Officials come out against Cannabis Ignorance and Prohibition

I don't think there is much I can add to this. Is it finally happening? Are the intelligent and brave finally coming out to pu an end to this government sponsored nonsense? Check it out, it seems to be all over the media since last week.

Ex U.S. Attorney John McKay, right, speaks during a news conference as Charles Mandigo,
special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office, looks on. (2002)

And today, yet another person in the know speaks out against Cannabis prohibition. This time, ex-Seattle FBI agent, Charlie Mandigo. I've met him several times at meetings years ago and found him to be a very nice, reasonable, and inteligent guy.

Yesteday the Seattle Times reported:

"Charlie Mandigo is not a household name, but the former Special Agent in Charge for Seattle’s FBI office is well-known with law enforcement. In his 27-year FBI career, he led investigations against Ahmed Ressam, “Millennium Bomber” caught at Port Angeles, white supremacists in North Idaho and countless drug smuggling cases."

"In a statement, Mandigo writes: There is no question the time has come when government must curtail discretionary programs. If the resources were available, continued enforcement of criminal laws for possession and use of small amounts of marijuana might be a discretionary function of government. But we have gone beyond the point where the resources are available or there is a justifiable cost-benefit to society. There must be an end to sacred cows."

"According to the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, other former federal law enforcement officials who have come out for marijuana legalization include former Illinois U.S. Attorney Thomas Sullivan; the former head of the FBI’s Jacksonville, Fla., office, Mike Kahoe, and senior federal judge John L. Kane of Denver. If I-502 gathers enough signatures – as expected – it will go to the 2012 state Legislature, where lawmakers can pass it or kick it to the November 2012 general election."

Last week they also reported:

"The former U.S. Attorney for Seattle, Kate Pflaumer, endorsed marijuana legalization in a Seattle Times guest editorial today, adding credibility to an already high-profile initiative campaign. Pflaumer joins former U.S. Attorney John McKay in endorsing the New Approach Washington campaign, an initiative likely headed to the 2012 state Legislature that would legalize and regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol. The Seattle Times column also was signed by former King County Judge Robert Alsdorf and Anne Levinson, a former Seattle Municipal Court judge."

That same day Pflaumer published an editorial:

"Sign Initiative 502 to put marijuana legalization before state Legislature."

It begins:

"WE are, respectively, a former federal prosecutor and two former judges who have not only observed but also enforced marijuana laws at the federal, state and local levels. As we write this, our former colleagues continue to enforce these laws, as is their duty as legal professionals and public officials.

"We ask that these laws be changed. It is time for a different, more effective approach. That's why we endorse Initiative 502, which would decriminalize marijuana in our state and make a long-overdue change for the better in public policy.

"I-502 would replace the existing marijuana-prohibition approach with a public-health approach that allows adults 21 and over to purchase limited quantities of marijuana from state-licensed and state-regulated businesses. The sale of marijuana would be taxed and the new revenue — estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually — would go instead to help meet important public needs."



LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

I do wish they would stop calling it Marijuana. But anyway....

I just heard that people are suggesting that we shorten the school year and increase class sizes by two kids. I'm kind of horrified. We have been behind much of the world for years on education, this, regardless of our economic situation, is unreal. I've been saying since childhood that we need to have year round school years, no summer vacations. We already have too many vacations going, but that's okay, if ever few months the kids get a week off, cool. Two weeks? That's kind of pushing it.

Adding kids to the classroom? I don't think so, I think we need to figure out the optimal number of kids in a classroom and pass a law that, that's it. Not like the prisons where you can only have so many inmates to a cell, then triple it. Plus, every other classroom should have a teacher in training as a teacher's aide. We need to kick our kids up the ladder in education in substance, style and content. More people, not less.

And removing this nonsense about things like Cannabis, and putting that money to something that we desperately need to do, like take care of our kids, only makes sense. If we increase the brain power of our kids, there is a very good chance they won't want to be stoned all the time. Of course, they will then be smart enough very likely, to want to get stoned occassionally to relieve stress, but that's okay. It's better than taking the pills many of their parents take, and that the drug companies, Western Medicine (AMA) and our government push on us. That is, of course, as long as they are over 18, and if they buy it legally or grow it themselves.

Does anyone seriously believe this anymore?

I don't know, but maybe, just maybe it's finally time to vote this prohibition and these ignorant, punitive laws right off the books?