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
