Grass Grows More Acceptable

It could be written off to the kids last year when the city council of Ann Arbor, Mich., voted to make marijuana use a misdemeanor subject to a maximum fine of $5, payable by mail. And this spring the radicals were apparently responsible as 60% of Berkeley, Calif., voters passed the "marijuana initiative," which ordered police to give marijuana laws "their lowest priority" and required authorization of the city council for any "arrest for possession, use or cultivation" of the weed. Both cities' policies were later knocked out. But last month in Washington, D.C., a still more revolutionary idea came from an unexpected source: the American Bar Association proposed the total removal of criminal laws against marijuana possession in small amounts.

Popular Drug. With the A.B.A. behind decriminalization of pot, can the rest of the nation be far behind? Perhaps not. Since 1971 state legislatures across the nation, with the notable exception of Rhode Island, have reduced possession of small amounts of grass from a felony to a misdemeanor. Supporting the trend are prestigious organizations like the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (lawyers, judges, law professors and state officials who draft model legislation). The American Medical Association favors the misdemeanor penalty for possession in "insignificant" amounts, though it advocates more research on the drug. A National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse survey shows that 26 million Americans have tried grass, and 13 million are regular users.

Just how far the weed has come with the middle class since the first furtive puffs in college dormitories in the 1960s was evident at the A.B.A. convention. A year ago, Whitney North Seymour Sr., past president of the A.B.A., helped water down a decriminalization motion. This year Seymour was the first speaker in favor of the revised resolution. Says he: "Reflecting on the consequences of criminal penalties to the 20-odd million young people using marijuana, I decided that we ought to concentrate on trying to stop sales and start removing penalties for possession." Seymour was joined by a host of law-and-order spokesmen, and the motion even received personal endorsement from a representative of the hard-line National District Attorneys Association. When the votes were counted, the A.B.A. was solidly behind dropping penalties for both possession of limited quantities and "casual distribution of small amounts not for profit." The lawyers' vote showed concern that police and courts have been busy with pot cases at the expense of more serious crime. The A.B.A. was also distressed over the dangerous legal precedent of open disregard for marijuana laws. Concluded Frank Fioramonti, legislative counsel to NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws): "When the A.B.A. delegates get around to advocating a progressive step, you know it's an idea whose time has come."

The idea has arrived in some other surprising places:

> Until this year Texas was known as a dangerous place indeed to smoke. Eight hundred marijuana offenders were in jail, serving an average sentence of 9 1/2 years for possession. Thirteen were in for life, and Lee Otis Johnson, a black activist arrested in 1968, was sentenced to 30 years for having passed a marijuana joint to an undercover agent. Last May the Texas legislature voted to make possession of two ounces or less of marijuana a misdemeanor punishable with a maximum six-month jail sentence and $1,000 fine.

> In 1968 pot-smoking hippies were a key target of Atlanta police. Virtually all of Georgia drug-law enforcement resources were directed against pot. Then last year the state legislature reduced first-offense possession of one ounce or less to a misdemeanor. Today only 20% of the state's anti-drug campaign is aimed at marijuana.

> On Oct. 5, Oregon will become the first state to remove completely criminal penalties for the private possession and use of grass. The new law re-classifies possession of up to one ounce as a "violation," with a maximum penalty of a $100 fine. Offenders will receive no criminal record, in effect making pot smoking no more criminal in Oregon than illegal parking.

Elsewhere in the country, resistance to softer pot laws continues. Though possession of marijuana in small quantities is now just a misdemeanor in Maine, police around Baxter State Park this summer are conducting a campaign to arrest campers who light more than camp fires. So far, raiders have busted more than 150 vacationers and slapped them with a total of $40,000 in fines. In Massachusetts, despite reduced penalties for marijuana use, 47% of all drug arrests in the state are still for pot. Florida Circuit Court Judge Edward Cowart declares: "The thing that bothers me most is that authorities say they have yet to find someone on the hard stuff who didn't start with marijuana." Says Albert Le Bas, chief of the civil division of the Los Angeles County sheriff's office: "Our concern is that there is still conflicting medical testimony on how harmful it is to the body."

California legislators voted last year to reduce marijuana possession to a misdemeanor, but Governor Ronald Reagan vetoed the bill. State law now offers a range of penalties for first-offense pot possession from probation to a ten-year jail term. The nation's harshest drug law is New York's, making life sentences mandatory for some hard-drug offenses but leaving marijuana possession punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony. State police officials say that enforcement will be minimal against pot smokers. Prosecution of pushers in New York, as in all other states, will remain a top priority.

It was not long ago that Keith Stroup, head of NORML, appeared to be a rather improbable lobbyist, but now he and his Washington-based organization believe that they are at the threshold of success. Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark will soon file a NORML suit in Washington federal district court arguing that the capital's pot-possession laws are unconstitutional. A favorable decision there would add credence to Stroup's prediction that marijuana may be legal nationwide by 1976.

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