I write this piece with Memorial Day in mind, a day that we as Americans remember those who have died or suffered in past wars. Instead of thinking of past victims of foreign wars I thinking of present victims of an ongoing war. Instead of thanking my uncle or my grandfather, or brother, or even myself, I think of and than the likes of the Marc Emerys and Eddy Lepps of our world.
I think of how this drug war has become us vs. them (my government is one of them) because of D.E.A raids gone bad like the one in Missouri or even Arizona.And I think of normal (but what is normal?) people that wake up every morning, go to work, do their job, than go home to smoke a joint or 2 and than of the guy that brought them their weed.
The weed bringer is the same, except who’s got his back? Ever wonder how many people are serving time for just selling pot or have lost scholarships or any other opportunity due to a conviction, I do. When your crime is no more serious than not being like the rest, I worry about the weed man’s way of life.
I’ve spent my Memorial Day smoking something called “Fucking Incredible” and doing horrible things like playing catch with my boys, doing laundry, picking up dog shit, letting the wife do homework, and other horrible things like watching Doctor Who and Red Dwarf with my kids; Its than I wonder why is this thing called a weed is so horrible. Trillions spent against and only hundreds of thousands for, truth is priceless.
I smoke lots of pot, so by law I’m a bad person but presently the only flaw to my quality is being an outspoken poetic misogynist that can’t pay his bills on time who is the sole provider his family and doesn’t mind being broke all the time as long as he has some weed, beer, and a highspeed connection. My kids are fed and happy, that’s all I worry about.
Recently the worse three days have gone by in my life spent in jail for some bullshit. Now the state can keep me away from my family — I’ve never been helpless before and don’t like it, the system has really failed this time. Three days not as a person but your last name, like in the military. Three days subject to someone else’s will for a phone call or TV, 3 shitty days.
I understand madness a little more clearly now and a little more paranoid. The madness I’m referring to is that non-sensical violence bullshit that happens every day. Random acts of unkindness that lead to frustration and anger that no one can control. Paranoia of police has always been instilled in me by just being a minority, that part can be explained by my families’ interactions with them but my recent stay has made me all the more adamant on why drug laws need to be changed.
I was incarcerated for 3 days for a not crime, imagine 3 yrs or 30. There something wrong with making a person feel defenseless. The only thing I was in control of was myself. You first wake up (if your drunk) not knowing if anyone knows where you are. Hungover (once again, have you been drinking?) and pissed you wonder what’s next (provided you’ve never done some shit that got you here before). From what I gather nothing really happens on Saturdays as everyone recovers from the night before.
That night before is something else though, hours handcuffed in a holding cell as you have one of those itches you can’t get to? Than a paddy wagon ride on a hard plastic seat you don’t mind ’cause your drunk with a little stoned.
During processing you’re just hoping for a place to sleep but are instead directed to a room with about 9 other drunk/bloody/stoned/methed out motherfuckers. In this other holding cell you see all kinds of crazy shit; two dumb Russians that got peppered sprayed for trying to outrun the cops or the Jeffrey Dahmer looking motherfucker that was escorted to his own personal cell.
Everyone’s innocent before guilty but I don’t think so, in a world where a person can do time for smoking a joint and handing it off to an undercover who was looking for some – these weren’t my charges but there was a feminine black guy from Atlanta whose was.
Jail is meant to punish to real criminals and bad guys. Not guys that get into loud arguments with their wife’s (like me) or people involved with marijuana.
All wars are failed wars but the war on drugs in particular is homegrown terrorism. Everyday a decent human being that is just trying to provide for a family is taken away from them. From people they love, from a world they know. And the war on drug spreads around the world as America sets the example.
The drug war is a failed war because its imprisoning senior citizens and the future college students of America. We live in a world where raids are questionable and presidents extend questionable laws, do I have faith in the system?, pretty much not anymore but I always have faith in people.
To be honest the variety of people locked up were interesting but its nothing I want to do again nor believes anyone else should be there for something I do on a Memorial Day weekend or any other good weekend for that matter.
