The reasons for cannabis sativa being illegal in the first place are overblown because newsworthy instances of marijuana-in-the-system-of-a-criminal! always include, at the bottom of the page, that alcohol or some other drug was also in the subjects’ system at the time. And, the government has a lot more to gain from the citizenry if propaganda about the dangers of “marijuana” is manufactured specifically to keep us fearful, confused and without information. I could go into a long discourse about why that is, but that is not the point of this article.
One of the most precious things in the United States of America is our libraries, where we are encouraged to learn as much as we can from as many books as possible. The freedom of the mind is a constitutionally protected right because education is a tool that oppressors keep out of the hands of the populace. If we are facing the closure of a library, then we must keep it open by closing something else less vital to the continuation of our freedom. Jails would be a great place to start.
Jail is for people who are a serious danger to the people around them. Our tax dollars and laws are meant to keep us safe. Our laws on the matter of cannabis, however, are not keeping us safe. As the system is now, people who have committed violent crimes are being released from jail to make room for people who grow/manufacture, posses, use, or distribute a calming medicinal and recreational drug. Most drug related crimes are treated with jail time rather than the rehabilitation and lifestyle counseling that would keep violent users from needing to come back. Ironically, people involved with cannabis are not likely to be a danger; if they are involved with cannabis, cocaine and alcohol, the story might be different, but at that point they will be in jail for reasons other than cannabis caused ones. With pot alone, they may choose to attempt to sell it on the street, but that hardly counts as a danger when free will is involved on the part of the buyer. Using pot, as most people know, induces peacefulness and lethargy; hardly the makings of violence.
If our libraries are threatened, then something has to change. The United States’ economy would experience a great boost if cannabis sativa and cannabis indica were legalized and taxed, instead of draining tax dollars into a dead end jail system. We need money spent on locking people up to be spent instead on unlocking their minds from the fearful bigotry that makes violence so easy to commit.
Drugs aren’t going away, but our freedoms slowly are as the Wars on Drugs and Terror reach for ever more success for their agendas. Soon it might be a threat to National Security to question and research an issue that has been the source of controversy. We must stand for libraries and laws that make sense, if we are to keep the ideals of America within our grasp. Legalizing, or at least de-criminalizing, cannabis would be such a stand.