The Koch´s are Coming! The Koch´s are Coming!
More importantly, Charles Koch, a prominent business man and political lobbyist has set his gaze on cannabis legalization. With Amazon and Apple also pissing their streams into the social conversation – it’s safe to say that Cannabis has officially won the War on Drugs.
Forbes recently did an in-depth dive into the Billionaires´ motivations, which being heralded as a hardcore libertarian shouldn’t be a big surprise.
However, it is big news seeing that the Koch’s have shaped the way people do things in the United States.
While Koch isn’t a pothead himself, he sees no problem with people consuming the plant. Individual liberty is key within the libertarian paradigm.
Now, he is dropping “$25 million dollars to influence criminal-justice reform and legalization by the end of 2021” as was reported on Forbes.
Over the past two years, Koch and his network have dished out a cool $75 million towards legalization. This could be a reason why over the past two years we have seen so much progress suddenly from the DEA and other political strongholds.
Perhaps a big throbbing Koch is ready to insert itself into a ripe new industry. All puns intended.
It should be the individual’s choice,” says Koch from his office in Koch Industries’ sprawling granite compound in Wichita, Kansas. “[Prohibition] is counterproductive. It ruins people’s lives, creates conflict in society and is anti-progress. The whole thing never made sense to me.” – Forbes
Understanding the Mind of Koch
Koch believes that cannabis prohibition is an infringement on personal liberty. Additionally, the mass-incarceration erodes the trust in the government, creates an “us vs them” scenario and enables the growth of large criminal enterprises.
Koch said we should have learned from alcohol prohibition. In fact, he has two main questions he would like to ask anyone who is opposed to cannabis legalization;
“If you don’t like marijuana, or don’t like people doing that, and you have all these laws, how’s that working out for you?” he asks, before making his second point: “Marijuana, as I understand it, is less addictive than alcohol. So why is alcohol legal and marijuana isn’t?”
While Koch himself isn’t in the frontlines of legalizing cannabis, he is bankrolling several efforts and so by proxy, he’s advancing the cause.
For Koch, it’s an issue of philosophy and his philosophy is “Prohibition creates more problems for the country and helped create the world’s largest prison population.”
“By criminalizing [cannabis], it has huge negative manifestations, not only for the individuals who get trapped in that system, but also for society,” he says. “We want a society that empowers people to realize their potential and contribute, but with these laws you block out millions of people.” – Forbes
The Birth of the Cannabis Freedom Alliance
Weldon Angelos is a Utah man who was serving a 55-year prison sentence for selling about one-thousand dollars worth of weed to an informant.
Koch found that the sentence was “unjust, cruel, and irrational” and told his right hand man to start a campaign to fight for his early release under President Obama.
Angelos didn’t even know who Charles Koch were, but in 2016, Angelos was granted a sudden sentence reduction and in 2020 President Trump Pardoned him completely.
Angelos reached out to Koch and they started what we know today as the Cannabis Freedom Alliance.
The end of the War on Drugs?
It’s no longer a pipe dream for sure. With billionaire companies like Apple and Amazon making public policy shifts, with Koch’s and other billionaires like Bezos also lobbying – it’s safe to say that the landscape on drug enforcement will undoubtedly change.
Who knows, perhaps my Weed Predictions of 2021 will come true after all. It’s already legal in Mexico by nullification of cannabis prohibition by the Supreme Court.
Nonetheless, it is becoming painfully obvious that cannabis legalization is going to come and right now, there is a lot of money floating about in secret rooms in DC “convincing” people why cannabis is a good idea.
Some people might cringe at the idea of billionaires lobbying for cannabis, but to be honest – it’s about time!
Of course, don’t ever trust a billionaire! Very few times are there purely altruistic motivations behind their “activism”.
I’m not saying that they aren’t genuinely in favor of legalization, but you don’t go around spending $70 million dollars in 24-months because it “feels good”.
You’re doing it because;
-
It’s the right thing to do (publically right now)
-
You’ve got some business lined up to make that $70 back
-
You just showing everyone you’re the biggest Koch on the block
Koch certainly hopes that cannabis legalization typifies the end of the war on drugs. I don’t think he’s wrong either.
Cannabis legalization is the thread that will unveil the colossal fuckup that was the War on Drugs. Society should be embarrassed that it went on for that long.
I mean, how can you continue to blindly trust a government that actively spent money on creating false data to use as a means of justification for locking people up for smoking a plant?
Ever since I went down the rabbit hole of how prohibition got started, my trust in government eroded completely.
Nonetheless, while I don’t “trust” billionaires to do what is best for me, I do think that without a big fat Koch on board, the government won’t play ball.
With roughly 5-months to go before the end of 2021, can Charles Koch and his team of money bags convince enough politicians to vote yes for cannabis legalization?
I mean – doesn’t that previous sentence just illustrate how little your representatives actually give a shit about YOUR opinion.
If the people don’t speak in mass, or billionaires don’t flash their cash – politicians will obey only that which serves their own interests the most.
