Today’s the Day for Straight Talk

Proposition 19 shimmers out there like a dream to many. To some, it is a pipe-dream if you think we’re going to let the hippies have their way smoking their Marijuana.

To people like me, who are over forty, in a way, we thought a day like this could never come.

We’re so close; it’s going to be a heartbreaker if it doesn’t pass.

I will argue all day if you want and agree with the contingency that believes that Prop.19 doesn’t go far enough or doesn’t cover enough of the unknown territory like it should.

Agreed.

But at the same time, this is the closest we’ve ever been to have Marijuana available to the general public. Proposition 215, the Grandmother of all props, is fourteen years old. Fourteen years, and because it is in a teenage infancy, it is still being worked out and expanded. That’s right, expanded.

Fourteen states have Medical Marijuana, because of California, and the work that activists and regular individuals have done in each of those states.

Proposition 215 is a foundation to be built upon.

Prop.19 is unclear on many levels. The counties of Cali are going to have the power on deciding their own revenue future. Whether to embrace the taxation that will come from it or run from the fear that has taken hold since 1937.

But it can all be worked out.

We go to war without a clue about the terrain, the indigenous people and why we’re really there. I’ve been in the anti-war movement my whole life and I’ve never seen anyone inquire about the future of our aggressive agenda. We just go to war and work it out as needed.

And we can’t do that with Marijuana?

Feds Vs. State’s Rights

When I moved to California in the Seventies, what freaked me out the most? That you could sell liquor in grocery stores right along side of the eggs and milk.

Where I grew up, liquor was only sold in liquor stores and they closed at Eight pm weekdays, Ten pm, for the ungodly weekend nights. Of course, closed on Sunday.

I couldn’t believe that people weren’t getting more drunk and wild because of it. I was told growing up that if you sold alcohol past Eight pm, bad things happen.

But the bad things never happened. People continued to be adults. California grew into the seventh largest economy in the world, since I moved here. I guess the alcohol didn’t stop the future from happening. People still went to work, got on with their lives, and some even quit drinking.

If we could go backwards, the very first thing I would do is change Marijuana from a Schedule One drug to, something else. I don’t even want to play the Schedule game. Marijuana shouldn’t be included along side with Heroin and Cocaine.

The whole reason the Feds are involved is because one very smart badguy, made Marijuana a Schedule One drug, knowing very well how hard it will be to over-turn that drug’s classification once established that Marijuana is as bad for you as Heroin and Crack.

By changing the status of Marijuana, this would in turn call off the Federal dogs.

That is one of the first things that need to happen.

Now for the emotional…

I’ve been in jail for Marijuana. Not prison but many jails throughout this great country of ours. I could say I was stupid and young, but mostly that wasn’t the case.

I got busted at a rock concert where someone was smoking a joint and we all were rounded up. I got busted in a car that had two joints hidden in the trunk. I got busted when a friend of mine was busted and I had to take the stuff otherwise he would have been sent to prison for his SECOND offense.

Dealers and Suppliers aside, your average dope smoker in prison or jail shouldn’t be there. We make fun of Pot smokers for being too hippy-dippy. For being too mellow and unable to understand reality. Yet we put our young people next to murderers and violent inmates because why? Oh yeah, they broke our laws. The Law of the Land. Who makes the Laws of the Land? We do. So it is up to us to change it.

Right now health care is under a microscope. Will Obama’s plan work?

Have we ever thought about taking the money we use for the War on Drugs, which has no up-side; we lose money chases the druggies. How about we go after the Medicare cheats? The people who rip us and stop others from getting the help they need. Why don’t we go after crime where we could show a profit from?

I know why. Look at Arizona’s Governor, Jan Brewer. She is working with her For-Profit Prison systems, to get those beds filled. If she has to draw up a law that states, it is illegal not to be white in the State of Arizona, she’ll do it.

This is why Prison Correctional Officers Union is the greatest donors against Proposition 19. The prisons lose money with the Legalization of Marijuana.

It’s that simple.

Mid-terms, Smid-terms…

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Karl Rove and his goons were able to scare America with the Gay-Threat. Karl the Genius of Fear was able to convince otherwise silent majority to get out there and vote, unless you want the Gays to take over the world with their fabulous Gay Agenda.

And it worked.

Mothers and Fathers voted against their gay children. For the months surrounding that mid-term election, those of us on the other side had to retaliate or let the message stand. We were being drawn into a fight that we didn’t want to be a part of in the first place.

Why can’t we scare the Moms and Dads? Do they want their kids in prison? Could their kid make it through that first night or would they find an alternative to being locked up?

My friends up north in Mendo and Humboldt are voting for Prop 19, no matter what you’ve heard. They don’t like the way the bill is now, but they know it better than nothing. And yes, they will lose money at first, if this bill is passed.

We’re not at a crossroads. We’re not at a fork in the road. We’re on a path.

The Feds have okayed Medical Marijuana for veterans. In a way, that is a huge mistake if you think you can overturn that once it gets started.

Marijuana is medicine for many individuals. And for others, it is a recreational drug. Yes, it can be all of those things. And sadly for others, it represents fear and the unknown.

Legalization would be a huge change for America, but I think we could handle it. We are ready. We’ve been practicing since high school. 14 million Americans smoke Marijuana.

What are we waiting for?