Dancing with Mary Jane: The Marijuana Conversation D.A.R.E. didn't give you.

Reefer, green, skunk, herb, cannabis, weed and hundreds of more monikers all describe the same substance that nearly everyone reading this blog post will probably have some memory of and ideas on. Whether you think of rebellious adolescence, your college roommate or the terrifying slide anti-drug P.S.A.'s the push on middle schoolers most people have at least a basic understanding of what it is but for the sake of clarity, I will give an objective view on the scientific nature of this drug.


 Marijuana is a drug that can be smoked, eaten in the form of edibles or capsules, vaped, and sublingually (dissolved on the tongue). The main chemical in Marijuana is THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). This mouthful of letters is the name for the chemical that causes numerous effects when consumed including the famed "high". The main effects of Marijuana are: feelings of well being, euphoria, increased perception, decreased problem-solving abilities, decrease in intra-ocular pressure, increase in appetite, and an increase in heart rate. Marijuana has been tested for traits of being physically addictive and has not shown evidence of being physically addictive though as most substances and even behaviors it can cause a psychological addiction. The difference between the two is that a physical addiction causes cells to require the substance to function while a psychological addiction is a compulsion or perceived need to use the drug. The drug has numerous properties that can be used for a variety of uses both medical and recreational.



Marijuana has great potential in the treatment of numerous medical and psychological conditions. Patients undergoing cancer treatment such as chemotherapy can have relief from nausea and pain as well as raising their appetite. The use of medical Marijuana has been shown to treat pain from a variety of illnesses such as AIDS, chronic migraines, Multiple Sclerosis, Arthritis, Hepatitis and various other conditions. The use of the drug has been also found to relieve symptoms of Alzheimers, Epilepsy, asthma, and glaucoma. Marijuana has also been used to treat mental disorders such as anxiety, anorexia depression, bipolar disorder and Tourette's Syndrome. The potential for this drug in medicine has become close to undeniable, however, due to the drugs standing as a contraband substance research on it has been limited even by highly esteemed Universities and Medical and Scientific organizations. 



In the United States, Marijuana is illegal on the federal level and is classified as a  schedule one drug. According to the website of the D.E.A. (Drug Enforcement Administration ) a Schedule I drug is defined as "...substances or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.". This means according to the federal government Marijuana has no medical uses despite wide acceptance of medical uses in both the Academic world and the general public. The reason behind this stigmatization dates back to the War on Drugs in the 1970s. During this time President Nixon and the federal government began a crackdown on drugs which included labeling Marijuana as a "Gateway Drug" (a drug that could lead to the use of more dangerous substances.). This tendency has been for the most part disproved through medical studies making it likely that this claim was part of the vast propaganda waves that occurred during this. 



With time much of the motives of the War on Drugs has been revealed to be quite questionable. Both the policies of the War on Drugs and current policy have shown immense bias against minorities. This can be shown through a simple comparison of statistics. Nearly 55 million adult Americans admit to using Marijuana regularly out of 249,485,228 million over eighteen. With the massive number of Americans of all demographics using Marijuana, it would be reasonable to assume those facing Marijuana charges would be just as diverse, yet this is far from the truth. Out of a whopping 60,000, low-level marijuana arrests 86% where Latinx or African American. This indicates that the prejudice in these laws goes not toward only the drugs but minority communities.



Despite the Federal laws, progress on the state level is growing by leaps and by bounds. Thirty states and Washington D.C have legalized medical Marijuana and another nine have legalized it for recreation. The change signified a move away from the war and drugs and it's agendas and may open countless doors in the treatment of both medicals and psychological disorder as well as further research the was previously made unavailable. This turn toward legalization has signified a change in the tides in the nation's attitude toward Marijuana and with several states set to follow it, The question arises whether the federal government will soon be forced to follow. 

The F-word

Some use it with great gusto and enthusiasm while others grimace at its usage. Used as an insult and in some circles a proud moniker. Now I'm sure that word has now popped into your head- Feminism.  the word that's been used as an insult and pushed with ideas that these people were a bunch of self absorbed family destroying, unpatriotic, and sluts. The word itself is defined as the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of equality between men and women.

Perhaps the definition is well summed up by a quote from a very early suffragist "Men - their rights and nothing more; Women - their rights and nothing less." (Susan B. Antony). Through the course of history territory for woman's rights has been gained. The passage of Roe v. Wade (mentioned here) was a major win for pro choice feminists everywhere. And even before this the fight for the right to work and vote. These fights were strong and highly necessary for the tide of history to take place but the modern fight for equal rights is still extremely active.

