Marijuana Can’t Even be Kept Out of Our Prisons!

If any of you have ever watched an episode of “Locked Up” on MSNBC then you have probably seen how prisoners are often able to obtain some sort of drug even though they are confined in top security prisons. For those of you who haven’t seen it “Locked Up” is a show that reveals the daily lives of prisoners in the country’s most infamous prisons. In a lot of these episodes prisoners are interviewed about their experience with drugs in prison. Whether it’s homemade alcohol, marijuana, or heroin these inmates in every prison are able to acquire some sort of illegal intoxicant. How can anyone claim that we are making any significant progress in the drug war when our most secure correctional institutions, which are locked down 24/7 by law enforcement professionals, can’t even keep drugs out of the facility? If an environment such as this is porous enough to allow drugs and money to flow in and out regularly, then how do we expect to keep it out of the country entirely? This should be a major indicator that our current strategy is fleeting.

                No amount of law enforcement personnel and resources will ever be enough to stop the illegal drug trade. All the money that we pour into the drug war each year isn’t even enough to slow it down any significant amount. The proof of this is seen in the ever escalating violence south of the border. Many prohibition supporters argue that if we built a fence covering the entire length of the boarder and line the fence with National Guard and border patrol agents that this would be enough to stop the drug trade along with illegal immigration. First of all this idea is unrealistic, but for the sake of the argument let’s assume that this could be possible. This would slow down the amount of traffic that attempts to cross holes along the physical border such as people climbing over fences and cutting holes in the chain link; however, this would not stop the tunnels that are built under the fence nor would it stop drug traffic that travels by water. The cartels possess simple yet sophisticated semi submersible water vessels and submarines, and with so much man power focused on the border we would be left vulnerable to sea trafficking. This wouldn’t hinder the drug traffic that travels through the air in small aircraft either. Building a fence and lining it with troops does close a door but it also inadvertently opens many others for exploitation.

                We don’t have to build a large fence spanning the border or throw more money into the war on drugs every year to realize that more law enforcement is not a viable solution to illegal drug trafficking. We can see the ineffectiveness of this approach when we look at our prisons. These institutions which are locked down by guards, bars, locks, fences, security cameras, and razor wire do a good job of keeping inmates inside its walls but still cannot keep drugs from entering inside them. The best solution is not more guns and guards but more rights!          

What Convinced Me to End Marijuana Prohibition?

There is a more complex answer that addresses this question but I’ll delve into that deeper in another post, but I would like to reveal an important turning point in my journey to end prohibition. The video that I have included in this post was a major junction in my ideological development. The video takes a look at an organization known as L.E.A.P. (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). This organization is made of active and retired law enforcement members who have fought on the front lines of the war on drugs only to discover that it is a loosing battle. Now they travel to schools and hold seminars that promote ending prohibition based on their personal experiences. I highly recommend listening to what these people have to say since they understand the drug war from a viewpoint many of us do not possess. What I hope this video highlights for you is that people who support ending prohibition come from many different backgrounds and differ greatly from the common stereotypical perception of an anti-prohibitionist (the common degenerate pothead). I felt that it was the right time to showcase this video since my last post addressed the topic of our law enforcement in relation to the drug war. Now you get to experience this same topic through the eyes of these very same individuals. Like I mentioned before this was a video that really resonated with me and contributed a great deal toward my activist ambitions. Enjoy the video and feel free to leave comments on it.        

Will Marijuana Legalization Belittle Our Law Enforcement?

This issue has to be addressed since it is often an argument politicians use to gain sympathy for our law enforcement agencies by means of victimization. Subsequently many people have accepted this argument as a legitimate reason to keep marijuana prohibition alive. It’s not unheard of for a person to argue that “legalizing marijuana will undo everything our federal and local police entities have sacrificed and worked so hard to achieve. How can you possibly want to make it legal?” This argument can be hard to combat since the individual making the comment has been convinced that ending marijuana prohibition is not a political idea, but another deviant strategy that criminals are utilizing to target our law enforcement members. How does an individual come to believe this fallacious argument? It comes with decades of conditioning. The government has demonized marijuana to the point that anyone who has a favorable opinion of it is labeled a criminal. If you buy weed you are breaking the law therefore you are a criminal! Since you bought it you are now in possession of a controlled substance which is illegal therefore you are a criminal! If you sell some to your friend you are a drug dealer therefore you are a criminal! If you smoke it you are breaking the law therefore you are a criminal! If you support it becoming legal you are either selling it, buying it, possessing it, smoking it, or all of the above therefore you are a criminal! As funny as this may seem it is true that many people have acquired this thought process. How can we change this perception and how can we make people realize that ending marijuana prohibition is not intended to harm our law enforcement officials?

                It all starts with debunking commonly held myths, something that I always try to accomplish through this blog. In this case prohibition supporters are victimizing law enforcement officials instead of the usual targets like the helpless addict or the child killed in the middle of a drug deal gone wrong. This victimization causes guilt and an otherwise intelligent individual is overcome by emotion instead of utilizing reason. “How could I possibly support legalization? Our poor police officer puts his life on the line to keep these drugs off the streets. I’m such a fool!” Thus the argument becomes “marijuana needs to be kept illegal because it’s illegal!” But wait, are these people really saying that? Yes they most defiantly are! Yet the individual does not notice that he or she is making this erroneous argument because it is cleverly disguised as a sympathetic appeal towards the poor cop walking his beat.

