Dear Friends,
During my 38 years as a politician and activist, I’ve frequently been out of step with mainstream opinion on controversial issues. One of those is marijuana. After meeting Carl Olsen in 1992 during my first legislative campaign, I agreed to help push legislation to legalize cannabis.
Carl Olsen
Carl’s my guest on the first segment of this week’s program — and a veritable encyclopedia of weed wisdom. Carl has spent his adult life pushing to decriminalize marijuana. He understands the ins and outs of federal and state drug policy better than anyone I know.
With Carl’s guidance, in 1993 I was one of ten House members — nine Democrats and one Republican — who introduced HF 404. That bill would have authorized the lawful possession of marijuana for therapeutic purposes. Not surprisingly, in the Republican-controlled Iowa House, it went nowhere.
I tried again in 1997 with HF 422 — a scaled-back version that simply would have required research on medical marijuana. That bill also died quickly, without even a sub-committee meeting.
Pursuing a different angle, I wrote to Senator Tom Harkin in 1996, asking him to introduce medical marijuana legislation at the federal level. Carl had brought to my attention the disturbing case of Allen Helmers, and I shared Allen’s story with Tom. Through no fault of Tom’s, federal action on marijuana also proved to be a dead end.
Fast forward to 2022. What a sea-change! Last week, President Biden set the ball rolling to reclassify marijuana as a less serious drug.The President also freed federal prisoners incarcerated for a marijuana offense. Polls now show upwards of 90% of Americans support legalization for medical and/or recreational use. With that kind momentum, it was just a matter of time before elected officials followed suit. We saw that last week with the President’s initiative.
If you’re an Iowa voter and interested in where the three candidates for governor stand, check out Rick Stewart’s bombshell pro-weed ad, Deidre DeJear’s solid statement, and Gov. Kim Reynolds … well, there’s nothing to check out there as Reynolds has made it clear she’ll veto any legislation that legalizes marijuana.
To be clear, I have zero personal interest in weed. It simply makes no sense to fill the jails and prisons with people who use the plant either to treat chronic pain or for recreational purposes (ideally, in moderation).
Of course, decriminalizing marijuana won’t matter a hill of beans if we don’t address the existential threats of climate change and nuclear war. One under-reported climate story has been the precipitous decline in wildlife. That’s not just a climate story, it’s an endless-growth-economy story as well.
So, in the second segment of this week’s program, Mark Clipsham and I discuss whether humanity must stop building anything new. No new houses, malls, commercial centers, factories, roads, air strips. Is this further than even an innovative, out-of-the-box architect and builder like Mark would be willing to go?
In our third segment, we celebrate a victory for CO2 pipeline opponents. Woodbury County landowners, Bill and Vicki Hulse, were sued by Navigator CO2 Ventures for refusing to allow the company to survey their land. Last week, the district court ruled in the Hulses’ favor. It’s a small but significant victory. Now we wait to see what Navigator does next. My guess is the company will file an appeal, and there’s no way to know how that will turn out.
Finally, for our Farm & Food segment, Kathy and I talk about the hoards of Chinese fishing boats operating non-stop off the coast of Chile and other South American countries. Apparently, China is now fishing halfway across the world because it depleted fish stocks off its own coast. This act of aggression is clearly wrong, but what international authority or coalition will address it?
Again, a reminder: If you appreciate the work we do, HERE’S THE LINK TO DONATE OR BECOME A SPONSOR. We could sure use your support, and thanks to those who donated earlier this fall.
Thanks for reading and listening! — Ed Fallon
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LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S PODCAST:
(01:49) Marijuana approaches a tipping point, with Carl Olsen;
(19:11) Don’t build anything new, with Mark Clipsham;
(38:35) Court rules in favor of landowners after Big Ag sues them;
(55:35) China hogging all the fish, with Kathy Byrnes.
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Ed Fallon