Surviving Capitalism (Not) : U.S. allows states to legalize recreational marijuana within limits

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, August 30, 2013

U.S. allows states to legalize recreational marijuana within limits

Click here to access article by David Ingram from Reuters.

In a move marijuana advocates hailed as an historic shift, the Obama administration on Thursday began giving U.S. states wide leeway to experiment with pot legalization and started by letting Colorado and Washington carry out new laws permitting recreational use.

This posting provides me with an opportunity to comment on the major about-face in US drug policy. I've been waiting for someone else, hopefully with inside (inside the ruling class directorate) knowledge, to write about a "conspiracy theory" in relation to this dramatic change in policy. Alas, I can wait no longer.

I live in Washington state where it was one of two states to recently legalize marijuana use. The state also reversed itself on the sale of hard liquor which for many years has been sold only through a limited number of state stores. (Yes, I know that legalizing liquor sales to the big chain stores was passed through the initiative process, but it was a well funded campaign that deceptively promised more jobs and lower prices.) So, I've had this persistent question in my mind: why now for such dramatic changes in public policies?

If you have followed this blog at all, you would understand why this question has so persisted in my mind. To briefly recapitulate, our society is a class structured society, and within the structure lies a ruling class that directs policies to serve their interests. (Of course, they have constructed many ways of disguising this fact; but if this is a mystery to you, I offer my sympathies for your ignorance. I simply haven't the time to explain.) Hence, it follows that such a sudden, dramatic change in policies must be explained in terms of their interests, and why it serves their interests at this time.

The answer seems so obvious to me that I can't understand why no one else has seen it and written about it. If viewed within the context of events in the last five years, it simply must become obvious to you: collapse of the economy, millions thrown out of work and few prospects for employment in the future, bankster bailouts, millions left homeless, ever more ruthless austerity policies, and the 2011 riots and mass protests in the streets. Surely, I don't need to explain my "conspiracy theory" further.