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The biggest impediment to relegalization of Cannabis/Hemp is the fear among major corporations of serious financial loss. While the pharmaceutical industry would stand to lose a significant amount of income, the petroleum industry would not.

Nor are these two institutions the only ones who oppose relegalization. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), already deep in the pocket of big pharma, would lose a lot of funding. Law enforcement agencies wouldn't be able to waste our money buying bigger and badder tools of urban warfare and exerting untoward authority over the citizenry. The drug testing industry would lose a lot of its marketing ability. The private prison industry would lose a lot of income by not being able to lock up the hundreds of thousands pot prisoners it currently control.

The pharmaceutical loss would be offset to a point by offering products based on Cannabis such as Eli Lilly and Parke Davis did in the early 1900's. They developed a strain of Cannabis called "Cannabis Americana" that was used in the tincture-based Cannabis medicines of the day. Why couldn't that be done now?

Real Science, not the crap the U.S. government is shoveling out, shows that Cannabis is an excellent medicine for a wide variety of ills. It would replace a number of chemical drugs which, in some cases, the side effects are worse than the original disease. By far the worse side effect of Cannabis is a feeling of euphoria and contentment. Yes, big pharma would lose money by not being able to sell these drugs. Tough. They shouldn't have pushed these poisons to begin with. I'm willing to bet that with some careful research and development, Cannabis could replace a number of the base chemicals used in pharmaceuticals and eliminate a good number of the serious side effects of many medicines.

The petroleum industry is different. While some initial expense would be incurred in a change over, all they have to do is replace petroleum with vegetable oils. Using Hemp for either seed oil-based biodiesel or hurd-based (Pulp)ethanol requires a change in extraction methods. Most of the balance of production uses the same technology and skills used for petroleum.

The idea of privately-owned prisons is one that needs to be carefully examined, in light of the need for human freedom. The for-profit warehousing of any class of people strikes me as morally wrong. So does the bend of law enforcement to think they need every paramilitary toy available. The cops would argue that they need

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