I
have made no secret of my support for the legalization of marijuana (cannabis).
I will not be satisfied until it has the same status in our society as alcohol,
and tobacco—legal with restrictions. (It will have to be regulated if the
Federal and state governments expect to derive any revenue from its production
and sale.) I am working in a number of different ways to have cannabis removed
from the DEA's Schedule I* list, the first step toward legalization, where it does
not and never has belonged. Cannabis was added to the list because of our
government's effort to prevent it from competing with those companies that
produce alcohol, tobacco, fiber and pharmaceuticals. Because cannabis is
relatively easy to grow, it will be a ready competitor.
The
Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 started the process of legalized control of cannabis
and was primarily pushed by the wealthy heads of potent commercial interests.
At the top of this list was William Randolph Hearst, multimillionaire newspaper
publishers whose fear was that hemp (cannabis) would prove a cheaper ingredient
in the manufacture of paper than wood, and threaten his profits from his large
pulp timber operations. In response to the 1969
Supreme Court decision, Leary v. United States, which dismantled most of the
Tax Act, Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act as Title II of the
Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The
1937 Act was finally repealed by the 1970 Act. Thus marijuana ended up as a
Schedule I drug, and has proven to be the source of one of the most expensive
and failed law enforcement efforts ever fronted, much more expensive than the
also failed effort to enforce Prohibition. Yet our US government stubbornly
ignores all of the evidence of safety, medical benefits, and other potential
sources of agricultural and tax income that will
eventually benefit and enrich us as a nation once marijuana is legal. (Be
it known that the same government that struggles to keep marijuana illegal,
grows one of the purest and most powerful strains of it, and distributes it
monthly to eight Americans for medical reasons and to a few select researchers.)
Depending upon the polls you read, between 55 and 70
percent of Americans support the medical use of the plant. A smaller, but no
less significant portion of the same public supports its recreational use, as
did the voters in Colorado and Washington State recently. Even a few highly
placed retired law enforcement officers at both the state and federal level are
speaking out in favor of cannabis being removed from Schedule I. Most recently
a renowned TV personality and government expert, Sanjay Gupta, MD, formerly an
opponent of cannabis legalization, reversed himself, speaking out in favor of
it.
In
nineteen states, the medical use of cannabis is legal. In the two states
mentioned above, it is legal for use medically and recreationally. Many state legislatures
have had bills introduced to this end and a few states have reduced the penalties
for possession. Within the last week, the Attorney General of The United States
ordered the federal attorneys general of all the states not to interfere with
any of the provisions legalizing marijuana within those states that have approved
its use. Our federal government as well as many state governments will not willingly
change their laws prohibiting the use of cannabis. To do so would force these
legislators to admit to a mistake and no politician has the moral fiber or
conscience to admit to dumb judgment.
*A
substance is listed on Schedule I if: (Include
marijuana as substance)
1. The drug or other substance has a
high potential for abuse. (NB alcohol and tobacco are not on this list.)
2.
The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in
treatment in the United States (Still maintained by the government in spite of
overwhelming scientific and medical evidence to the contrary.)
3.
There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other
substance under medical supervision. (Again, completely false. There have been
no verified reports of injury or death from overdose. This is not true for any
other drug prescribed or OTC drug of which I am aware.)
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