My Submission for Adriel Hampton’s Policy Statement
Recently, I was made aware of a crowdsourcing attempt for a policy statement by Adriel Hampton, a hopeful congressional candidate in Northern California, regarding the Drug War. While I have never written anything for any one political individual, the prospect of writing something that could so directly affect our flawed laws was quite appealing.
The following is my submission for Mr. Hampton’s policy statement about the Drug War (specifically marijuana). While I am aware that most policy statements adhere strictly to descriptions of policy, I feel that marijuana is a very dense issue with a very intricate history. A history that must be taken into account if we are going to make an educated decision about an important issue.
You can vote on my submission here (it is titled “Legalization of Cannabis for the Good of our Citizens”) and read it below.
If you enjoy it, feel free to let @adrielhampton know on twitter.
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Fervor for liberty and hope for a new life, these were the driving forces for many early American settlers’ in their choice to leave all that they knew and had behind. Though passion may have filled the hearts of so many pioneers, it was ultimately the wind which filled their sails–as durable as their spirits–that delivered each man, woman and child onto the shores of a New World. These sails, of course, were made from cannabis.
Indeed, cannabis played an integral part of early American life, exploration, development, and economic activity. It was celebrated by patriots, grown by presidents, and utilized by Americans for the good of America. Unfortunately, for a plant so fundamental to the growth of our country, it would soon become the target of corporations who care more about their profit margins than the health of their nation. An information war was waged against this noble plant and it was soon victimized and made illegal by racially charged fears and ignorance.
In humility, our government would turn again to cannabis and launched its Hemp For Victory campaign during the Second World War, calling for patriotic farmers to grow cannabis in order to aid the war efforts. Years after the last soldiers were laid to rest and the last treaty was signed, the United States would once again turn its back on the plant that had helped it so dearly when Nixon ignored the advice of his own commission, which stated that cannabis should be re-legalized, and waged his war against a plant.
Though, this was not a normal war by any means. It was a war against capitalism and free-market competition. It was a war against nature in favor of proprietary goods. It was a war against information, science, and truth. It was a war against the fundamental, God-given right for an individual to manage his or her own health, body, and mind. It was a war against the very roots of our heritage, culture, and existence. In essence, it was a war against you.
To this day, perpetuated myths and fear-propaganda still taint the minds of so many Americans. Thankfully, however, advances in science and logic have allowed many to see just how helpful and safe cannabis truly is to a variety of people and industries. My friends, we are at a tipping point of freedom in this nation where we have the ability and momentum to right an enormous wrong in our past by RE-legalizing a plant that–by all measures–should be considered an asset of natural resource, if not a symbol of national treasure.
After elected, I vow to uphold my duty to protect the citizens of this great state by moving to legalize cannabis, thus ending the prohibition of reason and war on Californians. Our economy will be given a much needed boost as individuals responsibly and safely purchase taxed cannabis products in a much freer market; money that can be utilized to educate our children, expand our infrastructure, and focus on stopping real crime. Our prisons and legal system will be reserved for only those truly dangerous to the good of society, rather than filled and distracted by victims of social stigma and ignorance. Most of all, our children will be safer as legalization starves the black market of a majority of its cash flow and regulatory obstacles are put in place to truly restrict availability of cannabis products to adults.
Together, we can make a positive difference for the future of California. We can drastically reduce violence, power of organized crime, and costs related to the failed attempts at controlling human nature. We can fight for the rights of our farmers, our sick, our impoverished, and our families. We can support the progress of medicine and the hundreds of thousands of doctors in the United States who deserve the right to fully care for their patients. Best of all, we can do it all with the legalization of a single plant that has already done so much for us and was always there when we needed it. I think we owe it to cannabis, and I think we owe it to ourselves.
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May 16th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Thank you for putting together this sweeping look at the history of prohibition. Hopefully we’ll get a number of people engaged on the issue and how much it hurts families and empowers organized crime.