When Bezos found no open lunch dates in Congress , he got a call from an unlikely ally , Charles Koch , who , along with his brother David , founded AFP , Americans for Prosperity . AFP is the largest conservative PAC in America , if not worldwide , controlling the majority of wealth in America . The Charles Koch decided it was financially sound to undo the wrongs the brothers Koch had wrought across our nation and lend Bezos a hand .
Charles Koch , with his late brother David , brought us private prisons , three-strikes-you ’ re-out , and mandatory minimums with life in prison and no possibility of parole for anyone ’ s third cannabis conviction . Through their 1980s lobby group , ALEC , American Legislative Exchange Council , active during the Reagan administration ( 1981- 1989 ), and Mrs . Reagan and her “ Just Say No to Drugs ” campaign , thousands of cannabis users found themselves incarcerated for life .
featured on the 1929 cover of Popular Mechanics Magazine ( Circa 1906-current ), with the headline “ The Billion Dollar Crop .” Revolutionizing the hemp harvest , previously hand harvested , would have , could have , saved us from the current fossil fuel fate that threatens our very existence today .
If not for the lies . In the cartoon , I see the two men leaning up against Ford ’ s hemp car , looking down at Bezos and Koch , saying , “ Yea , assholes , they ignored us too !”
Two-Headed Hydra
Mrs . Reagan said , “ It is simple . We don ’ t need rehab centers ! Just say no to drugs !” With her slogan came DARE , and that ’ s when most pot smokers just started drinking instead . We were afraid of our kids , who were busy rooting out and throwing away our pipes and weed . The 80s were rough , and most of us never saw it coming .
When Charles Koch saw Bezos flailing , he announced last February the AFP was sending in the Calvary . I could see the cartoon — Charles in a Superman suit as he flew through the sky on his leer jet to DC . “ Here I come to save the day !”
In an about-face , Koch endorsed the 2023 bill , The States Reform Act , introduced by Rep Nancy Mace , a South Carolina Freshman Republican . Koch liked Mace ’ s bill over the MORE ( Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement ) Act , which was DOA on arrival in our non-functional House in 2023 .
The States Act was simple :
● Take cannabis off the schedule .
● Level a flat federal 3 % tax on sales .
● Let everyone out of jail .
● Let the states sort it out .
Mace ’ s Act bypassed any obligation the Federal Government had for the lives destroyed ( the Restoration and Expungement element of MORE ). While lacking reparations , the bill would have resulted in de-scheduling .
I ’ m good with that . Stop the hemorrhaging . Allow children and veterans free access to plant medicine . The states will sort it out . Honestly , I thought they could do it . If anybody can fix this fluster-cluck , Bezos and Koch , working together , should have had the power .
About halfway through last year , I imagined another cartoon of two hemp pioneers looking down from heaven . Henry Ford , the famous inventor of not just the car but the first hemp car , stood next to his friend George Schlichten , the not-so-famous inventor of the first hemp decorticator in 1912 . Schlichten and his decorticator were
Art by Bill Cromwell
What has been created is a two-headed Hydra — a monster made of greed and cash , of dueling cannabis economies based in both law enforcement of prohibition and the 47 illegally-legal state cannabis markets . Not even the men who created the monster can kill it .
Dolores Montgomery Halbin , RN , BSN , and Ordained Nurse Minister , resides in SW Missouri . After her husband passed in 2015 , she retired from nursing . She worked with the 2014-2018 Missouri campaigns for legalized medical marijuana . She continues as a cannabis reform activist volunteering with Canna Convict Project and working Dr . Lisa toward Roark Federal decriminalization through educational speaking and freelance journalism . Dolores Halbin , doloreshalbin @ gmail . com .
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