History has Already Taught Us This Lesson! It Was Called "Prohibition"!

 

Prohibition... in Whatever Form It Takes... Will Not Work! The Reason Is Simple... You Cannot Legislate Morality! The Solution is In Education... Not Legislation!

 

But when Society Makes Drugs Illegal... especially Benign Natural Substances like Marijuana... a Whole New World of "Problems" Exist where there Previously Weren't Any. That is Exactly What Happened with Prohibition... and Today We Are Only Making The Same Mistakes Over Again. Considering that "Drugs" like Marijuana have a Far Less Potential for Personal and Social Harm than Alcohol or Tobacco... It Is Even More Senseless.

Yes... "Meth" (Methamphetamine) is a Serious Social Problem! Probably More Serious than The Average Information Deprived and Institutionally Numbed Citizen can Ever Imagine. It Is Destroying People and Families and Communities. It Has To Be Dealt With! But Are We Dealing With It In The Right Way through The Legal System and Law Enforcement? If you Use "Results" as an Indicator and Barometer... The Overwhelming Answer Is NO! There are Better Alternatives to Our Social Ills and Problems... and Legislation Is Not One of Them!

What The Average Person Doesn't Realize... Is That The "Drug War" is Not Promoted and Maintained Primarily for The Purpose of "Ending Drug Use and Abuse"... and Putting Away The "Bad Guys". In Many Ways... The "System At Its Core" does not want to Solve The Drug Problem. It Especially Does Not Want The Drug War To End... Under Any Circumstances! Why? Basically "Money and Power". There Probably is No Greater Cancer to Our Society and Nation as The Many Intricate Tentacles of Government Bureaucracy Involved in The Umbrella Organizational Label Called "The Drug War"...

More Relevant to Your Interests as a City and Area in Terms of Developing Agricultural Related Business and Technology... is The Relationship of Marijuana and Industrial Hemp. Please refer to The Issue Article on Industrial Hemp...

In Keeping with The Line of Thought concerning The Drug War... I want to Specifically Point Out The Incredible "Over-Reaction" of Government through Law Enforcement and Programs such as The Drug War in Relation to Marijuana. Why Is That??? The Reason is NOT That Marijuana is Such a Harmful Substance. Scientific Studies have even determined that Caffeine is "More Harmful" than Marijuana. Any Law Enforcement Officer Who Knows Anything about Marijuana will tell You It's a Legal Fiasco. They Will Also Tell You The Only Real "Problem" with Marijuana Comes with It Being Illegal. When You Make "Criminals" out of Otherwise Socially Integrated and Well Adjusted Individuals... You Are Doing Everyone an Injustice!

Please Check Out Some of The Links Below. You Will Find that It Is Actually from The Ranks of "Law Enforcement" that Much of The Criticism of The Drug War is Being Voiced... and Activism Is Being Initiated. It Is Sad that Our Law Enforcement Personnel are Being Put "In The Middle" of This Aberration of Justice. It Is Also Important That We Give Them All The Support They Need to Do There Job with Professionalism and Integrity and a Sense of Sanity.

The Problem with Drugs is So Multifaceted and Complex... It Is Hard to Do The Subject Justice in Such a Few Short Paragraphs. And Perhaps "Legal Drugs" Is More of a Social Problem than Illegal Ones. But It Is Vital that We Do Not Lump The More Serious Drugs like Meth in The Same Category as Marijuana. To Do So Makes it Much Harder to Effectively Deal with "Real" Drug Issues and Abuse!

Each "Drug" is Made and Kept Illegal for Differing Reasons. Some of The Substances are Important to Various Industry to Keep Illegal... Like Marijuana (because of Its Link to Industrial Hemp). While Government is The Power Behind The Legislation Feeding The Drug War and Prohibition... In Many Cases It Is The Corporations that are Pulling The Strings! For Drugs like Cocaine and Heroin... Well... I Really Don't Think You Want to Know The Truth Behind The Trafficking of Those Drugs. At least... I am not going to Address The Issue here.

I Don't Know to What Extent Your Area has a "Drug Problem"... but, like just about Every Community in Our Nation, I am Sure You Do. The Question Is... How Do We Individually and Collectively Resolve It? How Do We Effectively Deal With It? How As Communities... Can We both Serve The Needs and Interests of Our Citizens... and at The Same Time Support Our Law Enforcement Personnel?

For Public Servants and Officials of The Communities of America... How Can You Be Responsible to Your Citizens... with Professionalism and Integrity... and at The Same Time Help Resolve Our Drug Related Problems???

How Can We All Not Be  Pawns of The DEA and "WOD"???

The Only Way... Is Through Community Involvement and Dialogue. All Our Social Institutions have to Learn The Truth... and Help Educate Themselves and The Public. And perhaps Most Importantly... We Have to Give Kids (and Adults) Reasons to NOT Get Involved with Drugs in The First Place. Society has made Tremendous Progress with "Legal" Drugs like Alcohol and Tobacco... through Education and Social Programs. The Same can Be Done with The Still Illegal Drugs.

 

In 1928, nine years before cannabis prohibition began, US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote of our constitutional right to be let alone in the case of Olmstead v. U.S.:  "The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man’s spiritual nature, of his feelings and his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfaction of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone – the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men."