Steve Fox is high on a mission. The Marblehead native is Director of State Campaigns for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. the nation’s largest marijuana reform organization.

He has just co-authored a book  entitled “Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?” The  provocative work was written with Paul Armentano of NORML (the National  Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a nonprofit lobbying organization  working to legalize marijuana), and Mason Tvert of SAFER (Safer Alternative for  Enjoyable Recreation, a Colorado-based organization that maintains marijuana is less harmful than alcohol).

Fox, who is a graduate of Marblehead High  School, Tufts University, and Boston College Law School, probably never expected  to find himself on this career track. Yet the successful lobbyist, who worked  previously as associate director of the Massachusetts Democratic Leadership  Council and in the press office of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of  Commerce, has found a
calling.

“I started working on marijuana policy  professionally in 2002. At the time, I did not envision myself working in the  field for the long-term. But it has really become my passion. I believe it is  wrong to punish adults who prefer to use marijuana instead of alcohol,” Fox  said.

Up until the 1940s, marijuana was legal. But in the 1950s, the  government embarked on a propaganda campaign to convince Americans that pot was  a dangerous, addictive substance. It was classified as a Schedule 1 drug, and viewed in the same category as LSD or PCP. Possession and recreational use of pot became a crime that is still punishable by law in all 50 states.

Fox  and other advocates for marijuana reform believe the government has a double  standard. While alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs (which they maintain are  proven to be far more dangerous than pot) are legal, the sale and consumption of  cannabis for recreational purposes remains illegal.

In the book he  states, “Why do we criminally arrest or discipline people for consuming a  substance that is not associated with acts of violence, yet tolerate and at  times even celebrate the use of another that is? Why do we embrace the use of  alcohol, a toxic substance whose consumption is
responsible for hundreds of  acute alcohol-poisoning deaths in the United States each year, while at the same  time condemn the use of marijuana, which is incapable of causing a fatal  overdose?”

Many agree. Over the years, personal attitudes towards “the  killer weed” have mellowed. The U.S. government reports that over 100 million  citizens over the age of 12, or nearly 43 percent of the population, say they’ve  smoked pot. The Gallup organization, which has been gauging support for  
marijuana legalization for decades, showed national support for legalization has increased from 31 percent in 2000, to 44 percent today.

Law enforcement  and the medical community are also loosening up. The American Medical  Association has called for a review of marijuana’s classification. Cannabis use  for medicinal purposes has been legalized in 13 states. And in a major policy  shift from the Bush administration, federal prosecutors under the Obama  administration are no longer targeting medicinal users.

Although this all  comes as a breath of fresh air to Fox, he does not anticipate federal  legislation legalizing pot in the near future.

“The only way we will  change our marijuana laws is on a state-by-state basis,” he said.  

Although some are convinced that the dangling carrot that will push legislation through is the tax revenue stream that legalization of marijuana could produce, Fox disagrees.

“The revenue would be a benefit on top of  the realization that it just doesn’t make sense to spend our law enforcement  resources maintaining a system of prohibition over a substance that is just so  benign,” he said.

Although he acknowledges that pot has its dangers, Fox  believes that it is a better choice than alcohol.

“When parents have a  serious talk about drugs with their kids, they should think about the fact that  alcohol overdose can result in death in one night, while there has never been a  marijuana overdose death in history. Our society is literally driving people to  drink, and no one should be punished for making the rational choice to use a  safer substance,” he said.

When questioned if he personally smokes  marijuana, the clean-cut and professional-looking Fox said, “I have in the past,  and I will when it’s legal. Think of it this way: If the alcohol industry  announced tomorrow that they had developed a new recreational substance that is  less addictive, less toxic, less likely to lead to serious health problems, less  likely to be associated with violence and does not produce hangovers, would you  use it?”

Steve Fox will sign copies of his book at 4 p.m. on Nov. 28 at  Spirit of 76 Bookstore in Marblehead.