Opinion Editorials
In the business world, we recognize that the first step in solving a problem is to admit there is a problem.
But local leaders in Asheville and Buncombe County continue to twist and manipulate statistics to deny the severity of the crime problem, and gaslight citizens who are all too aware how bad crime there really is.
Ask anyone in Buncombe County – and Asheville in particular – whether they feel safer these days than five years ago, and the answer you will most likely hear is a resounding “No.”
Since 1996, Congress has shirked its responsibility to uphold the very laws it has passed regarding marijuana.
More and more states are thumbing their proverbial noses at federal laws that declare pot as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act. And Congress has sat idly by and watched it happen.
In 2014, Congress took its gutless approach even further by enacting legislation that prevents the Department of Justice from using funds to interfere with state medical marijuana laws, which have been passed every year since then.