushers would be forced out of business.

Gilbert, a Republican, is a 14-year veteran of the marijuana campaign. He was working as a volunteer for President Nixon’s 1972 reelection when the first effort to legalize marijuana qualified for the state ballot. “The Nixon people told me that I couldn’t work on both campaigns at the same time,” Gilbert said. “So I quit and went to work on the marijuana measure.”

The 1972 initiative failed by a 2-1 margin. Since then there have been 14 efforts to place a marijuana initiative on the ballot, all of them unsuccessful. The common wisdom is that the pro-marijuana forces still lack the political muscle needed to accomplish their goals. But Gilbert and his allies, a casual group of friends and supporters, are not discouraged.

“This is a lot of work, but it’s important,” Gilbert said. “We’re talking about the right to control our own bodies.”

Marijuana would be classified as an intoxicant like alcohol and regulated by alcohol beverage control agencies under Gilbert’s plan. Gilbert claims to have a statewide mailing list of about 1,000 supporters. He and his followers must collect about 395,000 valid signatures in order to qualify for the ballot.

One of Gilbert’s strongest supporters is Jim Moore, the publisher of the Sherman Oaks Express, a community newspaper that reaches about 30,000 people. Last month, Moore dedicated an entire issue to the marijuana cause. Like Gilbert, he considers himself a conscientious objector in the drug war.

“I was happy for the last 15 years with the way things were,” said Moore, 35. “No one bothered you, and you could get what you wanted for a decent price. There were more important things to deal with. But if (the government) is going to treat marijuana like other drugs, I think we need smoke-ins and marches and things.”

Oregon Initiative

The California marijuana initiative will probably gain momentum if the Oregon marijuana initiative makes a good showing. That measure would permit adults to grow and possess marijuana for their own consumption.

The director of the Oregon marijuana initiative, John Sajo, 30, has helped organize two previous efforts to place the issue on the ballot during the last six years. Support came easier this time, he said.

“When we got started, no one wanted to talk about marijuana,” Sajo said. “Everyone thought we were a bunch of kooks. But now there’s no question that it’s a legitimate political issue. The anti-drug legislation is helping us.”

Sajo’s Portland-based group expects to spend less than $100,000 on the campaign, which faces opposition from an anti-drug group called Citizens Against Marijuana Legislation. And the latest polls show that nearly 70% of the voters oppose the measure. But Sajo said he will consider it a victory if he gets anywhere near 50% of the vote.

“I’m very optimistic for the long term,” Sajo said. “Many people still see this as an extremely radical proposal that goes against their common sense. But they are changing. And if we don’t win this election, there is no question that we will turn around and put another initiative on the ballot.”

Zeese, president of the Washington-based pro-marijuana lobby, said he expects nationwide support for the cause to grow. After all, marijuana is still the nation’s best-selling narcotic. The Drug Enforcement Agency estimates that 8,500 metric tons of pot were consumed in 1984, compared to about 9,700 metric tons in 1981. And the pro-marijuana lobby claims that 30 million Americans use marijuana each year.

But Zeese’s enthusiasm is tempered. Roughly 500,000 people continue to be arrested on marijuana charges each year, and the pro-marijuana lobby lacks the support it had in the 1970s, when its membership reached more than 20,000.

In addition, the group has been stung recently by allegations that a third of its financial support comes from legal conferences attended by lawyers who specialize in defending mobsters on cocaine, not marijuana, charges. Zeese said that his group cannot stop mob lawyers from coming to its seminars. The pro-marijuana lobby, he said, is still solely committed to defending marijuana use.

Bruce Margolin, the Southern California coordinator for the national pro-marijuana lobby, argued that support for the organization is stronger than the numbers indicate. Yet he conceded that marijuana advocates may spend more time defending ground they already hold than breaking new ground in coming years.

“It’s important that we remain in existence,” he said, “so that someone speaks up for the other side.”