|
|
Marijuana
LIFE Magazine
October 31, 1969
In U.S. Customs "war room" near Los Angeles (below), agents keep track
of nationwide marijuana "market." Above, guests in a fashionable New York
apartment enjoy a pot party.
MARIJUANA
the law vs. 12 million people
In New York a group
of middle-aged professional people begin an evening with a marijuana
"cocktail party." In Detroit some lawyers and executives get together
in the small hours for wine-and-pot. In Beverly Hills, at a stately
black-tie dinner, the matronly hostess beckons the butler who brings
a silver tray with a single after-dinner joint to be passed around.
Marijuana, until
recently a conspicuous liturgy of the rebellious young; is spreading
into the middle class and fast becoming an institution. An estimated
12 million Americans have now tried it. The consequence is an ironic
contradiction reminiscent of the Prohibition era of the 1920s, when
ordinary citizens blithely drank bathtub gin while cops pursued the
bootleggers. Now as the pot party gets to be fashionable in some circles,
authorities are mounting an unprecedented campaign to cut off the supply
at the Mexican border, where U.S. Customs agents are bearing down on
professional smuggling, with planes, boats and mobile radar units.
A growing body of
opinion now recognizes the disproportionate severity of laws that define
mere possession of marijuana as a felony and lead to travesties like
the case of a 20-year-old college student sentenced to 20 years for
possession (p. 30). Last week the Nixon administration reversed its
adamant earlier position and recommended reducing the federal penalty
for first offenders to a misdemeanor. As illegal marijuana becomes increasingly
"respectable," ultimately the whole question of legalization will have
to be faced--although no country in the world officially sanctions it.
On page 34 Dr. James Goddard, former director of the Food and Drug Administration,
dispels many of the myths that confuse the marijuana debate and renders
his verdict on legalization.
At many parties
casual marijuana smoking simply replaces social drinking. In suburban
Boston (above) a group of middle-aged business and professional people
light up after dinner. In New Orleans (below) the occasion is a garden
pot party on Sunday
|
