It is hard to explain to some people why I do what I do. They do not get dedicating time, energy, and resources to ending cannabis prohibition. Some do not see how advocating for weed is a worthy use of my time. To people who do not get the true motivations of prohibition, I am sure my quest can seem petty when compared to bigger issues we face.
But cannabis prohibition is at the core of what is wrong with our society. It touches the lives of everyone, whether they know it or not. It has turned people against one another; and created a war that makes enemies out of our friends and neighbors. We have committed unthinkable crimes against our citizenry in this moral crusade to rid the world of “drugs.” Not all drugs though….Just the ones we hate. You can still kill yourself with booze, pills, and tobacco. Just not these other substances.
Are we really still doing this? Are we really still driving SWAT teams of armed gunmen to homes to kick the doors in and violently subdue our neighbors because they grow weed plants? Are we really still letting government officials abduct people’s kids from their parents because of cannabis? Are we still searching people’s cars and properties without warrants because some cop thinks he smells weed? Are we really letting good people lose their jobs and standing in the community because they choose, or need, cannabis? THIS IS NUTS.
I cannot sleep on most nights because I am troubled by this ongoing battle for justice and morality. I cannot wrap my head around why our society allows this to continue one more day.
We have locked up 25% of the world’s prison population while only having 5% of the actual population because we have made criminals out of damn near everyone. Law enforcement targets poor and minority communities with a vengeance and these trumped up crimes and draconian sentences destroys families, while we just sit back and watch. It is astonishing.
We are better than this. This is not behavior we can let happen any longer. We MUST rise up and demand an immediate end to cannabis prohibition; and a release of all prisoners being held for petty drug crimes. It is no longer okay to say “wait” or “not now.” There is no tomorrow promised for many people who sit behind bars or who are without their children today because of the evils of prohibition.
We will not be silenced. We will be heard. This will end.
The writing is on the wall. Cannabis prohibition IS ending. For those states and communities that did not get the memo, and who want to keep imprisoning good people for weed, we are coming for you. We demand an end to these failed policies and overzealous enforcement. We demand our fucking weed and we demand it now. Knock off the bullshit.
When did this “land of the free” become so apathetic to the loss of freedom and privacy? When did we decide it was okay for some government bureaucrat to decide what people can and cannot put in their own bodies? Who gave these assholes the right to search my pockets because I smell funny? When did it become okay for us to militarize our local police force so they can drive a tank up to our neighbors house in the dark of night and ram the doors down with assault rifles to stop them from gardening? How many people have to lose their jobs, kids, and property before we realize we are being screwed and oppressed?
This shit is unacceptable to any human, regardless of politics and religion. Cannabis prohibition cuts across all demographics and destroys our society little by little every day. There are more black men in prison right now than there were black men in slavery. Let that sink in for a minute.
At some point it is time to stop talking about it and to begin the hard work of ending this. The walls are crumbling, but there is still a hell of a lot of work to do. It is all of our jobs to do it. No one is going to do it for us. We must demand change and an end to the drug war.
What are we doing as a society? We are failing…..that is what.
This is not a small or petty matter. It is a defining moment in human history, and a shift in how we live our lives. Beyond just freedom and basic human rights is the fact that many folks are benefitting from cannabis as a medicine. Are we really making our neighbors into criminals for their desire to feel better? I cannot live with that. I will not live with that. I demand this end now.
Until it ends, I will wake up every day and fight. I hope you will join me. This is our society and we will no longer allow for this madness. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION AND MASS INCARCERATION OF OUR NEIGHBORS NOW…..
