The Musings of Scott

The Time is Ripe for Reform

Ever since my first persuasive writing class in college, back in 2002, I have been an outspoken marijuana reform activist. It only took the United States 10 years to recognize that Prohibition doesn’t work (as it only creates untaxed crime), yet Prohibition 2.0 has been running for 40+ years despite being clunkier, less effective, and at times undermining the advancement of our society. China recently released a counter report on human rights against the United States, and the saddest part is that this piece of propaganda made a valid point. Why does the “land of the free” have 5% of the world population yet 25% of the world’s prisoners? Why are so many minorities locked up, that the ratios cannot be rationally justified? These were all issues I wrote about last year on the subject of marijuana reform.

One thing that is frustrating being passionate about such a slow moving cause, is that my arguments don’t really change (because the reform hasn’t changed). All those points in last year’s “Call to arms” were pretty much the same ones from my paper in college (back in the day when my writing had an audience of 1). The Drug War is institutionalized racism, costly, a subsidy to organized crime (explained below), and ultimately a war against human choice.

Do you want to smoke some meth?

Me neither. Common sense: my anti-drug.

The grand slam argument, which I am lifting word for word from my nine years old freshman paper: “the Drug War doesn’t work.” This is an argument that only gets stronger over the years, and the only counter argument I have heard is the increasing amount of drugs seized annually. What these folks will point out is the street value of the drugs taken by raids, yet don’t mention is that cartels are run like a business: they expect product loss; these raids on small fish can actually help revenue in the cartel business model. The more they seize, the higher the street prices, the more product gets made for the next batch. The criminals get richer adding more to their markup, the people get poorer (paying for both sides of this war), the government continuously expands blaming it’s ineffectiveness is simply a problem of scale. More are realizing that there are more grandfathers and family pets than kingpins were getting killed in these raids. The more they crack down on the drug supply, the more profitable it becomes for those who specialize in circumventing laws (be it politicians or criminals). The only losers in this ordeal is an already bankrupt America, where a minority viewpoint is waging a war on choice upon everyone. The hypocrisy runs rampant in this country:

Since I first discussed reform ten years ago:

13 States currently have medical marijuana industry which are slated for $1.7B in sales this year. These sales figures are expected to double in the next five years.

A popular marijuana themed TV show was spawned and was a hit outside of the marijuana community having just been renewed for a 7th season. If you created a prime time cartoon in the past decade, you have probably aired at least 1 marijuana themed episode or character.

Some incredible documentaries have been released.
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
Hemp Revolution
(was out before but I only saw last year): Grass- The History of Marijuana

Massachusetts became the first state in 2008 to decriminalize personal possession of Marijuana, and my vote counted. With much fanfare, the courts have recently upheld marijuana’s misdemeanor status. As we move onto year three of noncriminal marijuana, Massachusetts is a front runner for the first to legalize (perhaps by another ballot question in 2012). The race for freedom is on.

Support for reform is at an all time high (with overwhelming support for the under 30 crowd, aka the folks getting “stuck with the check”). Ironically, the opposition is dying out.

There’s actually a variety of Marijuana Reform lobbyists & activists now, some good ones to follow (and donate to if so inclined):
NORML
Marijuana Policy Project
The Drug Policy Alliance
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

So here’s my advice this year for the chronic social issue in America:

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