Pretty dope
Since this is the 20th of April, I decided to play upon the usual 4:20 double-entendre. On Wednesday at the Tea Party gathering I couldn’t help but notice a small group of young ragtag protesters with signs that didn’t seem to have anything to do with taxes or the economy. Their signs read “Legalize it” with drawings of hemp leaves. Whenever there is a protest of any kind there always seems to be somebody protesting the criminalization of marijuana. I’ve even heard a stand-up comic make a joke about it once. However, even though these guys appeared to be at the wrong protest, I still agree with their position.
The last three Presidents of the United States have at one point or another partook in illegal drugs. Barack Obama openly admitted to smoking marijuana in his youth, George W. Bush (although he refused to discuss it) was evidently a fan of nose candy before becoming “born again”, and nobody believed that “I didn’t inhale” bullshit from Bill Clinton back in 1992. These Presidents span the last 16 years of White House policies and yet the U.S. drug policy hasn’t changed significantly since the Nixon administration.
So, what’s the deal? These three guys at some point had control over the DEA and national drug policy. Each of these guys appointed a drug czar for their cabinet. And each of these guys had a some history of using illegal drugs. President Obama even said “I did inhale. That was the point.” So why is it that President Obama who freely admitted to smoking marijuana, still keeps it listed as a Schedule 1 narcotic? Bill Clinton could almost get away with this kind of hypocrisy by saying he didn’t inhale, and George W. Bush could always fall back on the whole being “born again” thing. Barack on the other hand, doesn’t have the same sanctimonious bunker to hide behind. So why the hypocrisy?
There can be any number of reasons for the stagnation in drug policy, but it all really boils down to politics. Decriminalizing marijuana would be a bold, principled move. It would cut the Federal and State budgets significantly, reduce prison populations by over one third, and dramatically reduce the violent crime rates nationwide. Unfortunately, it would be a move that would anger the hundreds of congress critters and senators who used the drug warrior image to enhance their individual political careers. If this happened they would promptly withdraw their support for the new President. He wouldn’t get re-elected in 2012. The DNC might not even nominate him. He’d be a pariah within most of his own party and his revised drug policy would be ammunition for the so-called “culture warriors” within the Republican Party. So President Obama must continue his own hypocrisy to cover for the hypocrisy of others within his own support structure. This was probably also the case with his pot-smoking, coke-snorting predecessors.
Considering this fact of American politics, the “legalize marijuana” crowd at the Tea Party protest was there for the same general reason we all were. They are just as fed up with the corruption and hypocrisy within the Federal Government as we are. The axe they grind may be different, but they’re grinding it for the same reasons that we grind ours. All we want is less government intrusion, and more freedom. It makes no difference if that freedom takes the shape of lower taxes and smaller government or the shape of a thick spliff filled with the stickiest of the icky. It’s all part of the same thing.