Editorial: Time for feds to repeal pot ban
Publisher’s note: This editorial is from the July 27, 2014, New York Times.
It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished. It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol.
The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana.
We reached that conclusion after a great deal of discussion among the members of the Times’s editorial board, inspired by a rapidly growing movement among the states to reform marijuana laws.
There are no perfect answers to people’s legitimate concerns about marijuana use. But neither are there such answers about tobacco or alcohol, and we believe that on every level — health effects, the impact on society and law-and-order issues — the balance falls squarely on the side of national legalization. That will put decisions on whether to allow recreational or medicinal production and use where it belongs — at the state level.
We considered whether it would be best for Washington to hold back while the states continued experimenting with legalizing medicinal uses of marijuana, reducing penalties, or even simply legalizing all use. Nearly three-quarters of the states have done one of these.
TIME FOR OUR CITY TO LEGALIZE – When the Old Gray Lady says it is time to legalize weed, it’s an event of historic magnitude and the lame stream media knows it. Legalization is coming and our City needs to lead, follow, or get out of the way. The Prop. 19 election results for legalization clearly shows that the voters here are 60% in favor of legalization. Unfortunately, even medical use is being severely restricted by social conservatives who serve on the City Council. There is a simple solution. The City can place an initiative on the ballot to ask voters if they want full legalization and an end to the ban on dispensaries. A simple yes or no initiative would give the voters a chance to weigh in on this important issue.
This is a very good editorial about the federal government repealing the ban on marijuana and I especially like the following observations:
“It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol.”
“We considered whether it would be best for Washington to hold back while the states continued experimenting with legalizing medicinal uses of marijuana, reducing penalties, or even simply legalizing all use. Nearly three-quarters of the states have done one of these. But that would leave their citizens vulnerable to the whims of whoever happens to be in the White House and chooses to enforce or not enforce the federal law.”
Did this country learn nothing from the 1920s and 1930s era Prohibition? I think that the federal government just needs to legalize this, stop wasting taxpayer money on enforcement and all other associated extraneous costs, and direct the use of those funds elsewhere, like maybe on the maintenance and repairs of our country’s very aged and crumbling infrastructure.
My vote would be ,YES LEGALIZE IT,
Yes, our one weed co op needs competition. Over priced products!
After it was on the ballot here in calif, most of the people involved in the weed biz (legal and illegal) did not want it legalized. Talking point at that time said it was “a poorly written law” as to why they did not want it legal. I say BS.
So you peeps out here that feel like it should be legal…..VOTE THIS TIME. The Drug war has cost us much more. Finally, the tide is changing.
Rehab is best, not a pay for prison system where occupancy is the goal.
Wait for the expert comments from the enforcers who see their “rice bowl” being taken from them.
Copper you hit the nail on the head. Dismantling a multi billion dollar industry (on many different levels of law enforcement) won’t happen without a lot of kicking and screaming.
A related issue that runs through all drug enforcement, but is particularly odious when used in marijuana prosecutions because it is often so out of balance with the true nature of the crime, is the practice of asset seizure.
Any personal property that can be linked to possession of an illegal drug, however remote and miniscule the connection, can be, and usually is seized by law enforcement with minimal court oversight. The seizure is usually enforced regardless the finding of guilt or innocence of the suspect, the assets sold, and the proceeds going to the prosecuting agency to use as it sees fit for enforcement purposes – which is interpreted extremely broadly, with no real budget, little political oversight, and no public knowledge.
A lot of folks in law enforcement, but almost never anyone on an administrative level, are annoyed by the unfairness of these laws and their usage. Legalizing marijuana wouldn’t shut down those laws, but it would, at least, prevent their use against what, prior to a change, were very minor offenders who could least afford forfeiting homes and cars for what, at best, were penny-ante crimes – actions not even considered offensive by a majority of society.