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Hawaii legislature passes nation’s
first pro-civil liberties bill
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America’s ‘shadow economy’ is booming

By Duncan Campbell

Los Angeles, California, May 2— Marijuana, pornography, and illegal labor have created a hidden market in the United States which now accounts for as much as 10 percent of the American economy, according to a study. As a cash crop, marijuana is believed to have outstripped maize, and hardcore porn revenue is equal to Hollywood’s domestic box office takings. Despite laws that punish marijuana cultivation more strictly than murder in some states, Americans spend more on illegal drugs than on cigarettes. And despite official disapproval of pornography, the US leads the world in export of explicit sex videos, according to Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market, by Eric Schlosser.

Although the official American economy has been suffering a downturn, the shadow economy is enjoying unprecedented levels of success, much in the way that the prohibition period fuelled the illegal markets in the 30s. Schlosser found that three specific industries accounted for a major portion of this boom.

No aspect of farming has grown faster in the US over the past three decades than marijuana, with one-third of the public over the age of 12 having smoked the drug.

While the nation’s largest legal cash crop, maize, produces about $19 billion in revenue, “plausible” estimates for the value of marijuana crops reach $25 billion. Steve White, a former coordinator for the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s cannabis eradication program, estimates that the drug is now the country’s largest cash crop.

Marijuana belt
Schlosser writes: “Although popular stereotypes depict marijuana growers as ageing hippies in northern California or Hawaii, the majority of the marijuana now cultivated domestically is being grown in the nation’s mid-section — a swath running from the Appalachians west to the Great Plains. Throughout this Marijuana Belt drug fortunes are being made by farmers who often seem to have stepped from a page of the old Saturday Evening Post.”

Some of the most expensive crops are grown indoors on the west coast using advanced scientific techniques but the American heartlands account for the largest volume. Some estimates suggest 3 million Americans grow marijuana, although mostly for their own or their friends’ use, but between 100,000 and 200,000 are believed to do so for a living.

The laws against the drug are strict. There were 724,000 people arrested for marijuana offences in 2001 and about 50,000 are in prison. Commercial growers can serve sentences far longer than those for murder, but the high risks appear to have had little effect on production or availability: 89 percent of secondary school students surveyed indicated that they could easily obtain the drug.

The annual number of hardcore video rentals in the US has risen from 79 million in 1985 to 759 million in 2001. Hardcore pornography, in the shape of videos, the internet, live sex acts, and cable television is now estimated to generate around $10 billion, roughly the same amount as Hollywood’s US box office receipts.

Americans spend more money at strip clubs than at Broadway, regional theatres and orchestra performances combined. The industry has mushroomed since the 70s, when a federal study found that it was worth little more than $10 million.

Now the US leads the world in pornography: about 211 new films are produced every week. Los Angeles area is the center of the film boom.

Nina Hartley, a porn star, told Schlosser: “You’d be surprised how many producers and manufacturers are Republicans.”

The majority of women in the films earn about $400 a scene. At the moment, there is a surplus of women in California hoping to enter the industry.

The internet has provided a fresh and profitable outlet. In 1997 about 22,000 porn websites existed. The number is now closer to 300,000 and growing.

Schlosser believes that the shadow economy will continue to thrive as long as marijuana and pornography remain illicit.

“A society that can punish a marijuana offender more severely than a murderer is caught in the grip of a deep psychosis,” he concludes. “Black markets will always be with us. But they will recede in importance when the public morality is consistent with our private one. The underground is a good measure of the progress and the health of nations. When much is wrong, much needs to be hidden.”

Source: Guardian (UK)

Hawaii legislature passes nation’s
first pro-civil liberties bill

Honolulu, Hawaii, Apr. 29— The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii today applauded the state legislature for being the first in the nation to stand up for the rights of individuals by passing a joint resolution affirming and protecting the individual liberties of all the people of Hawaii and calling for the repeal of the most egregious provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.

“The actions of the legislature truly represent the Aloha state – we are a diverse people, and we have a long, proud tradition of respecting human rights and upholding civil liberties,” said Vanessa Y. Chong, Executive Director of the ACLU of Hawaii. “We are proud to be the first state, hopefully of many, to recognize that our safety need not come at the expense of our individual rights and freedoms. This resolution sends a clear message to America — Hawaii want to remain both safe and free.”

The Hawaii House of Representatives adopted the “Reaffirming the State of Hawaii’s Commitment to Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights” Resolution on Friday, on a 35 to 12 vote. The Hawaii Senate had approved the measure earlier this month.

The legislature’s action was a response to the USA PATRIOT Act, which was rushed through Congress with little deliberation in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11. The broad and overreaching bill contains many provisions that erode checks and balances on law enforcement and threaten personal privacy and civil liberties.

The resolution finds that many of the federal government’s recent actions “pose significant threats to Constitutional protections”; it further instructs aw enforcement in Hawaii to uphold the human rights, civil liberties and constitutional protections of Hawaii people. Furthermore, the state legislature calls upon the Hawaii Congressional delegation to work to repeal sections of the USA PATRIOT Act, other federal legislation, and Executive Orders that violate or place an undue burden on personal freedoms.

“In their attempt to make America safer, Washington also unnecessarily made America less free. Recent actions have granted the government too many powers; they went too far too fast,” said Chong. “Many of the powers can be used against innocent Americans, indeed, many of the powers are not specifically tied to anti-terrorism efforts. Hawaii proudly stands as the first state to demand that our civil liberties and personal freedoms not be eroded under the guise of national security.”

Ninety-three communities in 23 states across the country have passed similar resolutions. A similar resolution opposing the USA PATRIOT Act passed overwhelmingly with strong bipartisan support in the New Mexico House of Representatives, although it failed to reach the New Mexico Senate floor in time for a vote before the end of the legislative term. The city of Juneau, Alaska passed a similar resolution late Monday night.

Source: American Civil Liberties Union