XPost: alt.drugs.pot, rec.drugs.cannabis, rec.drugs.psychedelic   
   From: freespeech@truth.com   
      
   Last year, over 850,000 people in America were arrested for   
   marijuana-related crimes. Despite public opinion, the medical community, and   
   human rights experts all moving in favor of relaxing marijuana prohibition   
   laws, little has changed in terms of policy.   
      
   There have been many great books and articles detailing the history of the   
   drug war. Part of America's fixation with keeping the leafy green plant   
   illegal is rooted in cultural and political clashes from the past.   
      
   However, we at Republic Report think it's worth showing that there are   
   entrenched interest groups that are spending large sums of money to keep our   
   broken drug laws on the books:   
      
       1.) Police Unions: Police departments across the country have become   
   dependent on federal drug war grants to finance their budget. In March, we   
   published a story revealing that a police union lobbyist in California   
   coordinated the effort to defeat Prop 19, a ballot measure in 2010 to   
   legalize marijuana, while helping his police department clients collect tens   
   of millions in federal marijuana-eradication grants. And it's not just in   
   California. Federal lobbying disclosures show that other police union   
   lobbyists have pushed for stiffer penalties for marijuana-related crimes   
   nationwide.   
      
       2.) Private Prisons Corporations: Private prison corporations make   
   millions by incarcerating people who have been imprisoned for drug crimes,   
   including marijuana. As Republic Report's Matt Stoller noted last year,   
   Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest for-profit prison   
   companies, revealed in a regulatory filing that continuing the drug war is   
   part in parcel to their business strategy. Prison companies have spent   
   millions bankrolling pro-drug war politicians and have used secretive front   
   groups, like the American Legislative Exchange Council, to pass harsh   
   sentencing requirements for drug crimes.   
      
       3.) Alcohol and Beer Companies: Fearing competition for the dollars   
   Americans spend on leisure, alcohol and tobacco interests have lobbied to   
   keep marijuana out of reach. For instance, the California Beer & Beverage   
   Distributors contributed campaign contributions to a committee set up to   
   prevent marijuana from being legalized and taxed.   
      
       4.) Pharmaceutical Corporations: Like the sin industries listed above,   
   pharmaceutical interests would like to keep marijuana illegal so American   
   don't have the option of cheap medical alternatives to their products.   
   Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer who now lobbies the government   
   to relax marijuana prohibition laws, told Republic Report that next to   
   police unions, the "second biggest opponent on Capitol Hill is big PhRMA"   
   because marijuana can replace "everything from Advil to Vicodin and other   
   expensive pills."   
      
       5.) Prison Guard Unions: Prison guard unions have a vested interest in   
   keeping people behind bars just like for-profit prison companies. In 2008,   
   the California Correctional Peace Officers Association spent a whopping $1   
   million to defeat a measure that would have "reduced sentences and parole   
   times for nonviolent drug offenders while emphasizing drug treatment over   
   prison."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)