Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Two former top DEA officials who have been loudly urging the federal government to nullify marijuana decriminalization in Washington and Colorado stand to profit from making pot illegal, the U.S. News & World Report revealed.
The retired officials, Robert L. DuPont, former White House drug czar under Presidents Nixon and Ford, and Peter Bensinger, who was administrator of the DEA in the 1970s, run Bensinger, DuPont & Associates, which specializes in drug testing in the workplace, U.S. News wrote.
“These individuals still have financial and professional interests in ancillary businesses and endeavors that benefit from keeping marijuana illegal,” he says. “So there’s a lot of bluster to imply the sky is falling, while to the rest of the public this is no big deal.” Armentano cites a number of recent public opinion studies on pot, including a 2011 study from Gallup that found at least half of America today supports legalizing marijuana.
The men were among 10 former DEA officials to recently address the Senate Judiciary Committee over their opposition to the pot laws.
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I think that the vast majority of Americans have had enough of this prohibition nonsense. When the government forced the marijuana prohibition onto us in 1937 they promised that it’d eliminate marijuana use and make people safe. But after more than seventy years it hasn’t achieved either of these goals!
In fact by shutting down the legal supply of marijuana while at the same time being totally incapable of curbing demand for the herb, the government has created a massive black market for marijuana that draws drug dealers into our neighborhoods and makes our children LESS safe.
We should NOT have laws that create more harm than what they prevent! It is unconscionable for our elected officials to perpetuate the failed prohibition on marijuana that *increases* crime and *decreases* the safety of our children!!
We need to END the marijuana black market and the easy access kids have to marijuana by letting stores sell legally-grown marijuana to adults at prices low enough to prevent illegal competition. We need to legalize marijuana like beer and wine!