Top Five Special Interest Groups Who Wan't Marijuana Illegal

[GrassMonkey]

The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying To Keep Marijuana Illegal

 

Last year, over 850,000 people in America were arrested for marijuana-related crimes. Despite public opinion, the medical community, and human rights experts all moving in favor of relaxing marijuana prohibition laws, little has changed in terms of policy.

 

There have been many great books and articles detailing the history of the drug war. Part of America’s fixation with keeping the leafy green plant illegal is rooted in cultural and political clashes from the past.

 

However, we at Republic Report think it’s worth showing that there are entrenched interest groups that are spending large sums of money to keep our broken drug laws on the books:

 

1.) Police Unions: Police departments across the country have become dependent on federal drug war grants to finance their budget. In March, we published a story revealing that a police union lobbyist in California coordinated the effort to defeat Prop 19, a ballot measure in 2010 to legalize marijuana, while helping his police department clients collect tens of millions in federal marijuana-eradication grants. And it’s not just in California. Federal lobbying disclosures show that other police union lobbyists have pushed for stiffer penalties for marijuana-related crimes nationwide.

 

2.) Private Prisons Corporations: Private prison corporations make millions by incarcerating people who have been imprisoned for drug crimes, including marijuana. As Republic Report’s Matt Stoller noted last year, Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest for-profit prison companies, revealed in a regulatory filing that continuing the drug war is part in parcel to their business strategy. Prison companies have spent millions bankrolling pro-drug war politicians and have used secretive front groups, like the American Legislative Exchange Council, to pass harsh sentencing requirements for drug crimes.

 

3.) Alcohol and Beer Companies: Fearing competition for the dollars Americans spend on leisure, alcohol and tobacco interests have lobbied to keep marijuana out of reach. For instance, the California Beer & Beverage Distributors contributed campaign contributions to a committee set up to prevent marijuana from being legalized and taxed.

 

4.) Pharmaceutical Corporations: Like the sin industries listed above, pharmaceutical interests would like to keep marijuana illegal so American don’t have the option of cheap medical alternatives to their products. Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer who now lobbies the government to relax marijuana prohibition laws, told Republic Report that next to police unions, the “second biggest opponent on Capitol Hill is big PhRMA” because marijuana can replace “everything from Advil to Vicodin and other expensive pills.”

 

5.) Prison Guard Unions: Prison guard unions have a vested interest in keeping people behind bars just like for-profit prison companies. In 2008, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association spent a whopping $1 million to defeat a measure that would have “reduced sentences and parole times for nonviolent drug offenders while emphasizing drug treatment over prison.”

 

http://www.republicreport.org/2012/marijuana-lobby-illegal/

[Restorium2]

You see the uphill battle for anyone who would try to help us. But here's their weakness:

 

None of these groups have a humanitarian reason to keep marijuana illegal. It's all about money now. When everyone against you has only selfish, money making, reasons to keep you from having your rights, then their war against you can't last, as long as your own reasons are not selfish and monetary. If you apply this logic to the legalization we see today then that will not last either because it is ONLY selfish and monetary. When legalization is set up so that it isn't only selfish and monetary then it will stand the test of time. The most unselfish and humanitarian thing for cannabis is decriminalization where anyone can grow the plant for whatever they want to do with it.

[Wild Bill]

Prisons as a business, fighting so they can imprison more people for profit, what a depraved society.

[phaquetoo]

 

You see the uphill battle for anyone who would try to help us. But here's their weakness:

 

None of these groups have a humanitarian reason to keep marijuana illegal. It's all about money now. When everyone against you has only selfish, money making, reasons to keep you from having your rights, then their war against you can't last, as long as your own reasons are not selfish and monetary. If you apply this logic to the legalization we see today then that will not last either because it is ONLY selfish and monetary. When legalization is set up so that it isn't only selfish and monetary then it will stand the test of time. The most unselfish and humanitarian thing for cannabis is decriminalization where anyone can grow the plant for whatever they want to do with it.

If they just made it legal all out, there would still be plenty of idiots out there breaking the law to keep the private prisons going and the narco squads, anything smuggled thru borders is up for grabs for all of the money making prisons and po po's we still have meth, crack, heroin, prescription drug abuse, there is still plenty out there for leo to make their money on, while leaving us normal people who pay taxes alone.

