By Henry Atkins, Tampa Bay, Florida
Every year on the Fourth of July, we wave flags, launch fireworks, and celebrate our independence with family barbecues and patriotic music.
We remember the courage it took for a small band of colonies to stand up to the most powerful empire in the world and declare that all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
But as I sit in Tampa Bay this Independence Day, I can’t help but feel that some of those rights still ring hollow. Because here in the so-called land of the free, a plant that grows from the earth—used for centuries for medicine, recreation, and spiritual purposes—is still criminalized by our federal government. I’m talking about marijuana.
There’s no rational reason why cannabis remains illegal at the federal level. Nearly half of Americans live in states where marijuana is fully legal for adults. Three-quarters live in states where it’s at least allowed for medical use. Over 90 percent support some form of legalization. And yet, the federal government continues to treat marijuana as a Schedule I substance—right up there with heroin and LSD—as if it has no medical value and a high potential for abuse.
This classification isn’t just outdated—it’s absurd. It defies science, common sense, and the will of the people. It also undermines the very idea of freedom.
How can we claim to be a free nation when the federal government can still raid legal marijuana businesses, arrest veterans using marijuana to manage PTSD, or deny someone a job or a home loan because they admitted to lighting up a joint in a legal state?
How can we talk about liberty when tens of thousands of Americans—disproportionately Black and Brown—still sit in jail cells for marijuana-related offenses, while white-owned companies rake in billions from the exact same product?
This isn’t freedom. This is hypocrisy.
If America really wants to prove it believes in liberty, it needs to fully deschedule marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act. Not just move it to Schedule III or create a tangled web of regulations that still allow the government to pick winners and losers. It needs to stop treating this plant like a criminal and start respecting the rights of adults to make their own choices.
Descheduling would free up doctors to research marijuana’s medical potential without jumping through bureaucratic hoops. It would allow businesses to access banking and insurance like any other legal industry. It would finally give clarity to the millions of Americans who live in fear of being punished for something their state says is perfectly legal.
I’m not saying everyone should use marijuana. That’s a personal choice, just like drinking alcohol or using caffeine. But the government has no business locking people up or ruining lives over a plant that is far less harmful than many legal substances.
I want my children to grow up in an America that truly practices what it preaches. A nation that values individual freedom, bodily autonomy, and equal treatment under the law. A nation that doesn’t cling to outdated drug war policies rooted in racism, fear, and misinformation.
So this Independence Day, while we celebrate 249 years of freedom, let’s remember there’s still work to be done. Let’s pressure Congress to finish what the states have already started. Let’s end the federal prohibition once and for all.
Let’s show the world that America really is the land of the free—by making marijuana legal for all.
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