We mostly agree, Melaney. And I'm open to discussion on the Cocaine decriminalization issue. However this Marijuana isuue is a red-herring perputrated by past government and business interests. (BUD, Miller, etc..) And now with the Privitized Prisons for Profit industry (The PPP) its no wonder that all these "Poor" kids and people are nothing more than an expendable commodity. I highlight the word poor because, and I know first hand, that from the mostly middle class to the Gated community priviledged, they are left alone for the most part by the PPP police. (oh, no, i'm starting to sound like Magoo) They know better than to start arresting our college bound kids and contributing taxpaying professionals in any large numbers. So, they usually pile on, on the voiceless and people who can't afford a decent lawyer. Enough of this!
Here's some startling info.
Many people assume that marijuana was made illegal through some kind of process involving scientific, medical, and government hearings; that it was to protect the citizens from what was determined to be a dangerous drug.
The actual story shows a much different picture. Those who voted on the legal fate of this plant never had the facts, but were dependent on information supplied by those who had a specific agenda to deceive lawmakers. You'll see below that the very first federal vote to prohibit marijuana was based entirely on a documented lie on the floor of the Senate.
You'll also see that the history of marijuana's criminalization is filled with:
- Racism
- Fear
- Protection of Corporate Profits
- Yellow Journalism
- Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators
- Personal Career Advancement and Greed
These are the actual reasons marijuana is illegal.
For most of human history, marijuana has been completely legal. It's not a recently discovered plant, nor is it a long-standing law. Marijuana has been illegal for less than 1% of the time that it's been in use. Its known uses go back further than 7,000 B.C. and it was legal as recently as when Ronald Reagan was a boy.
The marijuana (hemp) plant, of course, has an incredible number of uses. The earliest known woven fabric was apparently made of hemp, and over the centuries the plant was used for food, incense, cloth, rope, and much more.
The Mexican Connection
In the early 1900s, the western states developed significant tensions regarding the influx of Mexican-Americans. The revolution in Mexico in 1910 spilled over the border, with General Pershing's army clashing with bandit Pancho Villa. Later in that decade, bad feelings developed between the small farmer and the large farms that used cheaper Mexican labor. Then, the depression came and increased tensions, as jobs and welfare resources became scarce.
One of the "differences" seized upon during this time was the fact that many Mexicans smoked marijuana and had brought the plant with them. So, when jobs became scarce during this period, an easy way the government found to deport the excess cheap laborers "mexicans" was to criminilize the Pot and arrest the mexicans for deportation.
However, the first state law outlawing marijuana did so not because of Mexicans using the drug. Oddly enough, it was because of Mormons using it. Mormons who traveled to Mexico in 1910 came back to Salt Lake City with marijuana. The church was not pleased and ruled against use of the drug. Since the state of Utah automatically enshrined church doctrine into law, the first state marijuana prohibition was established in 1915. (Today, Senator Orrin Hatch serves as the prohibition arm of this heavily church-influenced state.)
Jazz and Assassins
In the eastern states, the "problem" was attributed to a combination of Latin Americans and black jazz musicians. Marijuana and jazz traveled from New Orleans to Chicago, and then to Harlem, where marijuana became an indispensable part of the music scene, even entering the language of the black hits of the time (Louis Armstrong's "Muggles", Cab Calloway's "That Funny Reefer Man", Fats Waller's "Viper's Drag").
Again, racism was part of the charge against marijuana, as newspapers in 1934 editorialized: "Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice."
The above is all documented and can be found in hundreds of legal documents throughout this period. Just use your search engine.
I could go on, but all this Reefer madness talk has made me hungry.
Carpe Diem.!!