Could Marijuana Finally Be Legalized-- Even Without Ron Paul And Barney Frank?

The next bipartisan tag team to end the war on drugs?

Perhaps you remember a couple weeks ago, right-wing culture warrior and religionist charlatan Pat Robertson advocating marijuana legalization. He broached the subject on The 700 Club and followed up with the media: “I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol. I’ve never used marijuana and I don’t intend to, but it’s just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded.” Sounds sensible-- especially coming from a conservative Republican. Colorado and Washington state both have pot referendums on the ballot in November. (California doesn't.)

But with the two most prominent advocates of marijuana legalization nationally-- Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX)-- leaving Congress, it's been looking gloomy for their longtime cause. But not totally gloomy. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) is a conservative who was swept into power in 2010's Blue Dog Apocalypse when he defeated 14-term conservative Democrat Rick Boucher in the wilds of southwest Virginia (VA-9) 51-47%. Griffith has been a reliable vote for his party's toxic, anti-working family agenda. He was one of the Cantor/Ryan "Young Guns" and he pretty much sticks with Eric Cantor on everything. Except pot. Griffith is no hippie, though-- quite contrary. Before beating Boucher he was the Majority Leader of the Virginia House of Delegates, the first Republican to hold that position in the state's history. Although he's moved drastically right since entering Congress he was a mainstream conservative in state politics. He used to be moderate-- for a Republican-- on abortion. Now he;s as insane as the rest of his party. And now he advocates raising the retirement age and ending Medicare. But he says he wants to legalize medical marijuana. “Here’s the problem: Everybody hears medical marijuana and they think California-- ‘Hey, if it makes you feel good, do it,’” Griffith said. “I don’t believe in that.” Doofus... well, sure; but he's a savvy politician.

In Virginia, the medical marijuana law restricts its use to cancer and glaucoma patients, but doctors, due to fear of the Drug Enforcement Administration and a lack of marijuana dispensaries, rarely prescribe it.

“In my hometown, there was a young man who was dying, had a small child, wanted to stay alive as long as he could and spend as much time as he could with his child,” Griffith said. “The doctors actually gave an order in the local hospital that nobody would go in the room from 11 to 12. His friends would show up and smuggle marijuana [in] and then they’d show up with his lunch because he couldn’t eat without it-- that’s crazy.

“When you have doctors putting orders down-- saying don’t go into a hospital room because this patient needs something that I can’t give him-- we’re messed up and the federal government is actually standing in the way.”

Griffith said the reason he hesitates to introduce federal legislation on the matter is because he’s not on the right committee.

“At this point, for me to introduce it as a first-term congressman who doesn’t sit on the right committee, it’s not going anywhere,” Griffith said. “I would prefer to lend an assist, but I have to weigh that out because I think it’s the right policy for the country. … There is no way that anybody will ever be able to convince me that we shouldn’t allow our respected medical community to use marijuana just as they use opiates and barbiturates.”

With Miss McConnell still screeching that marijuana leads to death, most conservative politicians are wary of the issues... and, let's face it, most politcians are conservative, regardless of political party. The Christian Science Monitor a long time leader of the jihad against ending the War on Drugs, is as shrill as Miss McConnell, accusing President Obama of not denouncing the efforts in Colorado and Washington strongly enough. But polls show that most Americans now oppose the War of Drugs and support legalization.

A majority of Americans support legalizing marijuana, according to a new poll from Angus Reid Public Opinion. The online survey of a representative sample of 1,003 American adults found that 55% supported legalizing marijuana, while 40% opposed it.

Majority support for legalization crossed all age lines, with young people (18-34) at 53%, middle aged people (35-54) at 57%, and seniors (55+) at 54%. Legalization also won majority support among Democrats (63%) and independents (61%), but not among Republicans (41%).

Like Miss McConnell, Mormon fanatic Buck McKeon (R-CA) is hysterically opposed to legalization. But he's in an L.A. district where even Republicans are more relaxed about it. And he has an opponent-- a prominent physician and renowned surgeon, Dr. Lee Rogers-- who's on the campaign trail denouncing the tragic wastefulness of the War of Drugs. He's calling for the U.S. to "replace the 'War On Drugs' with a 'War On Addiction'.”

The tragic death of singer Whitney Houston has publicized again the difficulties that some face with drug addiction. Addiction is a complex brain disease that results in a compulsive behavior of seeking and using drugs. In many cases, the addict knows that the substance has deleterious effects on their health, but the nature of addiction leads them continue the behavior. Addiction is not as simple as a choice to use or not to use.

