On December 5, 1933, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, thus repealing the national prohibition on alcohol enacted by the 18th Amendment, and ending almost fifteen years of the “noble experiment”.
Seventy-five years later, the descendents of the “Untouchables” and the “bootleggers” continue their battles in the “ignoble experiment” that is the 71 years of cannabis prohibition.
It only took our forefathers a generation to understand that the prohibition of alcohol fostered an increase in crime, corruption, and death. Facing an economic Great Depression, they realized they could no longer afford to police and prosecute the thousands of “speakeasies” and millions of clandestine drinkers for their popular personal vice. Politicians followed the will of the people through the enormous political task of passing constitutional amendments to first enact then repeal Alcohol Prohibition.
Yet after four generations of cannabis prohibition and rising popular support for ending it, our politicians cannot even muster the votes to end federal raids on the legal users of cannabis for medical purposes in California! The current prohibition of cannabis is demonstrably more harmful and costly to society than Alcohol Prohibition ever was, yet the majority of the public and the vast majority of the politicians still refuse to consider the regulated sales and responsible use of cannabis by adults. Despite study after study after study recommending at least a decriminalization of cannabis, prohibition remains.
Is it a question of numbers? So many people drank in the Twenties that it could not be ignored, but so few people smoke pot (14.4 million!) that we can ignore them? Is it a question of culture? Alcohol drinking has been with American culture since the first ships landed at Plymouth, but cannabis smoking wasn’t really a part of mainstream American culture, and even today maintains a counter-culture status. Or is it a question of greed? Too many entrenched interests in business, law enforcement, government, and even on our side from the kingpin to the dime bag dealer, have a financial stake in maintaining cannabis prohibition.
Whatever the reason, it is well past time to repeal it. The repeal of Alcohol Prohibition 75 years ago today doesn’t mean that alcohol is legal everywhere in the United States. There are still several “dry counties” where one cannot buy an alcoholic beverage, and Utah, that state the triggered the repeal, still has some of the most restrictive alcohol regulations in the country. So too the repeal of federal penalties for cannabis – as in Barney Frank’s HR5843 bill – would allow the states and counties to set their own restrictions on cannabis.
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