I mentioned in my article “The Prospects for Drug Freedom” back in 2012 that Oregon was one of the first states to legalize medical marijuana and that sixteen other states and the District of Columbia had done likewise. I am happy to report that after three years, that number is now up to twenty-three states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia have also legalized marijuana for recreational use.
But since in seven states where medical marijuana is legal it is barely accessible; and since the federal government still classifies marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance with “a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use”; and since the federal government still considers growing, distributing, buying, selling, possessing, or smoking marijuana to be a violation of federal law — regardless of any state laws to the contrary — I am leery of proclaiming that marijuana freedom will be achieved by some date in the future.
Rob Kampia, head of the Marijuana Policy Project, is more optimistic. Speaking at a panel called “Marijuana Reform in Congress” at the Drug Policy Alliance’s biennial International Drug Reform Conference held in suburban Washington last month, Kampia, as reported by AlterNet’s Phillip Smith, “suggested that a handful of state-level marijuana legalization victories next year is going to set in motion a congressional debate on legalization that could see an end to federal marijuana prohibition before the end of the decade.”
State-level marijuana legalization victories can come by legislation or by ballot initiative. Regarding the legislation path, Kampia thinks that “Vermont is most likely to legalize through the legislature, and Rhode Island has a good shot, but those are the only two states in play.” He is more optimistic about the initiative route: “It could be that four or five initiative states legalize it, and then all of this is facing Congress in 2017. Then there will be a vigorous debate on legalization, and then, I predict, Congress could pass the states’ rights bill in 2019.”
Marijuana initiatives will certainly be on many state ballots in 2016 because it is a presidential election year in which turnout is usually higher than in years with just congressional candidates running for office.
In the 2014 midterm election in my state of Florida, a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize the medical use of marijuana, which needed at least 60 percent of the vote to pass, almost made it with about 57.5 percent. The political committee “People United for Medical Marijuana” is spearheading the effort to get the marijuana initiative on the 2016 ballot. Similar ballot initiatives may also be voted on in several other states.
California, which became the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996, will vote to allow the recreational use of marijuana in the next election. That could have an impact on the U.S. House of Representatives, since California has more representatives than any other state. Similar ballot initiatives may also be voted on in Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada.
On the federal level, passage of a states’ rights bill such as the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2015 (H.R.1940) would amend the Controlled Substances Act “to provide that provisions of such Act related to marihuana [sic] shall not apply to any person acting in compliance with state laws relating to the production, possession, distribution, dispensation, administration, or delivery of marihuana [sic].” The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respect States Act of 2015 or the CAREERS Act of 2015 (S.683) would amend the Controlled Substances Act “to provide that control and enforcement provisions of such Act relating to marijuana shall not apply to any person acting in compliance with state law relating to the production, possession, distribution, dispensation, administration, laboratory testing, or delivery of medical marijuana.”
Kampia has suggested that “Congress might get around to passing a bill to end federal pot prohibition before it gets around to passing a bill allowing states to enact medical marijuana laws without federal interference.” That is not because members of Congress are turning into libertarians, but because they are seeing dollar signs. As Kampia says, “All the attention will be on legalization, and there’s not a lot of tax revenue for the federal government with just medical marijuana, but if you’re talking about the whole ball of wax, with substantial tax revenues, Congress might be inclined to go for the whole enchilada.”
But even if by the end of the decade voters in states pass ballot initiatives legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and members of Congress legalize marijuana so they can reap a revenue windfall, five years to wait for the full legalization of marijuana is still five years too long.
Five years is five years too long because marijuana prohibition has utterly failed to keep people from cultivating, importing, buying, selling, or smoking marijuana.
Five years is five years too long because the war on marijuana has ruined more lives than drugs themselves.
Five years is five years too long because the costs of marijuana prohibition far exceed its supposed benefits.
Five years is five years too long because the number of deaths each year from Americans’ smoking marijuana is zero.
Five years is five years too long because smoking marijuana is far less unhealthy than smoking tobacco, which kills more than 400,000 Americans every year.
Five years is five years too long because the Constitution nowhere authorizes the federal government to criminalize, prohibit, control, or regulate the planting, growing, harvesting, or selling of marijuana.
Five years is five years too long because alcohol is the most dangerous, most readily available, and most abused drug, not marijuana.
Five years is five years too long because adverse reactions to aspirin kill far more Americans every year than adverse reactions to marijuana.
Five years is five years too long because marijuana used to be perfectly legal in the United States.
Five years is five years too long because the federal government has no authority to classify marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance.
Five years is five years too long because only the states have the authority to criminalize marijuana.
Five years is five years too long because there have been more than 200 peer-reviewed published studies demonstrating the efficacy of the medical use of marijuana.
Five years is five years too long because the war on marijuana is rooted in myth and suspicion of ethnic minorities.
Five years is five years too long because marijuana has low addictive properties.
Five years is five years too long because there are more arrests for marijuana possession every year than for all violent crimes put together.
Five years is five years too long because the government has made false assertions that marijuana use causes insanity and criminality.
Five years is five years too long because the government shouldn’t classify marijuana in the same category as dangerous drugs such as heroin and LSD.
Five years is five years too long because heavy marijuana smoking cannot lead to a fatal overdose.
Five years is five years too long because marijuana is thought to provide medical benefits for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, pain, loss of appetite, muscle spasms, stomach cramps, nausea, multiple sclerosis, inflammation, epilepsy, AIDS / HIV, cachexia, and glaucoma.
Five years is five years too long because marijuana arrests clog the judicial system with non-crimes.
Five years is five years too long because marijuana crimes swell prison populations with nonviolent offenders.
Five years is five years too long because marijuana prohibition violates property rights.
Five years is five years too long because in a free society every adult has the natural and moral right to use marijuana — for any purpose.
Five years is five years too long to wait for the full legalization of marijuana. And so are five months, five days, and five minutes. Legalize freedom; legalize marijuana.