Much Ado About Absolutely Nothing...Yet...

Published online November 12th, 2012

           There is so much hubbub about Marijuana being legalized in Colorado and Washington state. Some are wringing their hands in glee and some are wringing their hands in anguish...what will happen, what will happen now?! Well, nothing is going to happen for a long while yet if ever. Even though the voters in both states have said “we want marijuana for our use at home,” the politicians in charge of state politics don't really give a damn about what you, the voter wants.

        The attorney general of the state of Colorado, one John Suthers was publically against the legalization of marijuana before the vote and has now urged the Dept of Justice to block (i.e. stop the will of voters) the new marijuana law and “articulate its response as soon as possible.” This guy is begging the Feds to save his professional ass. He is not willing to stand up the Feds and be the hero of states rights.

        Washington state just elected the Democrat Jay Insley to the governors position. Washington state officials expect “to be sued and challenged in Federal court on this issue.” In this new era of emerging states rights, (17 states either have or are talking about passing marijuana legislation) I have not seen or heard even one state Attorney General stand up and say, “Yes, I want to fight the Feds all the way on this issue because I believe in states rights and the will of the people, of legal age, in this state to smoke marijuana if they wish.”

        Oregon's new attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, campaigned on a marijuana friendly platform, which I'm sure helped her get elected, but in her heart of hearts I bet she is also glad she will not have to stand up to the Feds for pot privacy. She dodged the bullet Colorado and Washington AG's might unwillingly have to face.

The November 11'th Sunday Oregonian newspaper carried a front page article about the proliferation of the marijuana business in Southern Oregon and showed aerial views of several farms growing marijuana. These farms are in danger of being destroyed by the DEA. under federal law.

        And for the life of me I don't understand why any marijuana grower would allow his garden to be photographed from the air. There must be a way to camouflage at least small fields so they don't stick out like a sore thumb. I think complacency has lulled them into a false sense of security when it comes to what the federal government is capable of doing.

        I admire the words of Ms. Duckworth, a grower herself who is quoted in the article as saying to the feds, “don't poke the bear.” But honey let me tell ya, the feds are capable of destroying “the bear.” If your marijuana garden is visible from the air the government could, overfly you with a drone equipped with a poison spray. They could come in with earth moving equipment, and uproot every plant. They could put you in prison. In jail you don't get your medical pot. The DEA is not known for playing by the legal rules. They could and do exactly as they damned well please. I know because they raided me twice.

        Thousands of dollars were invested in attempting to legalize marijuana in Oregon by Paul Stanford, the head guy behind the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, OCTA 12 it was called. I personally voted against it because too many devils were in the details. All marijuana would be sold only in state stores. All marijuana growing and selling would be controlled by the Cannabis Control Commission run by the cannabis czars. I voted against OCTA 12 because Mr. Stanford wanted to be in charge of the commission. Pass a new law then put him in charge of it?

        All in all too much power for a person with an already checkered background. (See “King Bong” Willamette Week, December 12, 2007) My advise to Mr. Stanford and others is to wait and see what shakes out in the other states before spending another dime on legalization here in Oregon. Obviously the Oregon voters are not yet ready to smoke legal pot.

        In this situation I find a delicious irony. Only Barack Obama, a black man, gets to make the decision on the governments position, on marijuana and it will be another black man, Attorney General Eric Holder that will implement that decision. This could be one of Obama's finest hours. If he really wants to wean America off foreign oil now is that time. Allow the planting of rich oil bearing hemp seeds. It can be the ultimate answer to not pumping oil from the ground. Hemp seed oil does not need to be refined. It goes right into the gas tank with little modification. Nasty, polluting oil refineries could be a thing of the past. Clean coal, (what a joke) could be put on the “back burner.” Hemp seed oil could be easily and abundantly produced, grown by American farmers. Growing hemp seeds for oil puts the money back in the hands of our farmers, not some turban wearing, sand shuffling Persians, who after all are simply benefiting from a resource they were not involved in creating, much like the American timber barons that clear-cut (raped) trees they didn't even plant.

        I could go on boring you with talk about the benefits to America of growing hemp seeds for oil and hemp for fiber so we don't have to cut down trees for paper, along with the other uses for Hemp, including making fabric for clothing and even rugs, ropes etc. The benefits are multitudinous without even talking about marijuana to smoke. If you already smoke pot, roll a joint, sit back and wait to see what Barack is going to do. When you see him rolling a joint, we'll have the answer. Until then...

By Don DuPay

ABSOLUTELY NO PORTION OF THIS PERSONAL ESSAY MAY BE REPRODUCED OR DISSEMINATED WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR, DONALD LEE DUPAY, UNDER PENALTY OF COPYRIGHT LAWS!!