Marijuana – Coast Contact

Bill Powers, a 57-year-old Canadian has a license for medical marijuana, and pot had been legal in the state of Washington for six years. Like that, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents turned him away with an extreme decree: He had been banned from the United States.

Lying to a border agent can result in a person being denied entry. But so too can being honest about past marijuana use. So Canadians will most likely lie when asked if they use marijuana.

As laws surrounding recreational marijuana slowly change state by state in the United States, Canada as a country has just legalized the substance. Adults 18 years and older in Canada can now purchase pot and and even grow it in their homes for personal use.

Fox News reports that Canadians could be banned from the US forever if they smoke legal pot. A Canadian citizen who drives from Vancouver to Seattle may be asked by a border agent if they have smoked pot before, and if they say yes, they could get banned from entry to the U.S. for life, even though pot is legal in Washington state. The Los Angeles Times has already reported on one man on medical marijuana was stopped from entering the United States.

Marijuana is illegal under federal law even in states that legalize it. Ten American states have legalized the use of marijuana.

So how did the ban on alcohol consumption by the United States (18^th amendment to the constitution) work out? The result was gangsters selling booze and evolving into an even more serious problems.

History.com reports the results of prohibition this was: “Under Prohibition, the illegal manufacture and sale of liquor–known as “bootlegging”–occurred on a large scale across the United States. In urban areas, where the majority of the population opposed Prohibition, enforcement was generally much weaker than in rural areas and smaller towns. Perhaps the most dramatic consequence of Prohibition was the effect it had on organized crime in the United States: as the production and sale of alcohol went further underground, it began to be controlled by the Mafia and other gangs, who transformed themselves into sophisticated criminal enterprises that reaped huge profits from the illicit liquor trade.”

Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions may oppose marijuana use but a growing part of society clearly does not agree.

SHOCKING!!

Suspicious: This image of Brooke Shield’s allegedly smoking cannabis with hardcore punk artiste H.R was leaked on the internet

I have been a supporter of legalizing the use of all illegal narcotics for years. I have never used any of them. Actually the only thing I ever smoked was a pipe and I gave that up decades ago.

My logic is that all the efforts to discourage the use of marijuana, heroin, and other drugs have been a failure. Those that want those narcotics have no difficulty obtaining them. Society has spent millions of dollars jailing people for possession the drugs. Gangs and cartels have made millions of dollars distributing them and people who challenge the cartels are murdered. This is not just a Mexican problem. It is a world wide problem. FBI data reported in U.S. News: American police made a total of 12,196,959 arrests in 2011 for marijuana use.

This past week the issue of marijuana use arrived at my home. My daughter suffers with serious acid reflux disease. It has been an ongoing problem for the past 18 months. Her doctor told her that one way to reduce the nausea and heartburn symptoms is to smoke marijuana. Medical marijuana is legal in California. Those symptoms had been under control with a variety of medications. The medications have not been effective the past few weeks. Finally, out of desperation, I said why not try the marijuana. Instant relief was the benefit. Starting this past Tuesday night she has not pleaded with me to take her to the ER.

Here is the ultimate hypocrisy.

Obama is quoted as saying that marijuana is no worse than cigarettes or alcohol. Still, he remains opposed to a nationwide decriminalization of marijuana. CNN reports Marijuana is currently classed as a schedule 1 drug, the same category as heroin and ecstasy. The Denver Post reports “Attorney General Eric Holder says the Obama administration is planning to roll out regulations soon that would allow banks to do business with legal marijuana sellers.”

Is this a great country or what?