Drugs, Marijuana

Lawyers Who Are Okay With Burning One Down (Or: Pot and the Law)

By  
on

Ben Harper says that “what’s from the earth is of the greatest worth.” Yesterday, ex-U.S. attorney John McKay weighed in on the marijuana debate, and said that “what’s from the earth” shouldn’t be illegal.
Instructing federal agencies to ignore congressional laws is not a fix, said McKay. From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

McKay faulted Congress for failing to take initiative on the issue. It is not the place of federal prosecutors or law officers to make policy, he said, nor should the White House go it alone.
In the end, he argued, marijuana should not be lumped in with cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin as part of the war on drugs. Marijuana law, McKay said, “should look a lot more like alcohol (regulations) and a lot less like cocaine and methamphetamine (laws).”

Colorado’s attorney general agrees… when it comes to state coffers. AG John Suthers says it’s okay for his state to tax medical marijuana.
A recent Marie Claire article made us realize that this is not just a question of theoretical interest to some of you. Apparently, there are Biglaw types out there toking up! One 29-year-old corporate attorney told the magazine that pot is essential for relaxation after getting chewed out by a partner.


The article, Stiletto Stoners (an absurd title, according to Jezebel), investigates the trend of pot use by young, successful females, including Biglaw women:

Jennifer Pelham* kicks off her black Marc Jacobs pumps, slips out of her trim Theory blazer, and collapses on the couch. The 29-year-old corporate attorney for one of Manhattan’s top law firms has just clocked another 12-hour day, and though it’s over, she’s having a hard time shaking off her frustrations. (A partner had eviscerated the contract she’d drafted, then left before Pelham had a chance to explain herself.) Still distracted, Pelham orders dinner–sushi, as usual–then reaches for a plastic orange prescription bottle standing on the corner of her coffee table alongside a glass pipe and blue Bic lighter, just as the cleaning lady left them. She twists off the cap, pinches off a piece of the fragrant green bud inside, gingerly places it in the bowl of the pipe, and lights up. Over the next 30 minutes, she takes three deep drags, enough to drown out the noise whirring in her head. Then she eats.
“I hate the term pothead–it connotes that I’m high 24/7, which I’m not,” Pelham says, wincing. “I don’t need it to get through my day. I just enjoy it when my day is over.”

Don’t waste your time googling Jennifer Pelham. It’s a made up name. We wonder: why make up a first and last name for someone? Why not just use a made-up first name and leave it at that? Journalism school has not provided us with an answer to that question.
Keep your stash to a moderate volume, “Pelham.” New York City is the marijuana arrest capital of the country, a fact highlighted by a recent article in New York Magazine. But it’s not illegal to possess small amounts:

The kicker in this is the apparently almost unknown fact that possession of 25 grams, or seven-eighths of an ounce–much more than the few joints that are getting people arrested–is not a crime in New York State and has not been since the passage of the Marijuana Reform Act of 1977, or 32 years ago. (Right here add sound of potheads slapping their foreheads, like, how come they didn’t know that?) There are exceptions, however. If the pot is “burning or open to public view,” then the 25-gram deal is off. It is this provision that has been the basis for the arrest outbreak, many civil libertarians contend.

Sponsored

“Pelham” defends her habit saying “every female attorney [she] knows has some vice or another.” At least Pelham’s is cheap, at just $50 a month.
We’re not surprised to hear that corporate attorneys are into drugs. We assumed though that they’d stick to the uppers, for long nights at the office drafting contracts that don’t get eviscerated by partners.
Ex-U.S. attorney: Time to change pot laws [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
Colorado Moves to Tax Medical Marijuana [CBS News]
“Stiletto Stoners”: Marie Claire Investigates Shocking New Trend Of Female Potheads [Jezebel]
Female Stoners [Marie Claire]
The Splitting Image of Pot [New York Magazine]

Sponsored

Topics