Feb 10 2008
Cannabis Isn’t an Issue (Again)
The percentage of Americans who regularly smoke cannabis has fluctuated, but it hasn’t significantly changed in years. Yet, again, it isn’t a political issue of any importance. At best, it gets tapped in as an invisible plank in Democratic health care policy. Cannabis continues to be the plant that dare not speak its name.
Hemp is a big issue in Hawaii right now. There are important bills in front of the state bodies and another initiave pending in Maui county. The hemp issue doesn’t get mainstream press because mainstream press is pwned by mainstream power. About nothing in Hawaii gets noticed on the mainland, not just cannabis issues.
MCCFDIA is the largest PAC in the state and is organized around positive medical marijuana and hemp laws. You bet the legislatures perk up when they digest that tidbit. They’ve registered over 6,000 new voters in the past year, a record for any organization in the state including the Democratic and Republican parties. This is power.
Anyway, the bill has made it through the House, so now on to the Senate and the Gov.
Also, don’t know where you get your numbers, but I’ve seen bigger numbers esp among young adults and teens. All schools with a DARE program show increased drug use esp marijuana.
The problem about getting noticed seems to be that almost everyone interested in marijuana reform is a stony and too many just blow the whole political thing off. The secret is in getting off your butt and doing something instead of just bitching about it and thinking up things for other people to do.