NORMAN,
Okla. – As marijuana legalization movements make huge gains throughout
the United States, as the taboo surrounding marijuana use is slowly
broken, and as the myriad medicinal properties of marijuana use become
common knowledge, powerful opponents have emerged in an effort to halt
and reverse the gains that the legalization proponents have made.
Pharmaceutical corporations, police unions, private prisons, and even some alcohol and beer companies have lined up against marijuana legalization, spending huge amounts of money to thwart the legalization successes and turn the tide of opinion back toward prohibition. And it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise: these industries stand to lose big marijuana legalization took root throughout the United States.
In California, opposition to the upcoming vote on a marijuana legalization initiative has taken the form of the group Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, which raised $60,000 during the first three months of the year, according to The Intercept. All that money came from various law enforcement groups, eager to keep the regime of prohibition in place that has been so lucrative for them.
In Minnesota, the powerful Minnesota Law Enforcement Coalition plainly comes out and admits that they oppose marijuana legalization because they would lose millions in federal grants. The article states that Minnesota drug task forces receive $4.2 million in Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance grants.
The U.S. Department of Justice distributes $300 to $500 million in Byrne grants each year.
In regions of the country where medical and recreational marijuana has been legalized, police departments have been forced to slash budgets due to lost revenue that was previously obtained from civil asset forfeiture practices. Civil asset forfeiture, the law enforcement practice of seizing money and property from someone not convicted of a crime, has been a boon for police departments.
Those who have had their belongings and money taken in this manner must then go to court to prove their property was not involved in illicit activity. This practice has garnered severe criticism, and accusations of “policing for profit” have been leveled at law enforcement.
The statements of opponents of marijuana legalization among law enforcement groups seems to confirm that they indeed do police for profit, and are eager to continue to do so.
Prison guard unions are also heavily opposed to marijuana legalization, for obvious reasons. Marijuana prohibition means more prisoners, which means more prisons, more jobs, and more money.
The massive Corrections Corporation of America is actively opposed to legalization efforts and plainly stated that decriminalization efforts would undermine demand for their “facilities and services” in a letter to shareholders.
Big Pharma’s opposition to marijuana legalization is pretty straightforward, as well: when people are given a choice between cannabis and an expensive Big Pharma pill, they go with the plant. A scenario where people can grow their medicine in their backyard has pharmaceutical exes in panic mode.
A plant with numerous health benefits, from treating epilepsy, depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s, cancer, chronic pain, Crohn’s disease, post-traumatic stress syndrome, as well as many others. This fact, along with the results of a recent study that confirmed that people flee their expensive meds in favor of marijuana means Big Pharma has a big enemy in the legalization movement.
A report from August 4th at Cannabis Now details how the Florida Medical Associations strings are pulled entirely by pharmaceutical companies, funding lavish conferences, and directing the FMA’s opinion on medical marijuana in that state. Considering that Big Pharma spends the most out of any industry on lobbying efforts, it is clear that they pull many strings throughout the country.
It is clear that a massive pharmaceutical/law enforcement/prison industry has been built atop marijuana prohibition. Its prosperity has been artificial, having been legislated into existence and then placed upon the backs of American taxpayers, who fund the entire thing.
American citizens are the ones that have been suffering from the effects of the War on Drugs, the lack of access to legal marijuana, and have been helpless as sheep in the face of pharmaceutical industries massive pill mill operation.
This industry, one that has ground over this country for decades, stands to come crumble into a heap once marijuana is legalized, and it is understandably fighting tooth and nail to prevent the tidal wave of legalization. Their profits and power will be swept away.
In its place will be a far freer, and far safer, society, as the prohibition racket runs dry, and as a massive marijuana industry blooms from the ashes of the Drug War.
Pharmaceutical corporations, police unions, private prisons, and even some alcohol and beer companies have lined up against marijuana legalization, spending huge amounts of money to thwart the legalization successes and turn the tide of opinion back toward prohibition. And it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise: these industries stand to lose big marijuana legalization took root throughout the United States.
In California, opposition to the upcoming vote on a marijuana legalization initiative has taken the form of the group Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies, which raised $60,000 during the first three months of the year, according to The Intercept. All that money came from various law enforcement groups, eager to keep the regime of prohibition in place that has been so lucrative for them.
In Minnesota, the powerful Minnesota Law Enforcement Coalition plainly comes out and admits that they oppose marijuana legalization because they would lose millions in federal grants. The article states that Minnesota drug task forces receive $4.2 million in Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance grants.
The U.S. Department of Justice distributes $300 to $500 million in Byrne grants each year.
In regions of the country where medical and recreational marijuana has been legalized, police departments have been forced to slash budgets due to lost revenue that was previously obtained from civil asset forfeiture practices. Civil asset forfeiture, the law enforcement practice of seizing money and property from someone not convicted of a crime, has been a boon for police departments.
Those who have had their belongings and money taken in this manner must then go to court to prove their property was not involved in illicit activity. This practice has garnered severe criticism, and accusations of “policing for profit” have been leveled at law enforcement.
The statements of opponents of marijuana legalization among law enforcement groups seems to confirm that they indeed do police for profit, and are eager to continue to do so.
Prison guard unions are also heavily opposed to marijuana legalization, for obvious reasons. Marijuana prohibition means more prisoners, which means more prisons, more jobs, and more money.
The massive Corrections Corporation of America is actively opposed to legalization efforts and plainly stated that decriminalization efforts would undermine demand for their “facilities and services” in a letter to shareholders.
Big Pharma’s opposition to marijuana legalization is pretty straightforward, as well: when people are given a choice between cannabis and an expensive Big Pharma pill, they go with the plant. A scenario where people can grow their medicine in their backyard has pharmaceutical exes in panic mode.
A plant with numerous health benefits, from treating epilepsy, depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s, cancer, chronic pain, Crohn’s disease, post-traumatic stress syndrome, as well as many others. This fact, along with the results of a recent study that confirmed that people flee their expensive meds in favor of marijuana means Big Pharma has a big enemy in the legalization movement.
A report from August 4th at Cannabis Now details how the Florida Medical Associations strings are pulled entirely by pharmaceutical companies, funding lavish conferences, and directing the FMA’s opinion on medical marijuana in that state. Considering that Big Pharma spends the most out of any industry on lobbying efforts, it is clear that they pull many strings throughout the country.
It is clear that a massive pharmaceutical/law enforcement/prison industry has been built atop marijuana prohibition. Its prosperity has been artificial, having been legislated into existence and then placed upon the backs of American taxpayers, who fund the entire thing.
American citizens are the ones that have been suffering from the effects of the War on Drugs, the lack of access to legal marijuana, and have been helpless as sheep in the face of pharmaceutical industries massive pill mill operation.
This industry, one that has ground over this country for decades, stands to come crumble into a heap once marijuana is legalized, and it is understandably fighting tooth and nail to prevent the tidal wave of legalization. Their profits and power will be swept away.
In its place will be a far freer, and far safer, society, as the prohibition racket runs dry, and as a massive marijuana industry blooms from the ashes of the Drug War.
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