A Weed is but an Unloved Flower

An enlightening editorial by my dear colleague, Anival Valadez, entitled “Weeds,” offers an aberrant view on marijuana use in the United States. I believe his blog post represents the burgeoning attitude toward marijuana legalization, especially among America’s youth. His comparison of the illegalization of cannabis to the 1920s prohibition of alcohol is right on. A brief history of how marijuana became illegal in the United States will illustrate how our government exploits laws and manipulates the minds of the people to further their agenda and benefit their elite cohorts.

During the 1930s, marijuana was perfectly legal in the United States. You would skip on down to the neighborhood bar (or underground “speakeasy” during prohibition times) in your flapper dress or fedora hat, order an illegal Tom Collins and light up a joint. It was fashion-forward and socially acceptable.

At the time, cars were manufactured to run on ethyl alcohol which was something Mr. John D. Rockefeller despised, since he owned a monopoly on the nation's oil, the Standard Oil Company. Through Rockefeller’s corporate influence, the government ultimately banned the production and sale of alcohol. Automobiles were forced to switch to gasoline, making our friend Rockefeller one of the wealthiest, scummiest tycoons in our nation’s history. Soon after the switch, the prohibition on alcohol was repealed.

Fear mongering, propaganda, and law enforcement have conditioned past generations to believe in the evils of marijuana use. However, I believe there’s a change in the air as a more progressive way of thinking emerges. Mr. Valdez mentions the multiple medical benefits of THC compared to the harmfulness of alcohol. It is counterintuitive to legalize and regulate the sale of alcohol which causes liver cirrhosis, alcohol poisoning, car accidents, and bad tattoos, while marijuana, with no negative implications, is practically punishable by death! Perhaps not death, but a nasty mark on your permanent record.

Mr. Valdez also compares the ease of access of marijuana and alcohol to teens. I can attest that, in my youth, it was extremely easy to buy pot. Meanwhile, alcohol was much harder to come by. My friends and I would not risk stealing liquor from our parents because they represented a policing and judicial force that monitored the levels of their home supply, and would arrest, convict, and sentence upon any offense. I validate Mr. Valdez’s point: “Whatever we outlaw will still be consumed.”

Mr. Valdez negates marijuana’s “Gateway Drug” theory as pure propaganda, citing that it is a non-habit-forming non-narcotic. Mr. Valdez also argues that legalizing and regulating the production and sale of cannabis would create jobs and provide taxable goods and services that would bolster the economy and generate revenue. Perhaps the government views criminalizing the public as a more viable source of state income. If you have to post bail and pay fines and court fees, that’s money in the government’s pocket and out of the economy. If that is their idea of catching up with China (who passed us up in this race many miles back), we need to have more frank and open discussions, and put a permanent end to the anti-weed propaganda. Congratulations to Mr. Valdez for a informative, attention-grabbing editorial post.