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Guest Post: Colorado Legalizes Marijuana: Your Move Eric Holder
Submitted by Mike Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,
The one election outcome I actually cared about yesterday went the way I wanted it. I am referring to Colorado’s Amendment 64, which regulates marijuana in a similar manner to alcohol. It is basically full legalization of pot for adults over 21. It essentially:
- Makes the personal use, possession, and limited home-growing of marijuana legal for adults 21 years of age and older;
- Establishes a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol; and
- Allows for the cultivation, processing, and sale of industrial hemp.
I’m proud to say that my state of Colorado led the way nationally by becoming the first state to legalize marijuana (although Washington passed a similar measure shortly after). I supported this Amendment and voted yes on it for several reasons.
1) Based on personal experience as well as observations of others I believe that marijuana is a much more benign drug than alcohol, and in fact I think its benefits to society outweigh the negatives. Like with anything in life, moderation is key.
2) I philosophically do not believe the Federal government should have any say in what people put into their bodies. This is not to say that I believe the full legalization of all drugs is ideal. For example, I would vote against the legalization of harder drugs like cocaine or heroin in Colorado if that was on the ballot. That’s not to say I don’t think it has a right to be on the ballot, it’s just that I would vote against it. We have 50 states for a reason. These individual communities should be able to decide for themselves what they want to allow within their respective borders. The Federal government should have absolutely zero say on this matter.
3) It’s about time we had a little confrontation with the Federal government on the issue of States rights. As has been documented endlessly, civil liberties have been decimated since 9/11 and the overreaction to the endless “war on terror.” The Federal government has become bolder, more aggressive and increasingly tyrannical. While the degree is debatable the trend is not. Marijuana legalization provides the ideal battleground on the issue of States rights at the moment. The measure passed in a landslide in Colorado. 55% voted yes and 45% voted no. The people have clearly spoken.
So now this sets up a potentially epic battle. The Huffington Post put out a great article highlighting the potential confrontation in its article “Amendment 64: Will Colorado Voters Legalize Marijuana On Election Day 2012?” Here are some of my favorite passages:
However, the big unknown still is if the federal government would allow a regulated marijuana market to take shape. Attorney General Eric Holder, who was a vocal opponent of California’s legalization initiative in 2010 saying he would “vigorously enforce” federal marijuana prohibition, has continued to remain silent on the issue this year.
In September, Holder was urged by nine former heads of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to take a stand against marijuana legalization again. “To continue to remain silent conveys to the American public and the global community a tacit acceptance of these dangerous initiatives,” the nine said in the letter to holder obtained by Reuters.
The drug warriors say that states that legalize marijuana for recreational use will trigger a “Constitutional showdown” with the federal government.
Bring. It. On.
4) The “war on drugs” is violent, expensive and idiotic. As the years have passed, people have come to realize how ridiculous the “war on drugs” really is. The Economist recently published an excellent article titled: “Legalizing marijuana: The View from Mexico.” In the article we discover the biggest losers would probably be the Mexican Drug Cartels:
The impact on Mexico could be profound. Between 40% and 70% of American pot is reckoned to be grown in Mexico.
In Mexico relatively few people take drugs. But many are murdered as a result of the export business. About 60,000 have been killed by organized crime during the past six years. Thousands more have disappeared. Many Mexicans therefore wonder if America might consider a new approach. Felipe Calderon, the president, has said that if Americans cannot bring themselves to stop buying drugs, they ought to consider “market alternatives”, by which he means legalization. Vicente Fox and Ernesto Zedillo, the two previous presidents of Mexico, have reached the same conclusion.
As a result, it estimates that Mexico’s traffickers would lose about $1.4 billion of their $2 billion revenues from marijuana. The effect on some groups would be severe: the Sinaloa “cartel” would lose up to half its total income, IMCO reckons. Exports of other drugs, from cocaine to methamphetamine, would become less competitive, as the traffickers’ fixed costs (from torturing rivals to bribing American and Mexican border officials) would remain unchanged, even as marijuana revenues fell.
It’s interesting that the two states to legalize marijuana both voted for Obama in this election. Will he now betray all these faithful voters? Based on his first term performance, you can count on it. Your move Mr. Holder.
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The institution itself gets to decide whether it has authority over you. It is illegal to drive without a license... the DMV has been granted authority by the state to issue driving licenses... what the fuck are you talking about?
