Pot Legalization Foe Getting Rich off the Drug War

(También en Español)

News of Note: Pot Legalization Foe Getting Rich off the Drug War

“The lobbyist who helped kill California’s Proposition 19, the 2010 ballot measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana, has constructed an entire business model around keeping pot illegal. While fighting against the proposed law, lobbyist John Lovell accepted nearly $400,000 from a wide array of police unions, some of which he also represented in attempting to steer millions of federal dollars toward California’s marijuana suppression programs….

“Police unions and their lobbyists weren’t the only economic interests with a stake in Prop. 19. The alcohol industry and prison guards also contributed money to fight the measure. “

Is cannabis illegal because America needs more people in prison? Is cannabis illegal because people shouldn’t have an alternative to alcohol? If not, then how do these lobbyists justify their support of cannabis prohibition? Locking people up in prison not because they are dangerous, but because you profit from it, is a crime against humanity. The primary opponents against cannabis legalization are not concerned with human safety.

When laws are passed under false pretenses, who is our government looking out for? And what is our society turning into?

Creative Commons Image by Petr Brož