George Washington, William Shakespeare, and Carl Sagan may be some of history’s greatest minds and most celebrated figures, but they’d all probably be in prison today if they were still alive. What would make these unlikely cellmates so dangerous that they’d have to be kept off the streets? Was Shakespeare a serial arsonist? Did Carl Sagan fly into a homicidal rage whenever somebody claimed to have invented a perpetual motion machine? No, the threat these historical icons posed to the public is much worse: They all smoked marijuana.
The idea that cannabis is a dangerous substance that should be avoided at all cost is a relatively modern invention. In fact, historians now believe that Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II regularly used marijuana, possibly to relieve eye pain. But if cannabis has indeed been in use for millennia, how come there has never been a single recorded instance of a person dying of a marijuana overdose? Think about that for a moment: In thousands of years of recorded history, not one person has ever died of THC poisoning, yet the federal government maintains that marijuana is among the most dangerous substances in existence.
People die each year from overdosing on prescription pain killers, alcohol, tobacco, and even water. Nevertheless, a plant that has never directly killed anyone is far more dangerous than all those things, according to the feds. Just how dangerous is it? In order to die of a marijuana overdose, a person would have to consume at least 1,500 pounds of cannabis within 15 minutes. Newer studies suggest it’d take even more than that. In contrast, drinking just eight glasses of water in a single day can kill you.
Unfortunately, the alcohol, drug, and tobacco industries are spending millions of dollars to make sure Congress continues to treat marijuana as the world’s deadliest poison so they don’t have to compete with a new industry. Let’s examine how your member of Congress is holding up in the face of all this dirty money flying around.
Congressman Greg Walden has taken over $215,000 in campaign contributions from these companies, more than most members of Congress. Walden has accepted more money from the drug companies and more contributions even from the slimy tobacco companies than any other member of the Oregon Congressional delegation. Seeing as how these special interests are determined to use the power of government to prevent legitimate competition from cannabis from cutting into their profits, it stands to reason that all the money they’ve lavished upon your member of Congress came with the expectation that they were purchasing his vote against any legalization bill.
Of course, there are few politicians alive today who can match the greed, hubris, and wanton ignorance of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Having eventually given up the sport of coldly telling parents of children with epilepsy that they’re out of luck, he now uses his bully pulpit to make everyone think that legalizing cannabis recreationally will lead to a generation of heroin addicts, a claim that has been thoroughly debunked by researchers.
Perhaps Mr. Christie is simply concerned about a sharp rise in DUI if marijuana is made legal. After all, since loco weed makes you crazy, every patient will inevitably hop behind the wheel of their car and drive backwards onto the interstate, clogging the roadway with thousands of car pileups. And if there’s one thing Governor Christie absolutely will not stand for, it’s blocking traffic.
Not since prohibition has the federal government pursued a policy so rooted in deliberate misinformation and outright hypocrisy. It is truly embarrassing that we, as a society, have for so long allowed ourselves to be manipulated into conflating the consumption of a relatively harmless plant with a lack of morality.
It’s time to end the stupidity and stop wasting taxpayer money on filling our prisons with people who have absolutely no business being there. That’s why I urge you to call Congressman Walden at 202-225-6730 and tell him to either legalize cannabis federally or make room for someone who will.
Kris Craig is a self-syndicated columnist who lives in College Place, Wash.
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