Here is a little 'play' I have been working on called "WOOP".
Obviously, this is a play. It is a thought exercise. For discourse and education. To make people think. Do not attept to act this out in real life. You are not a professional "ACTOR".
You might be dealing with a gang of felons/villans that stop people who are travelling on the side of the road and try to take their money at the point of a gun.
If you are dealing with such a group, they are way smarter than you because they do this for a living.
Do not get your head smashed or tazed. Treat all officers better than you would expect to be treated. We are all brothers and sisters and we should try to help each other get through this thing called life.
Act 1,
WOOP.
'Pulls over'
Hello officer, what is the emergency? (he turned on his emergency lights)
Can I see your license and registration?
What is your name?
Officer Doe
Officer Doe, as one of the people, I will accept your public oath of office as a binding verbal contract between you and I to defend my liberties, including but not limited to what is listed in the Bill of Rights in the State and Federal Constitutions. I am further stating that these roads were built and dedicated to the public use and I am a one of the people and part owner of this road, this (state description of your car ie. Jeep Wrangler ) is my private conveyance and part of my effects and property".
Officer Doe, I notice you are carrying a weapon, for the record, I am unarmed and frighted of guns.
Officer Doe, for the record, it made me very uncomfortable and frightened when you turned on your emergency lights. (always tell truth and put it on the record).
Officer Doe, It would make me feel much better if you could show me your badge and give me a business card before we proceed any further. I would also like to see a copy of your letters of comission.
License and registration please
Officer Doe, criminals have been known to impersonate law enforcement officers, I really need to see the things I have asked for (now it is not about your 'papers' it is about his 'papers')
For the record, I am travelling and not operating in commerce.
License and registration please.
Do you have a warrant supported by a sworn oath and based upon probable cause to see my license and registration?
Do you have any evidence that I am operating in commerce or participating in some activity that would require a license?
Why do you need to see the 'registration' for this vehicle? Do you have any evidence that it has been stolen or is in use without the owners consent?
Can you articulate your probable cause for stopping me?
ACT 2..you guys take it from here. What happens?
----------
You can always ask questions.
You can always object and state the nature of your objection for the record.
It is the weight of the record that tips the scales of justice.
If they tip when you are stopped at the side of the road or later in court, it doesn't matter, as long as they tip.
It is very powerful to say "Judge, I told the officer FOR THE RECORD...BLAH BLAH BLAH."
You always have a right to know the nature and cause of what is going on.
Pull out a pen and paper and start taking notes for the record. The pen is far mightier than the sword and much better than any camera.
You can also keep a notebook with your 'script'. If the officer asks you what it is, tell him it is your private papers and things you learned from 'counsel' to say.
Anything may be phrased as a question. Officer, "don't I have the right to know the nature and cause of this stop?"
You must stay in honor and not argue.
http://www.1215.org/lawnotes/lawnotes/honor-dishonor.htm
Exactly. That is the key thing to understand. Codes are for 'them' - not for 'you'. Did you unknowingly beg or plead to join their club?
this is one of the 'beefs' from Declaration of Independence
"For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:"
Above 0.00?...nice catch fuu...lol.
Be careful hanging out in your big brother/sisters room kiddies ;-)
haha, no way the Choomer-In-Chief Hobama aka Sir Choom-A-Lot is allowing this.
Legalized in Washington state also, up to one ounce. I predict the population counts of these 2 states will be significantly higher in the future.
Legal in WA state = a direct pipe line to the finest BC bud across the border. Vancouver's "pot tourism" will skyrocket.
Good luck with the 5 nanogram blood limit for DUI's.
Gives "show me your papers" a whole new meaning don't it? ;-)
Being a resident of the ever-GREEN state, I'm just hoping that this bleeds the feds dry just like prohibition did. Holder; have fun locking up school teachers and firefighters, because we sure as hell aren't.
And there will be more of us too!
the infrared on the drones can see the drags on da bone
Apparently the folks in hawaii have gone to planting it next to banana trees which somehow carry the same heat signature...
Having to legalize it is like admitting it is bad.
Kinda like growing carrots.
Don't tax my carrots.
+1
4-H'ers now can get blue ribbons for that bodacious pot plant at the county fair...
an ZH'ers can get uhhhh
yeah can uh
I wanna snoKone man....
huh?
DIDJJU SEE THAT DUDE SWALLOW THAT GOLDFISH?
