Medical marijuana in California was instituted with the best of intentions by the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996. It mandated that marijuana could be grown and cultivated legally for personal use by those with a recommendation from a doctor and their caregivers. Marijuana unquestionably can relieve nausea from those undergoing chemotherapy and help with a host of other symptoms as well. But what began as a genuine effort to help the suffering has metastasized into something quite different with potentially nasty and dangerous consequences.
Why it’s just like Prohibition was in the 1920’s, isn’t it? Friendly little Mom and Pop marijuana clinics invite you in now just like speakeasies did in the days of illegal booze. What could be wrong with that?
Behind those speakeasies in Prohibition were nasty people with guns. Bootleggers routinely killed each other. Cops were bribed. The entire system was corrupted. If something is illegal or quasi-legal and there is serious money to be made, criminals and organized crime will move in.
Quasi-legal medical marijuana is my latest for IVN and expands upon my thoughts here.
The entire system of medical marijuana borders on genteel corruption. Doctors write bogus recommendations. Stores make huge profits, often in cash. Regulation, at least in California, seems minimal at best. Also, given the large cash business that clinics do, it certainly is possible that some of them are laundering money. All of this is an invitation for crime, and I don’t mean shaggy haired ex-hippie growers from Humboldt County either but something far more malignant.
Legalize marijuana. Then all these problems will vanish.
If history has taught us anything, it’s that when alcohol prohibition was repealed a lot of crime stopped that was related to bootlegging alcohol. It didn’t stop all bootlegging, but it’s not as bad as it once was.
Heck, some of the bootleggers went semi-legit and built casinos in Vegas or had a son who became president!
I’m more thinking along the lines of how many jobs would be created and how much worthless spending to eradicate marijuana and put people in jail could be diverted to actual spending we need to spend money on. Like real crimes and repairing roads and bridges.