 

every one should just quit alcohol and cigerettes they are dangerious compared too mj and we dont need it, we can put them out of business w/o making mj legal!

 

we can also stop doing the pain pills and traqulizers the dr.s write, we may not be able to get off of all rx's but we should stop all opoids and sleep pills, mm can take care of that!

 

Peace

[Restorium2]

If they just made it legal all out, there would still be plenty of idiots out there breaking the law to keep the private prisons going and the narco squads, anything smuggled thru borders is up for grabs for all of the money making prisons and po po's we still have meth, crack, heroin, prescription drug abuse, there is still plenty out there for leo to make their money on, while leaving us normal people who pay taxes alone.

 

every one should just quit alcohol and cigerettes they are dangerious compared too mj and we dont need it, we can put them out of business w/o making mj legal!

 

we can also stop doing the pain pills and traqulizers the dr.s write, we may not be able to get off of all rx's but we should stop all opoids and sleep pills, mm can take care of that!

 

Peace

I'm curious to hear what your dad would say about how the leo unions are donating to keep the prisons full.

[Chauncy Gardner]

You see the uphill battle for anyone who would try to help us. But here's their weakness:

 

None of these groups have a humanitarian reason to keep marijuana illegal. It's all about money now. When everyone against you has only selfish, money making, reasons to keep you from having your rights, then their war against you can't last, as long as your own reasons are not selfish and monetary. If you apply this logic to the legalization we see today then that will not last either because it is ONLY selfish and monetary. When legalization is set up so that it isn't only selfish and monetary then it will stand the test of time. The most unselfish and humanitarian thing for cannabis is decriminalization where anyone can grow the plant for whatever they want to do with it.

 

Amen.

[pergamum362]

Its capatilism at its finest.

[GanjaWarrior]

yep voting dem or gop isnt gonna help the issue.

[phaquetoo]

 

I'm curious to hear what your dad would say about how the leo unions are donating to keep the prisons full.

 

you know me too, why dont you write me a few questions and I will ask him, back in his hey day he was one of the founders of the original p.o.a.m and then he was the president of that union for over 8 yrs, he was the also a vice president of a u.s union of leo's, I got to go to alot of kewl places on the unions dime. or I guess the mj dealers dime, hmmmm maybe I wouldnt have went if I thought of it that way eh?

 

me and my brother always brought the best budds with us where ever the u.s union met lol, been all over the u.s on the poam's dime,,,,I hope karma dont get me, but hey ive always been into the mj, one time I had a cast on one of my leg from my toes to my arse, he moved my 68 fire bird to get his own car out, he had to open my ashtray and find a few joints lol, I came out as soon as he moved it, im on crutches and he was chasing me around our yard in st.clair shores, macomb county, I imagine the neighbors got a real good laugh, he didnt catch me bawahahahahaha, why do they not make cops loose weight when they get to fat to catch a guy on crutches?

 

seriously I will ask him if you want answers, now remember my pops retired in 86 so he hasnt had anything to do with leo since, and ive gotten him to use some topicals, he went from dead set against it to seeing my grow, and him and mom using my p.b oil with my oil infused to it, but you gotta remeber big guy he is an old skewl cop and they were all against mm, his hey day in leo we had a hippie house right across the street from us, I used to see his best friend ( narco cop with long hair and drove a harley) at that hippie house alot, I grew up on a street called deziel and we had at least 4 houses that were hippie flop houses, it was pretty entertaining at least in my eyes lol!

 

Peace, pm me I will ask him what ever you want!

Edited February 8, 2014 by phaquetoo

[Restorium2]

If you could ask him what he thought about this part, how did they get there, is he aware of it;

Federal lobbying disclosures show that police union lobbyists have pushed for stiffer penalties for marijuana-related crimes nationwide.

[phaquetoo]

That is recent stuff, im betting he don't have a clue, back in his day when peeps got pulled over, and leo found mj they just made us dump it out, they took our booze and drank it after work, and some of his cop buddys didn't make peeps dump their sacks they just took it from them, ive smoked with a lot of cops that are retired now!

