In my post “Criminalization Creates Criminals” I touched on the perception people have for cops and the general dis respect for the law that marijuana prohibition causes.

As level-headed as I may attempt to be, even I get a pissy attitude when thinking about cops.

“Geez, I don’t want to have to deal with this guy. He’s just going to look for a reason to book me anyway.”

or

“There are a few cops over that way. Let’s go around.”

Why? Why, when I see a couple cops roaming an outside event do I decide to keep my distance? I rarely do anything even remotely illegal. I never have anything on my person that would constitute an arrest.

So why do I feel this way about our police officers?

I think it has a lot to do with our individual outlooks. We know that marijuana prohibition is silly. And we know a lot of cops feel the same way (LEAP for example). But at the end of the day, whether a police officer agrees with a law or not, they have to act in regard of it.

So, to my point of appreciation.

You Will Fall To My Powers Of Logic

I went to the mall last weekend and as we walked along the second floor we noticed a line of tables and booths on the first floor. Some sort of mini expo was going on. You could see blue and red lights flashing about 150 yards away. GASP!

Could it be? Could God have graced me with cops gallore with which to discuss marijuana legalization?

Don’t these guys know who I am? I’m a pro-legalization blogger. I’m going to thrust into the fray and make these cops wish they never showed up!

With my wife and kids in tow, I hurry to the epicenter of the action.

And here we are. In the midst of what seems to be a table for each and every type of law enforcement with every agency and department represented. K9 units have a table. Traffic cops have a table. And of course, the DEA has a table.

My eyes were wide at the site of brochures and pamplets strewn about. As far as I could see, propaganda lined the walkways. Naturally, most of what was available was aimed at kids.

Awesome.

I picked up as many of the paper lies as I could. I’m going to read these and force the pushers into a conversation about marijuana. I know I have the knowledge and logic on my side. Now is my chance to confront them publicly.

“Dude,” I say to my wife. “These guys won’t know what hit them.”

But then, I read them. I asked my fam to chill a sec while I thumbed through a few brochures on “keeping your kids off drugs” and “how to tell if your child is using marijuana.”

Wait. What the hell is this shit?!

Exactly What I Want To See

I wanted so badly to catch a lie in any of these brochures. But, I didn’t. In fact, I was quite pleased with the message selected for use.

At just under 30 years of age, it isn’t too difficult to remember being a child. I remember that the last thing I liked was being treated as a child. I try to keep this in mind with I speak to my oldest, a son of 9.

When we talk on drugs, I don’t regurgitate the DARE BS. I don’t lie to him. I would never tell him that if he smokes marijuana, that his life will suddenly fall apart or that he will kill a family member.

Instead, at his age, I try to lump all drugs into a singular object. Right now all he needs to know is that drugs are for adults, and usually initiated by a doctor or someone of qulification.

“Tylenol is a drug. That is why we don’t let you have them. We, as your parents or a doctor will decide on your use.”

I also explain that alcohol is a drug, however different it may seem. It is a drug that people use for recreational purposes, but only when they are much older, and only in a responsible manner.

We don’t talk on the consequences of use of drugs, as much as we discuss the consequences of abuse.

In my house, drugs share the same category as guns. Guns don’t kill people themselves. Guns are tools used to solve specific problems. However, the abuse of guns has a very serious, very real consequence. This is why only adults use guns, and only responsibly.

For now, this is sufficient. He needs to know one fact: Drugs are not for kids. That’s it. They are not good or bad.

What he doesn’t need to know is that marijuana will make black people think they are as good as white men, or that if he ever smokes it he will inadvertantly kill his little sister. And rest assured that when he is old enough to understand the very real danger of hate, I will show him why marijuana is really illegal.

So to see that these pamplets seem to speak in the same tone as I was a real releif. It was nice that the sentiment that I feel for my children was the same as the message these cops were promoting. There were no fake statistics used or baseless facts about marijuana. Simply, kids shouldn’t use it.

Not only were these cops peddling decent information, I got to overhear a few conversations between a lot of them and a few parents.

Even at one point one lady went halfway into a tirade about how she would beat her kid silly if she ever found a joint in his room. The officer directly in front of her explained how that would only escalate, and that sitting with her kids on a regular basis to openly talk would be more effective. He never told her to say “drugs are bad,” but that instead she should consistently ensure that the lines of communication are open. He asked “would you rather your son go out smoking and driving with his friends, or would you rather he approached you when he tried it?”

The day went nicer as I got to sit in one of the unmarked cars. Though my wife had to slap me when I accidently exclaimed “heh, never been in the front seat before!”

