People have been using Marijuana every since it was learned that it could alter your state of mind and it will continue to be used as long as this herb bearing plant exist. In other words people are going to smoke pot until the end of the world. Social scientist, scholars, researchers and many legal minds of today equate the criminalization of marijuana with the same mistake made with the prohibition of alcohol. When Prohibition was instituted some of the worst mobsters in America’s history were created and now we have created drug cartels in a drug war that is causing the slaughter of competing cartels, innocent people, government officials and law enforcement. The drug war is now over two decades old and we are no closer to ending it than we were when it started and it’s getting worse every day.
Even in the Good Book it tells us to use EVERY herb bearing plant and the son of God also gave us an example on altering our minds when he told us to drink wine (alcohol and pot) “in moderation.” It is OK to alter your state of mind in moderation for the right reasons and under the right conditions. Unlike in the past, we are now making our young teenagers convicted felons for using and selling marijuana when it used to be considered a party favor and even an accepted practice by many locals. In fact, the reason many people are against the use of marijuana today is ONLY because it is illegal and not because of the effects. If you compare the effects of marijuana with alcohol it is easy to see which one is really the worst — alcohol. But alcohol can be taxed and politicians can’t tax marijuana because it grows freely in the ground — God given. Just imagine how much more money will be injected into our economy if we legalized for medical use and minimize punishment for use to a small fine. All the money that used to be spent on pot will be spent on more important things like family needs and wants because people can grow their own which will also led to a decline in the use of hard drugs. Safety sensitive jobs are the only exceptions to the use of marijuana.
The use of marijuana in America was criminalized primarily because a very rich and powerful Randolph Hearst a newspaper publisher wanted to corner the paper market and he didn’t want “hemp” (marijuana) to be used which was stronger and better than the wood base paper he was producing. Here we are almost a hundred years later still suffering from bad politics and a bad law that failed to yield any fruit which is something we should have learned the from the prohibition of alcohol. There are many good things about the use of marijuana beyond medical usage but the illegalization has prevented these fruits from every manifesting.
We can’t use a law to stop people from a desire to alter their state of mind — drunks still drink and drive even after being caught and spending time in jail. Education is our only hope for helping people with mind altering substances as we have seen with alcohol. People that only use pot usually don’t speed in their car and weave all over the street, they don’t pick fights because they only want peace when they are high and they only want laugher and enjoyment from the experience. It is the people who mix alcohol and other hard drugs with marijuana who are creating the real social problems — not the pot heads.
Until federal law changes, the CNMI needs to do just like California and decriminalize marijuana for medical Use and place a small fine of $5 for personal use and growth. Farmers of large amounts should only face a $25 fine. If the feds still want to eradicate marijuana let them but the penalties within the CNMI will only be a fine.
Changing the punishment for pot use in the CNMI does not violate Federal law and at the same time it will do a great deal to decline the use of hard drugs like ICE. It will also create a tourist market from Asia that will be the envy our fellow U.S. territories and commonwealth in the Caribbean as a majority of American tourists go to these islands for the explicit purpose of relaxation and to smoke good and cheap marijuana — it’s a well-known fact on the mainland. We will surely see the cruise liners lining up at the port from Asia if we decriminalize marijuana with a small fine for procession.
The law criminalizing marijuana is a federal law that was created before the CNMI was conceived and the people of the CNMI can implement this law at the state level with a punishment of our own choosing. The Legislature should at the very least give the people the opportunity to determine if marijuana should be legalized for medical use and decriminalized to a “non-felony crime” for individual usage and growth. One of the most hated person’s in the CNMI’s recent past is the federal officer (initial B) who first started busting marijuana growers and he was literally forced to leave the CNMI persona non grata. The older generation of locals will know him by name and he is still talked about and hated today by many.
The best thing the Legislature can do is to give this issue to the people because they will be fighting forever among themselves forever. They just need to agree that they disagree and put a bill together for the people to decide like California has done or we will only continue to perpetuate the War on Drugs, creating teenage felons and missing the fruits of marijuana use. Our Legislature needs to get the politics out of this social phenomenon and leave it up to education not the criminal justice system. It really defies logic to think that a person sitting down relaxing with a funny cigarette is somehow infringing on the rights of others, which is supposed to be the basis of our laws. Criminalizing marijuana was a bad law to start with and it needs to be changed. Thank you Representative Torres for having the wisdom and the political will power to say and do something about this age old problem. Please get the Initiative on the ballot to help the sick, our tourist market and to help the many local people who want to use marijuana for medicinal purposes.
JUAN JESUS AGULTO
Kagman IV, Saipan
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