Ok! Again I cannot keep my mouth shut when I see a article such as this one that is full of contradictions and un-truths. I’m sure the author of the article does believe what he is saying here however if you dig deep into the numbers of what he is generalizing here you will find that the facts are far from what is written here.
It’s those damn Mexicans again?! No. It’s not the Mexicans or the cartels at the helm of this fight and the use of cannabis. In fact, this argument presented here to stop “smoking weed to prevent bloodshed” is just another spin on the old Refer Madness days when one of the first arguments for prohibition of cannabis in the United States was founded upon: it’s those Mexicans bringing it here! Before then we knew it as cannabis. With a flick of a wrist of the federal government and the first Drug Cazar being born the new “fact” was there is a new and deadly dangerous drug out there infesting our streets and that drug is marijuana! Wow, that sounded so threat-like. This was mixed in with images of the Mexican worker immigrants with joint in pocket while working our fields. The absurdity of this new “fact” is beyond comprehension, but please comprehend this. The name changed from something most American farmers knew as cannabis and had grown since the inception of this country, what our Declaration of Independence and Constitution are written upon and down to the fabric of the clothes the public wore, now had a new name so it was not recognizable to the majority of the public: MARIJUANA! The name marijuana referring to cannabis as we knew it here in the United States is actually the Mexican name for the plant. Under a different name, the Mexican one, it sounded very scary and dangerous. Prohibition was born and racism was very ingrained into the ratification of the plant. It is just as true of the prohibitionists of today (now one author who wants to legalize the plant?) that racism plays a crucial part of the Drug War in the United States. I doubt if many people here even think of what the term marijuana implies or the facts behind what they are blaming it on.
Only a small portion, 50-75%, of the drug cartels supply rely on cannabis. It is a ploy to get the minds of the people upon non-issues than on the basic truths that research of cannabis has shown us. This as a single argument needs a lot of work and support, which it does not have because of its racial inception during the Refer Madness days. As a stand-alone fact it won't stand! It has been studied in Universities across the country since the 70s yet we still scream we don’t have enough research! What will it take? I hear activists for legalization and medical cannabis say this, too. Stop. Think. We are being diverted from the most important thing available to us: facts already known. These facts are enough to wake a dazed public from their addiction to prohibition.
We, as activists, need to organize and get the required knowledge in order to go about getting any legislation in South Carolina into place. Lets not buy into lies and diversions. Just look at the research already available. The answer is not to play the “Mexican drug cartel” card or any other card that Refer Madness began but to gain the truth through real sources. The Mexican drug cartel card can only be played in the areas that it applies to (where the "Mexican brick weed" is actually distributed and sold). The stop smoking to stop violence thing, well it just doesn't hold water.
It’s not those Mexicans! Get past that!
http://www.mapinc.org/newsnorml/v10/n109/a13.html
by Ryan Quinn, (Source:Gamecock)
10 Feb 2009
South Carolina
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Americans Should Stop Smoking Weed to Prevent Mexican Bloodshed, Make Step Towards Legalization
A couple of weeks ago, The Daily Gamecock featured an editorial that stated that U.S. demand for marijuana funds drug cartels in Mexico. Students reacted with letters to the editor and the online version was besieged with comments. Most of these students recognized that their use of pot fed the violence in Mexico, yet they failed to take any responsibility for it.
Almost ubiquitous among these comments was the suggestion that the government legalize weed. It is true that if weed were legalized, Mexican drug cartels, which mainly rely on marijuana, would be dealt a lethal blow and many U.S. problems would evaporate. But the responsibility for the bloodshed in Mexico can't be entirely blamed on our government. We buy the product. We are the consumers, and in a capitalist society, the power of the dollar is often more influential than the power of the vote.
The argument of the aforementioned students is completely illogical at best, sadistic at worst. They say that it's the government's fault that people are dying due to their hobby. They fail to realize that they can put down the joint at any time.
I believe that weed should be legal. I have smoked weed before, but I pledge to do it no longer. I support marijuana rights, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to keep using it and contributing to the degradation of an entire country.
This is how you should convince to government to legalize it. Put the drug down. Show them that it's not an addiction. Show them that you would rather save lives than get high. March on Washington D.C. Assemble, protest, write to Congress.
Don't put up a Bob Marley poster, get stoned and rant on The Daily Gamecock's Web site. You're not helping the pot movement. You're showing the rest of society that you would rather do something illegal and fund drug cartels than show responsibility and petition for legalization in a smart legitimate way.
Sure, if everyone keeps on smoking pot it will no doubt be legalized. But it will be at a high cost. Many compare the situation in Mexico to that of the U.S. during prohibition. Yes, everyone kept on drinking and eventually the 18th Amendment was repealed. But not before illegal consumption of alcohol ushered in the gangster era and tore this country apart. If only people had put down the moonshine - thus discrediting reason for prohibition in the first place, the idea that people couldn't responsibly handle alcohol - and marched on Washington demanding their rights back. Or simply voted in people who supported alcohol. Bob Marley said legalize it. He also sang about peace. You can have both things, you just have to go about it the right way. Put the joint down, pick up a picket sign, and we'll see legalization sooner than you think.
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