Submitted by James Y. Kerby

On Tuesday, November 6, 2012, Kansas residents may see a ballot initiative that will legalize the use of medical marijuana in the state of Kansas, whereby patients are given the right to receive a physician’s authorization and recommendation to use medical marijuana.

California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, and many other states are planning to implement new laws that will improve the regulation and distribution of marijuana, by equating marijuana’s classification with alcohol.

Kansas residents will be making one of the most crucial decisions in the state’s history, in which the state of Kansas and its residents are being asked to overturn a law of prohibition that has existed in the state, since 1937. The state of Kansas will have to choose between two vastly opposing ideals:

1.) Follow the rest of the United States of America and legalize medical marijuana or

2.) Maximize patrol capacity throughout the state and stringently enforce state drug policies and laws.

The major shift in public consciousness, opinion, and awareness regarding the acceptance of medical marijuana in 16 states and Washington DC demonstrates an intrinsic and paramount victory for the war on drugs. When the state of Colorado legalizes marijuana for recreational use, Kansas will be devastatingly affected by the catastrophic outcomes that permit the unregulated obtainment of marijuana in Colorado. The issue of marijuana will involve essential and radical changes to our state, in which voting “no” in November will increase state taxes to fund the war against marijuana, while voting “yes” could bring revenues and profits to Kansas.

If Kansas residents vote against measures that reclassifies the scheduling status of marijuana, then the astronomical challenges our state faces will be determined within three criteria for drug policies stated as follows:

a.) all state and local funding and taxes will be focused and primarily directed towards the combating and curtailing of marijuana trafficking throughout the state of Kansas;

b.) the use, possession, cultivation, and sell of marijuana will result in the harshest of penalties that maximizes measures that enforce the deterrence of marijuana within the state of Kansas with life in prison or capital punishment;

c.) Kansas residents will relinquish the Bill of Rights Provisions Relating to the Right of Privacy, Amendment IV, Privacy of the Person and Possession: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable caus! e, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Kansas drug policies and laws must meet these expectations to maintain and uphold the conditions of these criteria, in order to prevent the influx of marijuana into its state borders from surround states that endorse marijuana legalization. If Kansas does not invest all of its funding resources towards stopping the flow of marijuana under these requisites, then the state of Kansas will be defeated and overpowered in its war against marijuana.

The antithesis to a police-state society in Kansas would be to vote for a solution that would resolve the war on marijuana, in which the state of Kansas legalizes marijuana and regulates its distribution. The state of Kansas must enact measures to legalize marijuana, as follows:

a.) Compassion centers would facilitate in acquiring, possessing, cultivating, manufacturing, delivering, transferring, and transporting all cannabis supplies and products, in which tax revenues and profits garnered from marijuana sells would fund state programs, projects, and infrastructures;

b.) remove all state-level criminal penalties for the use and cultivation of marijuana, in which Kansas laws are not required to enforce federal laws that prohibit the prosecution of state residents;

c.) criminal networks and money laundering will be inefficient and ineffective in the state of Kansas regarding marijuana sells; therefore state judicial systems, drug enforcement agencies and social service programs will focus attention towards legitimate causes and concerns within the state.

If Kansas decides to promote the legalization and regulation of marijuana within its state borders, then the state will succeed in gaining the advantages in defeating the many important and consequential problems associated with the war on marijuana. Marijuana can become an important resource that assists in building societies, communities, and governments, by toppling archaic and obsolete prohibition laws that have cost the state and the country millions of dollars in failed efforts to end the war on drugs.

The crucial decision that the state of Kansas must make this November will either be to continue taxing state residents to fund the war on marijuana, or to bring revenues and profits to the state by legalizing and regulating marijuana. Kansas is a state that is driven by conservative politics, but residents of the state value smart and intelligent solutions to ongoing and indeterminate problems and issues. Kansas observes the nation’s changing views on marijuana and its shifting position of acceptance in our society, but what is the real dilemma that is affecting the state and its opinion on the legalization and regulation of marijuana debate? Is it the idea that marijuana corrupts a society and culture, by creating dissenters that object to the policies and laws that were enacted in the 1930’s, while its acceptability has spanned throughout civilizations up until that time? Is the war on marijuana a form of propaganda, or is marijuana a justifiable concern and probl! em within our society?

Kansas residents will have to deliberate on this issue of marijuana, especially if marijuana legalization and regulation will drastically affect our state and the laws that were ratified to support the legal structures for its eradication.

November will be one of the most important times in Kansas history, because Kansas residents will vote to either continue exhausting our financial resources to eliminate marijuana from our state, or to profit from marijuana and grow resources for the state of Kansas.

 

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