Congress should go to pot to raise approval ratings

A recent Gallop poll registered a dismal 8% approval rating for Congress, while 58% of Americans want marijuana legalized. Currently, 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized it for medicinal purposes, including Illinois this year. The vote was a narrow 61-57 in the Illinois House but a wider 35-21 vote in the higher Senate chamber. Two states, Washington and Colorado have already legalized pot for recreational use. Meanwhile many thousands of unfortunate souls are languishing in jail for non-violent, victim-less pot puffing, something most of us have been guilty of at some point in our lives.

The waste of human lives and desperately needed government resources enforcing pot laws is unconscionable. Seven million of the eight million marijuana arrests in the US since 1993 have been for simple possession. Marijuana has been listed as a Schedule 1 drug since 1970, meaning it's considered as having the highest potential for abuse and no accepted medical use. Incredibly it is listed as more dangerous than the Schedule II drugs cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone,all of which kill thousands yearly. According to CNN guru doctor Sanjay Gupta, who once opposed and now supports medical  marijuana legalization, there has never been a pot overdose that has killed anyone and its medicinal benefits are documented and legion.

 

We need the Feds to stop pre-empting state efforts to decriminalize weed, allow it for medicinal purposes and ultimately legalize it for recreational use. Dr. Gupta cautions that teenagers and younger shouldn't use marijuana just like they shouldn't use alcohol as their brains are still developing. But tens of millions of teens and pre teens are puffing away due to the allure of engaging in mild illegality and all the revenue is going to the drug cartels. Colorado estimates that first year tax revenue from pot will reach $70 million. Besides raising Congressional approval ratings to a new high, wouldn't we have a much more effective Congress if the Fab Four, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner would share a few tokes together before the next legislative session? Senseless political brinksmanship would go up in smoke, and critically needed legislation would pass in record time so the leadership could satisfy their munchies.