The Lines Aren’t So Clear…

…and that’s a good thing. With the advent of LEAP and with what seems to be even a few police officers looking at marijuana with a bit more logic, there seems to be less of a ‘good guys vs. bad guys’ attitude. At least, in this case.

I would never ask a police officer to disregard his or her responsibilities by looking at the reality of mairjuana use and let an “offender” slip away, but I wouldn’t advise against it either. Hell, simply feeling that some of these guys might actually let someone go without a problem is somewhat of a relief.

A Good Reminder

This felt good. The whole experience reminded me to make sure I look at each situation individually. Usually, when I see the materials used for a DARE presentation, I end up quite angry.

I make no mistake. The threat of the arrest of someone with a few grams in their pocket is still real. One or 2 cops hanging out on a saturday morning isn’t going to change that. But it did remind me that they are human, and the grand majority are damn good people.

To approach the situation in which I had just been was unjustifiable. To not look at all the sides before I passed judgement; to no take into account the facts before I made the assumption of misinformation. Well, that was wrong on my part.

It reminded me of the people that fight for prohibition. I just did what they did. Thankfully there was a sufficient pause before I jumped into action.

Those guys would have totally been sorry.

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I give to you my open letter to our politicians requesting a real discussion.

If you aren’t living in Florida you’re lucky enough to be in a state that isn’t so far behind the times that you often wonder if the rest of the country even takes you seriously (”CHADS” anyone?).

We have some of the harshest laws in regard to marijuana use and possession and it’s mostly thanks too the politicians in our state.

The Laws

In Florida, possessing anything over 20 grams is a felony. Admittedly, I am not too sure how much that is in regard to amount of smokeable substance, but I did okay in Math and Science, and the hair on my head weighs more than 20 grams (I’m bald).

House Bill 173

During the 2008 Legislative Session, a law sponsored by Senator Steve Oelrich from Gainseville and Representative Nick Thompson from Ft. Myers was passed as House Bill 173. It was officially signed into law by Governor Charlie Crist soon after.

Now, to be fair the law targets the cultivation of 25 or more plants with the intention of distribution. 25 plants is a lot (at least to me) if you’re talking personal use. That being said, it does carry a felony charge and jail time.

I don’t have as much of a problem with the law itself because I know we will eventually fight through it (you can indeed cure stupid, it just takes time). The problem I have is a lot of the reasoning behind the law provided by Rep. Thompson and Senator Oelrich. The usual mis-information and poor logic.

So, though I think 25 plants is a lot for personal use, it does show that these are the guys that make decisions. And from them, I want real answers. More specifically, because Charlie Crist signed it into law, I really want answers from him.So I sent the questions to him via email.

Give Them To Me

What I want are real answers. No double talk, no political speak, no dodging/deflecting, etc. Just real answers as to why such a law was created which pulls us further from the future. I want real answers to the followup points. I direct my letter to Governor Crist specifically, but if anyone would like to take part in the discussion, I would be more than happy to open it to them as well.

I wouldn’t mind doing so via email, which would allow for time to think about answers and questions as the conversation grows.

My Expectations

Admittedly, I am not well educated in the realm of politics. I’m not sure if I’m even barking up the appropriate tree. I can’t actually tell you the difference between a governor and a senator. But, I am a resident of Florida and more importantly America. I have opinions on a matter that I feel is important enough to warrant attention. I have kids that I would like to raise in an America not governed by fear or ignorance. I’m just a regular guy who wants answers.

So, I would be amazed if I get a response. I would be blown away if he actually agrees to answer questions. I am 100% sure that I won’t actually get any real answers. I would really love to hear them, but I’ve been lucky (unfortunate) enough to deal with this state before, and the odds of something coming from this are very low.

However, I hope that this will at least get others to think about these things when voting time comes. I hope that perhaps somewhere there is a politician that can help lead Florida to a better position.

No offense to Governor Crist, but maybe we can get someone into office who thinks for the future with an educated stance as opposed to the perpetuation of mis-information.

If anyon in the anti-legalization crowd is interested in taking part in this discussion, please feel free to do so.

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And I really don’t understand that.

I see all these debates on Youtube, and read the many ‘back-and-forths’ in the tons of articles I get throughout the week, but they all contain the same information, and end in the same manner. Nobody has an answer to my question; is there a good reason to keep marijuana illegal?

Every time we see an article on this topic, we see the same questions. We then usually see the same responses. Then we see an answer to that response, but that’s it. It never seems to go any further. Why not?

Following are a few examples of common arguments, the responses and the lack of answers.

