BRATTLEBORO — Two of the most dangerous trends in our nation are also related.
Big Pharma is stalking medical marijuana, and privatized prisons are stalking Americans. Both possess a voracious and inexorable thirst for profits. If they don't make a profit, they would not stay in business. If they stay in business, then they want you.
Is it possible that there is indeed a collusion of interests to keep marijuana illegal or to channel it exclusively through prescriptions?
Think of the scale of things. With up to 100 million Americans who currently use or have used marijuana, if you own stock in Big Pharma and privatized prisons, wouldn't you be salivating at the thought of huge profits and dividends?
Does it matter if one segment of society locks up another segment for their victimless behavior and generates a huge economy around it?
Let's ask our good buddy and personable friend, Mr. Corporation.
As the adage goes, I wanted to “hear it from the horse's mouth,” so I went to visit Mr. C at his office and was told he wasn't in. It wasn't that I didn't get to talk to Mr. C that bothered me; I knew that Mr. C could never really look me in the face, man-to-man, as it were.
Mr. C can and does, however, turn you and me into numbers. We can and do become the cold, sterile numbers of a statistic, a bottom line, preferably, in the black. Mr. Corporation and his Uncle Sam, in fact, too often statistically place us in harm's way where we were not before.
Since I can't get an answer from Mr. C, I'll ask The Commons' readers the same question: Does it matter if one segment of society locks up another segment for their victimless behavior and generates a huge economy around it?
Perhaps you can exercise something Mr. Corporation is deficient in: your conscience.
Won't you join Marijuana Resolve to help end the prohibition of adult marijuana use here in Vermont?
As it is, we at Marijuana Resolve are not paid employees or lobbyists. We are just ordinary people who volunteer our time to help bring awareness and change marijuana laws that do more harm than good to everyday folks who possess no criminal intent.
Please visit www.leg.state.vt.us, and locate who represents you. Tell lawmakers to decriminalize marijuana this year to safeguard tens of thousands of Vermonters from the horrors of arrest, prosecution, and incarceration.
If you can help, please email us at marijuanaresolve@gmail.com.