MADISON: Law enforcement and news sources have linked last weeks 200-officer raid on more than ten marijuana grows on public lands in NE Wisconsin to Mexican drug cartels. Meanwhile, before the dust from what TIME called a “pot megafarm” had settled, another national forest grow was located. Marinette County Sheriffs reported deputies found more than 3,000 plants on another grow on Aug. 17.
In Mexico, with over 28,000 already dead in cartel related violence triggered by drug prohibition, President Felipe Calderon has now proposed a debate on the legalization of drugs. Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, declared that since prohibition strategies had failed, Mexico should consider legalizing "the production, sale and distribution of drugs."
It was President Richard Nixon who really launched the war on marijuana, rejecting a report by his own handpicked commission that urged that the sale and possession of small amounts of cannabis be decriminalized.
While the Shafer Commission’s findings were rejected by Nixon, they led to decriminalization laws in a number of US states, and attempts to pass legislation in many more, including Wisconsin.
I’ve written how Wisconsin held hearings in the summer of 1975 at ten locations to gather public opinion on cannabis laws. Among those testifying, whether in rural or urban locations, the overwhelming majority supported legalization or decriminalization. 59% supported outright legalization. In Nov. 1976, City of Madison voters narrowly passed an advisory referendum supporting the taxation and regulation of cannabis. Decriminalization had the support of many leading state politicians in the 1970’s, but it failed to progress.
As a recent column noted between 1971 and 2008, “American law enforcement officials made more than 40 million drug arrests. That number roughly equals the population of California, or of the 33 biggest U.S. cities.”
As we all know, California will also be voting on whether or not to pass Proposition 19, which would end marijuana prohibition at the state level and replace it with regulation and taxation.
Much of the world is watching intently, including many leaders of nations in the Americas, like Mexico’s, who see that marijuana prohibition has made things so bad the very stability of their nations is at risk.
Politicians who know better using the drug war to get reelected got us into a deep mess. Now, multinational drug cartels are in our state, cultivating a once humble herb, a weed to some, that thanks to decades of cannabis prohibition, has become as valuable as gold ounce per ounce.
It took over 200 officers from dozens of jurisdictions to bust these grows this time. How big wll the next ones be and how many officers will they need to muster for that one? While they were distracted, the communities they serve went underprotected.
In California, where they have been futilely busting gardens on public lands for decades, millions of plants are now routinely seized annually. Clearly, the war on pot cannot be sustained at any level of government, not in California, not in Wisconsin.
Cannabis prohibition has not only made every American a suspect, but it has destabilized our neighbors and led to scores of violent deaths much worse than the days of Al Capone. In a world beset by so many problems created by the greed and stupidity of human, we can only hope that Californians unite and lead the way to a truly greener world than the one we inhabit now Nov. 2.
For more info: While efforts to pass the Jacki Rickert MMJ Act (JRMMA) failed in the 2009-2010 legislative session, plans for advisory referendums this fall and other efforts are underway. Learn more by signing up at www.jrmma.org or on Facebook. Please add your name to their email list and stay in touch as this movement continues to pick up momentum. 6/24/10: Gary Storck OPED: Isthmus: Rejection of Wisconsin medical marijuana bill was a profile in cowardice. This Oct. 1-3, 2010: 40th Annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival. For additional details on medical cannabis and Wisconsin visit JRMMA.org, IMMLY.org, Wisconsin NORML or MadisonNORML.org. Visit my Madison NORML Examiner articles archive. Photos courtesy of Madison NORML/IMMLY. All rights reserved. Madison NORML Examiner is dedicated to the memory of our sister and hero Mary Powers (1949-2009).
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