Pot should not be considered an alternative to alcohol. It is a dangerous narcotic that impairs a person's ability to make decisions and dumbs down a society to make them easier to control. Decades ago it was discovered that the conspirators for global government had planned to make all drugs legal so it would be easier to control them in the future. I have mixed feelings about whether pot should be illegal or not, but I do know that it is a hallucinogen and is listed as a narcotic in medical books. It has also been proven that car accidents increase in states that legalized pot and so does amount of people admitted into hospital emergency rooms for pot use. However the growing of hemp for rope, clothing and paper products should be allowed. It was a common side crop by farmers in the US years ago and grew like a weed. It gave an extra income to the farm even if the other crops failed on a bad year. I also believe that the medical use of pot should be allowed for cancer treatments and a variety of uses, where there is no component of the narcotic chemical in pot.
Our society is evolving into something different and I'm not sure that it is possible in the long run for a government to outlaw a plant that the majority of the people want legalized and decriminalized. In this regard I am surprised Trump is pushing back against this popular movement to decriminalize pot. It is good to protect the public in general, but to continue strong arm, big brother tactics to maintain a police state seems anti Constitutional to me. The US has over 2 million people in prison, more than any nation in the world,with the great majority of them being convicted on drug charges. Creating and promoting a police state to "protect" the people seems contradictory to me. Especially since much of that prison population is used for slave labor where the government and politicians receive financial benefits from those companies that employ prisoners. All of these issues need to be addressed and a balance of policies needs to better reflect what the people want.
George Eaton
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Published: July 23, 2017
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Source: The Hill
The Trump administration is readying for a crackdown on marijuana users under Attorney General Jeff Sessions
President Trump’s Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, led by Sessions, is expected to release a report next week that criminal justice reform advocates fear will link marijuana to violent crime and recommend tougher sentences for those caught growing, selling and smoking the plant.
Sessions sent a memo in April updating the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and Department of Justice Department (DOJ) component heads on the work of the task force, which he said would be accomplished through various subcommittees. In the memo, Sessions said he has asked for initial recommendations no later than July 27.
“Task Force subcommittees will also undertake a review of existing policies in the areas of charging, sentencing, and marijuana to ensure consistency with the Department's overall strategy on reducing violent crime and with Administration goals and priorities,” he wrote.
Criminal justice reform advocates fear Sessions’s memo signals stricter enforcement is ahead.
“The task force revolves around reducing violent crime and Sessions and other DOJ officials have been out there over the last month and explicitly the last couple of weeks talking about how immigration and marijuana increases violent crime,” said Inimai Chettiar, director of the Brennan Center's Justice Program.
“We’re worried there’s going to be something in the recommendations that is either saying that that’s true or recommending action be taken based on that being true.”
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