It came as something of a surprise last week when the Consumer Union, an
independent, nonprofit organization, published a 623-page study that
advocated complete legalization of marijuana as well as a nationwide
methadone program . “Marijuana is here to stay,” said the
report. “No conceivable law-enforcement program can curb its
availability.” But American conservatives may have arched their
eyebrows well above the hairline when they glimpsed the latest issue of
William F. Buckley Jr.'s staunchly nonpermissive National Review.
There on the cover was the headline: THE TIME HAS COME: ABOLISH THE POT
LAWS. Inside, Richard C. Cowan, a charter member of the conservative
Young Americans for Freedom, sets forth his arguments that the criminal
penalties for marijuana possession and use should be stricken from the
books. Cowan contends that pot is comparatively harmless, demonstrably
ubiquitous and that the laws against it only alienate the young and
breed disrespect for American justice. Just last spring, Buckley had testified against changing the pot laws.
But now, in a commentary on the Cowan piece in the same issue, he
writes, “I flatly agree with him.” Buckley would not legalize pot, but
would remove the criminal penalties for use. It seems, in fact, that
Buckley has smoked grass himself—but only on his sailboat, outside
the three-mile limit. His verdict: “To tell the truth, marijuana didn't
do a thing for me.”
