California voters will decide in November whether personal use of marijuana should be legal.
In my previous post, I referred to a film called Saving Grace, in which a character asks a simple question: Does the fact that alcohol is mostly legal but marijuana is mostly not have more to do with the accidents of history than any qualitiative difference in the relative experiences of intoxication offered by the two drugs?
The debate over Proposition 19 in California provides an instructive case in point. Prop 19 would legalize marijuana possession for personal use. Fearing the competition from pot, distributors of booze have made substantial financial contributions to oppose it.
As the blogger Scott Greenfield points out in his post in Simple Justice, the self-interested motivation of such contributions is crystal clear. With only so many dollars-chasing-intoxicants to go around, purveyors of licquor stand to lose by the legalization of cannabis consumption.
Showing posts with label alcohol abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alcohol abuse. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Stirring the Pot
Is the fact that alcohol is mostly legal and marijuana is mostly not merely an accident of history that has relatively little to do with the actual effects of each drug?
The amusing English comedy, Saving Grace, poses this question in lighthearted cinematic form, leavened with heavy doses of whimsy and featuring some rather remarkable displays of marijuana plants. The filmmakers stir the pot - pun totally intended - with quirky Cornish characters, dubious London drug dealers, and a sure-fire performance by Brenda Blethyn as a widow left deep in debt by her late husband's fraud.
The question at hand is what will happen when the widow turns to large-scale cannabis cultivation, hoping to get herself out of the financial quagmire. The widow's name is Grace, but the film doesn't really explore the theological implications of the word. Maybe the filmmakers thought calling her Mary Jane would be too bad of a pun.
The amusing English comedy, Saving Grace, poses this question in lighthearted cinematic form, leavened with heavy doses of whimsy and featuring some rather remarkable displays of marijuana plants. The filmmakers stir the pot - pun totally intended - with quirky Cornish characters, dubious London drug dealers, and a sure-fire performance by Brenda Blethyn as a widow left deep in debt by her late husband's fraud.
The question at hand is what will happen when the widow turns to large-scale cannabis cultivation, hoping to get herself out of the financial quagmire. The widow's name is Grace, but the film doesn't really explore the theological implications of the word. Maybe the filmmakers thought calling her Mary Jane would be too bad of a pun.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Dangerous Mix: Meds, Alcohol, and Childcare
There are no perfect caregivers for children. No perfect parents, no perfect grandparents, no perfect babysitters, nannies or others.
Taking care of a child is an awesome and often challenging responsibility. Some of us don’t experience it until we pull the car out of the hospital parking ramp with our first baby on board. Others take it on far earlier, perhaps as teenagers, working for a few dollars an hour. No matter what the circumstances, it’s a truly humbling experience, knowing a vulnerable person’s life is in your hands.
Infants who are only a few weeks old are among the most vulnerable — and sometimes things go horribly wrong, as happened in Lakeville, Minnesota, last May.
Tina Louise Miller-Steiner, a 46-year-old grandmother who was on medication for depression, anxiety, and hypertension, was taking care of her six-week-old grandson, Evan, in her home. Despite a doctor’s orders not to consume alcohol while on medication, she drank two martinis and some wine when Evan was in her care. Becoming drowsy, she lay down on a bed, placing Evan next to her. Tragically, when Evan’s aunt awakened Miller-Steiner, Evan was not breathing. Miller-Steiner had fallen asleep on top of him and he suffocated.
Lakeville police, who investigated the death, pushed for a manslaughter charge. They pointed out that Miller-Steiner’s blood alcohol content almost four hours after the police were called was still 0.08 percent, the threshold for driving while intoxicated.
Longtime county attorney James Backstrom, who tends toward a hard-nosed approach, was unsure about the appropriate charge. He took the rather unusual step of convening a grand jury to seek citizen input, and the grand jury indicted Miller-Steiner in August on two counts of manslaughter.
On November 2, Miller-Steiner pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree manslaughter. In return, prosecutors dropped the second count. Judge Timothy Wermager sentenced Miller-Steiner to 10 years of probation and 45 days in jail. She must also pay restitution for the cost of Evan's funeral. Her probation conditions will include remaining sober and not being allowed to take care of children under 10 without supervision.