                Does marijuana legalization really belittle our law enforcement officials? The answer is a resounding NO! If it does anything it helps them by removing them from a failed drug policy that has lasted decades. If marijuana was legalized 10 years ago we would have fewer dead cops and failed operations like “Fast and Furious” would never have taken place. Violence in Mexico would have declined and our prisons would not be overflowing with petty drug offenders. To say that legalizing cannabis hurts our officers more than to continuingly throw them into dangerous drug busting operations is insensitive and offensive. Our law enforcement has done the best they can but the drug war failure does not fall on their shoulders, it falls on the shoulders of our lawmakers. And to create the illusion that our law enforcement agencies haven’t “quite done enough” is sickening.          

The 420 Counterculture

Marijuana is unique among controlled substances in that it has an unprecedented counter culture that surrounds it. Just Google marijuana and I will guarantee that that you will find an overwhelming amount of forums, activist pages, magazine websites, medical marijuana dispensaries, conventions, arguments for and against prohibition, paraphernalia stores, and of course blogs dedicated to the subject ;). There is such a large following that if you didn’t know marijuana was illegal you would have a hard time believing it is. What is so unique about cannabis that gives it so much appeal even though it is illegal to possess, sell, and consume it? Why are we not seeing this phenomenon with other controlled substances? Since there is such a large following then why hasn’t anyone seen the potential of legalization? There are many answers to these questions but I plan to highlight the big picture surrounding the subject of the 420 counterculture.

                Why is marijuana so appealing to so many people in the country? I guess a superficial answer would be that “it gets you high”, an answer I usually receive from people in favor of prohibition, but I’m not willing to accept that as the main reason. A lot of things get you high, cocaine, heroin, LSD, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms, meth, peyote, nitrous oxide, Oxycotton, Demerol, and a plethora of other prescription drugs. But none of these have the same dedicated following that matches marijuana. The simplest way I can describe why cannabis is so popular is by combining two broad reasons, it’s safer than other recreational drugs (including alcohol) and it’s enjoyable to use. These are the very basic reasons why marijuana has such a large following. Sure there are other reasons that are involved but most of them stem from these two categories. The fact that it is enjoyable seems to be an obvious reason for its use, but there are other drugs like heroin, meth, and crack cocaine that at first may be used for enjoyment but quickly transition into being used to maintain an addiction. Very rarely is anyone a slave to marijuana addiction and this allows people to continue using without many negative effects. This brings us to the next reason for its popularity which is its relatively safe use. No one overdoses on marijuana like many other drugs which is why marijuana maintains its popularity in numbers and which is also why we don’t see this phenomenon with other “harder” drugs. No one is killing themselves with it. This safe appearance of cannabis within the 420 counterculture maintains its popularity. Because it is so enjoyable and because it is safer to use marijuana has gained an epic fan base in this country and is also the reason why harder drugs do not follow this same trend.

                With marijuana as popular as it is why hasn’t anyone seen the potential of legalization? The answer to this question is much simpler. People have seen the potential for legalization and more often than not it is the marijuana user and activist that sees it. The user does not want to have to sneak around trying to find weed somewhere, they would much rather want to walk into a store and purchase it without having to look over their shoulder. People who want to end prohibition are not criminals but everyday people that want to see crime decrease and more jobs created from marijuana legalization. The main hurdle to leap over in order to end prohibition is to overcome the negative stigma that marijuana has acquired over the years. We can see that we are achieving this goal with recent polls showing that half of Americans would like to see marijuana legalized. After all overcoming this stigma and ending prohibition is what the 420 movement is truly all about.                

      

America is Being Denied the Right to Information

A few months ago I wrote my most popular blog to date entitled “Don’t Tell Me What I Can Do To My Body!” which argued that the Government has no right dictating what substance I willfully choose to consume. Now I wish to discuss another topic which is just as important and directly parallels this argument, which is the right to information. Not only are we being denied the right to govern our own bodies as we wish but we are also being denied our most sacred right of information and education. It is an absolute travesty that our Government is withholding the facts about marijuana by not allowing scientific research to examine both the positive and negative aspects of this plant. Instead we are force fed half truths and outright myths about cannabis in substitute.

                Education is the foundation of our ideals and personal opinions and this applies not just in America but the world. Every country that employs public education at the national level is always a more developed country. Every country that denies education to its people or feeds them misinformation will always be a third world country and or a country that is ruled over by dictators whether they be national or local (such as warlords). Education is the very element that makes us free! The ability to analyze and apply critical thinking to make judgments and form opinions is the most powerful weapon we posses against tyranny, injustice, and exploitation. To deny people of education is to steal life itself from them. It is one of the worst human rights offenses and yet we as Americans are experiencing this very offense, albeit on a small scale. This seems blasphemous to say but as we take a closer look and you will find that the Government has limited the research of cannabis thereby denying us our right to the proper information.

                There was an attempt to study marijuana and its effects on personal and social issues that was initiated by the government. This study was known as the “Shafer Commission” in which president Nixon launched in order to support the war on drugs. However this plan back fired and instead of a scathing report on marijuana Nixon received a report which dispelled many of the widely accepted myths about the plant. This report was not surprisingly rejected and the “Controlled Substance Act” (which this commission was intended to support) was passed through Congress and signed into law. This is the first major case of information (concerning marijuana) which was denied to the public because the outcome was the opposite of what the Government wanted. We were denied the right to information and as such we continued to believe all of the common myths associated with marijuana. We are still feeling the effects of this outcome from the slew of misinformation we receive about this plant. Every day we are bombarded by public service announcements and political scare tactics that pounds outdated and incorrect information into our heads. This bombardment is amplified by the fact that the Government does not fund additional studies about marijuana so that we might learn more about it. God forbid the information discovered would counter what has previously been believed as true. It is this denial of additional studies and information that stagnates us from discovering the truth about marijuana.

                We cannot and should not allow the government to dictate our right to information and education. We have to demand more unbiased scientific studies involving marijuana so that we as a country can make a more informed decision in the case of prohibition. The more informed decision is the right decision.