420 Campaign - Can-Do Cannabis Reform

The goal is marijuana’s legalization. The strategy, though, is to advance reform, to advance on a wide front and to advance as deeply as possible into enemy territory. Legalization, decriminalization, medicalization, hempification…these and any other manifestation of reform are all part of the same realization, which is this:  Now is the time for cannabis reform. It’s green light time. Cannabis reform is a can-do proposition.

Normally it makes good strategic sense to focus on the concentration of forces, to mass your resources and attack where your opponents are weakest. However, right now the opponents of cannabis reform are in retreat. State governments are broke. The federal government is broke. The drug war is bankrupt – effectively, morally, and financially. This is not a matter of over-confidence; this is the reality of economics, public policy, and public perception.

The Obama Administration has already acknowledged its general intention to let state governments innovate new approaches to marijuana policy. While specifically addressing medical marijuana policy in California and other states the Obama approach acknowledges the long-standing reality that marijuana laws are primarily state responsibilities. The states have been opting out of the federal prohibition on marijuana over the last 35 years through decriminalization, conditional discharge, widespread use of probation for marijuana possession cases, and other enforcement and sentencing policies. Given the fiscal crises facing the country, this trend is not likely to be reversed any time soon.

Indeed, at the federal level we’re already seeing signs that the administration is looking to enhanced treatment-oriented policies as the centerpiece of national anti-drug efforts. For example, the most significant anti-drug aspect of Obama’s budget concerns funding for drug courts that promote treatment rather than incarceration for drug offenses.

While the rhetoric at the highest levels of government will continue to dismiss marijuana’s legalization as a viable policy option, watch what they do rather than obsess about what they say.

Meanwhile, the task for reformers is to increase the visibility and public support for new approaches to marijuana-related issues. Politicians, opinion leaders, the media, and government officials are all open to persuasion that it’s time to take a fresh look at innovative policies to reduce the cost of prohibition.

Entrepreneurship is based on new combinations of goods and services, and it is a process of creative destruction. New policies attract support and funding away from old policies and destroy them in the process. The way to destroy prohibition is to attract new support to innovative policies. Whether it is a legalize and regulate approach in California, medical marijuana legislation in Florida, decriminalization in Texas, or hemp development in North Dakota, these and other emerging policy alternatives add to the ongoing process of creative destruction of costly, failing, and out-dated prohibitionist approaches.

So spread the word to your friends and colleagues. Form discussion groups on campus. Write letters to the editor of your local newspapers. Email your state and federal legislators and tell them of your support for new approaches to drug policy. Project Vote Smart will connect you with your legislative representatives at the state and federal level. Email your friends about the 420 Campaign. Get involved with reform groups. Support the Marijuana Policy Project, support NORML, support the Drug Policy Alliance, support Students for Drug Policy Reform, support Americans for Safe Access. All of these groups will assist you in contacting legislators, political leaders, and the media.

Take a look at public events and you’ll see that marijuana reform is a topic of increasing popularity. The strategic focus these days is to sustain and advance the momentum of this newfound interest. That’s why cannabis reform is a can-do proposition. If you want to see marijuana legalized, then you have to participate in actions that make this a reality. Right now, the most powerful activity is to spread the word about reform, any kind of reform, to both supporters and to the general public.

The opponents of reform are in retreat, but that won’t last for long. They’re already trying to take a new stand, particularly in the form of labeling reform as surrender. It won’t take long for the advocates of prohibition to make up new scare stories and new ways to repackage the tired old clichés they’ve relied on for decades. Fact is, they’re pretty good and drumming up hysteria about drugs in general and marijuana in particular. But that’s why it is so important to spread the word now about the need for new approaches to these old and costly prohibitionist policies. 

An opportunity is present to change the nature of the public debate in a fashion that can keep prohibitionists on the defensive. The financial reality is painful for anti-drug warriors these days. The government has too many problems to address and not enough money to address them with, and prohibitionists have little to show for all the money they’ve spent over the last few decades. Consequently, these are great days to push the cause of reform.

Cannabis reform is a can-do proposition these days. Spread the word. Make your opinions heard, and make them count.