Will North Dakotans Support Medicinal Marijuana?
One of the first reactions many in North Dakota will have to the news of a petition being circulated for a ballot measure legalizing marijuana for medicinal use will be concern that it’s less about medicine than legalizing the production, purchase and use of the drug.
And in that they’re right. Medicinal marijuana is a charade, as we’ve learned from other states that have legalized it. I’d much prefer if the backers of this measure would just come right out and embrace legalization.
“This is not going to allow more marijuana into the state,” Dave Scwhartz of North Dakotans for Compassionate Care tells the Fargo Forum. He’s almost certainly right. All the demand for marijuana in North Dakota is probably already being satisfied.
Our “war on drugs,” both nationally and inside of North Dakota, is a joke. Those that want drugs, particularly marijuana, can get drugs easily and inexpensively in just about every community in the state. And that has nothing to do with the oil boom. It’s been that way for decades.
The prohibition of marijuana is working about as well as the prohibition of alcohol did. Far from protecting Americans from a dangerous drug (something I don’t actually believe marijuana to be), it is creating a black market for the drug that is serviced by often very dangerous criminals.
We’d be better off if we brought that market into the daylight. If the “medicinal marijuana” charade is the baby-step some need to take to put us on that path, then I guess I’ll support it, but let’s not pretend like this effort is something it’s not.
Tags: marijuana, medicinal marijuana, North Dakota News, north dakotans for compassionate care, war on drugs