FUCK ING FAR OOOUUT MAN......
I philosophically do not believe the Federal government should have any say in what people put into their bodies. And yet:
I would vote against the legalization of harder drugs like cocaine or heroin in Colorado.
So, the fed gov shouldn't tell Colorado residents what to put in their bodies (as long as it's just pot), but you would vote to put your neighbor in jail for doing the "harder" drugs? Fuck you.
+1 - Beat me to it. So I'll add a double FUCK YOU!
The author clearly stated that he sees it as a states' rights issue and that while he does not believe that "the Federal government should have any say in what people put into their bodies," it remains within the perview of the citizens of each state to enact such laws. That's the system devised by the founders and enshrined in the Constitution. It's called federalism.
Absolutely correct.
"That’s not to say I don’t think it has a right to be on the ballot, it’s just that I would vote against it. We have 50 states for a reason. These individual communities should be able to decide for themselves what they want to allow within their respective borders. The Federal government should have absolutely zero say on this matter."
I didn't see what was so hard to understand either.
I always thought the example for a "Republic" was that the 99 percent could not 'vote' to take away the rights or property of the 1 percent.
If we really had 'limited' government via a republic - I can't really see how regulating 'pot' could ever even be a 'power' of the government or a 'power' of your neighbors.
Your neighbor can make that decision for himself and his children but shouldn't really be making it for me. Self governing..etc.
He doesn't have any 'cause' to do that.
I know we don't have this but just thinking in terms of an ideal world.
The vote they are taking is kind of absurd. Are they going to write a law for each thing that they want to make 'legal'?
You're describing anarchy which is my preference; nevertheless the author is expressing his belief in federalism which is a historically valid political construct and one which has been recently been championed by Ron Paul.
Yeah, Ron Paul is constantly promoting state laws that criminalize individual liberty. I thought you were one of the smart ones.
I don't know about smart but I am well informed. Note that Paul's position is precisely as I stated.
Ron Paul on the Tonight Show, December 2011
No..not anarchy.
The government can do some stuff and when they do this stuff, it is a good thing.
They put a structure around it so that people cannot game the system or take advantage of each other.
If the government doesn't do these things, people will loosely self organize and do it anyway.
Like Coin money and regulate the value thereof, establish weights and measures for commerce.
Establish post offices and postal roads.
Regulate commerce between the States (note it says the states, not the people in the states or the businesses) and it says regulate commerce, not private transactions or people.
Pretty much all the stuff listed out in Art.1 Sec 8.
-----
Read the book in my profile, it describes how just one of those duties is carried out properly.
If they did these things, it would promote liberty, not harm it.
The people would voluntarily help them.
For instance, back when they took their duties more seriously, kids used to actaully aspire to be a Postmaster General.
That is so foreign to our thinking now it sounds like a joke.
who the fuck thinks cocaine is a hard drug?
Who the Fu#k thinks Cocaine is a helluva drug.
Would sure be nice to have around for toothaches.
Novacaine is just modified version.
Laid Back - White Horse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a9tzTlwyKk
*damn there were some nice beats in the 1980's
Since we are on the subject of bitches and bass lines..70's wasn't bad either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEG0-3xlAkg
*1:54 for talk box riff.
I believe he said fuck, not Fu#k.
Grow a pair and use 'em. This is ZH, not The Huffinpuff Post, for christ sakes.
I did not want to offend anyone's tender sensibilities here on Zero Hedge - especially that Chinese Guy.
I found a lesson on the proper use of this special word.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXk9EPxZw48
Yeah, I know. It'll just be held up as another decadent example of American Citizenism.
You're probably right.
Heroin and other narcotics could be freely available at the corner drug store with limitations on sales by age..just like Alcohol - Most of us are going to get old someday.
The propaganda box known as Tell-A-Vision has been lying to you.
Life can get much more painful as you get older. Both physically and emotionally.
Both Cocaine and Heroin were available freely and cheaply in the Sears Roebuck catalog until about 1900.
There were many prominent people in society that had huge habits and tolerances built up. They were productive, creative and fully functional.
Talk about lowering the cost of health care. Opiates let people with chronic intractable conditions function and have a much better quality of life.
Narcotics can also be used to alleivate emotional pain. I think easy availabilty would have a huge calming and soothing effect on society.
Our nation never had a problem with 'drug-addicts' until they started regulating these substances.
