No More Mr. Nice!
I have always been astounded that Howard Marks was made a poster boy (he is actually a wrinkled old geezer) for Cannabis Legalization. Here is a guy whose claim for fame is being caught smuggling. Being unsuccessful in your endeavors is usually not a claim to fame. Among the smugglers this writer knows since 1964 there are many more who have not been caught and continue to this day in their important works. Unsung heroes for the most part in the fight to make it legal to own a plant. Their difference being successful and not getting tossed in the slammer.
Now Mr. Marks, the self proclaimed “Mr. Nice” has taken the trouble to start worrying if Cannabis destroys the mind?
How is it that Howard Marks zoomed to popularity in the UK? His popular comedy show. Howard is ever the showman and always happy to take the stage. As an actor he has excelled and his show is about his failures. The kingpin that was caught and served his time. He claims he got 25 years but looks like he was only in a couple before he “somehow” was released.
Howard Marks is playing into the government game. He is helping the authorities to move Cannabis to a much stronger criminal penalty than it was long ago. Several years ago when the UK government changed the order and penalties for the various levels of drugs possession they pulled a fast one. The A-B-C level of crimes was changed. Cannabis was a B level and rarely received a jail term, but the problem was the time consumption of police on non-violent cannabis abuse. But because of the Independent and other mass media corporate news before lowering the Cannabis from a B to a C they strengthened the C class to include jail. To beef up even more the threat to anyone caught with commerce on their mind they made the B to where A level was. Mandatory jail and the works. They then lowered the grade to C since the only real change was no more mandatory arrest – they left it to the discretion of the officer on the scene. Sort of nice.
This was followed by police at all Camden train exits with police dogs to confiscate stoner’s stashes. Intimidation did not stop.
But wait a minute, what we had warned everyone was the plan is now unfolding. To change stories and move Cannabis back to B. Well, sounds not as bad as it is because now B is worse than A was in the first place and they have effectively made Cannabis in the same boat as heroin and morphine! And it only took them 3 years to do it.
Since they claim only to move it back, suckers eat mud pie, as Cannabis is now less legal than ever.
Enter Gordon Brown and his call for “leaders” and stars to stop pushing Cannabis and get with the program. First to fall in line is this famed loser Howard Marks. Famous for being caught at what 100’s of others are successful. All falls in line with early release and a showman whose show wants to go on. Get in line or back to go Howard?
Marks’s comments coincided with Gordon Brown’s call for celebrities to speak out against drugs. The Prime Minister emphasized the need for sportsmen, pop stars and other public figures to act as role models for young people and denounce illegal substances. He also criticised celebrities who took a “very casual attitude” to drugs. “Those who think that their standing in the community makes them above the law on these matters is another area where I think we’ve got to send a very clear message. Not only that we will not decriminalize drugs but at the same time this is unacceptable behavior.”
Source: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1129/a09.html?89012