In the January issue of the Fort Worth Weekly newspaper, Jeff Prince writes about the rising business of growing domestically-owned marijuana in the U.S. He reports that the U.S. marijuana business has grown into a "sophisticated industry," and it is now known as "hydro," which just basically means that people are growing pot inside of their homes."Texas didn't rank among the top 10 states in outdoor marijuana production, but came in at No. 5 for indoor growing (115,000 pounds annually)," Prince said. Terry Nelson, who is a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAPS) and who previously spent 30 years in law enforcement before he retiring, told Prince that because of marijuana growing so quickly and the fact that it's not legalized it makes it harder to regulate. He said, "We need to legalize these drugs so we can regulate and control them. That will reduce about 80 percent of your crime and violence related to the drug trade." It doesn't seem as if many members of law enforcement or federal agencies are typically "for" legalizing the use of marijuana in the state, but his reasons are just another perspective on the topic.
In Prince's article he reports that "Congress created the Bureau of Narcotics in 1930, and its influential director, Harry J. Anslinger, became the country's figurehead for cannabis misinformation for the next three decades...which helped create the strong anti-marijuana views that older generations still embrace," (Prince, 2013).
About 85 percent of Texans are now in favor of legalizing medical marijuana. Medical marijuana activist, Richard Lee founded the Oaksterdam University, the pot college in Oakland, Calif. in 2007. It will be interesting to see Texas' progress on this issue and whether or not it will be known to legalize marijuana for medicinal, recreational, or simply financial purposes.
You can view Jeff Prince's article here.
Alyson Morales
Blog post 3
Issue on Legalizing Medicinal Marijuana
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