The Equal Rights Amendment was first proposed back in 1923 and was then submitted again at every opportunities until 1973 when it was first sent to the states for ratification. The bill would make it so legal discrimination based on gender was illegal that the federal government could help enforce that. However at the time for ratification of the amendment groups who's ideologies differed then the message set in place by the E.R.A were protesting loudly by doing things like baking pie for the people debating in their state. Eventually these tactics were successful and the E.R.A. failed to be put into the Constitution.

Problems facing modern feminists are still quite abundant things like rape and domestic violence, police brutality to woman of color and trans women, lack of paid maternity leave, lack of reproductive health, less women studying in S.T.E.M fields, and sexism in insurance providers. One in every six women are raped every year and 90% of adult victims are female. One in four women will experience physical violence from a partner. Sixteen percent of trans women have been incarcerated and African American women are seventeen times as likely to be given traffic violations not to mention even more likely for other types of offenses. Only fourteen percent of workers have access to paid maternity and paternity leave which is a massive problem when women and men with children make up a shocking amount of the workforce. The current administration is currently trying to de-fund Planned Parenthood which makes finding affordable reproductive health resources harder and harder to find. Women are also studying less in the hard sciences leading to some problems with gender diversity in these departments. Finally, the Republicans current proposal to health care makes things like pregnancy, sexual assault, eating disorders, depression, Lupus and Celiac disease pre-existing conditions and insurance companies and the bill can choose to exclude people with these conditions.

All of these issues are of feminist concern. And through supporting planned parenthood, affirmative action  programs and supporting bills and organizations that attempt to combat these problems as well as participating in protest and petitions. And with that in mind the feminists of today can plow forward united and combat inequality.

We Cannot Afford Tax Cuts

While Republican's like to tout the idea of minimizing taxes provides financial relief to the poor and middle class, in actuality tax cuts lead to increased financial burdens being placed on the poor and middle-class. This is because Republican tax cuts require reductions in social programs that would provide financial easing to the poor and middle-class individuals, while simultaneously offering very little to the poorest American's.

Take Trump's recent tax cuts, which would give individuals earning under $25,000 a year $40 in tax cuts, while simultaneously giving those who earn more than $3,400,000 a year nearly a million dollars of tax cuts. Not only are almost all the benefits given to the richest of American's, but the bill would also reduce revenue by $7.2 trillion dollars over ten years This results in less money being available for government benefit programs such as college subsidization, construction of roads and repaired waterways.

Here is what we could do instead of enacting the Trump Tax Plans would would benefit the poor and middle-class to a significantly higher degree. According to the American Society of Civil Engineer's it would cost $1 trillion dollars over 25 years to continue to maintain our water-systems and to repair the nearly 240,000 water breaks across the country. Not only could we provide funding for this program, providing clean water for millions of American's including the citizen's of Flint Michigan, but we would have more than 15 trillion dollars left.

With the remaining money we could repair and improve our roads, which would save an estimated $160 billion dollars a year. We could also give public K-12 schools additional funding leading to higher-qualities of education being offered and access to much needed renovations. We could also provide tuition free college to all American's end homelessness in the United States, and still have $40,000 per American. While giving American's $40,000 each would be a terrible policy and would lead to massive inflation, these examples demonstrate how inferior Trump tax cuts are in terms of financial aid compared to social programs which could have been enacted using the lost revenue. The poor and middle-class simply cannot afford such a burden that these tax cuts would place upon them.

Remember the Rainbow

The month of June to a great deal of the population it is awaited with happy anticipation and not because it signal summer is finally here. This month has been deemed Pride Month a time of rainbow flags, coming out and celebrating the identity and community of being  LGBTQ. However in a time of wide spread openness and public celebration it is easy to forget that the rights of this community is still very much under attack.In most countries in Europe and the Western Hemisphere it is being quickly forgotten that for one the queer community has just recently been accepted and secondly they still faces major challenges.

 Starting on June 28th, 1969 police brutality and injustice towards the gay and lesbian community was met with protest.In the Stonewall riots Queer people marched in the streets continuing even when some of them were beaten and arrested. This massive protest and the ones that followed lead way to organizations like the Gay Liberation Front and was a huge turning point for the fight for gay rights. In more recent history the Lesbian, Bisexual and gay community won a major goal, gay marriage was legalized in the United States in June of 2015. This was a massive win for the LGBTQ community but the war is far from over.

