Georgia Group Pushes New Marijuana Laws
16. May, 2009 
9 Comments
by Steve Visser, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
David Clark looks pretty normal. His smile is soft, his eyes are friendly, his voice is measured and his goatee is trimmed.
He may be a radical but he certainly isn’t wide-eyed.
The Sugar Hill lawyer is the Georgia face of a growing national movement to make marijuana legal. And if he can’t make it legal, then at least wants it viewed as no worse than breaking the speed limit.
And while many Georgians may view that as the latest example of liberalism run amuck, for Clark and his allies, it is the marijuana laws that are crazy.
I think we would be a lot better off if marijuana was the drug of choice rather than alcohol,” he said. “There would be a lot less violence, a lot fewer traffic fatalities and people wouldn’t be ruining their lives… . Marijuana is a wonderful drug.”
Clark, 49, is the executive director of the state chapter of NORML — The National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws — which was incorporated last month to make state laws more bud friendly. The organization is officially against minors smoking pot.
He notes that national polls show growing support for legalization and a majority of Americans support making marijuana available for medical treatment. Last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged a study on legalizing pot.
Look, we have a black president and gay marriage is legal in Iowa,” Clark said. “Anything is possible.”
Clark doesn’t see the legislature legalizing recreational use — “This is Georgia” — but he does hold out hope for medicinal use and for decreasing the penalties, which could lead to wider legalization.
At least 13 states — from Alaska to Vermont — have legalized marijuana for medical use, which is still a violation of federal law, although some people are skeptical if it is being prescribed legitimately.
Jack Killorin, director of a federally funded task force that targets drug trafficking in the Atlanta area, said many of the prescriptions for marijuana — said to be helpful in treating glaucoma and for increasing the appetite of AIDS patients — were suspect.
There seems to be a great deal of chicanery going on — I’ve got a hang nail, you need about eight grams a day,” said Killorin.
Atlanta Police Sgt. Scott Krehir said officers often turn a blind eye to marijuana use unless it creates a problem in public. Officers often view it as largely harmless and see more problems with alcohol, he said.
Officers are given discretion,” said Krehir, a police union chapter president. “It is like if you stopped somebody who was walking to a Braves game with a beer in his hand. That is illegal but do I put that person in jail?”
But people do go to jail for simple possession, either for a misdemeanor or for a felony, if the amount is more than a ounce. Clark said the current laws only underscore the unfairness and hypocrisy of a public policy that largely tolerates marijuana use but sends some people to jail while others are let go.
Right now, fines for marijuana possession can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. In some jurisdictions, possessing relatively small amounts can lead to jail time, said Bruce Harvey, a defense lawyer who handles many drug cases.
If a person is arrested with more than an ounce, it will mean an felony indictment, the lawyer said.
I think those attitudes are changing,” Harvey said. “A lot of the jurors I have experienced even in rural counties say they don’t believe small amounts of marijuana should be illegal.”
That may be because so many people have smoked marijuana — or know people who have smoked it. A 2007 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study found that 4.6 million Americans 35 and older said they had used the drug in the past month while 62 million said they used it in their lifetime.
Rick Malone, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia, said few prosecutors would oppose decriminalization but suspected few legislators would want to take on the issue.
You’re not going to get anyone to repeal the marijuana laws because they don’t want the political heat but if you got them in a back room and asked about their use in their youth, you might be surprised at the result,” Malone said. “When I was a district attorney in South Georgia, I asked job applicants about their past use of controlled substances. I soon quit asking that question. I wasn’t going to find too many people who had gone through high school, college and law school who hadn’t puffed on a marijuana cigarette.”
The most recent state controversy about marijuana came last month at the University of Georgia, when a student chapter of NORML was placed on probation for selling shirts bearing the image of a bulldog smoking a joint while reading a book on human rights.
The university claimed copyright infringement. The student group is appealing.
