will we see legal weed in 2014? it's about damn time, hey congress get to fucking work, the people want legal marijuana. we all have seen the effectiveness of medical marijuana. we have seen the successful legalization in Colorado and Washington. There was no huge spike in crime or stoned people stumbling around in public or crashing cars because they are too stoned to drive. The legalization of marijuana takes all the money away from the criminals and allows that revenue to flow to legitimate businesses and legitimate growers. It is creating a booming new industry in Colorado and Washington state, there is a whole new economy there that is creating jobs and opportunity for people who just a couple years ago were labeled criminals and threats to decent, civil society.
Legal marijuana is coming. The members of congress do not understand the opportunity they have before them. They can become national heroes if they legalize marijuana. They can be remembered in the annals of history as the group of politicians that finally listened to logic and medical evidence and gave up on the superstitions and racial prejudices that have been the basis for anti-marijuana laws since the beginning. They can become important historical figures simply by passing a law that brings government policy in line with common sense.
Marijuana is not a devil weed as it was portrayed last century, we are in a new century and its time for new laws. Marijuana has been proven repeatedly that it has medical value, upon that basis alone having it classified as a Schedule 1 substance is in violation of the rules for scheduling of drugs. To be classified as a Schedule 1 a substance, the given substance must have no proven medical value, A high potential for abuse, and a clear and immanent threat to public health. I would say that marijuana fails to meet any of those criteria, and im not the only one who thinks so. The worst aspect of being classified as a schedule 1 substance is that no research or study of the substance is allowed to take place without sever and stringent government regulation and oversight. Our government has completely blocked medical and scientific investigation of marijuana. This has lead to a large gap in solid scientific knowledge about marijuana and has allowed misinformation, bad science and out right lies to propagate in popular culture, all damning marijuana to be defined as a dangerous and volatile drug. However, the opposite is in fact the truth. As more valid scientific research is done about marijuana and its potential medical benefits we smash the lies and half-truths. More people every day see that marijuana is not an evil drug that destroys lives but in fact is a powerful curative agent. It has the power to both cure diseases and treat the symptoms of almost any ailment.
It is a wonder drug for people suffering from cancer. Cancer is unfortunately becoming more common and while our ability to treat and cure cancer is gaining ground everyday, marijuana has been proven time and again that it is not only capable of treating the side effects of radiation and chemo therapy but cannabis itself seems very likely to kill cancer cells in it's own right. What if cannabis is the miracle cure for cancer we have all been holding our breath and waiting for. What about AIDS too, if it can help so much with cancer maybe some derivative of marijuana can help in the fight against the worst STD the world has ever known. It can certainly help with the symptoms and side effects of the treatments that are being developed and used currently.
But medical benefits aside for a moment. Cannabis is a plant with so many other uses: Industrial hemp could be a huge cash crop in the usa, it could help to revitalize our sagging agricultural system. It can be grown just about anywhere in the USA and without any expert knowledge or specialized equipment. Sure you need something to harvest but I imagine existing grain threshing equipment could be easily adapted for the job.
The most important point about cannabis legalization to me however, is the idea of cognitive liberty. In this country we are supposed to have the right to free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, right to bear arms and defend ourselves and so many other rights that we feel should be afforded by virtue of being a living, breathing individual. These individual rights are something we hold most dear in this nation. However, we lack cognitive liberty. We lack the right to be in whatever state of mind we choose. If I choose, using my own free will, to ingest marijuana for any reason, that should be my right. I should be able to choose whatever state of being I want to be in. If i want to get drunk, i can, provided i don't hurt myself or another person, however I am not allowed to get stoned legally.