There is no Constitutional basis for these laws at all - State or Federal.
There is no cause or standing to arrest someone using or selling drugs.
There is no victim, no complaining party, willing buyer and seller.
Government efforts could be used to help people who decided they wanted to stop using them voluntarily and at a minimal cost to what we spend now.
When a pharmacy applies for a DEA number, the Federal Govt. sends them a list of suppliers.
You have the government assisting in the distribution and sales of narcotics but on the other hand they are locking individuals up for the exact same thing they are doing.
You have law enforcement officers dying to enfoce these laws and wasting their time on them when they could be going after the real bad guys out there..
You have much more harmful drugs like nicotine and alcohol easily available.
It would instantly create thousands of jobs if they were legalized.
It would bring peace to an almost 40 year old undeclared war againt the American People
We still have controlled substances available, but only to the very rich or people who can afford them because of insurance.
You have the ridiculous situation of the Government telling doctors what they can and cannot prescribe to treat you.
Government has also jailed many doctors for 'over-prescribing'
You have thousands of non-violent people incarcerated and the huge cost to society from that.
Broken families, orphans, death and destruction.
They could always legalize MDMA along with the heroin and the coke and that would alleviate the addiction problem.
People use MDMA (a.k.a. penicillin for the soul ) in therapy sessions to cure Drug Addiction, Post Traumatic Stress, and other serious conditions.
Sometimes people are cured of lifelong chronic conditions with just one or two therapy sessions.
It was used extensively for this purpose when it was legal.
There are still clinics that do this but they have to operate in the black market, use drugs of questionable purity, etc.
It is beyond absurd.
what a brilliant post, thank you for taking the time to include many substances from a perspective of co-existence, if not necessarily a cure.
MDMA, when not cut with crap on the street, and with suitable assistance, can indeed benefit many troubled minds/souls. set and setting.
not everyone uses substances to "party" - though obviously, who cares about anyone's personal habits - and the use of plant substances with intention, and respect, can lead to some deep awareness not found in the cacophony of culture.
marijuana has so many uses beyond getting high, and so many ways to use, that it's criminal to even allow the govt to have an opinion, let alone pay for the privilege of listening to that opinion, or "respecting" it. and then there are those confiscation laws sucking everything into local police coffers, paying for their bad-ass gear to continue suppression.
more folks smoked bud, less folks gettin' in everyone's business.
chill.
Interesting thing about MDMA. The alkaloid it is made from is derived from the sassafras tree roots.
Root beer was originally made from sassafras root extract.
They have used artificial sassafras flavor to make Root Beer since the FDA put the real stuff on a list of carcinogens back in the 50's or 60's.
Root beer was originally served at parties and dances for it's weak narcotic effects - not the flavor.
It gave everyone a sense of brotherly love and well being.
It is sad that we are deprived of this experience today.
People could have this at parties and bars instead of alcohol.
there would be less fighting and violence.
Wake up with new friends instead of hangover.
In the Book of Wisdom ( from Apocrypha books of the Bible)
it mentions 'virtues of roots'.
http://ebible.org/kjv/Wisdom.htm
chap 7: verses 19-21
The circuits of years, and the positions of stars:
The natures of living creatures, and the furies of wild beasts: the violence of winds, and the reasonings of men: the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots:
And all such things as are either secret or manifest, them I know.
ah yes, root beer & the FDA - the same entity that allows GMOs & "acceptable" levels of pesticides/toxins, etc.
any substance that encourages heart is deadly, but all that promote anger/ill health, promoted.
that's amrkn culture, and all who would emulate, in a nutshell.
the Malleus Maleficarum crew saw the village herbalists & healers as competition for the priests & popes, we've not moved on much from there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rootbeerfoam2.JPG
cheers!
Great. TY.
Ps....
We should all chip in and send timmy and benny to Mexico for us ,and send them to get a bag while they are there.
Boom......Disappeared.
FORWARD CHOOM WAGON!
Means nothing, no 3rd term as yet, (but I'm waiting for acclamation).
The only election result that made sense is this one. I know where I am going skiing this year - Colorado! Best thing ever for Colorado tourism!
Fuck Tourism!
People gonna be moving there from California in Droves.
Look put Boulder....
Too bad this isn't real, you could just fly a plane back and forth between the two.
http://cbsbreakingnews.com/world:950987
The US is done, and been that way for at least a couple decades. Stinky green budd ain't the issue by a long shot. Now get back to work stupid goy, and pay your Jew World Order or we'll cut off your pop-tarts and TV.
