The National Drug Control Strategy of 2010, signed by the President of the United States, clearly states that the President of the Unite States, Barack Obama was firmly opposed to the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. But look what a second term as President can bring. Silence to get more votes in Colorado and Washington State? Muzzling of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein who was once clearly publicly outspoken against the legalization of marijuana? Statements like “we need to learn more about medical marijuana” while at the same time shutting down countless marijuana dispensaries all across the nation? An Attorney General who can’t make up his mind on mandatory minimum sentencing for what he calls “non-violent” drug offenders? A passive-agressive approach to drug policy perhaps?
Recently,
President of the United States Barack Obama made the following statement. "If marijuana is fully legalized and at
some point folks say, well, ‘We can come up with a negotiated dose of cocaine
that we can show is not any more harmful than vodka,’ are we open to
that?" Obama wondered. "If somebody says, ‘We've got a finely
calibrated dose of meth, it isn't going to kill you or rot your teeth,’ are we
O.K. with that?" Maybe we should
begin by asking the various nations the United States has signed drug treaties with? Does the President even realize that the U.S. is now in violation of several international treaties due to drug decriminalization in various
states? The zero-tolerance approach to
drugs in the U.S. has certainly taken its toll on the prohibition of drugs,
especially marijuana. When searching a
little deeper, legalization of marijuana would also cost police department’s
vast amounts of money because legalization would also change and void asset
forfeiture laws. But then again, we
already know the President plans to make up the difference by taxing the rich
and aiming for single-payer universal healthcare with Obamacare.
Off in the distance, somewhere
in Northern California, members of a Mexican drug cartel have set up shop on
public land to grow marijuana. Destroying
the eco-systems by creating dams to divert water for their crops, they use toxic
and dangerous pesticides in the form of “edible” pellets that kill birds and they
shoot the deer that like the taste of marijuana leaves. Even bears are attracted to the site from
the scent of food in the grower camp and when they come near, are shot dead. To pass the time, dead bears and deer become
trophies and the growers like taking pictures next to their kill, posing as if
he just won a giant stuffed animal at a family carnival.
They
have guns and knives and have no hesitation using them when they spot other
drug gangs or cops in the area. Gunfire from
black market growers has sparked many spot and even wildfires. When a rival cartel is spotted, drug gangs
have also been known to detonate small bombs to smoke each other out.
Depending
on light and growing conditions they stay at the site about 100 days. That is usually the turn around period it
takes for a crop to reach harvest and acceptable drying conditions. When they are finished, they leave trash and
toxic waste behind and the eco-system to fend for itself. All they care about now is turning the
marijuana into fast cash to anyone willing to pay the asking price on the
street. Legalization of marijuana has made things easier for Cartels that have also been caught working with marijuana doctors.
Meanwhile
in Los Angeles, the City is fighting to shut down over one thousand marijuana
dispensaries because people are abusing medical marijuana laws. Instead of buying from the cartels and drug
gangs, patrons seeking recreational marijuana in California, find him and
herself claiming false illness to obtain a doctor’s recommendation to legally
obtain marijuana under state but not federal law. These
recreational users would rather lie than buy marijuana from a drug gang and
many believe by doing so they are engaging in a noble cause by choosing to buy
pot from a regulated lawful source. The
question is, can we truly call these people criminals and lawbreakers knowing
the alternative of how drug cartels operate to get drugs onto America’s streets?
Americans
have chosen to use marijuana long before the question of drug legalization became
a daily topic in the news. Politically,
legalization for recreational use has been before voters for more than 41
years.
According
to the latest Gallup poll, 58% of Americans now believe marijuana should be
legalized. Evaluating the risks of
introducing marijuana as a recreational drug into the legal market has proven
roads would be more dangerous, on-the-job accidents more prevalent and has
shown that teenage use dramatically increases. Do these factors prevent us from stopping drug cartels
and drug gangs who push marijuana on citizens that have no clue where the pot
he or she is buying came from, or what is in it?
Let’s
face it, there are those among us who
have decided that at one time or another marijuana will become a recreational
habit. One we can take or leave alone. I have yet to see a pro-drug group outspoken about
drug addiction so that we can curb drug abuse. That is simply not the intention of the drug lobby and apparently it is also not the intention of President Obama.
Being sober more than 15 years I can say I have already had my fair share and in my case, it didn’t increase the quality of my life. Therefore, I don’t use pot or anything else unless I am so ordered by my physician and even then I may not use what is prescribed. Yet I also know that I am not like everyone else and that people have a right to choose what to put in his or her body. People have a civil right to want their own experience with marijuana whether it benefits the quality of life or not and they are exercising that right whether we like it or not. As it stands, the only thing can prevent these choices is the law, which condemns and outcasts drug users, taking away quality of life and liberty.
Being sober more than 15 years I can say I have already had my fair share and in my case, it didn’t increase the quality of my life. Therefore, I don’t use pot or anything else unless I am so ordered by my physician and even then I may not use what is prescribed. Yet I also know that I am not like everyone else and that people have a right to choose what to put in his or her body. People have a civil right to want their own experience with marijuana whether it benefits the quality of life or not and they are exercising that right whether we like it or not. As it stands, the only thing can prevent these choices is the law, which condemns and outcasts drug users, taking away quality of life and liberty.
It
is pretty likely that within the next two years more than half the country will
have states with medical marijuana laws. In other words folks, the train has left the
station and there is no point in chasing the train down the tracks trying to
reverse the irreversible. That means the
national poll numbers are likely to increase, especially when looking at
polling trends of favoritism toward the decriminalization of marijuana in the
last ten years. A tragedy? Yes, because the movement, like President Obama, is aimless and wants not just to legalize drugs but also to liberalize them.
Therefore,
the question we should be asking is no longer if pot should be legal. But rather, are we going about legalization
in the right way? Are drug policy
advocates selling a reckless agenda and succeeding just to get their foot in
their door? Is America going to keep
falling for the same arguments of back-door marijuana legalization by getting
states to jump on the bandwagon with medical marijuana laws? Or are
we going to get smart about this issue and figure out a way to get control of
it?
Starting
at the top with the President of the United States, we are increasingly no
longer a nation that wants to get tough on drugs or drug users. If legalization methods and polling trends
continue, it is quite possible that marijuana and even other drugs will be
legal for recreational use within the next five to ten years. Without clarity and leadership from the
Commander in Chief, the chaos with conflicting drug laws in America’s
communities is only going to continue. We either find a way to create clear drug
policy and create a safe and regulated market or we make the on-going free-fall
liberalization of drugs worse.
