An open letter to President Obama on marijuana legalization

Dear Mr. President Obama,

I recently signed a petition regarding the acting DEA chief, which has since gathered over 125,000 signatures as of this writing, and have been eagarly awaiting a response from the White House. I hope your delayed response is due to deep consideration on the matter.

 I have decided to write this letter because I am not entirely satisfied with the scope and wording of the petition- I feel much was left unsaid.
Several congress members have also sent you a letter on the subject, which makes several of the important points the petition didn't address so I won't waste the words repeating theirs.

Mr. President, you have said in the past that young people should be concerned about climate change, jobs, the economy, war and peace, and that marijuana legalization should not be our highest priority. I absolutely agree those are important concerns. But someone needs to point out that the marijuana industry in Colorado has been the most successful economic and jobs booster the country has seen since the recession, and the state has profited to extremes.

 If we should be worried about climate change and the environment as you have stated, we should allow farmers to grow industrial hemp- it's a green source of biofuel, bioplastics, construction materials, paper products, clothing, food, and more. A cheap, drought resistant crop, it would stimulate our economy from farmer to consumer.

 There is no good reason this plant should be illegal. There is nothing negative about marijuana that isn't also true about alcohol or cigarettes, except its legal status, a draconian double standard. The mere fact that it is illegal creates far more problems in the world and costs the country much more money than if it were a taxable commodity. The only ones who benefit from this system are Big Money groups.

 I understand you may be concerned about the stereotypical stigma of being our first African-American president and legalizing marijuana, and the role model you present to your daughters. But the status quo is based on Victorian morality to which most of the country no longer ascribes, propaganda and corruption from Big Money, and a legacy of racism as demonstrated by the very use of the word "marijuana," as opposed to "cannabis" or "hemp."

 I have no doubt you read the recommendation to legalize from the Global Commission on Drug Policy in 2011, signed by many respected world leaders and intellectuals. They agree: it's really in the best interest of the people. But if you're unwilling to effect that, please at least overhaul the DEA so it no longer hinders progress. If the government seriously thinks that medical marijuana involves smoking the "leaves" as the acting DEA chief said, and that's what is being sent out as research grade marijuana, it's no wonder we're getting skewed results from government approved science- it's the wrong part of the plant. Research grade marijuana needs to equal the standard of medical grade marijuana buds available in dispensaries. Period.

Thank you for your time and consideration. This affects millions of Americans in our everyday lives, and we depend on you to do the right thing.

Respectfully yours,

Raven Wildchild

EXIT The American Dream, ENTER American Despair

It hit a little close to home when I heard there was another school shooting at a small Oregon college, as I work at one. I believe I read that this was the 142nd school shooting since 2012, and the 45th this year alone. Very disturbing numbers indeed. The politicians are calling for gun control again, which I do think there should be better background checks and the like, but it's not the root of the problem. My school had its own tragedy last year, when one of our football players was stabbed to death while waiting in line at 7eleven across the street from campus. The suspect was dispatched by police shortly after, but no motive was ever uncovered, and the murderer had apparently never even met his victim before. The weapon choice is incidental, based on whatever is available, just like the homemade bombs favored by Muslim extremists.

This blog makes some good suggestions for prevention of such tragedies.
 The community outreach-type work described in the blog has been shown to be more effective than federal programs and policing, but that is still only treating the symptom. We need to consider what has caused us to skyrocket to 10 times the rate of youth violence seen in other developed countries.

When I was younger, people said that apathy was problem with our culture; I'd say we've moved from apathetic to despairing. What else could we do? The American Dream has become a taunt from the financial elite; the hard work that once paid off only manages us to keep us stationary, which seems better than sinking back into the quagmire. Our culture has become stuck in it's old patterns because there was once honor in what we did, and we are desperately trying to fill outdated expectations and somehow revive that honor. Capitalism worked well for most everyone while it was regulated, but now it's corrupted and we're still behaving like we expect it to work as it did before. We clock in to our regulated lives now, with little free time, less spending money, no room for advancement, and lots of neurotic attempts to comfort ourselves with how responsible we're being, because this is the way it's done. We went to college because we didn't want to "throw our lives away," loaded ourselves with debt, and got stuck working in food service anyway. And when we ask, "Is this all there is to life?" we are answered with a resounding "Yes."

Despite the obvious flaws in the corrupt system, the culture here is still very attached to capitalism, and alternative lifestyles are rather frowned upon. But if we don't address the issues of income equality and life satisfaction soon, the population will fall further into poverty and the crime rate will rise. But if I'm right about despair being a motivating emotion behind these mass shootings, then I believe we can ward off despair with curiosity, creativity, and passion (they became way uncool around apathy o'clock and are due for a comeback). All three emotions can be triggered by the Arts, and it's time we bring the arts back to our schools and communities. Currently in our culture, the perceived value of art is generally very low, a perception that has in recent years had a powerful effect on the quality of films and other arts industries here. Remember how much better movies were in the '90s? Today, tired plotlines and poor CGFX dominate because Hollywood no longer values its artists. (Or really, any of its workers, but most of them have unions.)

The oversupply of workers and shortage of jobs that pay reasonable salaries make employees less valuable to the companies than they were 15 years ago. On a certain subconscious level people believe that their paycheck defines their human value. And as we take those subconscious beliefs into the macrocosm, it should be no surprise that we are growing a disregard for that human life that is worth so little. To those who give up on the world and take out their frustrations through violence, it must seem like going down with guns blazing and a legacy attached to their name is more success than they will ever otherwise achieve. And success = value in our corrupted capitalist society.

So, my challenge to everyone in America is to apply some creativity this week and as often as possible to make the world more fun, beautiful, or intriguing in some way. Encourage someone's passion or curiosity if you can't find an idea of your own. Let's make living in America a little better by all taking responsibility for a single moment that could be improved with a song or a game or friendly encouragement. Because when we stand together, we're too big to fail.