Will DC be the next “State” to Nullify Federal Prohibition?

Oh the irony to think that the capital city of these united states will be nullifying their own law even while their agents are raiding dispensaries in the states.  The voters in the city of DC approved medical Marijuana in 1998, and finally all of the licensing is complete.  The dispensary by the name of Capital City Care will be the first to open on the 22^nd of April within blocks of the White House, and with a clear view of the US Capital.  This will be a hugevictory for the forces of liberty, in the face of the growing police state.

After resisting the clear will of the American people for so long, DC could have to call it quits and accept the demise of the war on drugs (police state), as they join the 18 states that have already nullified the war on pot (as a legal drug) .  As I have always said, weed is much like the war on drugs.

Respectable opinion on weed seems to be that it is a “gateway drug”.  This is meant to give the impression that one puff of it will lead one through a gateway and down a path towards desperation, and dependence upon drugs for daily functioning.  Doing unspeakable things for the next hit of your current drug of choice.  Theft and violence will become the life of the addict or so says this paradigm.  In reality it is the war on drugs that is the gateway, it is a gateways towards tyranny, and authoritarianism.

It is ironically the so called “Constitutional” Conservative who are the biggest cheerleaders for this insane policy.  Even as they hold the correct position on so many policies that you should not pile additional laws on already illegal behavior (such as opposing gun control because murder is already illegal, or opposing hate crimes because the crimes they punish are already illegal.)  None the less they point towards the culture of crime that surrounds the drug trade (as surrounds all black markets regardless of the banned items for sale) and say “look drugs cause murders and robberies.”  Murder and theft are already illegal, so why is that an argument for prohibition?

It is the war on drugs itself (and not the drugs) that leads to black market criminals handling sales vice pharmacists; it leads to meth labs handling product safety and quality instead of accountable farmers it leads to thugs with pistols handling justice instead of courts.  It leads to asset forfeiture laws instead of constitutional protections; it leads to militarization of our police forces, and disgusting incentives to seize assets with no cause and require proof of innocence prior to return.  In short the war on drugs was a gateway tyranny, and someday soon Uncle Sam will need to go cold turkey to get sober.

Maybe the nullification from Capital city will make the doublespeak to obvious even for career politicians to pull off.  I would hope that maybe this will be a tipping point, where DC just stops trying to enforce this unconstitutional and insane war against Americans free will.  I should hope that the next step will be full legalization of Pot such as has been accomplished by Co, and Wa, and is being pursued by Oregon, and 6 other states.

I should include the disclaimer that I have never smoked or otherwise used pot, I never intend to, I counsel my children not to use drugs, and in general conceed that it probably is destructive to the individual who uses it.  All drugs legal and illegal are, but we need to ask ourselves are we free individuals, are we adults, do we own ourselves or not?  If we own ourselves, then we can own the consequences of our actions.  If you make the case for the prohibition of drugs even disregarding the obvious legal paradigm of enforcing a law we have no standing to pass, you must make the case of why this behavior is one that merits such an extensive enforcement apparatus that it requires small invasions of other countries… Let that sink in for a while, the war on drugs requires actual military invasions of other countries to prevent non-violent Victim-less crimes.  I requires actions on the part of local police that would be unacceptable for any other state of affairs except during martial law… Doesn’t that seem like a little bit of overkill?

This is not an issue for the Federal government (which is barred by the Constitution from carrying it out).  It could be a job for the states, and localities.  There at least the citizens can stop it once its futility is discovered.  In reality, I think it should be a job for churches, families, and employers.

There is an argument to be made that we have to carry out this war on drugs to prevent our doctors and airline pilots from being high while performing their duties, and this seems like a reasonable argument, but it falls flat once you realize that the only reason those professions would fall victim to this is because the Feds have so hampered the freedom of association in this country that employers are no longer free to fire somebody for showing up to work drunk. The war on drugs makes the promise to prevent the self-inflicted wounds created by the host of equal employment agencies in America where employees who show up to work on nuclear reactors drunk can sue their employers if they are fired, and claim an addiction which will preserve their job.  A better answer to this problem would be to scrap the prohibition on free association, not enforce a war on victim-less activity.

Any way you slice it, the war on drugs has been an abysmal failure, and needs to be ended.  Let’s hope the courageous medical pot industry in DC will be a bold new step in that direction!  This is the clearest evidence yet of the success of nullification.