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.        

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.