Pubdate: Fri, 5 Dec 2008
Source: DrugSense Weekly (DSW)
Section: Feature Article
Website: http://www.drugsense.org
Author: Stephen Young
Note: Stephen Young is an editor with DrugSense Weekly and author of 
the book How To Inhale The Universe Without Wheezing.

20 POINTS REGARDING DRUG PROHIBITION AND POLITICAL CORRUPTION

1.  Is there a connection between drug prohibition and political 
corruption? Before exploring that question, it's important to 
remember that correlation does not equal causation.  But certain 
minds may draw lines between certain points.

2.  The State of Illinois, where I live, is notorious for political 
corruption.  Our previous Republican governor is currently in prison 
for his misdeeds.

3.  Ongoing federal investigations are inching closer our current 
governor (a Democrat), with one of his top fund-raisers currently 
serving time.  Another investigation near the current governor 
involves a financial contributor accused of taking state funds to 
perform drug tests for the state, but then failing to perform those drug tests.

4.  Legislators in Illinois rarely resist the lure of anti-drug laws. 
Just last year new enhanced marijuana growing penalties were adopted, 
despite the existence of already harsh laws.

5.  Illinois has a useless medical marijuana law that was adopted in 
the late 1970s.  It remains on the books, but it offers no legal 
protection or supply for users.

6.  Legislators in Illinois like to pretend that medical marijuana is 
a controversial issue that could hurt them at election time. A 
proposed medical marijuana bill that might actually help users has 
been kicked around committees in the legislature for several 
sessions.  The original sponsor, who suffered from AIDS, has since died.

7.  While the medical marijuana bill has languished, Illinois 
Democrats have held the Senate, the House, the Governor's mansion and 
just about every other position of power in the state, recklessly 
pushing the state deeper into debt. Still, many legislators from both 
parties say they favor propaganda over science when it comes to 
medical cannabis. Furthermore, they suggest serious political fallout 
could come from supporting medical marijuana.

8.  The medical marijuana voter initiative that passed in neighboring 
Michigan last month was approved by a majority in every county in the 
state.  Not a surprise, as opinion polls show consistent general 
support for medical marijuana, even in Illinois.

9.  I spoke with Barrack Obama on the phone very briefly about a 
decade ago.  I was working as a newspaper reporter and he was a state 
senator co-sponsoring a bill that was supposed to reign in political 
corruption in Illinois (the bill was called "The Gift Ban Act"). I 
left a message seeking comment, but Sen.  Obama didn't call back 
until a week after the story was published. He said there must have 
been some confusion in the office and that he just missed the message 
until that point. I was busy working on something else when he 
called, so I said it was too late. By that point in my career, I knew 
that if a politician wanted to be quoted on an issue, they returned 
the call immediately. If not, they wouldn't.

9.  The Gift Ban Act was challenged on constitutional grounds and 
eventually replaced with other legislation.  Corruption remains 
embedded in Illinois political culture as evidenced by points 2 and 3 above.

10.  One of Barrack Obama's final bills to be pushed though the 
Illinois legislature before he started his campaign for the U.S. 
Senate banned the herbal drug ephedra. Unlike the Gift Ban Act, the 
ephedra ban stuck.

11.  The former Republican governor who is now serving time in prison 
once vetoed a bill that would have allowed educational institutions 
to study industrial hemp in Illinois. He said he worried about the 
message being sent to people with drug problems. Taking kickbacks 
from many - including, allegedly, at least one anti-drug organization 
- - apparently did not send the wrong message.

12.  Every autumn, state police use state helicopters to look for 
marijuana fields.  More often than not they find wild hemp fields 
that don't produce intoxicants.  The officers burn those fields 
anyway. The wild hemp returns the next year.

13.  Over the past several years, Illinois has made at least 40,000 
marijuana arrests annually.

14.  Political corruption arrests happen in the state, but they 
certainly don't happen by the thousand.

15.  In Illinois, the political system almost always works for 
powerful special interests, rarely for the little guy. Last week, 
citing budget problems, the current governor shut down several public 
parks and historic sites used by common people. There was no talk of 
plans to stop using helicopter fuel and police time to torch 
non-intoxicating weeds.

16.  Nor was there talk of how medical marijuana generates revenue in 
some states, and how hemp generates revenue in some countries.

17.  It's not difficult to appreciate the attractiveness of drug laws 
for corrupt politicians.  Keeping the law enforcement apparatus 
permanently trained on an issue like illegal drugs, which permeates 
our culture, makes every citizen is a suspect (hence the alleged need 
for drug tests at work and school).

18.  If law enforcement has to worry about anyone ingesting cannabis 
at any time, even with a doctor's recommendation, how many law 
enforcement resources will ever be available to investigate political 
corruption?

19.  In Illinois, watch for the influence of special interests and 
political cronies to see bills actually turn into laws. Who are the 
special interests who keep pushing drug prohibition?

20.  Or are the politicians themselves the special interests in this case?
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake