Not So Merry Christmas Drug Busts

by Michael S. Rozeff, LRC Blog
Dec. 26, 2012

Local news reports 16 arrests for marijuana possession in nearby Jamestown. The Department of Homeland Security participated in these arrests. This is so bad, so bad. Every week this happens. The people arrested usually range in age from about 25 to 45. They are not kids. This batch is about evenly split between black and white. Think of the huge amounts of taxes being wasted on hunting these people down, arresting them, holding them in detention centers and jails, putting them through the judicial system, and putting some in prison. It's incredible that this goes on. And for what? So that people can go use some prescription drug? Or concoct something made out of cough syrup or some decongestant or painkiller?

Now get this. In this state, New York State, a poll shows that 71 percent of voters favor medical marijuana. The Democratic-controlled assembly has moved a bill, but the Republican Senate has not. The governor who is Democratic, Andrew Cuomo, is sitting on the fence, sometimes saying he's against it. The political system is so grossly inefficient, so slow, so benighted, so conservative, and so unresponsive to ending this over 100-year tyranny. It will introduce spy planes in a flash or fund some boondoggle project at the behest of local developers, but it can't even be induced to loosen up marijuana for medical use. The politicians fear losing the votes of that intense minority that opposes medical marijuana and legalizing drugs in general. This is one reason the system itself is dysfunctional. And it's the same at the federal level, but much worse. In that case, the intense lobbies for war, even when in the minority, are capable of inducing politicians to vote for war for fear of losing their votes.

And get this. The U.S. government law on marijuana conflicts with the laws that the states are passing. This is good news. But at the same time, it shows how control-oriented the federal government is and how dysfunctional the political system is.