The great divide between politicians and the people is showing itself in California where polls show the voters support Proposition 19 and where the mainstream politicians mostly oppose it.
There are not many policies more bankrupt that marijuana policy. In 1970 a national commission recommended that marijuana be decriminalized and non-profit transfers be allowed. President Nixon, rather than listen to the experts, doubled down on the already failed and mistaken policy. The result was 100,000 additional arrests the year after the experts said people should no longer be treated as criminals for marijuana use. And, since the experts said it should not be a crime nearly 15 million Americans have been arrested.
Only four states have populations larger than the number of people arrested for marijuana since the experts said people should not be arrested for marijuana offenses.
Yet, the status quo politicians people like Senator Diane Feinstein and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger continue to want to ignore the experts and, more important, they want to ignore the people.
That is why smart, experienced police officer like
Neil Franklin, a 33- year law enforcement veteran at both the state and city level supports Proposition 19. Officer Franklin sees Prop. 19 as a step toward healing the division between the people and the police. He recognizes that marijuana prohibition undermines the relationship between police and the people they serve because when they come into their neighborhoods it is to search homes, cars and people. It creates distrust and undermines effective community policing.
So, this November the people have an opportunity to tell the professional politicians we want to end policies that do not work and undermine law enforcement. The war on marijuana has been a destructive failure. It seems obvious to most of the people but the politicians don't get it.
If I were a politician that supported marijuana being illegal throughout my career, I would not want admitting I was wrong. Hard to say "sorry we arrested you and ruined your life for something that should not have been illegal." It is hard to admit an error so large and so destructive of millions of lives.
In 1970 the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse recommended ending the illegality of marijuana in the United States, the Dutch also had a national commission that reached the same conclusions. The difference was the Dutch listened to their experts and President Nixon and other American politicians ignored our experts. Well the results are in the experts were right and the politicians were wrong. According to surveys conducted by both governments; in the United States 41% of Americans have used marijuana, compared to 22.6% in Holland.
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