By Monterey Bud
As perceived acceptance vacillates back and forth in the polls on California’s marijuana legalization topic, the state’s police and prison guards are more than a little fearful of losing one of their greatest revenue sources currently feeding the California correctional system – peaceful pot smokers.
Exposing their tortured and broken logic, The Intercept uncovered a document linking donations from numerous law enforcement agencies and state correctional associations to an anti-legalization lobbying group, better known as the Coalition for Responsible Drug Policies. Proceeding with overwhelming zeal in their attempt to defeat the 2016 initiative to legalize recreational marijuana, California’s coalition of the doomed scraped together a paltry $60,000 by March of this year.
As most already understand, the current prohibition of pot represents an incredibly profitable business model for California’s many law enforcement agencies. With less than altruistic intentions, many suspect these anti-legalization zealots are less concerned with public safety and more concerned with maintaining the status quo. Pot, Prison, and Payments: Until recently, the DOJ provided mountains of federal cash in the form of grants to local municipalities, intentionally perpetuating the futile war on drugs – including pot. And thanks to the past abuse of our asset forfeiture laws, cops around the country have been well-funded and are looking to stay that way.
Per the Intercept post, “From 2002 to 2012, California agencies reaped $181.4 million from marijuana-related asset seizures. As the Wall Street Journal reported in 2014, pot legalization in Washington state led asset forfeiture proceeds to go up in smoke.”
With terrible flashes of wild clarity, California’s police and prison guards are fighting to perpetuate their cruel and stupid dogma with little more than pocket change. Meanwhile, fat with cash and bolstered by the polls, approximately 60 percent of likely voters are claiming they’ll vote in the affirmative on November 8, 2016.
