A Day I’ve Spent 40 Years Fighting For Has Finally Arrived!

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By BitcoDavid

My good friend and journalistic mentor MadMike, posted this today on his awesome site.

marijuana dbc04668ba596d1d11bbfdcab899d5bdcf6b293a s6 c30 US Department of Justice Ends 75 Years of Marijuana Prohibition

Image courtesy of NPR.org, via MadMike’s America

US Department of Justice Ends 75 Years of Marijuana Prohibition

Finally, the United States government is recognizing what millions of people have know for years: there’s a huge demand for pot, and no amount of regulation will keep it off the street and in the homes of private citizens.  The arrogant and oppressive raids by the government’s drug enforcement agency on growers and medical marijuana centers will soon be history.

Despite 75 years of federal marijuana prohibition, the Justice Department said today that states can let people use the drug, license people to grow it, and even allow adults to stroll into stores and buy it. They only thing they must do is keep it away from kids, the black market, and federal property. In a sweeping new policy statement prompted by pot legalization votes in Washington and Colorado last fall, the department gave the green light to states to adopt tight regulatory schemes to oversee the medical and recreational marijuana industries burgeoning across the country. The action, welcomed by supporters of legalization, could set the stage for more states to legalize marijuana. Alaska could vote on the question next year, and a few other states plan similar votes in 2016.

The policy change embraces what Justice Department officials called a “trust but verify” approach between the federal government and states that enact recreational drug use. In a memo to all 94 US attorneys’ offices around the country, Deputy Attorney General James Cole said the federal government expects that states and local governments authorizing “marijuana-related conduct” will implement strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems that address the threat those state laws could pose to public health and safety. (A new survey finds that pot is the most popular illegal drug of all.)

Thank you MadMike, for bringing this to our attention. As I posted in your comments section, this is the best news I’ve heard since VJ day!  A century too late for the tens of thousands of non-violent offenders who have spent time in America’s prisons, for using a substance that is less destructive than alcohol, less harmful than cigarettes and burns cleaner than gasoline. But not a day too soon for the rest of us. I’m so happy, I’m gonna put a smiley face on here!

BitcoDavid is a blogger and a blog site consultant. In former lives, he was an audio engineer, a videographer, a teacher – even a cab driver. He is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and a Pro/Am boxer. He has spent years working with diet and exercise to combat obesity and obesity related illness.

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