You really know how to harsh a buzz, don't you?
Time to arrest state officials as accesories to Federal violations.
If you cut the cash flow of the cartels, then how would they be able to afford to buy guns from the BATF?
ATF would front them the money.
Edit: Duh. Don't you know how corruption works?
What happens when you have NEVER smoked a doob... Presenting the GOP base as I saw it firsthand on three seperate occasions as a delegate. This is a classic rant...
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1f3_1352328148
That is really raw, and really sad. She reminds me of someone, i cant quite put my finger on it though...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVzX22lrWxA
For all of the whining about lack of attention preceding the election, her web material is now blocked and this diatribe only came out hours ago. I have a private blog that I would like to invite her into just for entertaintment purposes as I have a few questions. My sources informed me that her name is:
Shelly L. DankertUnrealted but this guy is hillarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z31MDw-BAng
Turns out one of the Missouri canidates was in Blazing Saddles a long time ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_urvjCXg6c
lol, she'd fit right in some corners here.
hey lady, which are ya, who's yer avatar?
about 4 minutes was enough for me. . . she could use a liver cleanse, anger's a helluva drug.
Waves Outside New York Harbor Getting Bigger - Now Over 16 Feet http://chartistfriendfrompittsburgh.blogspot.com/2012/11/back-to-buoy-da...
Oh, my god--do you mean to tell us that a Nor'easter is causing large waves on the open ocean?! This is truly unprecedented! What could it mean? Do you think Satan is behind it?
Who Cares? Cohibas and single malt, or good RUM) Bitchez/
Actually, one of my favourite things to do, back when I was younger, was use a soxhletting machine to make marijuana liquers. One ounce of that stuff was like drinking four scotch, and then smoking ten joints. ... "In Mexico, there was a drink known as potacion de guaya, or "drink of grief," which was wine or brandy in which marijuana buds were steeped," writes Ian Lendler in Alcoholica Esoterica. "When referring to marijuana in America, the potacion part got shortened, which is where we get the slang term pot." Therefore, “pot” was a marijuana liqueur, where the THC oil was dissolved into the alcohol. I also point out that peole who like to smoke (which does not include myself) also often like to combine smoking marijuana with smoking tobacco. Therefore, it is quite possible to agree with the divine translation of "Who cares?" (which is that "Who" is one of the names of God.) There are no good reasons why enjoying marijuana could not be combined with enjoying Cohibas and single malt, or good rum, at the same time.
european method (when I lived there), was tobacco with hash crumbled over it, rolled and passed.
the whole "bong" thing was mocked mercilessly as hippy.
I can hardly wait to taste that delicious Monsanto Round-Up Ready GMO Weed brought to you by those thoughtful folks from Con Agra.
"Tastes so good it make yo want to slap yo mama."
"Tastes so good it make yo want to slap yo mama right aftas you feels yo tumors a shakin."
Since weed is one of the easiest to grow plants, that needs the least special treatment, I expect that, IF legalized, it would become a favourite vehicle for the mad scientist plant breeders to use to splice in genes from anything, from bacteria, to fungii, to various animals, etc., to use the pot plant as the means to carry the genes to make anything and everything else inside of. Like anything from vitamins, to any other drug, to spider silk, or whatever, as is all theoretically possible today! The world today is SO STRANGE, that it would be possible to transform pot plants to enable them to carry the genes that make opium or cocaine, or almost ANYTHING ELSE! After all, there are good reasons to believe that the first crop in the Neolithic revolution, that developed agriculture, was the pot plant, and therefore, when Neolithic civilization amplifies itself, into astronomically sized absurdities, through genetic engineering, etc., it would make more perverse and peculiar sense for cannabis cultivation to be the root stock, from which then branched out all of the other possible hyper-bizarre hybridizations that are now possible to do ... Cannabis was one of the biggest cultivated crops, before the banksters' abilities to monopolize things, through their triumphant corruption of politics, enabled them to criminalize all cannabis cultivation, by asserting that "marijuana was almost as bad as murder" and by piggy backing racism and sexism into criminalization of cannabis. Of course, the banksters WERE able to promote the huge lies, as the "reefer madness" view of hemp, that that plant was an addictive narcotic, that drove people criminally insane, before it killed them ... and those huge lies were legalized, and enforced by legalized violence, for a long, long time, so that the hemp industries were totally wiped out, and will have a hard time recovering after that treatment ... But nevertheless, "weed" IS a hardy and easy to grow plant, and thereofore, it could again become one of the biggest cultivated crops in the world, (if only the political miracles of overthrowing the banksters' control of civiliztion could somehow be somewhat accomplished) and then, it stands to reason that hemp plants could become one of the best vehicles or vessels, as the basic plant platform, to do any other possible genetic engineering upon.
