Shit News for the Legal Marijuana Industry
Things had been looking up for the marijuana industry. California just legalized recreational pot on the 1st of January, Florida offers medical marijuana, and other states are making continuous progress on expanding the reach of legal marijuana in the U.S. But the hammer may have just come down on the pot party. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is well known for being a complete buzz kill, as regards marijuana. He has just made changes which bring into play the fact that weed is still illegal under federal law. This means federal prosecutors are authorized to pursue lawsuits against state-legal marijuana. It’s conceivable that the U.S. Justice Department could shut down the legal marijuana industry in its entirety. How can this be much different from the Prohibition, when alcohol was suddenly illegal?
What Prohibition Taught Us
This marijuana movement by D.C. is reminiscent of the nationwide prohibition of alcohol from 1920-1933. Prohibition was a total failure. Nicknamed the “noble experiment,” many activities birthed by making alcohol illegal were corrupt, dangerous, and profitable to a lot of really bad guys. The purpose of the Prohibition was to improve health and hygiene in the U.S. and reduce tax burdens caused by poorhouses and prisons. There was mass disobedience to the laws! Even many Prohibition agents were said to be on the take. Authorities slowly realized that they could no more stop the continued bootlegging and smuggling in of booze than they could stop the tides of the ocean. When Prohibition ended in December of 1933, the government taxed the legal trade and used the funds to support government programs during the Great Depression. Most people in the U.S. were very happy. As a matter of fact, the song “Happy Days Are Here Again,” which was first released in 1929, is fittingly associated with the end of Prohibition.
The War Against Drugs
Marijuana has never been accepted to the extent alcohol has. In fact, weed has been a target of the so-called war against drugs in America for decades. Our prisons in various states are filled with offenders guilty of nothing more than marijuana possession. This war on weed is a gross injustice, or at least that is the opinion of millions. It may not even be safe to participate in 4:20 this year, a time when a celebration of marijuana is usually a “joint experience” across the country. That is indeed and truly a total bummer.