So far the state chapter is small — just over 50 people — but Clark claims it growing each week just by word of mouth. Meanwhile, he said, he will continue to respect Georgia laws and reserve his cannabis indulgence for trips to the Netherlands, where it is legal, or to the Caribbean, where police seldom make arrests.
I started smoking pot as a teenager, when I was 14 years old,” Clark said. “I don’t smoke marijuana very much today. I just feel strongly that there shouldn’t be laws against it.”
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Anybody who has smoked pot and also drank alcohol will tell you that alcohol is much more dangerous. Not only to the person health but also to those around them. Domestic abuse would go way down because the last thing a person stoned on pot wants is a conflict of any kind while a drunk many times think they are 7 ft. tall and made of steel and they have the bad attitude to go with it. There has never been a war on drugs to begin with. The war has been on American citizen who prefer a drug buzz to an alcohol buzz. Being illegal is sure not stopping anything.
BK – I’m right with you there! Making things illegal only makes it more dangerous, anyway. As far as a federal level, the drug war, in my opinion, is one of the gravest violations of the constitution that we face today.
I couldn't agree with you more! Everybody should check out a movie called The Union.
Never heard of it…..what's it about, how does it related to this article?
So…I take it y’all would have no problem with your police, school bus drivers, air traffic controllers, etc. smoking pot? Because it’s very difficult and expensive to test for marijuana (unlike alcohol tests). Make it legal, and you have no real means for restricting it.
Think before you leap.
Well, Janice, I understand that you think decriminalizing harmless pot will cause chaos. There are other venues that are probably far better at debating that with you. But even if you’re right – and from that you want to have pot illegal in your state. Would you require, under threat of punishment, people in other states to pay to enforce that law in your area?
As a casualty of the drug wars here I speak from the heart and pocketbook.I was busted for growing a few plants .I got two years and a fine of one hundred thousand and some change.I did my time and settled the fine by going back to prison and finishing up the sentence.When I got out I found that despite the prison time and the fines and probation and parole which were all completed I was being kept from jobs because I was a convicted felon.Then I find out in Georgia I cannot hold any professional licence.Then this year I discovered that despite service in vietnam in the USMC two tours and honorable discharge. That after being out of work for four months and applying for food stamps. I was told, with glee I might add ,that “anyone convicted for drugs will never be eligible.”I watched the history channel a while back and they had a show on ” The Dark Ages “and I thought to myself Hmmmm are they speaking of here in Georgia in the twenty first century.
As usual I believe the truth about MJ, pot, hemp etc. is stranger than fiction. The reason we are given for the continued ban on growing hemp is because the strain of hemp that gives you a buzz can too easily be grown alongside and would go unnoticed. Given the fact that 1 acre of hemp is quickly grown and hence renewable and the fact that the same amount of paper can be produced from an acre of hemp as 3 acres of trees, plus the fact that hemp oil can virtually be used for anything that petroleum can be used for, I suggest the reverse is true. They are afraid we will grow hemp in among the strain that gets you high. If hemp were legalized it would make a cash crop to rivial anything grown now for farmers. It would also put a huge dent in the profits of companies like Monsanto and DuPont who make plastics and the chemicals needed to make plastics. Hemp would not only provide oil, but livestock feed, paper, clothing, containers as good or better than any plastic container. Bottom line, it is just to costly for the companies that currently produce the petroleum based products. It would not polute our water and air and is extememly easy to grow making it annually renewable. Take a closer look.
I'm not sure this is going to fly in Georgia, Marijuana may be popular in many liberal states but wanting Georgia to legalize Marijuana seems a bit crazy. Even after the Federal government abandons its Marijuana Drug laws I still expect Georgia to keep Marijuana outlawed.
It's Georgia, I think as far as Marijuana goes in Georgia the most you can probably get them to do is reject the Federal authority on the matter, but i dont see them doing that ether in this particular area, as why would they turn down free money on a matter they already agree with?
No my friend, Georgia and other conservative states will help the States rights cause in other very important ways, but don't ask them to do this. Ask for their help in areas of actual common interest such as against federal gun laws.