Democracy Comes to America

Tim Lincecum's recent encounter with law enforcement--he was cited for possessing a marijuana pipe while driving up Interstate 5 near the Washington border--has apparently done him no harm whatsoever. Judging from the tenor of comments I've seen in the press, in fact, it has enhanced his reputation, at least among Giants' fans, who may be more progressive than fans of, say, the St. Louis Cardinals. Yesterday's announcement that he has been awarded his second consecutive Cy Young award by the National League tends to confirm the fact that society, even the notably conservative MLB establishment, has developed a more tolerant approach to the "devil weed."

Back when I worked in the sawmill, one of my greenchain buddies was a large, athletic gentleman who distinguished himself by his ability to hoist an 8x8, 8 foot long railroad tie above his head to the top of a unit. A man of ordinary strength could manage the same operation by lifting one end at a time; Mr. Smith could do it in a single graceful motion. Something like twenty years earlier, he had been an offensive lineman for the old AFL Oakland Raiders. He was in every way a thoughtful and intelligent person. Like most of the other workers in that department, he sought relief from the aches and pains of life--dating, no doubt, to his football days--by smoking a little weed now and then.

Pro athletes have, in fact, been pacesetters in helping society understand two things about weed: it's less dangerous than the official opinion which is still being forcefed to most of us, and, it has legitimate medical uses, even if that is only as a less addictive form of pain relief than most prescription drugs. The recent case of Ricky Williams, who took a year or so away from his career as a running back to study holistic medicine in Grass Valley, and was at least for a while unapologetic about his marijuana use, and the somewhat more pathetic case of Nate Newton and his embarrassing arrests with large amounts of marijuana, represent, I am sure, only the tip of the iceberg as far as pro athletes using marijuana is concerned.

The fact that patients can produce their own, or, in states like California, arrange to have it produced through approved caregivers, makes it possible to execute a neat end-run around America's worst nightmare: the pharamaceutical and insurance industries; the two belligerent forces arrayed against rational health care in the USA. Pot, then, represents freedom to diagnose and treat yourself and the chance to do so without further enriching the vampires who spend their days dreaming up ways to force people to pursue the lifestyle of the thoroughly beaten wage slave.

Take it from the best pitcher in the National League.