Dismantling Prohibitionist Rhetoric
So the other day I was reading a statement from the anti-cannabis group called, “Citizens Against Legal Marijuana” who so happens to be a big fan of Jeff Sessions.
Here’s the statement that prompted me to write this piece via the Boston Globe;
“We love Jeff Sessions’s position on marijuana because he is thinking about it clearly,” said Scott Chipman, Southern California chairman for Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana.
He dismissed the idea of recreational drug use. “’Recreational’ is a bike ride, a swim, going to the beach,” he said. “Using a drug to put your brain in an altered state is not recreation. That is self-destructive behavior and escapism.” – Boston Globe
Before I jump into why this statement is rooted in a fascist mindset, let’s analyze the first part.
Thinking Clearly?
They claim that Jeff Sessions is thinking clearly about his position on Cannabis. Really? The same guy who thinks cannabis is just as bad as heroin? The same guy who is championing failed policies that resulted in higher drug uses? The same guy who believes that Nixon and Raegan had it right all along?
It seems to me that the folks at “CALM” are suffering from an ideological bias. They are ignoring facts, statistics and the general negative effect on the country as a whole just because they don’t like cannabis. They support a system that disproportionately targets minorities, does absolutely nothing to actually stop the flow of drugs and causes more harm to the individual than the actual “drug” they are consuming.
Of course, within their perspective they believe that legalizing cannabis will create more problems for the country, despite the fact that none of their “harrowing ills of legalization” has come to pass in the states that have legalized the plant.
Some might say I have a bias in favor of cannabis, however I have researched this plant for more than 20 years now. I take every ‘negative study’ at face value and try to find supporting or contradictory evidence to support my perspective on cannabis. Similarly, every “beneficial study” of cannabis undergoes the same scrutiny because for me truth is more important than pushing an agenda. This is not the case for prohibitionists.
Why the second part of their statement is rooted in Fascism
Now let’s get to the meaty parts.
“’Recreational’ is a bike ride, a swim, going to the beach,” he said. “Using a drug to put your brain in an altered state is not recreation. That is self-destructive behavior and escapism.”
Firstly, if we consider everyone to be free, they should be free to live self-destructive lives. This is the principle of liberty; you are responsible for your own decisions irrespective of whether they are beneficial or harmful.
They claim that recreation is limited to physical activities is erroneous. In fact, the definition of recreation is; activity done for enjoyment when one is not working.
It doesn’t specify, “taking a swim” or anything related to the above mentioned statement. It’s any activity that you do for ENJOYMENT when you’re not working. In other words, drug use is a recreational activity. That’s a fact. However, once again the ideological bias comes into play.
Secondly, we as humans put our “brains in altered states” every single day. Hell, we even let kids enter into altered states.
When you’re watching a movie or T.V, you are in fact putting your brain in an altered state. Similarly, drinking alcohol is doing exactly that. Jogging additionally increases dopamine levels in the brain and you guessed it, your brain goes into an altered state.
Every single time you orgasm, your brain goes into an altered state. The point here is that we consistently put our brains in other states; we escape the reality of the present by getting lost in the latest episode of Game of Thrones.
If we were going to get rid of all “self-destructive behavior” as a premise to justifying the prohibition of drugs, then we should immediately ban alcohol, tobacco, television, fast foods, movies, all sugars from all foods, sports betting and a vast majority of other things we love to do as people.
You have to understand that people like to do self-destructive things. Whether you’re binging a series on Netflix or playing video games all weekend or having a few beers at night. We all do these things to “escape” our realities for a moment.
Does this mean we should ban all of these things? Of course not. In a Free Society the individual has the liberty to be as self-destructive as he or she chooses to be as long as their self-destruction doesn’t impose on the liberty of others.
To legislate people’s behavioral choices is fascism. It’s creating a framework on “how a person should be according to other people”. It removes the individual from the equation and promotes a “sanctioned way of being”.
So unless you are a closet-fascist that would love to give your individual will and liberty to ‘another group of people’ to enforce…then yes, Jeff Session is your hero. If you like being a free person who enjoys life to its fullest….then he’s the biggest troll in the world.
And yes…I called CALM fascist. If anyone of their representatives’ want to debate me on their policy…I’d be more than happy to point out their erroneous ideological stance.
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