I cant choose to be in a state of hallucinogenic ecstasy because that would require possessing and ingesting illegal drugs. I disagree with all prohibition but marijuana prohibition does the most damage to society while doing the least good. The thinking behind prohibition is that if something is illegal and the penalties are severe enough people will not break that prohibition and thus people will be protected from the perceived dangers of a substance whether they be real or imagined. However, prohibition never works if the prohibited act is desirable and pleasurable, especially when the potential dangers are greatly exaggerated and the lies told about the prohibited act are transparent to a wide audience. The lack of freedom relating to state of mind is criminal. Last century people in our nation struggled to have equal rights, the right to vote, the struggle for universal suffrage and civil rights were a large scale social undertaking. It took a number of years and the combined effort of millions of people to get to where we are today. I feel this century the struggle for cognitive liberty is going to parallel the struggle for civil rights of last century. Legalizing marijuana will be the watershed event of this century that ushers in the change that millions of americans desire. We will finally be able to choose our intoxicant with out fear of our government sending armed men to our doors. We can achieve so much more if we stop prohibition, if we stop excluding people from society because they are addicts, and if we treat everyone with the respect and humanity we all deserve.
Prohibition just doesnt work, it makes us fight against each other when we should be working together to make the world safer and better for everyone. The only people who benefit from prohibition are those who profit off the industry created to enforce the prohibition. Lives are destroyed by lengthy prison sentences just for having a dried plant in your car or house or pocket. We now have a booming private prison industry in the USA, people are profiting off the incarceration and misery of people. The violence that arises from having a massive unregulated economy negatively impacts communities and individuals everywhere. Anyone that says we are safer with marijuana being illegal is lying. If just pot was legalized, the Mexican drug cartels who have become so violent and so powerful in the last decade, would immediately lose a large portion of their revenue. This would mean less money for them to buy guns and pay off bribes and hire thugs to commit brutal acts of violence.
The legalization of pot in Colorado and Washington has already had an effect on the cartels business. Nobody in Colorado will buy the cheap dirt weed shipped from Mexico because they can go to a store now and buy it legally or at least they will be able to next year. And while it is still illegal for marijuana to leave the states of Colorado or Washington im sure it is pouring over the borders into neighboring states, further quashing interest and demand for Mexican dirt weed. I know personally from living in Texas the prevalence of Mexican weed has gone down quite significantly. Nobody wants low quality flowers that are compressed into a flat brick and smokes like a tire fire. There is much better stuff available. Some from local growers I imagine but i would bet that some of it is coming from Colorado. Weed coming from the Pacific Northwest and British Colombia has been a mainstay ever since I started smoking back in the early 2000's. Even more comes from over there now that it is legal there. Hell, if marijuana grown in the Pacific Northwest can travel from there to Texas and still displace the product coming across the border that is going to put a major dent in the cartel's business.
The cartels are adapting however, they are switching to methamphetamine. They can produce it themselves just like weed, they dont need any Colombian or Afghan starting materials. They can export it more easily cause it can be moved in a liquid form and you can get a lot more bang for your buck from a pound of meth compared to a pound of pot. But, even though they are adapting they are still losing money on pot. Mexican weed has a reputation for being low quality and high quantity. The large quantity required to make a profit means greater risk and more logistical hurdles of overcome. But historically the money and effort required to move pot into the US was very small compared to the pay off. Now if the cartels want to compete they are going to need to produce some very high quality marijuana and convince people to buy from them by having cheaper prices. Thus being in the business of marijuana increasingly becomes a liability rather than a reliable revenue stream. If pot were legal nationally and regulated then NO ONE would want Mexican weed unless they could offer a superior product or a lower price. It is very hard for illegal business to compete with legal business. I mean there are counterfeit goods everywhere but most people want the real thing, they dont want to mess with something that could be illegal or of poor quality. Marijuana would be much the same if it were legal. Legal pot even if it was taxed heavily would be much cheaper than currently illegal pot. The cost is high because it's illegal, people want to be compensated for their risk and they want to make a profit. Thus you get a very inflated price.
I personally would not even mind paying current black market prices if i could get high quality cannabis legally.
Wow this became an essay rather than a quick post.
It is time for our watershed event, its time for real change. It's been a long time coming but it really seems like marijuana cannot stay illegal for much longer.
On a final note, recently Uruguay made a move to legalize marijuana in their nation. Are we going to let a small South American nation have more freedom than the USA? I say no, lets get our politicians who supposedly represent US to follow our wishes and end the nightmare of prohibition of a flower.
