Regardless of your politics, it seems one cannot look anywhere these days without being faced with the once mighty citadel of cannabis prohibition crumbling under the onslaught of science, reason and a citizenry exhausted by a failed drug war.
Studies both legitimate and psuedoscience flood our social media pages, politicians praise progressivism or decry moral decay on 24-hour news channels, and every day another American’s life changes for the better when they finally achieve safe, legal and protected access to a plant with which humanity has enjoyed a successful multi-millenia relationship.
Maine, ever proud of its rugged individualism and libertarian streak, has long been on the forefront of cannabis reform. Its decriminalization laws are some of the most reasonable in the country, and positive steps have been made towards bringing industrial hemp to a state already famed for its forestry and agricultural resources. Going far beyond the normally libertarian-leaning New Hampshire’s weak attempt at medical cannabis, Maine allows patients with a multitude of devastating physical and mental ailments, with physicians’ permission, access to a network of both caregivers and dispensaries to meet their various needs.
Yet, all is not so grand in the grand scheme of it all. For at the heart of decriminalization, hemp progressivism and medical cannabis laws lies the ugly reality of a pseudo-legalization that harms only those who seek to follow law and order, and is ignored by a thriving criminal black market whose very presence represents a massive loss in tax potential and chance of regulation to ensure safety and standards.
Drugs are a problem in New England. Real drugs ”“ hard drugs ”“ have become a plague of our populace, a ever-spiraling vortex of backwoods-grown meth, then prescription pills being sold en masse by the true American drug dealers of “Big Pharm,” and now a heroin zephyr killing people daily.
As our fellow Americans out west have shown us, vast tax income from legal cannabis sales ”“ a safe and organic botanical with zero fatalities ever recognized by medical science ”“ can be poured into a comprehensive and logical drug education and rehabilitation system to curtail the spread of poisons. It’s a system based on facts and science, not the long disproved fear mongering many of you were subjected to in elementary school, as I was. A literal sea of cash is out there, right now, flooding a black market that funds drug cartels when it can be used to help sick people who need it.
One can safely say Maine has the most famous and cherished wilderness in all of the lower 48. One of the best ways we can preserve this for future generations and set an example to all other agricultural states is to move forward with full hemp legalization and cultivation. It’s superiority to wood for a variety of uses has been well known for centuries, both in cultivation time and environmental sustainability. A learning curve still strongly exists among most Americans when it comes to hemp, and the education needed to move toward this understanding marred by decades of misinformation is expensive. The kind of high tab that can be paid with a wallet flush with a tax people will gladly pay.
As stated before, Maine already has an excellent medical system in place for patients. But we can do better. Bureaucracy and said learning curve has greatly influenced its access to patients. One of the biggest groups that require the access to medical cannabis, the American combat veteran, is still caught in limbo due to the psuedo-legalization of medical cannabis. They still cannot talk to their military or VA physician of their use of medical cannabis despite being perfectly within state law, or risk losing valuable benefits.
Obviously this information should be a valued and shared aspect of their post-war rehabilitation, not a shameful secret. Full legalization would open cannabis access to those veterans suffering a multitude of ailments who are caught between running afoul of the law or continuing to take dangerous and powerful (federal government authorized) psychotropic or narcotic medications.
Decriminalization is a ridiculous notion. To say something is legal, but not, creates a dangerous grey area that is open to vast interpertation and misunderstanding. Decriminalization doesn’t protect parents from neglect allegations when they are caught with what is nothing more than the safest illicit substance we as Americans consume en masse. Decriminalization still sees law enforcement spending time and money writing pointless citations to citizens who would normally never dream of breaking a law, while criminals sell dangerous drugs to children at rates we have never before known.
It is time Maine. Cities have already taken the initiative to legalize. The voting populace has long voiced their support for legislation. An extremely beneficial agricultural resource awaits to be brought to its full expression. It’s time to be a leader in New England. The first American flags were made of hemp ”“ that should be all the proof you need.
— Adam Schirling is an Iraq War veteran and gonzo journalist who lives in Old Orchard Beach.
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