The sentence followed an emotional courtroom scene between mother and daughter. Davina Louise Miller, Evan’s mother, asked the judge for leniency for her mother.
After the sentencing, the county attorney remarked that in a case like this, the criminal justice system can inflict no punishment harder on the offender than what has already happened. That is probably true, but I wouldn’t describe the way this case was resolved as “mercy,” as the Star Tribune reporter did. Defense attorney Joe Friedberg was closer to the mark, I think, in calling it “equitable.”
Taking care of a child is an awesome and often challenging responsibility. Some of us don’t experience it until we pull the car out of the hospital parking ramp with our first baby on board. Others take it on far earlier, perhaps as teenagers, working for a few dollars an hour. No matter what the circumstances, it’s a truly humbling experience, knowing a vulnerable person’s life is in your hands.
Infants who are only a few weeks old are among the most vulnerable — and sometimes things go horribly wrong, as happened in Lakeville, Minnesota, last May.
Tina Louise Miller-Steiner, a 46-year-old grandmother who was on medication for depression, anxiety, and hypertension, was taking care of her six-week-old grandson, Evan, in her home. Despite a doctor’s orders not to consume alcohol while on medication, she drank two martinis and some wine when Evan was in her care. Becoming drowsy, she lay down on a bed, placing Evan next to her. Tragically, when Evan’s aunt awakened Miller-Steiner, Evan was not breathing. Miller-Steiner had fallen asleep on top of him and he suffocated.
Lakeville police, who investigated the death, pushed for a manslaughter charge. They pointed out that Miller-Steiner’s blood alcohol content almost four hours after the police were called was still 0.08 percent, the threshold for driving while intoxicated.
Longtime county attorney James Backstrom, who tends toward a hard-nosed approach, was unsure about the appropriate charge. He took the rather unusual step of convening a grand jury to seek citizen input, and the grand jury indicted Miller-Steiner in August on two counts of manslaughter.
On November 2, Miller-Steiner pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree manslaughter. In return, prosecutors dropped the second count. Judge Timothy Wermager sentenced Miller-Steiner to 10 years of probation and 45 days in jail. She must also pay restitution for the cost of Evan's funeral. Her probation conditions will include remaining sober and not being allowed to take care of children under 10 without supervision.
The sentence followed an emotional courtroom scene between mother and daughter. Davina Louise Miller, Evan’s mother, asked the judge for leniency for her mother.
After the sentencing, the county attorney remarked that in a case like this, the criminal justice system can inflict no punishment harder on the offender than what has already happened. That is probably true, but I wouldn’t describe the way this case was resolved as “mercy,” as the Star Tribune reporter did. Defense attorney Joe Friedberg was closer to the mark, I think, in calling it “equitable.”
Monday, July 13, 2009
When Sports Stars Fall
Wealth, status, and power. The distribution of these three societal goods is one of the key functions of a socio-political regime.
This was the analytical point of departure offered by Professor Charles Umbanhowar in the introductory political science course I took in my first semester at St. Olaf College. He defined the term “regime” broadly as referring to the way the parts of a whole interact to divide what's desirable.
In the American regime, professional athletes have a disproportionate share of two of three social goods of which Umbanhowar spoke. The wealth they enjoy is almost incomprehensible compared with their counterparts of even a generation ago. The reasons for this are numerous − free agency, ubiquitous cable television exposure, savvy marketing, and so on − but the bottom line is bizarre. This year, the average major league baseball salary is $3.26 million.
Athletes also tend to have high social status, and this can be a problem when children look up to them as role models. The ability to perform heroic feats on the playing field does not necessarily imply that the performer has a character worth emulating.
Yet for decades, the marketing of these athletes included an element of hagiography. Sportswriters spun tales of Babe Ruth’s visits to sick children, but ignored the way he flouted Prohibition. Is it any wonder that eventually there was a backlash against this, debunking many of the old myths?
Perhaps American society is finally ready for a more nuanced view of elite athletes. It should be possible to applaud their remarkable playing skills while recognizing that, as human beings, they are generally no better or worse than most other people. Here in Minnesota, we have had a couple of occasions in recent year to apply this perspective.
