Sunday, September 5, 2010

He Prosecuted Marc Emery but Now Says Legalize It

John McKay
By Ron Crumpton

John McKay, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, said in a Seattle Times 0p-ed that our marijuana policy is dangerous and wrong and should be changed through the legislative process to better protect the public safety.

Marijuana prohibition "has utterly failed," McKay stated. "The demand for marijuana in this country has for decades outpaced the ability of law enforcement to eliminate it.”While he continues to believe that Marc Emery – a man he prosecuted for shipping marijuana seeds into the United States – and all marijuana smokers for that matter are idiots, but he sees the absurdity in continuing to try to enforce this country’s ineffectual drug policy.

He continued to write that while marijuana is nowhere near as dangerous as other drugs we continue to fill the pockets of Mexican and other international drug cartels, while needlessly putting the lives of cops, border agents and other law enforcement officials at risk for no legitimate reason. He states that he and other prosecutors, judges and law enforcement officials know that they cannot win a war on marijuana by arresting those involved in the importation, growth or distribution of marijuana, nor does it make any sense to continue to try to lockup all of the pot smokers.

Now he does not believe that the DEA is headed anywhere soon, but he does agree with me and many of you.

"We should give serious consideration to heavy regulation and taxation of the marijuana industry. We should limit pot's content of the active ingredient THC, regulate its sale to adults who are dumb enough to want it and maintain criminal penalties for sales, possession or use by minors, drivers and boaters," McKay said.

What he thinks of Marc Emery, me or pot smokers in general is not the issue, but when a major adversary of many, many years speaks out in favor of legalization, it is a victory.

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