 

Peace

[Wild Bill]

That is recent stuff, im betting he don't have a clue, back in his day when peeps got pulled over, and leo found mj they just made us dump it out, they took our booze and drank it after work, and some of his cop buddys didn't make peeps dump their sacks they just took it from them, ive smoked with a lot of cops that are retired now!

 

Peace

[beourbud]

That is recent stuff, im betting he don't have a clue, back in his day when peeps got pulled over, and leo found mj they just made us dump it out, they took our booze and drank it after work, and some of his cop buddys didn't make peeps dump their sacks they just took it from them, ive smoked with a lot of cops that are retired now!

 

Peace

Right On

 

Pre War on Drugs (fknrepublicans),   the best dope was from leo...confiscated of course......they called it recycled

[jointedone]

So get the State out of the prison business,and let companies BUY them and run them.The are usually big,so the tax revenue from the property alone would add to our ailing State.  It's BOTH parties in Michigan that are avoiding this issue as long as they can. Can't you see the game these idiots are playing with OUR money? Making this a partisan subject is what they want. To divide people. Well,we voted and WON last time,now it's time for those lameass no term limit old dudes,both parties, that need to be GONE.

[trichcycler]

maybe the very same corps responsible for producing food that accurately negatively targets our health, and forces millions into their invented treatments programs. They have made natural behaviors either criminal, or labeled abnormal/destructive, requiring medicated corrections. In many states Pfizer drugs pre screens k-12 and locates "problem children" in need of Pfizer made drugs, and the teachers support the mass drugging. "Food and Drug Administration" under the same roof, should be the first clue, the second clue, look at the work history of every board member of the administration. Merck, Pfizer, Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, maybe? we're doomed, while we were sleeping.

Prisons as a business, fighting so they can imprison more people for profit, what a depraved society.

[GanjaWarrior]

Right On

 

Pre War on Drugs (fknrepublicans),   the best dope was from leo...confiscated of course......they called it recycled

when you say that part about fkn rep are you ignorant to the rampant support of the drug war from the dems? do you not know about the huge explosion in pot arrest under clinton, do you not know about the huge numbers of arrest under obamma.  what is the purpose in only identifying half of the problem? can you show any evidence of the dems trying to end the war on drugs? dont include the current pandering for two reasons, one obamma is a habitual liar, 2nd the rep are just as eager to pander to us now. lastly are you unaware how the current regime is suing the war on drugs in Mexico, allowing guns to go to the sinolan drug cartel while allowing the same cartel to ship keys of cocaine into the country? to be correct your statement should read (fknpoliticians).

[trichcycler]

fknpoliticians !!

[cristinew]

  So get the State out of the prison business,and let companies BUY them and run them....for profit??...and then  they can buy the senate to imprison us for profit? just what we need ,,  Prairie Plant can sell the weed and own the prison to lock us up ,, win win  

[Guanotea1]

You know - if you want to evaluate a politician you should completely ignore whatever they say when they are campaigning (unless they are brand new to the political scene). Very illuminating, here's the short hand version of the research - mostly its a pack of lies.

 

Surprise!

 

As for the special interests, well, no one is going to be able to curtail the nationwide change originating in Colorado. Many states are desperate now, especially Michigan. Desperate states need money, they will always want more than they have and they will always attempt to live beyond their means.

 

Lets extrapolate the current data and make a couple of predictions -

Colorado is expected to bank ~67 million on weed sales in 2014.

Colorado banks ~ 83 million in lotto sales on average over the last 30 years

44 states have a state-run lottery

13 states have legalized commercial casinos

(Since the money is going to the right places, the limiting factor in both cases is moral outrage)

 

It's tough to calculate moral outrage, and I'm a REALLY poor barometer for that since I'm such a fringe fellow - so lets just say between 13-44 states will have legalized state sponsored recreational MJ rather quickly.

 

State money superceeds special interests. And when they are desperate enough, sooner if they have the support of the people i.e. it will make those particular politicians MORE popular, they WILL take the MJ money.

