Well, I know that you can pretty much publish anything, but why are they sold in places like Barnes and Noble without a huge hubbub? And this has nothing to do about any feelings I may have about the illegality of marijuana; all I want to point out is that, currently, it IS illegal. We would never stand for Contract Killers Monthly or Cat Burglars Today, so how is it that magazines like High Times are on magazine racks in mainstream stores?
And yes, I know that robbery and murder are slightly more serious crimes than smoking pot, and I will say now that I have my doubts that pot should even be illegal, but I’m just curious about this. Thanks!
You are mistaken about what else they sell in Barnes and Noble. Take a look in the back of Soldier of Fortune sometime. They have plenty of ads for mercenaries and all kinds of other things that are highly illegal to actually do. I have two books from Barnes on Noble that talk about how to hide all of your assets and disappear, fake your own death etc. Stores like Barnes and Noble sometimes make a business decision not to carry highly dangerous or controversial works like The Anarchist’s Cookbook but that is simply their choice to avoid public backlash. There would be no (national) laws against carrying them. All types of these types of books are available legally in the U.S. from outfits like Paladine press (look it up on Google if you want) and other “specialty” sources.
The magazines aren’t illegal, so there not legal reason for B&N not to carry them. Since they’re making money on them, they continue to carry them. I also suspect that if someone raised a big stink, they might decide not to carry them, but no one has.
State laws regarding marijuana are irrelevant (aside from, perhaps, preferring to be charged under a state law rather than a Federal law).
Marijuana is a controlled substance by Federal law and if you are not one of the six or eight individuals in the country who have been granted explicit Federal approval to use it, it is illegal.
So the statement “Marijuana is illegal in the U.S.” is a valid statement reflecting in “popular” expression the general laws regarding the absolutely overwhelming numbers of citizens in the U.S.
So am I to assume that the answer is, “you can talk about an illegal act, and describe how to commit illegal acts, as much as you want as long as you don’t actively encourage anyone to do it”?
If so, has anyone ever tried to prosecute magazines like High Times or Soldier of Fortune like they have old-time KKK leaders, for encouraging or inciting illegal activity?
Many years ago in Alaska possession was legal if it was under a certain amount, and you could grow a certain number of your own plants as long as you didn’t distribute. Sometime in the late '80s or early '90s they adopted prohibition laws like in the rest of the U.S.A, though.
Actually, it’s OK to actively encourage it, too. The only time speech can be criminalized is if it is inciting the listener to take immediate, violent action, not merely an illegal one. (Of course, if you ask or encourage someone to commit a crime you might be guilty of the felony of solicitation, but that’s not illegal speech, that’s committing a crime by talking, same as if you con someone into joining your pyramid scheme.)
Furthermore, in the U.S. speech can almost never be prohibited. The favored alternative, even with criminalizable sppech is to let the speaker say it and then put him in jail for it, not prevent him from speaking in the first place.