Pot, NORML and the New Normal

COLORADO SOMEWHERE—We've heard that one or two folks in the adult industry have been known to partake of marijuana on occasion—a good choice, considering how many legal drugs like tobacco, alcohol and caffeine are incredibly bad for you—so we thought we'd catch up on some of the pot-related news that might affect AVN's readership. For instance, in early July, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon, a state which recently legalized possession of the stuff) introduced a bill in Congress titled The Marijuana Business Access to Banking Act of 2015 (S. 1726), which would allow banks and other financial institutions to enter into business relationships with marijuana growers and sellers. That's something the banks had been loath to do, since although 18 states have legalized it for medical use, and four have legalized it outright, the federal government still considers it a Schedule I drug, on a par with heroin and other opioids (thanks, Harry Anslinger!) and (oddly) LSD, and they worried that the feds would come down on them if they did business with pot businesses. The bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee by a 16-14 vote—Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) joined 13 Republicans to vote against it—and is currently in the Senate's Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. It would, among other things, prohibit federal banking regulators from "terminat[ing] or limit[ing] the deposit insurance or share insurance of a depository institution under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act or the Federal Credit Union Act solely because the depository institution provides or has provided financial services to a marijuana-related legitimate business," or "prohibit[ing], penaliz[ing], or otherwise discourag[ing] a depository institution from providing financial services to a marijuana-related legitimate business." Of course, porn people already knows what that's like. Within the past year, there have been several reports of banks closing the accounts of, or denying loans to, members of the adult entertainment industry and even their significant others, and Visa and Mastercard recently stopped allowing people to charge their ads on Backpage.com to those credit cards. It's unclear when S. 1726 will be taken up by the full Senate, and considering the ongoing Republican refusal to consider virtually all progressive legislation, perhaps that "when" should be "if." But we can always hope... especially since a recent article on the Marijuana Policy Project website revealed the "Top 50 Most Influential Marijuana Consumers," a list that includes Obama (of course; everyone knew that), Oprah, Steven Colbert, Jon Stewart, Martha Stewart—and a few surprises: Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, W, Clarence Thomas—and eight 2016 presidential candidates: Bernie Sanders (of course!), JEB!, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, George Pataki and Lincoln Chafee. (Note: None of them admit to smoking it now, and most said they tried it once or twice and didn't like it... but still...) One thing that might spur such action is the fact that the National Conference of State Legislatures recently issued a Resolution whose penultimate paragraph reads, "NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Conference of State Legislatures believes that federal laws, including the Controlled Substances Act, should be amended to explicitly allow states to set their own marijuana and hemp policies without federal interference and urges the administration not to undermine state marijuana and hemp policies." Of course, the Conference recognized that several of its members don't support any form of legalizations, and would allow those states to set policies that even kept pot illegal—but still, it's a really good step in the right direction. It was perhaps with that Resolution in mind that the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) sent a email to its followers on August 17 suggesting that while federal legislators are back in their home states on vacation, legalization supporters should lobby those pols to roll back the pot prohibition—and that they should support the NORML Political Action Committee (NORML PAC) in its attempt to get marijuana-friendly candidates elected or reelected to national office. NORML will soon be issuing a Congressional Marijuana Report Card of who's naughty and who's nice when it comes to legalization—and we're guessing Sen. Feinstein will be getting coal in her stocking on that one. And speaking of "marijuana prohibition," that's exactly the term The New York Times used in an editorial on July 27, recalling the 13 years between the passage of the Volstead Act (aka Amendment 18 to the U.S. Constitution) which criminalized the manufacture, sale and transportation of liquor, and its repeal (Amendment 21) in 1933—though, like today, illegality didn't stop most people who wanted a drink from getting one, and fully half of the movies Hollywood produced between the advent of film sound in 1928 and Prohibition's repeal depicted well-stocked liquor cabinets in most middle class and rich folks' homes. After stating flatly that, "The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana," The Times noted, "The social costs of the marijuana laws are vast. There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, according to F.B.I. figures, compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives. Even worse, the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals...  Creating systems for regulating manufacture, sale and marketing will be complex. But those problems are solvable, and would have long been dealt with had we as a nation not clung to the decision to make marijuana production and use a federal crime." Of course, if The New York Times is for something, it's a pretty good bet that the old-line conservative religious organizations and their house organs are against it—so it comes as no surprise that on August 18, the Baptist Press published not one but two anti-pot articles. The first, by Erin Roach, titled "Marijuana legalization presses on amid concerns," begins by noting that, "Marijuana legalization advocates continue to gain ground as nearly half of all states have decriminalized marijuana possession at least for medical purposes and a majority of Americans reportedly have told pollsters marijuana should be legal"—then quickly segues into why it shouldn't be. "Marijuana is not a harmless drug. It is an addictive substance that interferes with relationships, health and productivity," said Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy and research with the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Funnily, just replace "Marijuana" with "Porn," and organizations like Morality in Media the National Center on Sexual Exploitation have said exactly the same thing! The other article, by Jim Burton, begins, "One Colorado 'church' is pushing for its mountain town of 1,500 to become the nation's first 'sanctuary' for 'therapeutic and spiritual users of cannabis.' Calling itself 'Closer to the Heart Ministry,' the so-called church in Nederland, Colo., celebrates cannabis—the plant that produces marijuana—as mankind's 'tree of life.' " Closer to the Heart is hardly the first church (or religion) to make marijuana a sacrament. Some Hindus have used it as such since 2000 BC, and more recently, there's the Rastafarians, who've used it since at least the 1940s; the short-lived Neo-American Church, founded by "Chief Boo Hoo" Art Kleps, a Tim Leary associate, which held all psychedelics to be sacraments, as does the Temple of the True Inner Light; and the First Church of Cannabis, Inc. was officially recognized by the state of Indiana just this year, apparently because of that state's passage of a version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. But such distinctions were lost on Burton, who spent the rest of the article registering mainstream religious leaders' disapproval of pot use, recounting anti-pot myths like "stunted brain development" and lowered IQ scores, and condemning Colorado's legalization decision in part because, as Charlie Jones, pastor of Fellowship of the Rockies Church in Pueblo, said, "People have moved to Colorado because of the legalization of marijuana, and then they have stressed the food pantries and homeless shelters and things like that." But there's no doubt that smoking or eating marijuana does relax most people, perhaps too much for whatever they have to do later—so welcome Canary, the new app for iPhones and iPads that "combines decades of research and experience, specialized mental and physical performance tests, and sophisticated analysis to accurately measure impairment due to alcohol, medication, fatigue and even the subtle impact of marijuana," a NORML press release noted. "Canary is the first app to give consumers the scientific information they need to honestly and accurately evaluate their personal performance, privately, anytime, and anywhere," said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre. The app can be downloaded here.