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BOHEMIAN
Rhapsodies Reefer Madness, Indeed
Why ramp up an obviously failed war on drugs? BY JONAH RASKIN
T
he recent rash of news stories in local media about raids on marijuana gardens and dispensaries leads to an obvious conclusion: the prohibition of marijuana and the accompanying war on marijuana are both abject failures. Federal and state policies have resulted in crime and violence, just as the prohibition of alcohol led to crime and violence. The solution to the current problem is largely identical to the solution to the prohibition against alcohol: legalize it.
Many marijuana growers, dealers and users do not want legalization, much as many in law enforcement don’t want legalization either. Both have a great deal to gain from the prohibition of marijuana. Law enforcement gets good PR in the “war on drugs” and big budgets year after year. The marijuana traffickers get to be outlaws and to make big bucks. The losers are the American people who pay through the nose to buy marijuana and underwrite the continuation of the war. There have been more than 800,000 arrests every year for the last 10 years on marijuana charges. Since 1970, more than 20 million people have been arrested on marijuana charges. Those arrests have not deterred the growth of the marijuana industry and the steady arrival of new generations of pot smokers, stoners and heads. “Reefer Madness” has gone on far too long—for 74 years. It doesn’t seem likely to end soon, and the recent raids on dispensaries will have the effect of driving dealers back into the lucrative black market and the unregulated underground economy which has created marijuana millionaires. It’s time to look honestly at the issue, to see all sides, and think rationally about a subject that many are incapable of examining in the cold light of reason. The lack of clarity only adds to the problem. As citizens in Northern California, the U.S. region that grows more marijuana acre-by-acre—and better marijuana, too, than any other region in the United States—surely we ought to be able to put our heads together to come up with rational solutions for ourselves and for the nation at large. Jonah Raskin is an SSU professor and the author of ‘Marijuanaland: Dispatches from an American War.’ Open Mic is a weekly feature in the Bohemian. To have your topical essay of 350 words considered for publication, write openmic@bohemian.com.
Wake Up, Ignorati
The fallacy in Duclo Haymaker’s reasoning is actually hidden in his letter (“Money Talks,” Nov. 2) when he states “our political system, which is the entity that controls our banking and economic systems.” He has it completely backwards! The truth is that the private central banks like the Fed (in collusion with the majority of Fortune 500 corporations on whose boards they sit) own government and control the economy. This is a fundamental principle at the root of the Occupy movement. His well-directed complaint about campaign finance addresses an overt manifestation of this very principle. Overpopulation, however, is an overrated issue. It is the self-serving politics and greed of big money that prevent all 7 billion of us from eating everyday and living peaceful, productive lives. David Weinstock’s observation that no one is holding up a “Register and Vote” sign (“Rock the Vote,” Nov. 2) overlooks another fundamental principle of the Occupy movement: Our vote no longer changes things in a government that no longer represents us. As a government that only serves the aforementioned banks and corporate interests, America has become a true plutocracy. Our only recourse is to take action outside of the limits it imposes on us—new rules! The Occupy phenomenon cannot be stopped any more than the internet can be shut down. It is already resonating worldwide. Its truly collective and decentralized nature represents the way things will be done in the future. Big money desperately clings to a dying model and will fall one way or another. The grievances both of the Tea Party and the Occupy movement, as well as the global 99 percent, can ultimately be traced to the same source—control of our money supply by private interests, i.e. central banks. The tactics of big money are ages old and succinctly documented in Andrew Hitchcock’s online timeline “The History of the
Money Changers.” Google “private central bank” or “money changers” to school yourself and your friends. If the Tea Party people, as well the ignorati who are unable to see or refuse to acknowledge the faux in Fox News, would wake up and realize they are slitting their own throats in serving as Big Money’s minions, we could all join together and collectively turn the tide for real against a common foe of liberty and justice for all.
MALCOLM CLARK Occidental
Bank on It On Nov. 5, Sonoma County residents converged in league with over 1,000 cities nationwide in “Move Your Money” rallies. In just the last month, hundreds of thousands of American citizens have moved their money out of the “too big to fail” corporate banks to locally based community banks and credit unions. These same ‘Big Four’ corporate banks, you will recall, got the sweetheart deal of the century: their bad bets paid off with 100 cents on the dollar and a getout-of–jail free card. Their CEOs and senior staff have shown not a shred of social conscience over continuing to shower themselves with outlandish pay packages. They haven’t missed a beat when millions are losing their homes and entire neighborhoods are being destabilized, scattered and demoralized by chronic joblessness and consequent poverty. They refuse to take even the tiniest ‘haircut,’ while demanding payment in full for houses now worth half the paper price on the note. This after we made them whole in the great bailout. No wonder folks are riled up. The one simple act of moving your money is a concrete statement that we as a free people can make. Put your money where your beliefs are and invest in locally owned banks and credit unions who have a stake in our community and whose fortunes are aligned with our own. Make the move and feel the power of acting on your convictions.
BEN BOYCE Sonoma