On this day in 1838, the Tennessee Legislature passed the nation’s first Prohibition law.
The statute made it a misdemeanor for residents to sell alcoholic beverages in taverns and stores. Tennessee had been admitted to the Union in 1796 as the 16th state. Under the new law, any person convicted of selling “spirituous liquors” could be fined at the “discretion of the court.” Such fines would help fund public education.
Currently, over 25,000 public policy questions have been submitted to Obama’s website. Dozens of these questions pertain to cannabis law reform. Right now, the leading vote-getter among these (with 2,000 votes) is:
The Global Cannabis Commission of the respected United Kingdom charity Beckley Foundation released a report today stating that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, and that there needs to be serious reconsideration of current prohibition policies.
To date, this unofficial debate between NORML and ONDCP has been one of the most popular public discussions ever at The Hill’s blog, which informs their editors (as well as other major publications’ and broadcast editors) that the issue of cannabis law reform is of great public concern and ripe for ongoing public policy debates about the future of cannabis prohibition.
In my many annual public appearances and media interviews advocating for cannabis law reforms, the question will often arise ‘if NORML and the other drug policy reform groups are right that there are safe and viable alternatives to cannabis prohibition laws, who then opposes you in trying to amend current state and federal laws?’
The WCTU was wrong-headed about fostering alcohol prohibition as a means of social control in the same way that it and numerous other so-called anti-drug organizations that exist today, are equally wrong to foster public policies that treat responsible adult cannabis consumers as violent criminals.