The End of Prohibition

07 Nov, 2012

 By Charmie Gholson

We are on the brink of momentous change. We are seeing the end of prohibition.

Yesterday, the states of Colorado and Washington fully legalized marijuana, Massachusetts said “Yes” to a state wide medical marijuana act, California repealed the country’s toughest Three Strikes law, and all five Michigan cities easily passed their marijuana initiatives. In Ypsilanti, when asked if police should just leave folks with up to an ounce of marijuana alone, 80% of the voters agreed.

When given the opportunity, voters overwhelmingly say No More Drug War. The reality that our $69 billion a year “War on Drugs,” has worsened societal problems instead of alleviating them has gone mainstream.

We’ve heard from our government over the past few weeks that they don’t agree with us about ending this war. They will challenge our actions, deny theirs, and in any way possible deter our work.

What are they going to to do to us? Take our kids? Humiliate us? Take our property? Put us in jail?

Despite the systematic relentless denial of our government, the people of our country are tired of war. We are witness to an amazing thing: citizen generated, social justice policy change on a fantastical scale. Now we need legislators to recognize this. We will need to trick them out of their holes, dangle democracy in front of them and see how many bite. See how many of them will respect the will of the people.

They’re already working as hard as they can to try to stop this massive shift in consciousness. They can’t. It’s an unstoppable force, precisely because of the cost. Lives ruined, resources wasted. You’re already killing us, tearing us from our families.

We have to continue to be water, dripping slowly on that stone. Good thing we have extraordinary, relentless leadership.

Researcher and Author Jeffry Dhywood has created a petition to compel the President to respect the will of the people in Washington and Colorado.

While we have all reasons to celebrate,” he says on the website, ” the fight is far from over and we must be ready to stand firm for the defense of the newly gained right of the people of Colorado and Washington.”

 

 

 

 

4 comments

About the author

Charmie Gholson

Charmie Gholson is a national drug policy reform advocate, a working journalist, mother of three sons and oldest of three daughters. She is owner and executive editor of the nations’s first medical marijuana trade journal, The Midwest Cultivator. The Feb 2013 relaunch of TMC is in partnership with The Compassion Chronicles and Skunk Magazine. Charmie is the Founder of Michigan Moms United -an umbrella organization that works to give voice to families caught in the criminal justice system, including the failed drug war and mental health issues. Their Safety Campaign was launched July 2012 and works to reform Michigan’s civil asset forfeiture laws, create drug task force accountability and work with CPS to minimize state created, family trauma. Charmie previously worked as a staff writer for LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an organization of law enforcers who speak out against and want to end the failed drug war. From 2003-2009, Charmie created, produced and hosted Renegade Solutions, a Native Rights public affairs radio show that reported on environmental and social justice issues, including drug policy reform. She has written for many national publications, including The New York Times Magazine, and was a columnist for Current Magazine for ten years. She also was a regular contributor to The Ann Arbor Observer before she became obsessed with ending the drug war. Charmie regularly writes about and speaks on a wide range of topics: how and why to end the failed drug war, the rise of paramilitary drug raids, policing for profit-civil asset forfeiture, taking the profit out of the drug war, how to move from being an activist to an ambassador, how the drug war has skewed police priorities, and minimizing potentially dangerous interactions with police. She believes that all marijuana is a medicinal, and that legalizing marijuana is an essential step towards a return to traditional medicines and healing.

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4 Comments

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