Of course, the magnitude of the perversities facing us all go utterly off the scale of intelligibility, since the Fraud Kings, or the banksters, ACTUALLY control our civilization with lies, backed by violence! Therefore, one aspect of the bigger picture is that hemp plants are the single best source of protein and oil production for human food (as well as other animals) and one of the single greatest particular problems in the world is lack of protein in the diet of poor children. Therefore, one of the best particular practical solutions to one of the biggest particular problems would be to grow more hemp, to make protein enriched food, for the starving children ... BUT, then one would also have to take over more responsibility for the social death control systems, which are ACTUALLY being achieved through the banksters' deceitful controls of the world today. By that I mean, IF we grew more hemp to feed starving children around the world, (which IS theoretically possible) we would and should then develop new death control means to prevent the total population of those children from continuing to double unsustainably. Right now, the banksters' are operating the real murder and money system, and so, they are controlling civilization in their ways. IF, IF, IF, one ever imagines one's way through to a systematic replacement and substitution of the package of social controls that were made and maintained by the international banksters, (such as criminalizing all cannabis cultivation) that benefit those banksters, while harming everyone else, THEN, THEN, THEN, the total package of transformations, such as feeding the children that are dying of malnutrition, due primarily to not enough good protein and oil in their diets, we should then continue to work through better systems of death control, achieving better means of limiting the rates of reproduction of those poor children in the future. By that I mean that, instead of the evil eugenics, (done by corporations such as Monsanto, through what should be called disgenics, rather than eugenices) we should be systematically transforming everything, which includes cultivating way more cannabis to feed poor children, BUT then, also changing all the rest of our ideas about "birth control" (which is actually death control) in ways that are radically different and superior to what companies such as Monsanto, et al., are actually doing NOW! Therefore, your joke about "slap yo mama" has deeper resonances in those contexts. ... I welcome you to step through any portal into the infinite tunnels of deceits, which marijuana laws, and "legalizing" marijuana, symbolize more than anything else!
Sooo, I bet you are not high right now on pot. Nope. Amphetamines.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/combomphotos/4463684676/
Skim down to another reply I made, to see the answer to that question, which is NO. I am not "high" on anything.
You, uh, type a lot in a run on fashion. I am teasing you.
So you can now smoke a doobie in CO and WA, but you can't buy a "big gulp" in NYC? Go figure...
By now, you can't smoke ANYTHING in NYC.
OMG!!!...was that an odor?...POLICE!!!...lol.
U can smoke "Yellow Cab" nmewn. Tey be on every korner!
Its a great arrangement...you can't understand what the cab drivers saying, he pretends to not understand you and you both share a laugh driving around in circles while the meter runs ;-)
I really appreciate people like you. You get it! Live long and prosper..."nmewn".
Probably gonna be harder to light up non-weed there than to burn one.
Yes, and our boys can shoot up a bar in Iran but they just can't have a drink.
They have bars in Iran?
Do the Imams have a little something going on the side?
Is there going to be an equivalent to driving with an open container?
Ru roh...roaches in the ashtray.
(Showing my age, they don't put ashtrays in cars anymore)
They don't?
(I thought you were older than me, then again, I bought my last car 12 years ago).
Holder can have a front seat on the prison bus right next to the Prez. If the good guys in the military don't arrest the Golfer in Chief, maybe being ordered to stand down during another larger Benghazi kind of incident will motivate them to do so.
Smoke 'em if you've got 'em.
I just had an interesting thought - I will be able to buy a joint legally before I can buy Cuban cigars legally.
Who figured?
Maybe... If the feds still say pot is illegal, then it's illegal and they have the power to come in and throw you in the slammer... while, practically speaking, this may not occur if your state legalizes it, that still doesn't mean it is "legal" to purchase a joint. It just means that the federal government is choosing not to prosecute you. Big difference.
