Of course most of politics is a zero-sum game, where someone loses another stands to gain. Here is my list of the five groups that benefit the most from marijuana prohibition.
1) Dealers/ Gangs/ Cartels: Ironically these are the people that this policy was supposed to hurt the most, yet somehow they came out on top. Admittedly, this is a dangerous lifestyle with the risk of death, injury and incarceration this profession is not for the faint of heart. But for those who manage the risks wisely and avoid detection the payoffs can be huge. The really powerful dealers know better than to sell to any actual users, there is just too much risk in that. Luckily there are hundreds of thousands of poor young American's willing to step up and take the risk for just a small piece of the action. The money that should be going to legal regulated business and taxed to help fund our government is instead funneled to dangerous gangs and drug cartels funding their brutal and illegal activities. You know the law is in shambles when the very people that we were going after ended up being the ones who benefitted the most.
2) The Incarceration Industry: This actually covers a lot of different groups of people from the private prison industry (who have pumped millions into inflating prison sentences for non-violent offenders), to the prosecutors and defense attorneys, to the corrections officers, to prison guards, and even to the judicial system itself (marijuana plea deals provide a substantial sum of money, since no one is willing to fight the charges they actually make more money than they spend in prosecution). Of all the things we have decided to privatize over the last few decades, prisons has got to be the worst. Profiting off human misery is disgusting to say the least, plus it incentivizes unreasonably long prison sentences for convicts. Have these people never heard of the 8th amendment?
3) The Pharmaceutical Industry: These guys are among the first to push for marijuana prohibition in the first place. Why would Americans spend billions on pain relievers if they could grow their own legally and nearly free. They say that marijuana is not medicine (I beg to differ) because it isn't regulated or consistent. Apparently medicine only comes in perfectly manufactured little pills that kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. Never mind the fact that marijuana has never contributed to a fatal overdose in all of recorded history, its a plant so it can't be safe. Please forget that we have been selectively breeding this plant for thousands of years to alleviate our most common ailments, if it can't be monetized it must be illegal. These people are the financial backers who continue to push for prohibition, they have their hands in all the politicians pockets because they fear the worst (which would actually be best for the rest of us).
4) Politicians: Speaking of politicians, they have been successfully running on "tough on crime" platforms for decades. Not only do they get paid off by all the businesses that profit from the status quo, they also pick up the MADD soccer mom vote who react with passion over anything crime related. Of course we've had to be careful to only arrest young black men over drug crimes, wouldn't want to upset suburbia now would we? Even though it is clear that marijuana prohibition is bad for the country, it is equally clear that it is good for politicians. Until we can change that we won't be able to see commonsense drug laws become more widespread. We need to support the courageous few who have risked their careers taking honest opinions, and punish those too cowardly to stand up for what is right. There is a lot going on in this Novembers election, its high time we took a stand.
5) That's It: I actually can't think of anyone else who wins here. Everyone else loses from this horrible policy. For a look at the biggest losers, follow the links at the top of the page.
Thanks for reading, feel free to comment below or share this post with your friends (or at least that stoner nephew of yours who might appreciate it).
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