One year ago, Gina Pane was detained by a police officer in Greenburgh, NY. She was driven into the woods and forced to defecate in front of the officer while he masturbated. Ordinarily this would seem heinous, but Ms. Pane had a nugget of marijuana in her purse. So the media presented this story as a marijuana crime and went to work attacking the victim. That’s reasonable.

It’s not reasonable in that it’s right. The coverage is clearly not objective, but it is rational given the state of affairs in the US. The media, the Congress, and the pharmaceutical companies matter; Gina (and you and I) can be flushed.

The media needs Congress: With ongoing debate about the Fairness Doctrine and media ownership rights, the Corporations that control the newsfeed need all the support they can get on Capitol Hill.

The Congress needs BigPharma and the media: The Congress must protect the pharmaceutical industry to protect campaign contributions, so it stands firm on marijuana prohibition. The science and history of this policy is so ridiculous that Congress needs all the help it can to spin new information and keep America ill-informed about marijuana.

So a triangle of corruption exists between BigPharma, the Congress, and the media. It is held together by cash and favor.

The media gets ad money: BigPharma pumps ad dollars into the media and political contributions into the Congress. The Office of National Drug Control Policy also pumps over $1 billion annually into the media. The government isn’t just the regulator of the media, it’s also a valued sponsor.

BigPharma gets profitable policy: The Congress returns the favor by keeping BigPharma happy. From the Medicare Part D rip-off to the misinformation regarding alternatives to pharmaceutical treatments, Congress has BigPharma’s back.

Congress gets to keep their jobs: It’s expensive to run for Congress and marijuana smokers are a poor source of funding. BigPharma and media conglomerates are excellent sources. Guess who will get better representation?

Citizens like Gina Pane get the shaft: Gina Pane was brutally abused by an on-duty police officer. As a result, the media beat the hell out of her for a year. Had she been anyone other than a marijuana smoker, the story would have been about an abuse of authority. Instead we saw the ugliest side of American corruption as Ms. Pane was caned in the town square for marijuana.

Now that they have ruined Ms. Cane, prosecutors have dropped the possession charge against her under the condition that she not misbehave for a year. The cop was fired but never charged with a crime.

When a crazy cop drags a woman into the woods and forces her to crap while he plays with himself, the issue should never be whether or not the victim was the kind of person who deserved it. For the media, our leaders, and BigPharma, marijuana changes all of that.

To check out the assasination of Ms. Pane for yourself, please visit The Journal News.