Few would have suspected, until it all came crashing down, that one of these would be the beloved Kirby Puckett, who led the Twins to their first World Series title in 1987 and another in 1991. In 2003, he stood trial on sexual assault charges for allegedly groping and falsely imprisoning a woman in a restaurant bathroom. Though Puckett was acquitted, the sad story of his abusive treatment of his wife, Tonya, came to light. He moved to Arizona and died of a heart attack in 2006, at the age of only 45. A sad spectacle.
The alcohol-fueled struggles of football Hall of Famer Carol Eller dependency have been difficult to watch as well. In the late 60s and early 70s, he was a member of the Vikings’ famed Purple People Eaters” front four. But in February 2009, at age 67, he found himself serving a 60-day sentence in the Hennepin County workhouse for assaulting two Minneapolis police officers who tried to stop Eller after he ran a red light. Eller was released from the workhouse on April 23, but his sentence also includes two more months on home monitoring. He also received a concurrent sentence for refusing to submit to chemical testing and a $1500 fine on each charge. The county attorney said he hoped Eller would get the treatment he needs.
America will not stop being a celebrity-obsessed culture anytime soon. To use a sports metaphor, however, justice system actors must strive to “call them as they see them,” not letting sports star status sway decisions. Granted, this is easier said than done in a case like Puckett’s (or Kobe Bryant’s in Colorado, for that matter). Yet anything less would be a betrayal of the democratic ideal.
This was the analytical point of departure offered by Professor Charles Umbanhowar in the introductory political science course I took in my first semester at St. Olaf College. He defined the term “regime” broadly as referring to the way the parts of a whole interact to divide what's desirable.
In the American regime, professional athletes have a disproportionate share of two of three social goods of which Umbanhowar spoke. The wealth they enjoy is almost incomprehensible compared with their counterparts of even a generation ago. The reasons for this are numerous − free agency, ubiquitous cable television exposure, savvy marketing, and so on − but the bottom line is bizarre. This year, the average major league baseball salary is $3.26 million.
Athletes also tend to have high social status, and this can be a problem when children look up to them as role models. The ability to perform heroic feats on the playing field does not necessarily imply that the performer has a character worth emulating.
Yet for decades, the marketing of these athletes included an element of hagiography. Sportswriters spun tales of Babe Ruth’s visits to sick children, but ignored the way he flouted Prohibition. Is it any wonder that eventually there was a backlash against this, debunking many of the old myths?
Perhaps American society is finally ready for a more nuanced view of elite athletes. It should be possible to applaud their remarkable playing skills while recognizing that, as human beings, they are generally no better or worse than most other people. Here in Minnesota, we have had a couple of occasions in recent year to apply this perspective.
Few would have suspected, until it all came crashing down, that one of these would be the beloved Kirby Puckett, who led the Twins to their first World Series title in 1987 and another in 1991. In 2003, he stood trial on sexual assault charges for allegedly groping and falsely imprisoning a woman in a restaurant bathroom. Though Puckett was acquitted, the sad story of his abusive treatment of his wife, Tonya, came to light. He moved to Arizona and died of a heart attack in 2006, at the age of only 45. A sad spectacle.
The alcohol-fueled struggles of football Hall of Famer Carol Eller dependency have been difficult to watch as well. In the late 60s and early 70s, he was a member of the Vikings’ famed Purple People Eaters” front four. But in February 2009, at age 67, he found himself serving a 60-day sentence in the Hennepin County workhouse for assaulting two Minneapolis police officers who tried to stop Eller after he ran a red light. Eller was released from the workhouse on April 23, but his sentence also includes two more months on home monitoring. He also received a concurrent sentence for refusing to submit to chemical testing and a $1500 fine on each charge. The county attorney said he hoped Eller would get the treatment he needs.
America will not stop being a celebrity-obsessed culture anytime soon. To use a sports metaphor, however, justice system actors must strive to “call them as they see them,” not letting sports star status sway decisions. Granted, this is easier said than done in a case like Puckett’s (or Kobe Bryant’s in Colorado, for that matter). Yet anything less would be a betrayal of the democratic ideal.
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