UberDragon is back! - as a marijuana advocate???

First, to any of you wondering what in the world happened to me.. I'm still here. I lost my drive to blog regularly as life, family and work simply didn't allow much time for it. To be honest, all of those things still stake claim to the majority of my time.

I'm back because I need to be. Recently I was asked by a prospective client if I could help them with their online strategy, specifically the social networking aspect, twitter, facebook, myspace etc. That's when it hit me, while I have been busy working in the web industry to create client websites and applications, the web was passing me by. I hadn't blogged in a couple of years, I certainly had heard about all the social networking that was going on but other than marketing myself I didn't see much use for it. Since my employer pays to make sure my abilities are promoted, I had no need to self promote.

A couple of weeks ago, after the client inquiry, I decided I needed to re-acquaint myself with the web as it is being used today. It was then I realized I was so far behind the times! I went to digg.com where I had registered an account several years ago, but never used it. I decided I would start there and see where it takes me, and what a shock for me to find marijuana was all over the headlines. As digg linked me to news organizations like TIME magazine, NYTimes (who has a marijuana news section!), I realized there was a serious movement going on to tell the world about marijuana and to convince us all it is time to legalize it. After reading EVERYTHING I could find on the subject I have come to the following conclusion; everyone is right and we need DO to legalize it sooner rather than later.

I admit, I have had past affiliations with NORML and CANN over the years helping to organize a couple of marches as well as building websites for the causes, but I head never heard of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition), nor MPP (Marijuana Policy Project) and I was introduced to many others. And I have always kept that occasional side of my life 100% separate from my work/web life.

I found myself digging article after article about the medicinal benefits of marijuana, the billions of dollars we spend annually to continue enforcing the current policies, locking up children, parents and grandparents and labeling them criminals for the use of marijuana. The mexican cartels that obtain over 60% of their cashflow from marijuana distribution. Oh the list just goes on and on, (I'm still finding worthwhile articles to digg about the legalization of marijuana).

So the question is have I become an online marijuana advocate? Do I really want to suddenly get labeled a "worthless stoner" or "a criminal" because I do believe Americans could save billions of dollars and could generate billions more by legalization and taxation of this globally used commodity? I don't want those labels, nor do I think I deserve them, but I've decided if you want to slap on some labels to my otherwise impressive list of responsibilities and accomplishments, than so be it. As I watch my family members loose their jobs one by one due to the recession, having to consolidate living into one house and personally paying for a large amount of the bills so we can all survive, I know something must be done, the time is now, tomorrow is a day too late.

Please don't think this means this is the only topic on my mind, I am back online and I have a renewed commitment to continue blogging. As always my topics will range from web development & design, web security, and web technology as usual, you may just have to deal with a few opinions on ending marijuana prohibition along the way. It's good to be back!

And to answer Will Wheaton's call: I too smoke pot and I like it! I don't drink, I don't use any other illegal substances and I have managed to hide my marijuana usage from my government, and most of my colleagues all of my life. This while managing to receive company awards with names like "Get it Done", donating my time to my community, raising a family and paying my taxes. Why do you want to call me a criminal?