Ending the federal drug war in 2022
It’s April 20, or 420, and people are celebrating the growing list of states legalizing marijuana. But one thing is clear; the federal government is only hindering progress. In 2022, a committed group of voters can force an end to the federal drug war and empower states to be the laboratories of democracy and commerce.
The American Union is a block of swing voters committed to enactment of a specific legislative package in 2022, one that will end poverty, end mass incarceration, and end the endless wars. Ending mass incarceration, as Michelle Alexander crystallized in The New Jim Crow, requires ending the war on drugs. We can begin in 18 months by repealing prohibition on the federal level, and taking action to ameliorate the harms, past and present.
As part of the legislative package, all federal drug laws would be repealed in 2022, replaced with a framework for regulation and taxation. Federal prisoners who have been convicted of drug crimes would generally have their sentences reviewed, reduced, and expunged under these new guidelines. Injustices springing from the drug war such as qualified immunity and civil asset forfeiture will be repealed. Broader police reforms are included as well.
By establishing national standards for a marketplace, America can embrace a common sense strategy of harm reduction, and ensure unadulterated recreational drugs are available to those adults who are permitted by local laws to purchase them. A 12% national sales tax will fund rehabilitation services and otherwise offset the harms of drug use. Like the end of alcohol prohibition in 1933, states will be able to set their own restrictions. Kansas stayed dry until after World War 2.
Ending the federal drug war is just one part of the American Union’s legislative demands, along with ending poverty and the endless wars. As we bring our troops home and reduce our prison population, America will be a nation economically reborn after the pandemic, where everyone has an American Union job and the basic financial security of $300 per week to spend into the economy.
By combining these demands into a single legislative package and using its pre-election passage as a metric to determine the direction of a block of swing votes in the 2022 midterms, a 3.5% union of Americans can leverage its collective will into a better social contract — one that doesn’t incarcerate people for using recreational drugs.
If you want to go down the American Union rabbit hole on 4/20 to an Appalachian sound track, here are some ads that ran in North Carolina last year:
Ready to end the federal drug war in 2022? Donate to their super PAC.
