Herbs, drugs, politics, fools, and foolishness

First, I want to thank my critic, Francisco R. Agulto, for his foolish statements that allow me to educate the public more on the marijuana phenomenon.

Marijuana was wrongfully classified as a drug because marijuana is really an herb/flower. The problem has been politics and the confusion between the substances of herbs and drugs as both have chemical compositions. What separates drugs from herbs is that drugs are medically defined as a substance of which something is made (by man) that is used as a medicine. Just because marijuana has the THC substance does not make it a drug in its natural state as every physical thing on earth is composed of some form of substance. The coca leaves, the poppies and even betel nut when compared to marijuana in their natural state should never be classified in the same category as man-made drugs like we see in the pharmacy and with street drugs like ice, cocaine, and heroin. It is that simple.

Marijuana is no worse than coca leaves, poppies and betel nut in their natural state and believe it or not, the founders of America’s political philosophy based their theory on mankind living in a state of nature and in a state of nature people would certainly be free to use marijuana. We are living with the existence of marijuana anyway and it can never be eradicated so the best mankind can ever do is to learn how to live with marijuana, instead of trying to stop something that grows freely in the ground. It is like trying to stop the powers of nature, which even fools know is impossible.

Politicians have traditionally been against legalized marijuana because the majority of modern society was against it but, as shown in CNN/ORC findings and numbers from General Social Survey polling, support for legalizing marijuana has steadily soared over the past quarter century, from 16 percent in 1987 to 26 percent in 1996, 34 percent in 2002, and 43 percent two years ago and now the support for legalizing marijuana has reached the level of being the majority of Americans at 55 percent.

Voters, the stock prices for cannabis companies have soared and a feeding frenzy is developing from the birth of a new industry. The New York City-based publication High Times announced a new private equity fund to “raise $100 million to invest in cannabis-related businesses,“ an industry estimated to already be generating revenues in the billions of dollars. We can be the first island group to ride this economic wave of legal marijuana but our leaders seem to only think of casinos and borrowing more money to put us in more debt when they should be creating new sources of revenues. They give us e-casinos and are still pushing for more casinos and the need to still borrow money. Wake up people and legalize it, we can fix it ourselves and stop the political foolishness.

Thanks for asking me to keep talking, Francisco, and I’m glad to know that this controversy fascinates your mind because controversy has led the way to all the improvements and changes, good or bad, in mankind’s evolution. So controversy can really be a good thing, putting me in good company with visionary people like the ancient philosophers, America’s founders and the civil and human rights activists of today. I’m just praying this won’t be another I told you so!

P.S.: The people can end this casino foolishness of our leaders and create one law that has already proven to boost the tourism industry and bring in hundreds of millions It is truly disappointing to see a governor who was never elected by the people and a senator who wants to be lieutenant governor continue to disrespect the people’s “no” decision on casinos. Now the Fund and the 25 percent are political hostages for re-election but I’m sure the people are not fools to believe casinos, e-casino room(s) and a loan is going to be our economic solution. It is truly time for the people to take matters into their own hands by signing and passing the LEGALIZE-IT Initiative that is going around. There are literally billions in new revenues to be made with the legalization of marijuana. UPDATE: I keep telling readers the CNMI will not be alone in this race to capitalize on national changes in the laws governing marijuana as states are lining up and a letter, signed and sent by federal legislators Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014, states that marijuana’s current status “makes no sense,” and requests that President Obama “instruct Attorney General Holder to delist or classify marijuana in a more appropriate way.” Eighteen Members of Congress joined together in calling on President Obama to use his authority to reclassify marijuana from its current position as a dangerous drug, alongside heroin and LSD, with no medical value. A letter, signed by Rep. Blumenauer, the congressional letter sent to President Obama Wednesday was co-signed by Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Sam Farr (D-CA), Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Mike Honda (D-CA), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), James McGovern (D-MA), James Moran (D-VA), Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), Jared Polis (D-CO), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and Peter Welch (D-VT).

Ambrose M Bennett
Kagman, Saipan