 

All 5 of those special interests simply DO NOT have the money to line the right pockets to keep MJ prohibition underway. $1 million? $10 million? Chump change. MJ will have bipartison support definately by the time we are seniors and actually vote and probably sooner. 

 

OK, jump down my throat now.

[phaquetoo]

 

  So get the State out of the prison business,and let companies BUY them and run them....for profit??...and then  they can buy the senate to imprison us for profit? just what we need ,,  Prairie Plant can sell the weed and own the prison to lock us up ,, win win

 

oh and better yet, they can make the prisoners be gardeners! win win win!

 

Peace

[phaquetoo]

 

 

That is recent stuff, im betting he don't have a clue, back in his day when peeps got pulled over, and leo found mj they just made us dump it out, they took our booze and drank it after work, and some of his cop buddys didn't make peeps dump their sacks they just took it from them, ive smoked with a lot of cops that are retired now!

 

Peace

mid 80's early 90's id have to say, according to my interaction with leo!

 

Peace

[trichcycler]

Between the Armored Personnel Carriers locking down main streets in major American cities – mimicking our MRAPs in Afghanistan – or Special Weapons and Tactics (Swat) and Special Forces units canvassing our country, if we're not careful, this militarization of our domestic policing will make-over America, and fast.

Here's how it all happened. A little-known Pentagon program has been quietly militarizing American police forces for years. A total of $4.2bn worth of equipment has been distributed by the Defense Department to municipal law enforcement agencies, with a record $546m in 2012 alone.

In the fine print of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 1997, the "1033 program" was born. It allows the Defense Department to donate surplus military equipment to local police forces.

Though the program's existed since the 1990s, it has expanded greatly in recent years, due, in part, to post-9/11 fears and sequestration budget cuts. The expanse, however, seems unnecessary given that the Department of Homeland Security has already handed out $34bn in "terrorism grants" to local polices forces – without oversight mind you – to fund counter-terrorism efforts.

Additional militarization, then, deserves congressional attention as the program is harmful and must be scaled back for a number of reasons.

First, the program is transforming our police into a military. The results of such over-militarized law enforcement are apparent from the dispersion of Occupy protesters in Oakland to the city-wide lockdown in Boston. As retired police chief Norm Stamper stated to the Associated Press

We make a serious mistake, I'm convinced, in equipping domestic law enforcement, particularly in smaller, rural communities, with this much military equipment.

Tanks, grenade launchers, armored vehicles, and assault rifles are just a few of the items that have been transferred from military control to municipal police forces. Law enforcement agencies need only to arrange and pay for shipment in order to receive the items of their choic. One particularly egregious example is found in South Carolina, where Richland County's sheriff acquired a tank with 360-degree rotating machine gun turrets. Sardonically, the vehicle has been named "the Peacemaker".

Swat teams, furthermore, are no longer found only in large, high-crime areas. Instead, even small rural towns now have the equipment to arm their own paramilitary units. Investigative reporter Radley Balko estimates that around 150 Swat raids are performed every day in the United States

Second, the program encourages waste. Never mind, for a moment, that neither the Defense Department nor the Homeland Security Department has been audited – the only two unaudited government departments incidentally. Any waste from the 1033 program, then, has gone unnoticed thus far.

Municipalities' stockpiles have grown exponentially with billions of dollars' worth of weaponry and equipment they simply do not need. This giveaway has created a shopping frenzy among law enforcement officials keen to scoop up equipment before someone else does.

Take a look at these examples. A small town in Georgia without a body of water acquired boats and scuba gear. The same town ordered a shipment of bayonets, which is now collecting dust. In Texa, a town of only 835 residents received more than $3m worth of equipment, including deep-fat fryers, televisions, and playground equipment. The stories abound.

Authorities often claim that the program assists local law enforcement without incurring costs for taxpayers. Yet the program requires that localities accept equipment "as is", meaning that taxpayers foot the bill  for all repairs, storage, or maintenance of the growing stockpile. Thus, the arms race ignited by these policies is as wasteful and costly as it is dangerous.

Lastly, the program's lack of oversight is irresponsible. Indeed, the amount of unaccounted for weapons, fraud, and abuse is alarming. Officially, state coordinators are required to ensure that local law enforcement agencies keep full inventories  of the equipment they receive, and the localities must report any missing equipment and return any that is unused. But in practice, federal and state authorities infrequently check – if ever – to ensure that inventories are up to date. Effectively, then, it is the recipients of weapons who are left to regulate themselves. The results have been disastrous.

For example, a sheriff in Illinois was accused of lending the assault rifles, which he got through the 1033 program, to his friends. Meanwhile, a firearms manager in North Carolina pled guilty to selling his on eBay. Worse, were completely suspended from the program because of the high volume of weapons they lost. And a county in Arizonaacquired $7m worth of weapons and Humvees before giving them to unauthorized persons and attempting to sell them to boost their budget.

The lack of oversight is appalling. State coordinators admit that they conduct very few in-person inspections. In New York, the state is apparently outsourcing the majority of their inventory work to a part-time, unpaid intern. And in Mississippi, it took six years before federal authorities discovered that a state office, which was ineligible for the program, had received $8m worth of equipment, despite the fact that the Defense Department is supposed to review the program every two years
 
The Pentagon program cannot continue in this manner. Congress should acknowledge the failure of this program and permanently ban military-grade weaponry, armored vehicles and aircraft from transfer to municipal police forces. If the Defense Department is to continue to lend surplus equipment to localities, it must vastly tighten oversight and ensure that no item go unaccounted for. On-site inspections must be frequent and consequences for noncompliance should be severe.

If America is concerned about helping its police forces prevent violence, there are more cost effective ways of doing that. Since we know that cities and states with lower levels of violence have higher levels of education, healthcare coverage and economic opportunity, and lower levels of poverty and income inequality, that is where we should be investing taxpayer dollars.

But when local police forces carry assault weapons and patrol America's main streets with tanks and drones, the lines blur between the military and law enforcement. The growing militarization of the United States appears to be occurring at home as well as abroad, a phenomenon which is troublesome and sure to continue without decisive action. Scaling back the 1033 program is a much-needed start and would cast some light on the blurring line between military forces and the local police who are meant to protect and serve.

[Highlander]

So get the State out of the prison business,and let companies BUY them and run them.The are usually big,so the tax revenue from the property alone would add to our ailing State.  It's BOTH parties in Michigan that are avoiding this issue as long as they can. Can't you see the game these idiots are playing with OUR money? Making this a partisan subject is what they want. To divide people. Well,we voted and WON last time,now it's time for those lameass no term limit old dudes,both parties, that need to be GONE.

 

If we privatize all of our prisons, then rich, for-profit corporations who buy these prison will shovel money at politicians to keep prisons full.  Privatizing prisons isn't a viable solution.

[jointedone]

If we privatize all of our prisons, then rich, for-profit corporations who buy these prison will shovel money at politicians to keep prisons full.  Privatizing prisons isn't a viable solution.

Isn't that what they do already? Judges wives owning JAMS and Judges ordering random testing? Why don't Judges get tested? Why doesn't EVERY single STATE and FEDERAL employee have mandatory testing? If your statement is true,why are our jails over-crowded right now? Aren't prisons State and Fed funded? That means WE pay for it. Let the "rich for profit corporations" spend their own money. 

[AmishRnot4ganja]

Isn't that what they do already? Judges wives owning JAMS and Judges ordering random testing? Why don't Judges get tested? Why doesn't EVERY single STATE and FEDERAL employee have mandatory testing? If your statement is true,why are our jails over-crowded right now? Aren't prisons State and Fed funded? That means WE pay for it. Let the "rich for profit corporations" spend their own money. 

One of the problems with for profit prisons is that certain people have a monetary incentive for making sure the prisons are full. It seems kind of immoral for someone to make money from another person's criminal behavior. Prison owners lobby for more prisoners.

 

Taxpayers still pay for the prisoners. The prison owners get a fee from the government for each prisoner they house. The idea behind private prisons was that the State could get out from under what the Republicans believed was the burden of public employee unions. The great Republican idea of privatizing government institutions was hatched with the goal of union busting.

There are some government functions that really do not belong in the private sector. Armies and prisons are two that come to mind.