Leave it to Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to stir up more controversy by introducing legislation to finally wipe out the federal ban on marijuana. In November, Sanders introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act and it is still rolling ahead.
This issue is of major importance the to both the US and the world and its ramifications would shake the foundations of society and commerce as well as citizen’s rights. It hasn’t even been a month since the bill was introduced but things are simmering and coming to a boil soon.
At stake here is the status quo of resistance that has gone on for almost 100 years regarding hemp. Once, one of the oldest cash crops in human history, hemp and marijuana were banned in the early part of the 20th century for no other reason than it competed with the wood pulp industry as well as other energy and textile and medicinal industries. The plant is astonishingly versatile and provides products covering a wide spectrum of benefits that no other substance on Earth can do. Applications to fuel, medicine, textiles, are so abundant from this plant and it is easy to maintenance as well as its durability makes it the perfect agricultural product, however, because of this, it makes for cheap costs and no markup that big industries like to cater to.
Sanders knows he’s up against the big oil, pharma, medico industries as well as archaic mindsets of law enforcement and corrections that make fortunes arresting and prosecuting and detaining millions of people for even the slightest infractions regarding cultivation and use of the plant. Even with overwhelming clinical proof that the plant can cure cancers and other illnesses, the conservatives and big business have gone overboard regarding keeping the ban going. It’s obvious due to the money the opposing industries make and upkeep the status quo.
Should the legislation get more sponsors and momentum, the shockwaves will upturn the criminal drug underworld like no other. Smugglers and drug dealers who make untold billions will suddenly find no need for their products or services and marijuana is the largest or one of the largest money makers for the illegal drug trade. Legality of the plant would mean major resources for the criminals would dry up and massive revenues would shift from a few to the bulk of the common people and businesses that would process and produce. That influx of capital would lift the poor and middle class upward which is what the status quo doesn’t want but it is inevitable it will happen.
Law enforcement will then have to focus their efforts on other drugs and crimes freeing up resources and that might not sit well with them as the racket of marijuana arrests, detentions, and prosecutions are bread and butter to them for decades.
Sanders has his work cut out for him and he realizes that each state will decide their own fates, but removing the federal ban is a major step and will put the country back on the right track, correcting the mistake made by the original criminals who blackmailed and threatened lawmakers back in the day that led to economic upheaval and a massive, useless criminal justice system.
Bernie Sanders should be heralded for his efforts. He’s hitting the bad guys where it hurts most and finally the American people have a hero on their side.
What do you think about this new legislation? Do you think it will pass the legislators and get signed into law by President Obama? Add your comments below.
Source: http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/11/bernie-sanders-bill-ban/
