ArkNORML News- April 2008

Yankee States Step Up to Plate

Ever since the year 1991, when many Gulags were shut down in the Soviet Union, the United States has led the world in the number of our people that are locked up in jails and prisons. What is it about super-power status, that prompts these governments to demand such conformity in their citizens. The US and Russia are number one and two on the list of concentration-camp police states, and there is a big gap before third place pops up.

In recent years the US is pulling away from even the remnants of the Stalinist police state. There is no logic to explain the total abandonment of the "Free Country" status that we once enjoyed. We have the highest incarceration rate, and yet also suffer from one of the highest rates of violent and deadly crimes. You'd think that the electorate would one day figure out, that we are throwing the WRONG PEOPLE IN JAIL!

Internally to the United States, there are big differences in the level of tyranny faced by the various citizens. Those states that still use criminal penalties for marijuana use have allowed ignorance and outright racism to propagate injustice. There are 11 states that decriminalized possession of the herb, mostly in the 1970's, and these states do not contribute as much to the current prison dilemma. There are also 12 states that have provided medical marijuana programs for their citizens, providing some amelioration of the disastrous effects of the war on drugs.

In this years election, all remaining major party candidates have vowed to continue the current prohibition of pot and hemp. But two Yankee States will step up to the plate and vote for real reforms. In Massachusetts, the voters will attempt to pass the first Decriminalization of Marijuana initiative in many years. In Michigan, the voters will pass judgment on a medical marijuana plan. The Washington based Marijuana Policy Project is the sponsor of both initiatives. There is a city ordinance initiative in Fayettville underway, that will lower the priority of the enforcement and prosecution of marijuana crimes. It is sponsored by the UA NORML chapter and Arkansas Alliance for Drug Law Reform. But like the Eureka Springs bill that was passed last election, it is more a "Will of the People" thing than a real changing of the law as represented by the above Yankee initiatives.

ARKNORML Meeting in April

There is also some interest in the Arkansas legislature in changing the laws here. But if these lawmakers don't hear some loud grumbling from their voter base, they will never move on needed reforms. For this reason Arkansas NORML has continued to meet and organize here in a dubious battle to return some semblance of freedom to the "Natural State".

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 16, at the Little Rock Public Library 1rst floor west meeting room. That would be at 6:30 pm for new members and 7 pm sharp for veteran activists.

Waiting around for an occasional presidential vote to institute real change just doesn't cut it. Active citizens must get more involved and wrestle the prohibitionists to the ground. Hillary, Obama, and McCain are all the same. Vote for a prohibitionist zealot and you will get more prohibition. Is this rant too focused or radical for gentle reader? Let me ask you, does a slave ever think about anything but his freedom? Should he?

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