I’ll say it up front: I’m not a pot smoker, but I used to be. I used to smoke like a chimney, too. I was the designated joint roller for my friends as I could do anything from fatties to pinners in the blink of an eye. I have not, however, smoked anything but cigarettes for the past 15+ years and I have been a father for 11 years. I don’t even drink very much at all, and I consider myself a beer snob!

Why am I saying these things? Recently, our amazingly cool, smart, educated, and well spoken President cancelled “Drug War” operations against medical marijuana stores. Los Angeles superstar Police Chief William Bratton who famously cleaned up New York City crime and was brought to LA to do the same, has stated that Obama’s actions are stupid. Bratton loudly proclaimed that Marijuana is a “gateway” drug. You, sir, are an ass.

I’ve never seen a single study or any statistical information indicating that everyone who smokes pot (ever, mind you) always does harder drugs. The concept is ludicrous. The idea that some dude who has never smoked pot before then takes a drag of a joint is instantly transformed into a hardcore drug addict, shooting heroine into his veins in some dank, rundown ghetto (back and to the left… back and to the left… back and to the left…) is simply mind boggling naive.

This is merely anecdotal information, but I know dozens of people who still smoke and have never touched anything aside from alcohol. A number of them won’t even smoke cigarettes! This isn’t an anomaly. This doesn’t represent a small segment of society. This is the reality of what marijuana is. To see pot as a so-called “gateway” drug is to say that every single person who uses marijuana for medical purposes is going to become a government sanctioned junkie. Feh.

The pot, also known in organic product circles as Hemp, is a hugely useful plant. It can be used to make clothing, ropes, and other fiber-based products and a huge range of other things which I don’t know about. My daughter, who can’t have any dairy of any kind drinks Hemp milk! Why are these things possible if pot is so bad? Hemp is extremely easy to grow, will grow in most climates and conditions, and can be sewn and reaped numerous times a year, making it a plentiful source of renewable goods.

Yet now, down in Mexico, we see the fruits of our drug war labors. Thousands of people have been murdered by drug cartels fighting with the Mexican army just over our border, with some of the ultra violence spilling over into US border communities. Many billions of dollars worth of drugs seized by drug war zealots every year is pot. Not heroine, cocaine, or any other hard core drug. DEA officials spend millions of our tax dollars every year to find and eradicate pot farms throughout the US.

Why do we do this? There’s the far left answer which says that the Religious Right coerced the Republicans, through Mrs. Reagan (remember Just Say No?) to push a complete, unfiltered war on drugs on her husband in order to satisfy a faith-driven agenda. The far right leaning answer is likely that drugs erode the moral fabric of our society, driving us ever closer to the brink of the hellish abyss from whence satan spat his bile which morphed into drugs, but I don’t know for sure since I’m a Democrat.

Regardless of the reasons, we blow billions of tax payer dollars every year on this ridculous war on drugs to mostly combat a weed which makes people silly and get the munchies. Now, come to think of it, that would be a fantastic stimulus package. Just allow everyone to go to a medical marijuana facility and purchase up to 12 oz. of pot. Once they smoke some of it, they’ll get the munchies which will cause them to go out and seek food, thereby stimulating the economy by spending!

So, my personal challenge to you, Bill Bratton, is to prove to me with real data that pot is a gateway drug and that people can’t help but seek out hard drugs once they’ve tasted the pots. Deal?

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