Monthly Archives: August 2016

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Marijuana Legalization: Give Peace a Chance

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English: Medical Marijuana surrounding a vapor...
English: Medical Marijuana surrounding a vaporizer for healthy intake of the medicine. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On November 8, voters in eight states will decide whether or not to legalize, to one degree or another, the possession, use and sale of marijuana.

If all of the measures pass, more than 86 million Americans will enjoy increased legal access to the plant: For medical use in Arkansas, Florida and Missouri, for recreational use in Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada.

Earlier this month, the US Drug Enforcement Administration announced it wouldn’t reconsider marijuana’s ridiculous Schedule 1 status (“no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”) — but the states seem to be leaving the federal government behind.  Medical marijuana is already legal in 25 states (and the District of Columbia), recreational use in four.

Soon, DEA may be running as fast as it can to get to the head of the parade, making a big show of ratifying what the country is doing without its permission and looking for new missions to replace its anti-cannabis campaigns.

It’s about time.

For at least 5,000 years, probably much longer, humans used marijuana without a great deal of fanfare. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were marijuana farmers. Queen Victoria, the living symbol of moral rectitude in an era obsessed with same, drank marijuana tea for her menstrual cramps.

That 5,000 years of uncontroversial and beneficial use have given way to nearly a century of war — characterized as a war on drugs in general, and often as a war on marijuana in particular, but in truth a war on people.

Initially, it was a war on people of color and people who spoke Spanish, and on industries without as many friends in government as William Randolph Hearst (whose paper mills were threatened by the advent of cheap paper made from hemp), but like so many wars it spun out of control, expanding far beyond the wildest expectations of those who declared it.

Tens of billions of dollars are spent, hundreds of thousands of Americans arrested, every year in prosecuting this war. Careers — and fortunes — depend on its continuation, and if the lives of people of all colors, classes and languages must be sacrificed in that cause, so be it.

But the end may be in sight, thanks to thousands of activists who have struggled for decades to bring the option of peace and freedom to your polling place. If you live in one of the states voting on marijuana this November, cast your ballot wisely.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

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Farm Follies: The Cheese Stands Alone (With Its Hand Out)

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Horse-drawn, two-furrow plough.
Horse-drawn, two-furrow plough. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On August 23, the US Department of Agriculture announced its plan to purchase 11 million pounds of cheese, at a cost of $20 million. The cheese will be “provided to families in need through USDA nutrition assistance programs,” but the real purpose of the purchase is to reduce excess cheese inventories, “assisting the stalled marketplace for dairy producers whose revenues have dropped 35 percent over the past two years.”

Economics 101: When so many people produce so much of the same thing that the supply of that thing exceeds the demand for it, prices fall. When prices fall far enough that not all the producers can turn a profit, some of them go off to do other things. Prices then rise as the market moves back toward “equilibrium” between supply and demand.

Farming 101: When so many people produce so much of the same thing that the supply of that thing exceeds the demand for it, prices fall. When prices fall far enough that not all the producers can turn a profit, the producers claim that farming is extra super special and that it’s the government’s job to make it profitable so that no one who wants to farm must instead go build houses, drive trucks or mop floors to make ends meet.

That’s why each and every American pays more than $300 to farmers each and every year before actually getting any edible farm goods — and then pays artificially high prices for those goods. The Agricultural Act of 2014 provides for $956 billion in government subsidies for farmers over 10 years, including “price supports” and other jiggery-pokery to keep prices above their natural market level.

I come from a farming family. My grandfather started out as a “share cropper,” eventually farming several hundred acres of his own. I spent my formative years living on a subsistence farm and working on others’ commercial farms. My father retired from a dairy operated by a farmers’ cooperative. If anyone should appreciate the extra super specialness of farmers, it’s me.

But I don’t.

In 1940, a single farmer fed 19 people (and my mother went to town on a horse-drawn wagon — yes, really; her family didn’t get a truck until after World War 2). Today, a single farmer feeds  eight times as many people (and probably drives a nice shiny pickup truck), even though the US population is only two and half times what it was back then.

Modern technology and methods mean fewer farmers can feed far more mouths. That’s a good thing that frees up labor to provide other desirable goods and services, not a “problem” to be offset by having government tinker with the market and attempt to guarantee someone’s “right” to make a living as a farmer at everyone else’s involuntary expense.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

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Travel Advice for the Islamo-FraidyCat Set

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English: Easyjet (G-EZBZ) Airbus A319 aircraft...
English: Easyjet (G-EZBZ) Airbus A319 aircraft, London Stansted Airport, Essex, England, July 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On August 18, three siblings boarded an EasyJet flight at London’s Stansted airport. Maryam, Sakina and Ali Dharas were en route to Italy for a holiday. But before the flight could take off, they were asked to debark for questioning by police. Another passenger, apparently an amateur detective, deduced that because they are brown people and the two sisters wear hijabs — Muslim head scarves — they must be Islamic State terrorists. Which, of course, they weren’t. The plane eventually took off,  but presumably the incident cast a pall over the Dharas family’s holiday, as well as throwing the other passengers’ travel plans at least a little off-kilter.

This is far from the first reported incident of its kind. It’s probably far from the last. But it COULD be the last if those suffering from constant, crippling fear of sudden violent death at the hands of terrorists read this and follow a few simple rule of the (so to speak) road.

RULE NUMBER ONE: Stay home. Really. Under your bed if possible (that is, if someone you trust is willing to bring you food and water,  empty a bedpan a couple of times a day, and perhaps run to the library for new reading material every so often). It’s unlikely that the terrorists will hunt you down there. Of course, you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a terrorist anywhere, but under the bed is probably pretty safe with respect to lightning, too.

RULE NUMBER TWO: If you absolutely, positively can’t avoid leaving your home, travel by private car. NOT by taxi! You might get a driver who’s brown, has an accent or wears headgear you find strange.

RULE NUMBER THREE: Before entering a business establishment, circle the parking lot a couple of times. You wouldn’t want to be surprised by scimitar-waving jihadists while ordering your double cheeseburger, fries and shake.

RULE NUMBER FOUR: It should go without saying, don’t travel by commercial aircraft, bus, etc. If you’re making a long trip and can’t drive yourself, charter a plane or limo or whatever. Tell them you want a “very American/British looking” pilot/driver. I’m sure they’ll know what you mean.

RULE NUMBER FIVE: If you can’t follow rules one through four, then pretty please with sugar on top sit down, shut up, and refrain from acting like an idiot in public and making everyone else’s life more difficult.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY