Last night while flipping through the channels, searchinghopelessly for quality entertainment, I stumbled across agovernment subsidized anti-marijuana commercial.
A knot formed in my stomach and I was instantly sickened as Irealized the creators of the commercial were equating usingmarijuana with supporting terrorism.
I quickly flipped the channel back to CNN and caught the end ofan Ari Fleischer press conference. The administration's spokesmanwas being questioned about North Korea's weapons proliferationprogram.
But images of the previous commercial continued to reverberatein my mind. All I could think about was America's ignoranceproliferation program. The administration's war against drugs is apolitically correct label for a psychological war being conductedon America's youth.
In reality, prohibition of marijuana causes more problems thanit solves, ruining thousands more lives than it saves, whilerestricting tax-paying citizens from enjoying the benefits of thisplant.
I respect the constitutional rights of each citizen to choosewhether or not to use marijuana.
The responsible use of marijuana by adults yields no societalaffects that render a need for local, state or federal governmentto restrict the possession, use and cultivation of cannabis sativaL.
But public persona has been distorted in America, shielding thepersonal, medicinal and industrial benefits of this plant. In therest of the world, public persona has shifted.
The legalization movement that has swept through Canada, most ofEurope, and several states in America, started initially bychanging public persona. In the world, there are two superpowers:the United States and public opinion.
In the United States, public opinion has been transformedgradually over the latter half of the twentieth century,culminating in the buy-a-sack and support bin Laden attitudetoday.
Ironically, despite America's bureaucratic halt on hempcultivation, a domestic industry still exists and continues togrow. The European Union, the United Nations, the North AmericanFree Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Traderecognize industrial hemp as a commercial crop. In America we aresending a mixed message to our farmers: we'll import it, but youcan't grow it.
Until public persona changes in the United States, as it has inmore than 30 nations, the atrocities will continue. Point in fact:America is a close second to only Russia in our rate ofincarceration per 100,000. Each year, nearly 750,000 people areincarcerated in America for marijuana-related offenses alone,ruining thousands of innocent lives.
This overwhelming influx into our prison system could be easilyremedied by legalizing marijuana. And, the widespread use oftreatment alternatives to jail sentences for convicted drug addictswould be the first victorious battle in a war against drugs that upuntil now, only exists in the minds of freedom-loversworldwide.
