TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT POT

While the recent election primarily focused on the change of
leadership in Congress, perhaps the most interesting factor of the
2010 campaign was a state ballot initiative in California. Proposition
19 sought to legalize marijuana by regulating distribution and
decriminalizing possession and growing.

To the disappointment of many activists and cannabis consumers, Prop
19 failed (albeit by a small margin of 54 percent to 46 percent).

Most people think Prop 19 was unsuccessful because people are not
ready for legalization. This isn't true. The failure can be attributed
to the problems with this specific initiative and not with
legalization itself.

Some were worried about personal profits, and others were influenced
by a fear campaign about new penalties for young people.

There could also have been more grassroots organization to generate
public support, as very few organizations were working for it. In
addition, the passage of California Senate bill 1449 in October
decriminalized possession of minor quantities of cannabis, leading
many people to believe that measure was enough and Prop 19 was
unnecessary.

Unfortunately, it is still extremely alarming how many people are
against legalization because of their misguided beliefs about
cannabis. According to government propaganda, cannabis is associated
with everything from cancer to extreme laziness.

Virtually all government claims are strongly discredited by objective
research from respectable doctors and professors around the world.

In reality, cannabis actually helps cancer patients, is remarkably
safe for any medical or recreational use and does not significantly
impair motivation or driving (although you shouldn't drive while high,
just to be safe). But humans are stubborn beings, and once someone has
their heart set on something, it is very difficult to change their
opinion.

People who grew up being told cannabis is evil are naturally inclined
to dismiss any positive news about it, no matter how much there is. If
people could just admit they were wrong and accept the legalization
solution, this world would be a much better place.

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Prohibition is unimaginably destructive and can in fact be considered
a crime against humanity.

It results in almost a million people being arrested each year, gives
jobs to violent criminals all over the world, wastes billions of
dollars in precious state and federal resources, has created a
prison-industrial complex that feeds on innocent people, tears
families apart and more. Yet even with all this terror and
destruction, people are afraid of legalization because it might lead
to "increased use." In my opinion, people should be afraid of what is
going on right now: Police mistakenly breaking into houses and killing
beloved dogs - which happened to Cheye Calvo, the Berwyn Heights mayor
- - is a lot scarier than some responsible users smoking cannabis in
their homes.

These nonsensical policies even exist within our university, where
many students have been mindlessly kicked out of their dorms and
subjected to degrading and expensive drug testing.

The problem is people cannot understand others' pain very well, since
if we could, prohibition would have been eliminated in the few days
following its implementation in this country.

Thankfully, it will not be long before we see real change.
Organizations such as Students for Sensible Drug Policy are already
preparing legalization initiatives for the 2012 elections, and this
time, there may be opportunities beyond California. The movement has
learned a lot from Prop 19's failure, both in how to write the laws
and how to promote them. With all of this new knowledge and support,
it is looking more and more like 2012 will be the death of cannabis
prohibition and not the end of humanity.