Dorothy, there is a significant difference between cannabis and synthetic chemical compounds. Pharmaceutical compounds almost universally include adverse side effects, risk of addiction and potential fatal overdose as negative aspects. Cannabinoids from cannabis are analogous to endogenous compounds and replace deficiencies without the risks stated above. Cannabinoids have repeatedly been demonstrated to selectively kill cancerous cells in vitro, in vivo and in human trials, while leaving healthy cells untouched. To understand the enormous difference between cannabis and other “controlled substances”, one must struggle through the bio-chemistry involved in cannabinoid replacement therapy. Comparison of long term physical and mental effects of certain substances leave no doubt they cause enormous harm to the human body, which cannabis does not. Even smoking cannabis in natural form does not cause significant harm, and has even demonstrated a potential “protective” or “preventative” effect on study subjects who smoke both tobacco and cannabis. Your reasoning on the subject of pain medications especially is illogical. If there is a safer, plant derived substance equally, or more, effective than a synthetic chemical compound with adverse side effects, etc. why would a rational person choose the more dangerous alternative? In regards to pediatric seizure disorders, whole plant cannabis extract oil with a 50:1 ratio of CBD:THC has proven dramatically effective in intractable cases which “mainstream medicine” has failed miserably. Why should those children have to suffer through the horrors of harsh chemical compounds with extremely dangerous side effects, risk of unexpected fatality and demonstrated short & long term cognitive impairment and damage? Why isn’t the safest medicine known to humankind available to these children before forcing them through a regimen of debilitating treatment? Why should people be content with a “prescribed and managed” amount of a toxic substance that dulls their central nervous system and causes demonstrated physiological harm, when there is a safe, non-toxic and much more effective natural alternative? Especially when the full range of plant compounds found in cannabis not only treats many pathological conditions safely and effectively, but also possess enormous antioxidant and neuroprotectant properties. Then there is the matter of all the other benefits from cannabis cultivation, regardless of the specific variety or crop. Even “medicinal” varieties of cannabis also produce fiber and cellulose when unpollinated, and all the benefits of seed meal and oil if allowed to pollinate. Those “few who have real, physical pain” should be allowed the unalienable human right of using whatever substance relieves their pain in the least harmful manner possible. That substance is not synthetic opoid pharmaceutical, those kill thousands every year. http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/rxbrief/
Charles,
Your answer to Dorothy is full of good information, but she is right – you are making your points too aggressively. People in severe pain benefit from strong painkillers and you should not attack them for choosing to take them. Does it harm you in any way? If not, what right have you to castigate them? We have to fight dogmatism and narrow-minded thinking. Most people use cannabis for recreational reasons, not medical and what we want to see established is their right to do so. That is the fundamental issue.
I think what Charles is trying to say at this point is that there are alternatives available. We want the choice between the strong, synthetic painkillers and the cannabis. I personally choose the cannabis because I can still operate things, take care of my family, and not feel groggy and sleepy due to the effects these drugs have on my system (constipation, appetite loss, nausea, vomiting).
So all-in-all: let’s just all agree that this plant, which grows from God’s own soil, is the biggest secret in the medical world right now. The greatest thing about cannabis: NOTHING needs to be done to this plant except some care and some sunlight, some water here and there. IT’S FORM IS PURE! No additives to give the effects for pain relief, nausea, for helping those who struggle with appetite eat. Why does it take ridiculousness for those to realize these same facts. Facts people. Research. Educate yourselves about it.
I concur in deploring the Imprisonment Society but would add that it is nothing new. “The New Jim Crow” is actually a continuation of the old Jim Crow– this Euro-Squatter nation has developed as one logically could expect given that its discovery coincided with the discovery of two slaveries– the Slavery of nicotine and the Slavery of harnessing victims to help produce it. And slavery was and is all about PUNISHMENT.
1. The threat of punishment kept the slave working.
2. The threat of extra punishment kept the slave from trying to run away.
3. Anyone who tried to help a slave escape could be punished with lynching.
Today:
1. The threat of withdrawal symptoms makes the “smoker” crave the next $igarette.
2. The threat of arrest, prosecution, fines etc. scares many from trying to SUBSTITUTE a different non-addictive herb, cannabis.
3. Anyone who tries to supply you with the alternative herb, cannabis, faces serious jail time.