NORML has a feature on their web site that allows you to contact all your local and federal politicians and tell them your feelings about marijuana laws. A couple weeks ago, I used that site to send the following letter to all the politicians that supposedly represent me:
[recipient address was inserted here]
Dear [recipient name was inserted here],
Hello,
Criminalizing people who use soft drugs that are no more dangerous than
other legal drugs like alcohol or nicotine helps absolutely nobody and
destroys many otherwise productive lives unnecessarily. When throwing
somebody in jail clearly causes significantly more harm to a person and
his entire family than the use of that drug itself ever could have caused,
it is clearly wrong to imprison them in some sort of attempt to "save them
from themselves".
This is especially important when the use of these substances (just like
with alcohol or tobacco) does not directly hurt anybody else. Why should
there be a "crime" (or a punishment) when there is no VICTIM?
It's a well researched fact that marijuana is less dangerous in every
conceivable way compared to more destructive drugs like alcohol or
tobacco. Nobody has EVER died from a marijuana or mushroom overdose for
example. Any OBJECTIVE evaluation of the research will confirm this.
If MILLIONS of people's lives being ruined by unnecessary imprisonment are
not reason enough to re-evaluate these laws, then the amount of money
wasted trying to enforce them is - especially in light of the fact that
other countries and even US states that have already successfully
decriminalized marijuana have the same (or even lower) quantities of users
compared to states that imprison thousands of people annually in a
supposed attempt to discourage the use of this drug. If all that wasted
money and the destroyed lives are not enough reason to re-evaluate these
laws, then maybe the possible lost tax money that the hemp industry could
potentially generate is? The alcohol and tobacco industries are HUGE
sources of tax revenue, and the hemp industry could be as well.
Finally, prohibition only feeds the criminal element - just like it did
when alcohol was illegal. Decriminalizing soft drugs would also help keep
some distance between soft drug users and more dangerous and addictive
drugs.
Marijuana prohibition, just like alcohol prohibition, is a totally losing
proposition for everybody. Literally NOTHING positive is gained by it,
and much is clearly lost or destroyed. Let's spend that money more
constructively on drug education and rehabilitation, and just leave the
responsible users of soft drugs (including alcohol and tobacco) alone?
Sincerely,
<My name here>
I strongly encourage everybody who desires change to write your own letters to make your voices heard. There is no guarantee they will listen, but if we don't at least TRY we have nobody to blame but ourselves when these unfair laws do not change themselves. Using the NORML site allows you to write to all your local or federal political representatives with one letter, and without having to look up all their e-mail addresses individually.