Marijuana Is Dangerous

You often hear how dangerous marijuana is from the government. They usually have “studies” to prove this as well. The problem is, the pro-legalization crowd answers with a dissection of those studies and where they fault. Then, we share our own studies that show the exact opposite of their claim.

Sometimes we even see the conversation move towards the governments own FDA-approved drug; Marinol. Marinol is basically Marijuana, but you don’t smoke it. Seriously, that’s the difference. Same amounts of THC and all.

Then there is silence. I never see the government respond to this fact. I never hear them try to explain themselves.

Buying Marijuana Contributes To National Crime

Another argument the government seems to get all hushy about is the fact that buying/selling marijuana contributes to crime. The picture they like to paint is that if you buy marijuana, you are providing money to people that fight for their black market share. These people kill others over money, etc.

The problem we have with this is the fact that the prohibition of marijuana is what causes the crime, not the use. We usually respond that “if marijuana were legal and regulated in much the same way alcohol is, then there wouldn’t be such a black market.” And this is true. There were a ton of violent crimes commited in conjunction to alcohol distribution during its prohibition. But you don’t hear many stories like that anymore. Why? Because the government stepped in and regulated it, and there was no need for a black market.

Again, silence. I want to hear someone talk on that point, without any double talking or attempts at word-play. Just answer that. If prohibition has created crime in the past, and was alleviated by the legalization of alcohol; and prohibition is causing the crime now, then what say you?

Marijuana Is A Gateway Drug

We hear this one time and time again. Marijuana is a gateway drug, and if you smoke weed for a while, you will want to try other drugs.

The thing about this claim is that I haven’t seen a study, even of the fake sort that would back this claim up. It reaks of Anslinger’s fear tactics.

However, we have a different view. In 1995 marijuana use took up around 77% of all illicit drug users in America. 77%. That’s the number of people that use marijuana, but not other drugs (not including alcohol or tobacco). So, out of all the drug users in America, 23% of them are using drugs other than marijuana. Hmmm….doesn’t quite sound like a gateway drug to me.

Also keep in mind that the number of marijuana users has, and will continue to climb among adults. The use among kids and teens has been on the decline. So, it would seem that marijuana is indeed NOT a gateway drug.

I never hear them respond to that. Even in the video I mentioned in another post, that same fact was posed to FBI Director Robert Mueller, with no response (other than the goofy “dammit I’m stuck” look on his face).

Marijuana Users Entering Into Treatment Are On The Rise

This one is true, but with a twist. The government likes to tell you that around 62% of the teens in drug treatment centers are there because of marijuana.

What we like to say is “well, yeah. That’s the choice I would make too.” You see, when you get busted for minor possession, sometimes you get “lucky” and the judge will tell you that you can serve time, or you can go to a treatment center for your “problem.” What would you pick? This is becoming more common with the amount of officials that have a vested interest in filling such facilities (commissions for doing so).

It appears that prohibition again is the culprit. But again, we don’t hear what the government has to say about that.

This Isn’t Just The Government

The real problem is that this isn’t just the government spitting propoganda, it’s the whole country. Every time you get into a discussion with someone about this, they too are left with little to no answers. This is because they are only repeating what they heard in school. Unfortunately, the government has a monopoly on that front as well.

So, I ask you. Do you believe everything you hear? If you use some of these reasons as to why marijuana should be illegal, can you answer my rebuttals? If so, please do so. These questions are burning inside, and I think they are what fuels the pro-legalization crowd.

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I can’t say how incredibly impressed I was with this documentary. John touches on so many aspects of the uses of marijuana, and the reasons it is not legal.

Sure, most of it is the same stuff you hear all the time, but it’s a very convenient package with visuals to go along with the information.

From the description:

Filmmaker John Holowach directs this fascinating documentary about the causes and effects of the war on drugs. It also delves into the little-known politics and economics behind the battle and exposes the broken lives and casualties left behind. Holowach examines the infamous drug rehab program Straight, Inc., the fight against pain medicine misuse, the history of the marijuana legalization movement and more.

I do believe I will be giving this DVD to friends and loved ones. Hopefully, regardless of their personal decision on marijuana use, it will help even one of them to understand the harmless nature of marijuana, and the rights we should have to partake in it as we responisble adults see fit.

You can see it on Netflix (they have it streaming at the moment), or you can buy it from Amazon. It doesn’t seem to be available via Hulu.com, but I’m sure there are other ways to view this movie. However you attain it, I really suggest watching it; whether you are a veteran of the real war on drugs (that of its prohibition), or a relative rookie like myself.

Just get it.

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