Monday, August 6, 2012

How to End Prohibition: Supporting Grassroots Organizations

The war on drugs is madness. If you haven’t figured this out yet then please proceed to Part B: “The solution to our environmental woes is to end prohibition”. See referenced works for additional information. If you’re already aware of the obvious then please continue.

Here is how we end America’s War on Drugs.

The instigator, the aggressor in this war was, is, and continues to be the United States of America. They started this legislative war and they are the main obstacle to peace. To end the global war on drugs prohibition laws in the United States must be repealed. To accomplish this task we look to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for answers.

In 2005 the DEA released the following statement when they began proceedings to extradite Marc Emery from Canada to the United States for drug trafficking related to his activities as an online cannabis seed retailer (emphasis added):
“Today's DEA arrest of Marc Scott Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture Magazine, and the founder of a marijuana legalization group -- is a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement…

“Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery's illicit profits are known to have been channeled to marijuana legalization groups active in the United States and Canada. Drug legalization lobbyists now have one less pot of money to rely on.”
Translation: One of the best ways to end America’s War on Drugs is to support grassroots organizations that are actively working towards repealing prohibition laws in the United States of America.

If the DEA is trying to prevent the flow of funds to “marijuana legalization groups”, then it is in our best interest to make sure that funds continue to flow to these organizations. Our support for organizations helping to repeal prohibition laws in the United States and Canada is what the DEA and those who oppose legalization fear. We should do our best to give them cause to fear us.

A few hundred thousand dollars in donations to these organizations brought the full weight of the United States government onto Marc Emery. In an attempt to neutralize Mr. Emery, the US government was forced to commit resources to this war that they cannot afford, so if we want to end prohibition, if we want freedom, there has never been a more opportune time then now to end the war on drugs.

Below you will find the names and websites of some of the more prominent groups spearheading the battle to end prohibition in the United States and Canada. They are trying to bring sanity back into our lives and I’m sure they would appreciate our help as much as we appreciate their efforts.

Organizations Working Towards Ending Prohibition

  • Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)

  • Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)

  • Erowid

  • Moms for Marijuana

  • Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

  • Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)

  • DrugSense

  • Educators For Sensible Drug Policy (EFSDP)

  • National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (USA) and NORML Canada

  • The November Coalition

  • Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER)

  • Drug Policy Alliance (DPA Network)

    • The Solution to Our Environmental Woes is to End Prohibition


    One of the best solutions to our environmental problems is to repeal prohibition, and our first step towards a sustainable existence should begin with cannabis. Its assimilation back into our civilization is the safest, simplest, most efficient immediate solution that we can implement in time to prevent an environmental catastrophe.

    Cannabis is a plant, and its use is as old as civilization itself. It has thousands of immediate and potential applications. Its cultivation rejuvenates the soil, it can replace wood products, it’s medicinal, and it can be used as building material, textiles, paint, plastic, fuel, paper, food and body care. It is one of the most important bounties of nature. It’s a plant that will help us achieve sustainability. It’s a plant that we were meant to use.



    So what’s the hold up? The short answer is America’s War on Drugs. The United States began a legislative war on this plant genus 75 years ago and they do not want to give up the fight.



    The war on drugs is not a war between nations; it’s a corporate war on humans, irrelevant of their nationality or ethnicity. It is a war against citizens of the United States and those of other nations. It’s a war without borders. It has gone through multiple mutations and over the last few decades grown into the monstrosity that it is today. It is a one sided war declared by nations on their citizens. A conflict not yet reciprocated by the citizens. It is a war that is sustained entirely due to ignorance, fear, and greed.



    If there is such a thing as a just war, then the war on drugs belongs at the other end of the spectrum. It is a war exclusively waged for money. Every other war throughout history has had at least one other fathomable pretense. The war on drugs doesn’t. (Please note that the first few minutes of the following documentary are in Dutch, but the rest is in English).



    The irony is that this war and the destruction that it unleashes can be brought to an end within an instant, if it was so desired. All that is required is to end prohibition, to repeal one law.

    We know that the end to prohibition will have positive effects because precedent for this has already been set. When prohibition of alcohol ended, so did most of the violence associated with gang warfare, as did much of the corruption in government. When prohibition ended, precious resources were made available again and a major source of revenue and employment was established.

    These same findings have also been observed in Portugal’s experiment with drug decriminalization.

    Video - Policy Forum, Full Report by Glenn Greenwald

    The United Nations has also confirmed these findings in its annual report on the state of global drug policy, and many countries have been paying-heed. Drug liberalization is sweeping through major parts of Europe, Latin America, as well as numerous municipalities and States within the United States of America.

    click to enlarge - Source: “Legality of cannabis by country”

    The only reason that America’s Federal War on Drugs continues to this day is because its so-called adversaries, criminal organizations, as well as certain corporations and sectors of government don’t want it to end since its continuation guarantees them flow of funds.



    All of the above is common knowledge to anyone who has remotely researched this topic, or for that matter, even thought about it.

    On the behest of certain corporations and a small minority that profit from prohibition, we have been waging a war on a plant that has the potential to help us reduce our ecological footprint. We have been waging a multi-decade war on cannabis that spans the globe, costs trillions of dollars, destroys millions of lives, and consumes precious resources. Stupid.

    - Part A: How to End Prohibition: Supporting Grassroots Organizations

    Referenced works

  • Jonathan Magbie

  • How to stop the drug wars

  • Cannabis Prohibition Now Seventy-Five Years Old

  • U.S. government involvement in drug trafficking

  • Against Drug Prohibition

  • DEA Release Admits Marc Emery Extradition Politically Motivated

  • Marc Emery

  • United States public debt

  • 60 Years of Prohibition

  • Cannabis

  • HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL USES OF CANNABIS AND THE CANADIAN "MARIJUANA CLASH"

  • Magic Weed: The Truth About Cannabis Sativa (2005 documentary)

  • War on Drugs

  • Cannabis Prohibition Now Seventy-Five Years Old

  • Grass: The History Of Marijuana (1999 documentary)

  • How the Militarized War on Drugs in Latin America Benefits Transnational Corporations and Undermines Democracy

  • The Union: The Business Behind Getting High (2007 documentary)

  • Howard Zinn: Myths of the Good Wars (Three 'Holy' Wars)

  • Why is Marijuana Illegal?

  • The War On Drugs: The Prison Industrial Complex

  • Incarcerated America

  • Drugs in Portugal: Did Decriminalization Work?

  • Drug Decriminalization in Portugal (Policy Forum)

  • ”Drug Decriminalization in Portugal: Lessons for Creating Fair and Successful Drug Policies” by Glenn Greenwald

  • Global Commission on Drug Policy

  • Legality of cannabis

  • New drug guidelines are Europe's most liberal

  • Is America ready to admit defeat in its 40-year war on drugs? A wave of decriminalisation is sweeping through Latin America

  • Legality of cannabis by US state

  • HSBC 'sorry' for aiding Mexican drugs lords, rogue states and terrorists

  • List of United States politicians who admit to cannabis use

  • Why do we fight the war on drugs?

  • White House response to NORML’s “We the People” marijuana legalization petition

    • * The above is a full re-write of a piece originally written in 2009 for the first issue of The Agora.
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