Not all is lost in the war against the war. Sane people are trying to change the mad laws against the use of marijuana. Among them is Steve Fox, the director of state campaigns for the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to reforming marijuana laws. Previously, from 2002-2005, Steve lobbied Congress for MPP. He is also a co-founder of the organization Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) and the co-author of Marijuana is Safer: So why are we driving people to drink? Here is an excerpt from his article published in alternet.org. For the full article, CLICK HERE.

“The truth is that law enforcement officials know the use of marijuana is not a major source of societal problems. Oh, sure, some people might use marijuana too much and this might be considered a social problem – similar to the overuse of video games. But it is not even in the same league as alcohol, which, by the federal government’s own figures, is linked to 25-30 percent of all violent crimes in the U.S. and is a factor in two-thirds of acts of violence between intimates. (The relative harms of marijuana and alcohol on the streets — and in homes — is the theme of former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper’s foreword in Marijuana is Safer.)

Law enforcement officials know this, yet far too many of them continuously and consistently argue that we need to punish adults who use marijuana instead of alcohol. Let me emphasize those last two points. They know that individuals are more likely to be violent if they drink alcohol instead of using marijuana, but they do everything in their power to make sure the only legal option for adults is alcohol. So they clearly don’t care about public safety. What on earth could their motivation be?

Plain and simple. They are motivated by self-interest. Their very jobs depend on a steady stream of arrests and prosecutions. And marijuana users are their cash cow, with arrests totaling a staggering 847,863 in 2008. As long as the marijuana arrests keep coming, so do their paychecks. Keep this in mind the next time you hear a law enforcement official explaining why we need to “protect our streets” from this “dangerous drug.”

Fortunately, the marijuana policy reform movement is starting to fight back. Two weeks ago, SAFER launched a campaign targeting members of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association, who had been lobbying the Colorado state legislature to effectively shut down medical marijuana dispensaries in the state. [I have provided a link to their Web site, but only to prove that it has been disabled due to SAFER’s efforts.] Labeling CDIA a shameless member of the “Arrest and Prosecution Industry,” SAFER sent out an alert slamming them for trying to make patients suffer in order to protect their own jobs. SAFER also called for a boycott of Starbucks, which was listed as a sponsor on the CDIA site. This led to the site, which also included promotional items showing how “cool” the war on drugs is, being pulled down.”