In 2016 alone twenty two trans people have been murdered and in 2017 so far fifteen more names can be added to the list. In the populous around 2.7% have been incarcerated in the trans community that number is 16%. Not only this but LGBTQ youth face a higher rate of abuse, poverty, homelessness and rape. Twenty percent of LGBT people have an annual income of less than $12,000 a year. And these statistics stem from only the United States.

On a global scale things are far more grim, seventy five countries still consider homosexuality as a criminal offense and in many it can be punished by death. In a great deal of the middle east gay and trans people are executed . And in Chechnya a genocide against gay men is being carried out as more than a hundred gay men have been rounded up and slaughtered.

It is because of these injustices that it is necessary for the LGBTQ community to continue to hold their ground and fight for not only their rights but the rights of others n their community on a global scale because although it's been a long time since Stonewall but we have a long way to go.

Why Republicans will Lose in 2020

After Donald Trump had a convincing electoral win in 2016, and the Republican's won the House, Senate, the majority of governorship's while also clenching control of the Supreme Court it seemed that the Republican Party was unstoppable. However, cries of dissent from millions of Clinton Supporters and Progressives alike followed the historic Republican victory indicating a lack of support for the new office. With the favorability rating's of the Republican Party falling to 33% and Trump's to 38%, the Republican's ought to be worried about the upcoming election. If the Republican's wish to win in 2020, they must become more populist.

The first thing the Republican's must do is leave the Affordable Care Act in law, or at least create a suitable healthcare replacement that will protect people with preexisting conditions, and will ensure that at least as many American's are covered after it's passage. This is because only 26% of American's are in favor of a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Under Obamacare 45,000 American's die every year due to a lack of healthcare coverage, however under Trump Care that number will increase to 63,100 to 72,000 a year.

It isn't just healthcare that American's are concerned about. The Republican's must also leave marriage equality alone. This is because only 32% of American's are opposed to marriage equality for same sex individuals. While Trump has made no attempt to undermine marriage equality as of yet, if he does it will be a disaster for the Republican party in 2020.

The Republican's must also end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as only 21 percent of American's are in favour of remaining in Afghanistan. The war in Iraq has so far cost over two trillion dollars. This money could have been better used at home rebuilding our infrastructure and supporting new businesses. It is vital that the Republican's stop wasting money in the never-ending conquest of the middle-east.

Ultimately, the Republican Party must become more like the Party of Reagan and focus on supporting business while keeping government involvement in the free market place to a minimum, while keeping American's health insurance, and civil right's protections. The expensive wars in the middle-east must also be ceased in order to better aid our businesses here in America. We must apply pressure onto our representatives to get these policies enacted, you can find your representative here.

My Vagina is not a Policy

Infatuation and disgust is what the female reproductive system is met with. If its shown as a sex symbol simply to please a partner then it's adored, wanted, craved. And yet the second a tampon is found in the bag of your crush it's game over and cooties all over again.

The United States is home to nearly three hundred and twenty seven million people and of that rather baffling number slightly over fifty percent of them are woman. In the years proceeding the passing of Roe v. Wade birth control was taboo and if a woman dared to want it or worse yet be using such a thing all she needed was to close her legs and get off her knees. It was also in this time getting an abortion was enough to get you shunned leaving you often with no choice but to result in barbaric and sometimes fatal methods of abortion at home. In 1973 a picture depicting a women who had died from a botched abortion was published and became an open pro choice rally cry.

In 1970 Norma McCorvey took her case against Dallas county District Attorney Henry Wade to the Supreme Court when she was denied the right to terminate her pregnancy and after her put right argument was shot down she argued for the sake of privacy and after three years of intense heat in the court room the verdict she had wished for: the Supreme Court ruled it that it was unconstitutional for states to unduly regulate abortion was unconstitutional for the sake of privacy. It was also determined that it was up to the state government to determine at what point in the pregnancy an abortion could or couldn't be preformed.

In 2013 it was estimated that around 35% of women in the United states will have an abortion by the age of 45. It is also estimated by the CDC that the abortion ratio is 200 abortions for every one thousand live births. The magority of these abortions are early stage with only around eight percent being preformed after 13 weeks and only 1.3%  occurring after twenty weeks.

