The Fed's Eyes Off Pot
Last week the U.S. Justice Department announced that it "would not prosecute people who use marijuana for medical purposes in states where it is legal," thereby allowing local and state officials to enforce their own laws surrounding medical marijuana. Several states, including New York and New Jersey, are leaning towards passing legislation that would allow for its medicinal use-- adding to the 13 states where such laws already exist.
Due to the current economic crisis, states can't help but see this new legal oversight as an added burden placed upon already stretched budgets. Officials are looking to ease the load, not add to it. This may result in states legalizing medical marijuana so that they can reap the tax revenue and funnel it towards things like health care reform. For states that have already reformed to the use of medical marijuana, like California, the next economically advantageous step would be to legalize it entirely. According to Peter J. Cohen, a doctor and lawyer teaching public health law at Georgetown University, "if federal prosecutors kept their distance, legalized marijuana would become a de facto reality." Reform is in the air--as one system adapts and changes, the others will hopefully follow suit.
"patient grown medical marijuana" by BodhiSativa Photography on Flickr courtesy of Creative Commons Licensing.
- 10-29-09
- Chris Kaplan's blog
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Reform
Reform of the laws is
Reform of the laws is definitely needed. So far in California we have seen that the state has come in to enforce its laws, yet the laws are so vague in their interpretation that they are open to abuse by authorities. The growing community has seen a couple of raids on legal growers this season. We're going to have to support growers as we navigate this legal frontier.
I and some friends are starting a project called Compassionate Farm Project where we're trying to support the growers through this shift. Check us out at http://www.compassionatefarm.com
Botany of Desire
I watched an interesting two-hour program on Thirteen a coupla' nights ago entitled Botany of Desire.
A full twenty minutes was devoted to the history and the adaptation of pot to the demands of human consumption; noting, for instance, how the destruction of Sativa plants in Mexico resulted in the creation and production of a potent cross between Sativa and Indica plants in this country. (A good example of yet another govt. plan that backfired)
In my opinion, the overall treatment given the subject on this program was uncharacteristically straightforward and unprejudiced.
Here’s the text of the promo on thirteen.org: “The story of four everyday plants and their unique relationship with humankind. Based on Michael Pollan's book, The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World, this two-hour documentary roams the world, from the potato fields of Idaho and Peru to the apple orchards of New England, from a medical marijuana hot house to the tulip markets of Amsterdam -- exploring the human desires that link these plants'...”
Although Mr. Pollan refused to acknowledge that plants have an intrinsic consciousness, his take on how plants intelligently adapt to human involvement with them (as if to admit that they're intelligent without actually saying it) was quite refreshing.
If this show is an example of the extent to which average human consciousness is expanding, I’m more encouraged than I was before…
Additional airdates are:
Fri Oct 30th at 8am on WLIW World
Fri Oct 30th at 2pm on WLIW World
Fri Oct 30th at 7pm on WLIW World
Thanks