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Are we wasting time and money prosecuting marijuana crimes?

In our lifetimes, whatever our age is, possession and use of marijuana is going to be made legal at the federal level.

However we feel about that doesn’t matter. The statistics are on the side of those who approve. For goodness sake, turn your TV on and watch as even former conservative leaders advocate for either decriminilization or legalization. Fighting the inevitable trend is an effort in futility, even though MDN has resisted both medical and recreational use of the noxious weed.

It’s spitting into the wind. This debate is over. Perhaps sadly considering the ramifications, it’s done. Legalization is the de facto law of the land and holdovers will be rolled over by the will of the public and the pandering of the federal government.

It’s futile to resist.

As asserted repeatedly, two years ago when medical marijuana became law here, it wasn’t teens, college students or the ‘usual suspects’ who lobbied the paper for medical use. It was overwhelmingly senior citizens with chronic pain who were tired of doctors prescribing them pills that were ineffective. It was also people who opposed the medical community’s zeal in prescribing deadly opioid drugs. The medical establishment has yet to atone for creating a generation of opioid addicts; just as the establishment has yet to apologize for creating generations of diabetics by emphasizing bleached carbohydrates in the food pyramid many were taught. One could make the argument that the medical establishment is responsible for more poor health than all of the foreign drug peddlers combined.

So legalization is done. Over. Oh, our state can resist. States fought civil rights too, only to be washed away by the tide of history. We are in the same position.

MDN decries any expanded availability to drugs. But when the medical establishment, to whom we are all beholden, is the greatest culprit, what moral integrity does the Legislature have in trying to stem the tide.

None.

Nor do politicians who allowed this to happen – who sat on their hands when diabetes and opioid abuse were endorsed by the medical establishment.

MDN resents any expansion of availability of narcotics. But when healers are most responsible, how do we morally hold others responsible.

Get ready for full legalization. For good or bad, the issue is over. We can resist, but our laws inevitably mean nothing compared to the federal government.

If you are fine with that, good for you.

If not, make sure you know who to really blame.

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