President Obama: A Plea For Peace At Home

10/9/2009 - Chris Goldstein

In my opinion, this Nobel Peace Prize is well awarded. It may be also the strongest-ever political act of the premier peace-forwarding organization in the world. They offer the prize to President Obama not only for his achievements but also as an allotment of authority to work on the world stage. Here the Nobel Prize is not a symbol of recognition but a vehicle to end wars.

Many were surprised by the announcement today. But I think we loose perspective on how momentous it is for an African American to be the leader of our powerful nation. Our President has shown himself to be quite adept at his job. His short time in office so far has hinted at an influential presidency. The world looks at this, rightly so, as a major shift in the global political landscape.

As a journalist and radio broadcaster I have intensely covered the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2005 I interviewed Mozzam Begg, a British citizen who was one of the first released from Guantanimo Bay. The interview with Begg on his nightmare memoir Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanimo, Bagram and Kandahar was one of the most haunting conversations of my life.  Mozzam is an innocent man who had endured some of the ultimate tortures of the body, mind and soul at the very hands of our country.

This interview and interacting with dozens of soldiers from both conflicts instilled a deep desire in me for our nation to end our large scale involvement.

But one ongoing conflict I cover takes place all around us every day: The so-called ‘war on drugs’ where marijuana smokers are the main target. About 850,000 Americans are arrested for marijuana violations each year. More than for all other drugs combined. Most of the pot arrests (89%) are made for simple possession by state and local authorities. Disturbingly, in urban areas, minor marijuana violation enforcement is racially disparate. New York City and Philadelphia are dire examples of this trend with 90% of pot arrests being young men of color.

Underground, domestic marijuana production remains this nation’s top cash crop. Over 100 million Americans have admitted to trying marijuana and there could be from 25-70 million regular consumers. Currently thirteen states have authorized medical marijuana programs. Some states such as California and Rhode Island allow for the sale of medical marijuana.  Now, California is in the midst of a serious political drive to legalize cannabis outright for general production and sale to adults.

Instead of embracing this vast untapped economic and healthcare resource, we continue our iron fist of federal prohibition. In 1972 the Presidential Commission on Marihuana recommended that pot be removed from Schedule I in the Controlled Substances Act and that personal use be decriminalized. President Nixon knew that marijuana enforcement would be used as a tool of force and ignored his own commission. President Obama could enact a new commission to re-evaluate the issue. Perhaps he could make a more informed decision from the White House about this vital social justice policy.

We oppress tens of millions of our citizens and coldly ignore the benefits of cannabis. Marijuana prohibition has now become the most wasteful and harmful domestic government policy in American history. The billions of dollars we waste each year on all levels of government and the vast scale of this tragedy reach into every single household in the country.

We make refugees of the sick and dying. Those with serious medical conditions, who can afford to do so, tear themselves away from their homes and families. They flee to the states that do not persecute their citizens for choosing cannabis therapy to treat pain, cancers, MS, HIV and other conditions.

The painful laws of prohibition are used to terrorize tens of thousands of our own otherwise law-abiding citizens each year. Most of them are the youth of this nation.

The conflicts around the globe will take a major strategic effort to untangle. Yet the issue of our backward marijuana policy is something that has clear and easy solutions. Some US States already lead by example and can showcase the positive effects of abandoning marijuana prohibition. Other countries such as Mexico, Portugal and Argentina have now decriminalized cannabis and we must look carefully at their new approach.

President Obama, please work at ending marijuana prohibition in the United States.

Please end this senseless war on our own citizens.

Changing cannabis policy can bring us tangible peace on our own ground and be a springboard to global efforts.

Please let the Nobel Peace Prize work here at home.