Addiction comes in many forms other than illegal substances, like nicotine, alcohol, foods, shopping, gambling, video games, and sex. Even though a similar physiologic process occurs with all addictions, only with drugs does society think that incarcerating the addict is acceptable.

Here are some statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse:

Alcohol: 30 million people drove under the influence of alcohol at least once in the past year

Tobacco: Rates have declined in 12- to 17-year-olds to 9%, but in young adults 18 to 25 years old, the rates are 36% in 2009.

Marijuana: Most measures of marijuana use increased in high school aged children and young adults. Twenty-one percent of high school seniors reportedly used marijuana in the past 30 days.

Cocaine: Current cocaine or crack use has declined in all age groups from 2.3 million users in 2003 to 1.6 million users in 2009.

Methamphetamines: Use of methamphetamines declined from 6.5% in 1999 to 2.2% in 2010.

Prescription Drugs: Nonmedical use of narcotics remained relatively stable, as did the use of Adderall.

With all these people suffering from this disease, one would expect a national outcry for action. One would expect government funding of treatment programs aimed at managing addictions and preventing relapse. Not even close. We have reactionary laws and overloaded court systems. America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Of the 2.3 million inmates in U.S. prisons, 25% are due to drug offenses at a cost of $70 billion per year. Some states have mandatory sentencing and three-strikes-and-you’re-out laws for drug crimes which can result in life imprisonment. Additionally, penalties vary based on the type of drug. In some states, possession of crack cocaine is treated much harsher than powder cocaine. This leads to a racial disparity in penalty enforcement since minorities more frequently use cheaper crack cocaine.

Prescription drug abuse is treated differently by society, but may be a larger problem. In 2005, an estimated 4.4 million teenagers misused prescription pain relievers, 2.3 million took a prescription stimulant, and 2.2 million abused over-the-counter drugs such as cough syrup. Prescription drug overdose was responsible for 22,400 deaths in 2005, causing more deaths than illicit drugs. Recent deaths from prescription drug abuse and misuse have plagues the entertainment industry, with Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, and Brittany Murphy all falling victims. While prescription drug abuse and diversion is a crime, abusers are rarely prosecuted, but they also rarely get resources to help them quit. Society doesn’t view it as serious as illicit drug abuse and friends or family may not intervene. Rehabilitative centers are expensive and drug abuse is frequently omitted from health insurance coverage.

My Congressional district in California is typical for American suburbia. We have seen an increase in heroin use, school expulsions, and related deaths. In order to reverse this troubling trend, we need to attack it head on. Prevention is the best policy for drug addiction. Identifying those at risk, providing education, and targeting and prosecuting sources. When addiction does occur, recognizing that it is a brain disease and engaging a team of medical and social experts to treat it and prevent recidivism.

The War On Drugs has been a failed policy and resulted in enormous expense, an increase in violence, and violations of civil rights. How could one consider it successful? Today, drug use is rampant and more extreme violence occurs than before the “war.” Because of criminalization of drug use, convicts fall into a circular trap, which prevents them from effective rehabilitation and entering society. Drug offenses create a permanent underclass of people who have limited educational or job opportunities.

I have heard the argument that our War On Drugs is responsible for the instability in our Southern neighbors, especially Mexico. The illegal drug industry in Mexico is fueled by American demand and creates wealthy cartels who corrupt the government and wreak havoc on cities. But American policy does little to reduce “customers” for the Mexican traffickers. In fact, it makes the cartels richer by artificially inflating the price of the drug since it is prohibited. Remember the crime surrounding the alcohol industry in the U.S. during prohibition.

It’s time to reevaluate our drug policies in the U.S. A better group of policies would be a War On Addiction with appropriately-aimed resources. We could save some of the $70 billion a year from incarcerating non-violent drug offenders and some of the $15 billion a year the US spends on the War On Drugs and dedicate it to programs to treat addicts and prevent relapses. We could spend that money on programs to educate students and young people. So instead of paternalistically telling them to say “no” to drugs, we provide them with evidence on the dangers of illicit drug use which helps them to arrive at their own decision. We can take steps to remove the stigma of drug addiction so those who need help are not dissuaded from seeking it. Furthermore, we can work to make drug abuse and addiction a cobered benefit in insurance plans.

If you'd like to replace hopeless reactionary Buck McKeon and replace him with Lee Rogers, who's a 34 year old father of two and lives in the same world that the rest of us live in, please consider a contribution to his campaign at the Blue America ActBlue page.