Organizations like Planned Parenthood provide safe and nonjudgmental places for woman to get attention for all kinds of reproductive health needs from cancer and STI screenings to contraceptives and in some places abortion. This organization has been repeatedly threatened to be shut down even though the majority of their function has nothing to do with abortion. Things like trapping has become an increasingly common occurrence to be pulled on these type of businesses things like making up some protocol that would require upgrades or renovations that the facilities can't afford are sadly effective some of the time which is one way that shows without a doubt the attack on woman's reproductive rights is still very much at hand.

Even at this moment the current administration has voiced desires to make a move toward repealing Roe v. Wade which has been attempted multiple times since its passing. It is the states choice clause in Roe v. Wade that evolved into a potentially huge threat to human rights Arkansas has just recently issued a bill that states a women must gain the permission of the fetuses father before gaining an abortion. This means victims of rape and abuse will have to confront their abusers and be once again put to there mercy against their will. This disgustingly blatant violation of women's rights is why we need to continue our push for equality so that one day their will be no question if birth control or a safe and private method to terminate a pregnancy is available and women can hold full autonomy over their sexuality and reproductive health and never be at the mercy of a policy that never took a glance at her needs and rights.   

Another Shot Heard 'round the World

On November 8^th 2016, the citizens of the United States of America headed to voting polls to elect a president. The Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was seen as likely to win by several media outlets and political commentators. The election was already making history by the primaries. Two candidates shook the ideas of both parties. On the left, a progressive socialist Senator from Vermont was rallying a large group of young people who had previously been labeled as uncaring about politics and entitled to their rights. The authoritarian corporate Democrats were strongly opposed to Senator Sanders', stance as a democratic socialist who was opposed to money in politics. The Democratic party wasn't alone in its division, on the Right a business man also posed as anti-establishment but a polar opposite of Senator Sanders. Donald Trump was billionaire business man from New York who with his faux populist economic stance and nationalistic ideals brought to life the prejudiced underbelly of the Republican party. Many republican politician despised Trump but his supporters were clear and the primaries revealed him as the Republican Presidential nominee. The authoritarian Left eventually blocked Sanders and Hillary Clinton rose to be the nominee for the Democratic Party.

The frantic prepping for election was many times derailed by scandal on both sides. Trump's numerous comments and tweets went viral stirring uproar for the left. Two quotes from Trump insinuating sexual assault: “Yeah, that's her. With the gold. I better use some Tic-Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful- I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just a kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything,”(Donald J. Trump). The Democratic party were also seeing there share of scandal. A private email server scandal with the Democratic nominee caused massive distrust toward the candidate and yielded not one but two FBI investigations in both of which Clinton was cleared however the damage to her levels of support of both Democrats and Republicans.

At nearly 2:30 am eastern standard time on Wednesday November 9^th the results were in Donald J. Trump was the 45^th President of the United states by way of the electoral college. The popular vote was won by his competitorby more than 2.5 million. Immediately following election, their was out cry and celebration from opposing sides. Protests began overnight in small towns and cities alike. Rallies for and against the new President filled social media, News and the streets.

LGBTQ people, Immigrants, Muslims, people of color, woman and many other minority groups attempted to unite and speak out against campaign promises from Trump and his Administration that could violate their rights. Open talks of how to be an activist spread and senators, congressmen and state officials began being flooded by post cards, letter, emails and phone calls.Perhaps the most memorable protest on this side was the Women's March. The day after the Inauguration Washington D.C. Was flooded not with supporters of the new president but groups in protest. Bearing pink pussy hats, rainbow flags, protest signs and symbols of unity any were between 500,000 and one million people marched in Washington DC and remained fully peaceful with no arrests. Outside of Washington millions across the country and across the world marched for the cause in groups ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands.The left again wasn't alone in new found activism. Trump supporters were very vocal and both celebratory and later discontent with lack of fulfilled campaign promises.

Most of this information is known and has been paid attention to. What has had less coverage is the relevance of these events. The discontentment form the majority of the population is notable as it is one of the lowest rates of approval in history however the rival party of the current president is approved of at levels that would be detrimental to nearly any candidates success. But on the horizon groups like Wolf-Pac and Justice Democrats are rebelling against the platforms of the two major political parties and wanting to clean house on our governments corrupt and bribe passing behavior. The group Wolf-Pac is running far left progressive candidates at the local and state levels with the eventual goal of passing a constitutional amendment to establish publicly funded elections. The Justice Democrats are a new political party who is breaking away from the money in politics and trying to get back to fighting for progressive values. And finally a new generation of activists watch eagerly with copies of the constitution in hand ready to step in for the cause.