The Fight for Legalization

Let us talk about Cannabis for a moment. Weed, Marijuana, Marihuana, Hemp, Reefer, Gateway Drug, all these names and more are known to the general public and yet there are so many who know nothing beyond the various names, who don't know the history of Cannabis and how these various names came to be and how these names and the American people were manipulated into seeing Cannabis on the same level as cocaine or meth and the man who did it was Harry Anslinger. During the 1930's he was appointed the commissioner of the newly-created Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), which needed a drug scare to bring money in for his fledgling agency. This led to a decade of not only anti-cannabis propaganda but also discrimination against minorities. Here are some of the several preposterous quotes by Anslinger, "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others." , "...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races." and lastly "Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its user's insanity, criminality, and death." 

At the time no one wanted to go against these outrageous claims, but looking at everything we know now, we can easily prove these claims to be false. Cannabis is the greatest medical cure we have at our disposal and we choose to continue ignoring this fact in Texas. There is currently a bill called SB 269 in the legislature that would do so much for Cannabis in Texas. SB 269 would authorize the possession, use, cultivation, distribution, transportation, and delivery of medical cannabis for medical use by qualifying patients with certain debilitating medical conditions and the licensing of dispensing organizations and testing facilities; authorizing fees. It would basically make Medical Cannabis legal in Texas and be able to be given to thousands of patients across the state. There are so many people who have illnesses that cannot be cured or have to take a pill and more pills to counteract the pill they are taking or are in chronic pain or suffer from PTSD, simply put Cannabis cures all of these things and more. My own sister lives in chronic pain every day and has taken every pill under the sun and still, the best they can do is make it manageable, which if you ask her they don't work. Cannabis when properly given in the correct doses, with the correct type and strain for that patient has been proven time and time again to be the best medicine we have.

Unfortunately, this bill will more than likely not pass this time, it has been sitting in committee since January and looks like it will never be able to be voted on, that being said there is hope for Texas legalizing. Thanks to the Texas Compassionate Use Act or SB 339 which was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott and became effective June 1, 2015, Texas wil soon be giving atleast three liscencses to three dispensaries to all the growing and cultivating for low-THC cannabis for Epilepsy patients this year. Little by little Texas is changing its thoughts on Cannabis and little by little we are getting closer to a Cannabis legal Texas. Currently, 26 states have legalized, and 14 more are currently up to legalize right now, my hope is that Texas will make it 27 states, Cannabis is a medicine, it is not a drug.

Sweet Tea and Politics

On my classmate's blog Sweet Tea and Politics blog I found an interesting post entitled "Texas Should Raise Its Minimum Wage" this a not so talked about topic these days in Texas. I find that this topic should be talked about far more than it is, or at the very least be as talked about as all the other major topics in Texas such as Gender Equality or Cannabis Legalization. It is sad that we have not raised our minimum wages since 2009 and this should be changed immediately before we are all out on the street. If we take a look at Austin this increase is quite needed, with increasing gas, increasing rent, and increases in home and car prices the current minimum wage does not satisfy what is needed to live in Austin, this leads to more paycheck to paycheck households and a larger number of low-income houses. All these increases and yet the one place a real increase is needed has yet to happen, well I say this wage increase should happen soon and fast, there are plenty of people willing work, but when you have those people work for less than what they are worth it instills a feeling of lower self-worth, stagnation and lack of ambition. Wages and Education are alike in this way; if we want our education system to go up we need to hold our students to a higher standard and with wages if we want our workforce to increase we need to have our wages increased to set a higher standard for our workers, it's simple really you get what you paid for.