In my home state of California there is a contentious battle playing out in the cannabis industry over marijuana legalization. Most of the supporters and opponents are actually pro-cannabis and the divisions have gotten pretty nasty.
The debate is no longer about whether or not cannabis should be legal, it’s about how.
First, it is important to note that both sides want an end to the War on Drugs. Proponents feel it is the logical next step, one that would push the federal government to action. Opponents feel the legislation, which restricts or allows communities to ban home cultivation and medical storefronts, does more to build corporate profits than to right the wrongs of the war.
More importantly, California is hands down the marijuana grow capital of the world. While some growers undoubtedly want to keep the price high and oppose legalization for profit, others have real concerns that they will lose their livelihoods.
What the debate has boiled down to is incrementalism; That proponents of cannabis legalization should pass whatever law they can and then work to improve it.
I have remained neutral on Proposition 64 and am happy I am no longer a California voter. But, I oppose incrementalism and it’s precisely my experiences as an ex-Californian that have led me to my position against it. Someone has to finish the job and most of the organizations promoting big-money legalization in places like California and Nevada have yet to do anything to “finish the job” for patients.
I want to believe big financially backed organizations like Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) when they say they are fighting for human freedom, but their actions say otherwise. A couple prominent members of DPA recently even suggested making a “public shaming list” of those opposing legalization in California.
How unfortunate, when there is much more important work to do.
In 2013 I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where my husband was going to graduate school. I was born and raised in California and have always had safe access to medical marijuana to treat my severe Crohn’s Disease, which has led to one-third of my colon being surgically removed. I don’t think I fully comprehended the drastic differences of life with a chronic illness in a prohibition state when I left California. I truly suffered worse than I have my entire life that year.
I made friends and we got active. In the beginning of 2015 we met Senator Mark Madsen, a Republican (now Libertarian) Utah state senator with chronic debilitating pain who almost died of an accidental prescription opiate overdose. The two women who were the face of the bill were also sick: Christine Stenquist suffers from an inoperable brain tumor and fibromyalgia and Tennille Farr had just delivered a baby, which she brought with her every day to the Salt Lake capitol, and was suffering from cancer. Despite majority public support, the bill was killed by special interests.
We were all too sick to be doing all that work, but we had no other choice because no one was going to do it for us. We asked for money, and we got a little, and promptly spent nearly all of it on a poll that proved over two-thirds of Utahns, including Mormons, Republicans and senior citizens, support safe access to cannabis. With more money we could have fought a lot harder, but we didn’t get it.
The reality of incrementalism is it requires effort, follow up and human energy or we are just stuck with the laws we have. While activists in California publicly shame each other over support or opposition to a recreational bill, there are patients who are suffering in Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Utahns still don’t have safe access. With enough money they could, but it’s not there. Patients all over this country are still waiting for someone to care about their suffering enough to make it happen for them. But they are not and never will be the priority, so big organizations with corporate backing will continue to look the other way.
In Arkansas and Missouri government-backed courts invalidated citizen-led medical marijuana initiatives this year. Where is the money, support and activism that is focused on the more profitable legalization laws in California and Nevada? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
I want freedom for everyone, but I believe the best route is to repeal the racist and scientifically fraudulent prohibition laws that were passed in the first place. No tax and money schemes necessary.
After my husband finished college we left Utah to go back to a friendlier state. Today I live in Oregon, which voted to legalize in 2014. I have safe access again, but the people I left behind in Utah don’t. My friends in Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas don’t. Floridians don’t. I don’t feel good about this and neither should anyone who supports medical or recreational marijuana.
I am happy my neighbors can legally use, grow and purchase cannabis, but the corporate cash is a powerful thing. Regulation often does more for personal profits than consumer protection. Currently, I am waiting until 2017 to get my renewed state medical marijuana card, despite the fact that I have a chronic incurable illness and tens of millions of dollars are pouring into state coiffeurs. I am lucky to “know people” while Oregon can’t seem to find the money or desire to take care of less-profitable patients.
Legalization is not the enemy of medical marijuana. Greed is.
In 1996, a gay Vietnam-veteran from San Francisco, Dennis Peron, led the state of California to become the first place to vote for safe access to cannabis for medical purposes.
“All marijuana use is medical,” Peron said then and continues to say now. He remains an opponent to “recreational” legalization.
It may sound absurd on its face, probably because of years of ingrained lies and propaganda, but consider this; When an otherwise healthy adult chooses cannabis to relax over alcohol, they have made a positive health choice. When an otherwise healthy adult chooses cannabis over Tylenol for a headache or Ambien for occasional insomnia, they have made a positive health choice.
With all the science, facts, and 10,000 year history of human use we know enough about this substance to completely decriminalize it and facilitate its growth, study and use. How we do it matters. If we treat it like a dangerous vice drug that must be taxed and heavily regulated, if we treat medical marijuana like it was always a joke to begin with, we will end up with laws that reflect that.
I am a strong believer that what we really need is a repeal of the insane laws criminalizing this substance in the first place-- at the federal level. As the PEOPLE have pushed for cannabis freedom, those who profited off of prohibition have worked to slow it while they shore up their own investments in cannabis. The health of patients and the freedom of all citizens are not mutually exclusive, but we have to stop fighting each other and we have to stop giving in to corporate interests.
We are not free until drug felons can work in the cannabis industry. We are not free when police have an excuse to penalize or arrest ANYONE—especially the most vulnerable of us—for having too much. We are not free when we can't grow our own and are instead forced into stores to buy "products" at 25% tax. But we also aren’t free now.
I am not going to tell you how to vote on Prop 64, or any legalization initiative. But, if marijuana is on your ballot (or not) don’t stay home November 8. Vote for marijuana up and down the ballot. Vote your conscience.
But, don’t forget the rest of us. Who will fight for the poor, sick and marginalized post-legalization? We patients are still waiting...