As the date of my trial continues to approach (somewhat more rapidly than I might prefer), it’s difficult to ignore the pressing and unpleasant matter of the federal government and its ever-ongoing war against drugs. My own upcoming summons to the court aside, I can easily think of roughly half a dozen friends who either have pending drug-related legal cases or are the victims of some type of probationary sentence as a result of the state’s apparent distaste for controlled substances. Many of them (peaceful people, all) are presently being threatened with extended jail sentences–in fact, one of them is facing a potential sentence of up to one hundred years behind bars, locked away in one of the state’s many cages. I myself am presently being threatened with potential incarceration (my maximum sentence has a ceiling of one year’s time) for peacefully possessing a plant–cannibus–that was forcefully removed from my bedroom drawer while I was at work. If it’s true that the constitution of a crime demands both a victim and an agressor, then my alleged “crime” must surely be insufficiently complete in such regard–there was neither a victim nor an act of aggression created or exhibited by my personal decision to possess and consume marijuana. However, in an age where prohibited substances are as plentiful in number as they are apparently punishable, it is easy to imagine why so many of the nation’s inmates are presently serving time for similarly non-violent, drug-related, so-called “offenses”.