Alternet writers put up a concise piece highlighting 5 Special Interest Groups That Help Keep Marijuana Illegal, something worth knowing if you didn’t already.
The 5 groups listed are:
Seeing how it’s the time of year when billows of pungent smoke pour out across the world (Happy 4/20 everyone!), let us take a few moments to reflect upon the insanity that is drug prohibition.
Suppose every myth you’ve been led to believe about drugs is true, and that they are really an evil scourge on society; destroying families, fueling crime, and turning our young people into mindless addicts. Even if all that were factually accurate (which it isn’t), there is still something far more destructive to our world than drugs themselves. And that something is drug prohibition. (more…)
Ten years ago Portugal decided to end the war on narcotics, opting to decriminalize drug use and treat abusers as patients instead of criminals. The experiment is being touted as a resounding success, and needs to be replicated elsewhere everywhere.
According to health experts, the number of “problematic addicts” in Portugal has fallen by half since the early 1990s. As well, the nation has seen a “spectacular” reduction in the number of infections among intravenous users and a significant drop in drug-related crimes.
See! Prohibition has never shown results like these.
Just ask the escalating number of families in Mexico mourning their dead while under constant threat. Seeing the blatant failures firsthand, it’s no wonder Latin America is poised to follow Portugal’s lead and finally abolish the war on drugs.
Forget the old wives tales about drugs. They aren’t some bogeyman we can just scare off with guns and soldiers. Instead, let’s behave like sensible people and look for an approach to the problem that is proving itself a success. It’s time we give legalization a try.
Here’s two brilliant cartoons for your Tuesday reading pleasure:
It warms the heart to think that, within just a few short years, commentary like those contained in these cartoons could very well grow obsolete. Then, once we’ve done away with the war on drugs and war in general, we can look back on ourselves today and wonder why it took us so long to restore sanity to our domestic and foreign policies.
Out of nowhere, the Liberal party has jumped back into the running with the Canadian public, just by adding one simple policy to their platform: legalize marijuana.
Party members announced that “a new Liberal government will legalize marijuana and ensure the regulation and taxation of its production, distribution, and use, while enacting strict penalties for illegal trafficking, illegal importation and exportation, and impaired driving.”
Yes!!! Canada’s pro-cannabis movement just gained new levels of traction. Even though it is being pushed by the Liberals – 3rd prize in Canadian politics – this is still a huge milestone.
As other parties see just how much the issue of legal weed resonates with the Canadian people, they too will be tempted to hop on the ‘Oh Cannabis’ bandwagon.
While Harper and his conservatives cram more crime bills down our throats, it is great to see that not all politicians have abandoned reasonable policies.
Today’s imagery highlights Carl Sagan’s timeless words and exposes one of the biggest blights to plague our planet: drug prohibition.
As we’ve discussed before, Cannabis is kept illegal to protect several billion dollar empires from the threat of an extremely productive and versatile plant. On top of this, the war on drugs serves as an extension of the military industrial complex, where entities profit by manufacture enemies and then release armed combatants to fight them.
Fortunately, it seems we are positioning ourselves to move beyond these draconian days of drug prohibition. Portugal’s decriminalized drugs over a decade ago, and the results were a resounding success.
Following Portugal’s lead, Britain’s Liberal Democrats are looking into decriminalizing drug possession. Not to be outdone, Greek officials have taken steps towards ending the illegality of drug use.
Great news! Hopefully the whole world will soon hop on the whole treat-drug-use-as-a-health-issue-not-a-criminal-issue bandwagon, setting us free to focus our energy on the real issues, like corrupt and unaccountable governance.
If you haven’t already done so, it’s time for you to face the facts. The war on drugs is an utter failure. But don’t just take my word for it.
Some of England’s most prominent public figures have recently decried drug prohibition as an “expensive catastrophe for individuals and communities,” and are imploring the use of scientific evidence when forming drug policies.
Spain’s ex-PM wants to legalize all drugs to help deflate organized crime syndicates, which have become “one of the most serious threats to security that the world faces.”
This sentiment is echoed by the individuals with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, who don’t believe current methods are effective, writing “drug abuse and gang violence flourish in a drug prohibition environment, just as they did during alcohol prohibition.”
Still not convinced? Then maybe you’ll believe the former President of Mexico, who is calling for the legalization of all drugs, saying “Prohibition didn’t work in the Garden of Eden. Adam ate the apple… I don’t want to say that legalizing means that drugs are good. They are not good but bad for your health, and you shouldn’t take them. But ultimately, this responsibility is with citizens.”
And if you’re worried about what might happen if we ended drug prohibition, consider Portugal. They decriminalized all drugs ten years ago and it has been deemed a resounding success. Crime is down, drug use has declined, and drug-related pathologies have lowered dramatically.
Clearly, Portugal’s strategy of treatment and rehabilitation should be guiding anti-prohibition debates around the world. But rational thought and empirical evidence will only get us so far.
The war on drugs has been institutionalized because billions have been blown every year for decades. This means millions of law enforcement, jailers, and their support staff, not to mention the countless drug peddlers, all stand to lose their livelihoods if the war on drugs were to end.
On top of this, current drug-related policies are entrenched into global politics, with roots running into organizations like the United Nations, who pressure all its members to enforce drug prohibition.
To counteract such an extensive bureaucracy, which is currently supported by millions from around the world, will take an even larger, more powerful force.
It will take hundreds of millions of informed people from around the world. Those of us who’ve discovered drug prohibition is actually far worse than any drug on earth need to coordinate, cooperate and finally finish the war on drugs.
This is where you come in. You need to stand up for what is right. Get involved in the movement. Do what you can to help convince the rest of the world that it’s time to forever end our draconian drug policies.
(It seems anyone can get on the Internet these days.)
Drug prohibition is a scourge on the planet. Not just because it wastes billions of tax payer dollars a year, or because criminals can grow strong off the lucrative black markets, but because the so-called ‘war on drugs’ prevents humankind from fully utilizing the amazing plant known as Cannabis.
It is time to end the war on drugs, just as it is time to end war in general.
Edutainment at its best – here’s a short video about one of the world’s most useful plants: hemp! Industrial hemp can be made into oil, cement, wood, paper, plastic, textiles, and a highly nutritious food.
The only reason hemp isn’t a trillion dollar industry today is because of drug prohibition. Hemp and all the wonderful products it can make remain another casualty in the draconian war on drugs.
