photo by Dey

If today’s drug laws were in force during the 1970s, Barack Obama might not be President.

In his autobiography, Obama admitted to experimenting with marijuana during his high school years in the ’70s. He then went on to college and law school with the help of student loans.

Last year, New York City arrested and jailed 40,300 people for possessing small amounts of marijuana — mostly teenagers and young people in their twenties.   Whites represent over 35% of the city’s population, but only 10% of those arrested for marijuana possession.  Latinos were arrested at four times the rate of whites, and African Americans at seven times the rate.

And thanks to a 1998 law authored by Rep. Mark Souder that denies financial aid to any student convicted of even a misdemeanor drug offense, over 200,000 students have lost their access to student loans over arrests like these.  They produce a permanent criminal record, easily accessed on the internet, that can also keep applicants from getting a job, a loan or even an apartment.  As the Drug Policy Alliance notes, “Given the racially disproportionate enforcement of drug laws, the Souder-amendment has a greater impact on people of color than whites.”

What if Barack Obama had been one of those 200,000 students?  And how many future Barack Obamas have been robbed of their chance to achieve their full potential?

The time has come to change our antiquated drug laws, the relics of the culture wars which no longer serve the country’s needs.  As former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper writes today at the Seminal:

Look at what’s happening across the country. Formerly timid state legislatures, admittedly driven in some instances by economic hard times, are actually considering the legalization of marijuana. Cannabis is, after all, the biggest (untaxed, unregulated) cash crop in the country.

Congress has announced it doesn’t intend to do much for the next year, but there are active efforts at the state level to change drug laws across the country.  Marijuana-related ballot measures have already qualified in California and South Dakota.  Arizona needed 153,000 signatures to get a medical Marijuana measure on the ballot, and last week submitted over 250,000 signatures.   The Arizona Senate just passed a bill in anticipation of its passage that would tax medical marijuana.  Even the Alabama Senate is getting in on the action — they just passed a measure that would legalize medical marijuana for patients in serious pain.

At a time of serious budget concerns, it’s time to assess our national priorities.  Do we want to end the educational careers of young people of color, or do we want to use our resources to hire teachers and create jobs?  According to Harvard Economics Professor Jeffrey Miron, if marijuana were taxed at the same rate as alcohol, it would yield $6.4 billion in tax revenue and save $13.7 billion in law enforcement expenditures.

Marijuana legalization would also devastate the drug cartels.  As Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune observes, “Criminal organizations would no longer be able to demand huge premiums to compensate for the major risks that go with forbidden commerce. . . . So the drug cartels would see a large share of their profits go up in smoke. Those profits are what enables them to establish sophisticated smuggling operations, buy guns and airplanes, recruit foot soldiers and bribe government officials.”

But there is still a terrible stigma surrounding the marijuana conversation.  We think we can help.  There are many of the fine groups that are organizing around drug policy reform, including DPA, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), NORML, the Marijuana Policy Project, Students for Sensible Drug Policy and others.  We’ve been talking to many of them and learning how we can help them in their efforts, not only by getting their message out, but also with the online tools and organizational skills that we have.

We’re kicking off our campaign with a “name our Pot Campaign” contest tonight during Late Nite, which  starts at 11pm ET. We haven’t done anything like it since the Dick Cheney Poetry Contest of 2006.  It’s a return to the “FDL Late Nite” of old, hosted by yours truly.  So, please join us.