March 10th, 2009 | 
Author: Finally, a government drug policy I agree with completely…
Illegal factory-style cannabis farms should be closed down.
Check out THIS REPORT from the BBC.
Factory cannabis-farms are often set-up in rented accommodation, with the landlords none the wiser until they receive a phone call from the police telling them their income property has been trashed.
Illegal cannabis farmers steal electricity from neighbours or from the an energy supplier; either way its theft and its wrong. Safety is ignored and fires are not uncommon. And saddest of all, they are frequently staffed by illegal aliens trapped in a type of hellish indentured servitude.
Where I split from the government is their choice of solution; police raids won’t make the problem go away, it will only make it relocate to yet another unsuspecting venue. The trade is far too lucrative for those involved to give it up. Raids are simply a calculated risk balanced against a very rewarding return.
Its supply and demand, the very cornerstone of our capitalist system. To ignore or deny this very simple truth, is to be blinkered and ostrich like.
There’s a better way.
There’s always a better way, but it would involve our leaders shifting their current position, which is one of disinformation and lies, towards a more open and honest approach.
Its time to legalise the industry and take it out of the hands of criminals. Its time to regulate and tax cannabis, bring the market under some sort of control.
To be against a legal cannabis industry is to be against the very heart and soul of capitalism.
Don’t let the conditioning the media has been force-feeding you colour your view on this. They’ve been systematically trying to discredit cannabis and pervert your perception of it for quite some time now.
Why?
Its easy to score points with the public by appearing tough on drugs. Also, it diverts your attention from more important issues, like Iraq, climate change or the economy.
The time is now for this unadulterated bullshit to end.
Back when Blair and Blunkett were in charge, cannabis was downgraded and they even toyed with a police policy of making arrests for possession of cannabis the lowest possible priority. Things were finally moving in the right direction, the government was listening to advisors and scientistis and using a bit of common sense.
Meanwhile in America, the “war on drugs” was still going strong, along with federal raids on medical marijuana clubs and imprisonment for possession. This wasn’t that long ago.
Under Obama, things have already changed with an end to federal raids and an official policy that secedes power to individual states with regards to cannabis.
California is now considering legalisation and taxation, because the state is nearly bankrupt. Desperate times clearly call for creative measures, this one will bring Cali an estimated annual tidy sum of $1.3 billion (with a B) dollars.
Many other states have decriminalised possession and have made it the lowest possible policing priority.
Our out-of-touch, out-of-step government is about as un-Obama as possible.
If people wonder why Obama didn’t make more time for Gordon Brown, they’re not really looking closely enough. They couldn’t be more polar opposites when it comes to genuine liberal thought and policy.
Legalising weed would create legitimate jobs, for legitimate farmers and distributors; jobs that already exist in the black economy, fuelling a rather sizeable black market that exists outside the tax and social security system.
A legal and controlled industry would insure that safety standards were met at the point of production, for the facilities, the staff and the product. You would know the weed you were getting was pure and unadulterated. You would know the person who grew it was paid a reasonable, taxable wage.
As much as I wish to see these dangerous and illegal cannabis farms closed down, I’m smart enough to realise that police raids alone are not the answer. If you really want to end the illegal cannabis trade, there is only one practical, workable solution: Legalise!
Even the UN may come to this conclusion as they prepare to finalise an agreement this week in Vienna, but as this report in today’s Guardian suggests, there are still deep divisions with some EU and Latin American countries favouring a more rational approach, with the US preferring to continue the pointless “war on drugs”.
Oh President Saviour Obama, are you listening? The “war on drugs” has been an abysmal failure and many knowledgeable and respectable people believe its been worse than the actual harm caused by the drugs themselves. Could you please call your minions in Vienna and sort this sorry mess out?
If you want to know more, please check out my Cannabis Truth Series
