Proposition 36 offers easy out for offenders

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Looks like “lax” in Los Angeles is not just the
abbreviation for the much trafficked airport; lax also seems to
describe how drug offenders will be punished under the passage of
last November’s Proposition 36, the California initiative
that will place drug offenders into rehabilitation programs rather
than in jails.

Within the next month, the Los Angeles County Board of
Supervisors will be preparing a detailed outline for the July 1
implementation of the passed proposition, putting into effect what
will be a new law that promises to turn around the world of drug
criminals by curbing their addiction problems instead of brutally
taking away their freedom.

According to the terms of the proposition, drug offenders would
undergo drug education courses, detoxification and other treatments
for at least three months. After completion of these programs, the
charges against the offender would be dropped.

While such a program may help offenders step out of
drug-centered lifestyles, the leniency behind the implementation of
Proposition 36 overlooks the fact that doing, possessing or selling
drugs is still a huge crime. Drugs are no longer horrible enemies
that are leading to the degradation of society; rather, drugs have
become a non-threatening and normal part of life.

In past decades, drugs have often been associated only with
distinct populations. With each decade, drug culture has
predominately been limited to teens and young adults who embraced
illegal substances as a form of rebellion or escape.

  Illustration by HINGYI KHONG/Daily Bruin In the 1960s, we
had herb-smoking, peace-seeking hippies jaded by the Vietnam War.
In the 1970s, drug use shifted to recreation, to disco clubbers who
experimented with cocaine and intravenous drugs. Punk-rocker youths
defying such icons as Reagan became the key drug abusers in the
1980s, and the 1990s boasted grunge rockers and reggae-listening
Marley revivalists as the labeled drug population.

While it would be presumptuous to say that in the past drugs
were only limited to certain social and socio-economic groups,
former labels of stereotypical user crowds contrast with what the
media and film present today. The population of drug users no
longer seem to make general distinctions among users since users
are of all genders, ages and social clans. The way of the drugs
seems to have permeated class and culture lines, leading to a
homogeneous, laid-back drug culture where just about anyone can be
a participant.

Recently, the film “Traffic” exposed the ubiquitous
usage of drugs in upper class, white suburban populations instead
of perpetuating the stereotype that only inner-city minority groups
and the “bad” eggs at American Generic High School use
drugs. Unlikely abusers include a white, high school honor student
and her friends who free-base cocaine and smoke pot, and an
affluent La Jolla family man who secretly runs a drug cartel. This
diffusion of drug usage from stereotypical groups to the
“unlikely” crowd embodies the idea that society has
developed a relaxed attitude about drugs.

With this shift in who is doing drugs these days, the idea that
“everyone is doing it” seems to have become the
consensus of society, and this in turn has led to a more casual
attitude about drugs as it has become just as common as drinking a
glass of wine.

Drugs have also crossed the borders of where they are normally
used. No longer limited to parties, drugs are now part of those
leisurely activities like resting after a long day. In last
year’s flick “The Cell,” Jennifer Lopez relaxes
with a joint after work as if she were having milk and cookies
after a day at school.

Real life has also taken part in this guilty enterprise of
perpetuating the casual attitude toward drug use. The recent arrest
of Aaron Sorkin, creator of television’s critically praised
“The West Wing,” for possession of hallucinogenic
mushrooms spells out the idea that drugs are hardly limited to
clueless teens or adults who do “bad things.”
Sorkin’s saga shows that even Emmy-award winning writers with
families can be regular abusers.

Legal measures of the past several years have fostered this lax
attitude toward drugs. California led the marijuana legalization
race in 1996 when Proposition 215 passed, allowing the drug to be
prescribed to treat terminal illnesses like cancer, AIDS and
glaucoma. Since then, nine other states have legalized marijuana
for medicinal uses.

While federal law still dictates that possessing, growing or
selling marijuana is criminal, such acts at the state level have
worn down the strictness of this rule by allowing exceptions.
Though states like Maryland and Arkansas have voted against
initiatives to legalize marijuana, the frequency of the proposal on
ballots since 1996 is remarkable, revealing that America is leaning
toward a wider acceptance of marijuana usage. Just two weeks ago
North Carolina introduced a medicinal marijuana bill in its General
Assembly.

Drugs are no longer seen as terribly lethal, as city councils in
California now recognize the investigation of medical marijuana
usage as a “low priority.” Terminally ill patients of
the Cannabis Buyers Club in Bay Area cities need only flash their
membership card to law enforcement to smoke pot in public, as they
are protected under California legislation as long as they have a
doctor’s approval.

The Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Cooperative in nearby West Los
Angeles legally operates to provide medicinal marijuana. Though
limitations prohibit recreational use of marijuana, the fact that
it can be smoked at all in public follows the idea that drugs are
no longer entirely dangerous or prohibited, and so gradually they
have become more mainstream.

Even our own President Bush has evaded the question of whether
he has ever used cocaine, implying that he may be guilty of doing
so. In August 1999, he avoided the question during an interview for
ABC’s Nightline and was the only presidential candidate
interviewed by the New York Times to completely ignore the question
of his possible prior drug use.

Despite these acts of avoidance and denial of a seriously
dangerous drug like cocaine, the American public still elected Bush
to be president, revealing that the public does not seem to regard
drugs as an important issue when picking the leader of the
country.

Attitudes may be changing for the worse, but there is still hope
for society’s conscience. The implementation of Proposition
36 will not begin until July, and, in the meantime, hopefully the
county Board of Supervisors will draw a plan to carry out the new
law with harsh punitive measures and not overlook the fact that
drugs are grossly dangerous and illegal.

The tagline of “Traffic,” featured on its movie
poster, declares “No one gets away clean.” This is
exactly what the board should have in mind over the next few
weeks.

Drugs harm just about anyone directly or indirectly connected
with them, and America should be careful about letting its
attitudes get too casual about drugs because of this harm. Those
who are convicted of drug related crimes should also not “get
away clean” and putting them into rehabilitation programs
without hard punishment might do just that.