Why supporting MDRI has not been an easy decision:CNDP is one of the many Drug Reform organizations that the billionaire group of Soros, Sperling, Lewis and Zimmerman have been supporting since 1996. Last year, when the PRA initiative was in progress, we knew outside help would be needed to gather the 302,200 valid signatures required to place it onto the election ballot. I contacted Ethan Nadleman, who heads another of these Drug Reform organizations - (in this case The Lindesmith Center (TLC) in New York) - in order to arrange a meeting with George Soros. The purpose of the meeting would have been to arrange financing of professional canvassers who would then be able to guarantee the necessary signatures were collected. I was promised a call from Nadleman but was ultimately snubbed over 14 days of phone calls and emails. As a result the Herculean efforts of many Michigan activists, who had sacrifices thousands of hours of their time, was wasted because only 270,000 signatures were collected before the deadline.
In spite of this treatment, from Soros's TLC, I have put my emotions aside and have decided to support the initiative. But it does concern me that these billionaires have effectively ignored what most grass roots organizations have been fighting for over the last 30+ years: namely, the right for Adult Americans to cultivate and smoke Marijuana without Government taxation or interference. My biggest concern is that their money will effectively allow them to co-op the Drug Reform movement and indirectly prevent the Re-Legalization of Cannabis from ever being realized in the United States.
My other concern is that the treatment will just become another bureaucratic mess that will find, otherwise law abiding, Americans forced to accept "treatment for Marijuana abuse" in order to avoid jail and minimize fines. I don't want to trade one ineffective monster for another.
Still, it is undeniable that there are many hard-core addicts that would benefit from treatment and counseling. And the fact of the matter is treatment, for such people, is very difficult to obtain. The best aspect of the MDRI is that it diverts money away from law enforcement and effectively helps to defund this insane Drug War. Believe me, if law enforcement is not getting paid for busting people, their enthusiasm for busting people, especially for non-violent drug offences, will be gone in a New York minute. And that is definitely a good thing!
Professor Hemp
