While civil rights issues in the 2012 presidential election were doomed from the start due to the two candidates being Bush 2.0 (President Barack Obama) and Bush 2.5 (former Gov. Mitt Romney), a few state initiatives were passed that lit up the gloomy aura hanging over our country (pun intended). In both Colorado and Washington, ballot initiatives called for the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. In Massachusetts marijuana was legalized for medical use. Colorado also has decriminalized the personal cultivation of marijuana.
These issues shine in stark contrast to other big-government measures passed around the country that seek to dictate what we can put into our own bodies. From bans on raw milk consumption, to the prohibition of personal chicken farms and finally to the ridiculous initiative that makes large sugary drinks in New York illegal, big brother has been telling us that we are too stupid to take care of ourselves. And that they, as benevolent overlords, must assist. The residents in Colorado and Washington spoke up and are finally pushing back. This sets up an interesting conflict between these states and the federal government, which will be amusing to watch for the next few years.
Right now, marijuana is illegal at the federal level. I don’t know how the ban is constitutional—seeing as we needed an amendment to permit the government to ban alcohol during prohibition—but nevertheless, individuals in these newly legalized states can still be arrested and prosecuted by Obama and his federal cronies. This is exactly what happened when the Department of Justice raided Californian medical marijuana dispensaries. These raids make Obama a dirty liar (he promised he wouldn’t crack down on the drug) and a hypocrite. Obama admitted in his memoir,“Dreams of my Father,” that he would smoke “in a white classmate’s sparkling new van, in the dorm room of some brother, and on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids.”
The Department of Justice has not issued a response to these new initiatives, other than to say “The Department of Justice’s enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act remains unchanged. In enacting the Controlled Substances Act, Congress determined that marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance. We are reviewing the ballot initiative and have no additional comment at this time.” I’m expecting that they pretend to throw their weight around while threatening to shut down commercial growers, but I can’t see how the government has enough resources to keep fighting this losing war on drugs.
From a fiscal perspective, and a human life perspective, Obama and the federal government should back off of this issue and let the states decide what is best for their people. The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. We waste countless millions fighting this war on drugs, and we are, de facto, supporting the killing of police officers by armed gangs in Mexico by decreasing the supply of this product, which gives illegal suppliers more power. The federal government’s position is a stupid one, Obama’s actions are pathetic and weak, and in the end, the history books will look at the war on drugs as one of the most futile and wasteful exercises in all of American history. I’ll end with a shout out to all the liberals out there: Keep the guy you elected accountable, and make sure he acts on these important civil liberties issues.
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