Anybody gonna call bullshit?

Okay, I'll call bullshit.

FACT 1 (from the article):

Founded in 1992, CADCA has lobbied aggressively for a range of federal grants for groups dedicated to the “war on drugs.” The Drug-Free Communities Act of 1997, a program directed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, was created through CADCA’s advocacy. That law now allocates over $90 million a year to community organizations dedicated to reducing drug abuse.

'k. $90m a year for anti-drug campaigns. How much of that does CADCA get?

FACT 2 (from the article):

Records show that CADCA has received more than $2.5 million in annual federal funding in recent years.

"Recent years" is a nebulous term. Do they mean $2.6m in 2013? Do they mean a combined $2.501m from 2005-2013? We'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say $2.6m in 2012 since they would have said "last year" otherwise. So they're taking lots of swings at Pfizer for donating to CADCA. How much money did CADCA get from Pfizer? Well, they're not gonna say. But how much money did Pfizer spend on lobbying in 2013?

FACT 3 (not from the article):

Over 10 million dollars.

And that's where it all turns into a tempest in a teapot for me. I mean, the pharmaceutical industry is the most profitable business segment in history. Their profits are legendary. And let's say all of CADCA's funding came from Pfizer in 2013 (which it didn't, or why mention the government). It would still, theoretically, only be 1/4 of Pfizer's lobbying budget.

The article is basically a bunch of lobbyists and PACs slinging mud at each other. Somewhere in there, nobody thought to ask "do you think a drug company could make money on marijuana?" I mean, Pfizer made synthetic pot in 1979. Isn't it a bit more likely that they gave money to CADCA in a

"Yes, drugs are bad but certainly not our products"

spirit, rather than a

"Yes, drugs are bad particularly those that are being legalized across the country therefore oh shit we better jump on this 'weed' shit or we'll run out of people TO SELL OXYCONTIN TO?"

I mean, really?

Here's an industry that spent $226m on lobbying last year. Maybe, somewhere in there, according to The Nation, they spent some money on lobbying against drug abuse. I mean, fuck.

Wouldn't you?

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Slight, but appropriate change of subject: marijuana has been de-facto legal in California for about eight years now. And lemme tell ya - weed ain't no thang. But you can't bust somebody for driving stoned because you can't test somebody for driving stoned... and when I ride the motorcycle down the 405 during rush hour, lane-splitting my way from the Valley to LAX, I am in a perpetual cloud of ganga smoke for eighteen.straight.miles. Not sayin' every driver is stoned, but enough of them are stoned that you might as well consider "traffic" to be stoned. And that's a little scary when they weigh 5000 lbs and you're 700 soaking wet.

So while I fully support legalization, I fully support it within a framework of caution and consideration. DARE was bullshit but just flipping off the safeties and saying "joints for everybody!" is not without consequences.