Every morning, one of the first things I do is turn on the
radio to listen to the news. Since I
like straight forward beat reporting, I usually turn my dial to CBS. But for the last couple of weeks I have been
getting poor reception and so I switched over to KABC.
Last Tuesday, Geraldo Rivera was on and the question he
posed to his listeners was “is the country going to hell in a hand basket with
marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington State?” Many listeners called in on Geraldo’s show who
were quite concerned about pot becoming legal in more states, something Geraldo
didn’t seem to mind. The truth is
however, legalized marijuana should concern us all.
If the attitude of marijuana legalization enthusiasts is any
indication, many who understand the behavior of drug abuse, will agree that it
is time we send the message to curb their enthusiasm. Clue number one would be that they picked
Washington State to legalize recreational use.
They knew it was an election year and the pot vote had gained enough
strength to become its own voting block.
They also knew that the director of the Office of National Drug Control
Policy used to be Seattle’s police chief. After the measure passed and became legal
under state law, enthusiasts gathered under the Seattle Space Needle and lit
up, even though outdoor use was not permitted under Initiative 502. In their mind they probably think they pulled
quite the coup and if we take a closer look, there is a storm brewing within
the marijuana movement and if we don’t start to pay closer attention to it, we may have to learn some very tough lessons the hard way.
During the campaign, the White House stayed silent and very few elected leaders were willing to publicly oppose marijuana legalization measures. No one at ONDCP or the Obama Administration
so much as even publicly acknowledged the letter sent by nine former heads of
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration urging opposition to legalization.
The Drug Lobby Americans for Safe Access launched an effort to gather 1
million votes to unseat President Obama, and yet, even to this day, all we hear
is the White House’s position on legalization of marijuana for recreational use
remains “un-CHANGEd”! Unchanged? White House policy is “opposition to the
legalization of marijuana for recreational use.” Yet, their policy remains “unchanged” and two
states have gone against White House policy and there is still no word from the
White House, ONDCP or the Department of Justice?! Apparently fighting for what is right is no
longer worth it because being elected is more important, regardless of the
social and public heath costs!
One could easily assume no drastic measures will be taken
because the mid-term elections will be crucial for Democrats as well as
Republicans and no one will want to rock the boat. One could also assume that the electorate is well aware there is a new, (still unofficial) “Pot Party” forming, that is
becoming an ever more growing threat to all parties.
If I had any advice for the White House or the electorate it
would be, STOP THEM BEFORE THEY COMPLETELY DESTROY AMERICA! We need to see some leadership and we need
for our government to set policies they intend to enforce. The war on drugs is not winnable without an
exit strategy and at this time there is no foreseeable, workable strategy. The silence of our leaders raises doubt
about the confidence the people should have in them to take a position and stay with it. But they should stand up and do what they
were elected to do! LEAD!
In the meantime, while our hands are tied with Colorado and
Washington State, we should gather all the data we can from those states to
show what the real HUMAN COSTS of legalization are.
Chances are, we’ll never know how many people are driving on our
freeways and highways while stoned out of their mind. We should let the numbers roll in, like they did in Alaska, where marijuana was legal
and had to be re-criminalized because the situation was out of control. We already learned our lesson in Alaska and
we know there is no right or safe way to leave a person to his or her own
devices with mind-altering substances. Colorado
and Washington State will be no different.
