* Wow. This is an unbelievable book. Ricardo Cortes has written and illustrated a book for parents to teach their children about marijuana. A little girl walks in on her parents smoking a joint after bedtime one night, and asks them what it's all about. Mom takes her on a journey the next day through all of the things that marijuana is and is not.
It's Just a Plant is an honest and frank look at marijuana without the anti-drug hysteria we normally see in most publications for young people. All the bases are covered, from its food and medicinal uses to its more commonly known function. The illegality issue is addressed, although it's in a non-threatening way, and the book stresses several times that it's not for kids, as well as mentioning the potential for abuse. Mom mentions "driving a car or drinking a glass of wine" as things adults do, and this is one of them too. In fact, some people get busted for possession in the middle of the book, and the cop lets them go with a warning, saying that it's not up to the cops whether it should be legal or not, but the cops are there to enforce the rules. He then adds that if you think a law is a mistake, maybe you should work to change it...
This book was blasted by the The House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and Drug Policy as a promotion of drug use by and for children, when it explicitly states that it isn't, and that it can be abused. There are also people who choose
not to use it, which is fair as well. A number of prominent magazines, newspapers and television personalities have come out both for and against the book.
So what do I think? Well, let's think about the first issue...is it a pro-legalization book? I think it is, whether it might say so or not explicitly. But everybody knows I support that idea, for the simple fact that it will generate tax revenues and make it harder for kids to get. I like the fact that the book includes people who don't use it too, so the reader can see there is a choice involved, instead of a huge legion of happy-go-lucky stoners. It does the movement no good to show everyone using, because that's just as biased a view as the DARE crowd has. I like the fact that it presents facts without the overt bias that is often present (even though there's obviously a little pro-marijuana bias in there). I think this book is fantastic, actually. Kids are going to learn about drugs somewhere, whether it's on the street or from catching their folks doing it, and they're learning younger all the time. Most drug education sounds like Mr. Mackie from South Park: "Drugs are bad, mmmkay?" Kids only get more curious if they aren't actually educated to the effects, and drugs become forbidden fruit, instead of, "Oh, yeah, my folks and their friends do that sometimes." Something that addresses the fact that lots of people use it, and that it hasn't turned them into horrible, unproductive people, has been a long time coming, I think.
Frank Zappa said once that "A drug is neither moral nor immoral - it's a chemical compound. The compound itself is not a menace to society until a human being treats it as if consumption bestowed a temporary license to act like an asshole."
It's Just a Plant presents a side of the issue for young people that has been noticeably absent so far. But you can make that decision for yourself.
http://www.justaplant.com/*Thanks to justaplant.com for the picture.