Hey - Washington wants to fight with the Feds, too! Or at least I do.
I'm pissed because in WA there are no provisions for home grow, and I love growing my own stuff (tomatoes, peppers, etc.)
I haven't smoked pot in 20 yrs and I guess I wont start again because I'm too poor to buy it.
Hey, while all you long haired freaky guys are gettin excited about the pot laws, Wyoming and Montana banned Obamacare, yesterday.
Very cool.
Tenth Amendment?
32 years
That means I can't become President... Good!
"Yes we cannabis" ROTFLMAOWTFTSDHTF
Will "No Smoking" signs apply to weed smokers?
Cigarettes have been enemy number one of the people recently. I wonder why marijuana is getting such a good PR during the same cigarette-bashing period.
Smoking is the worst way to consume cannabis. Cannabis culture is a slave society, that takes pride in all the stupid things that it had to do to survive, like other slave societies always tended to do. A vapourizer is three times more efficient, and a thousand times healthier than smoking. A joint is a caveman's vapourizer. Smoking is sort of primitive. Nice to do, symbolically and ritually, like when sitting around a camp fire, but otherwise not so good. Smoking should only be done ceremonially. I am NOT against smoke, since our life is primarily the cycle of sunlight, steam, smoke and sugar, spinning around. Anyway, I have no problem with the same laws applying to smoking marijuana being applied to smoking tobacco, because there are far better ways to make use of the essential oils in marijuana flowers than to smoke that stuff. The best hi-tec method to smoke marijuana is to use very high pressure smoke, in a very expensive machine, to concentrate the essential oils, which is the part one wants. Of course, this amendment to the Colorado constitution also allows for cultivating more cannabis for the sake of the hemp seed values. In our Bizarro Mirror World everything is backwards, and therefore, the hemp seeds are the most valuable parts of the plants, which have the most insanely distorted monetary values, and twisted up inversions of their use.
One more funny thing that I would mention is that the THC resin on the flowers acts as a natural sun screen to protect the immature seeds from too much ultraviolet light. Therefore, IF marijuana was totally legalized, without any of the stupid repressions continuing to restrict it, then one of the possible uses of the plant would be to extract the hemp seed oil, and then mix that with the marijuana flower essential oils, and then use that mixture as a sun screen lotion. Right now, that would be insanely expensive to do. However, IF the law was ever to become totally sane, then one could imagine that one of the best sun screen lotions would be to use the properties of the plant in that way!
damn i can't believe California didn't legalize, hopefully next time... i love getting ripped and reading zero hedge. it makes for a fascinating time.
now, now, everything in moderation
moderately often
Spot on Mikey. I agree 100%.
Those who don't agree, get a copy of "Reefer Madness" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_madness which was produced as propaganda in the 30's (with alleged support by the gov) to demonize the "evil weed". When you watch it, consider how many in government today still believe this about Cannabis.
And all you GOP'ers who are so vocal about state's rights, let's hear your rationale for NOT being in support of this issue. I'm sure many of us would like to hear your thoughts (hehe).
From a "right winger". Got lost on my way to the polls yesterday. Stop being a pretentious prick and DYODD. Wiki? Here is the Reefer Madness video.
http://archive.org/details/ReeferMadness_479
What were we talking about?
The economy will suffer so bad as drugs are decriminalized. Imagine dropping the prison population a solid %50 or more? Loss of prisoners and guards? End the DEA? Property theft may plummet. What will that do for the need for police departments? No need for the war in Afghanistan, military drawbacks. Peace in Mexico, drug cartels going corporate. Off shore banks loosing 40% of their revenue stream. The end of exponential growth of Mc Mansions across the globe? What will people do for a living?
Burn one down.
There's a lot $$ in the drug war; on both sides of the law. Neither side wants to see their revenue stream cut, both sides are gonna fight tooth and nail to keep it illegal. And of course, the little guy who isn't hurting anyone is going to suffer the most. Why we tolerate this shit is beyond me.
*edit*
Look for the FedGov to threaten to withold highway funds or other $$ from these uppity states.
Not necessarily. It simply means that the black market is going to be brought into the light and that new markets will be created. Whether this is enough to offset the reductions in the war on drugs is anyone's guess, but I have to think that it's a wash at worst.
Grow tobacco. Pot is an endless prosperity drug, the psychology with pot is about laziness, resting on your laurels, languor. When the shit hits the fan, you will want your wits about you, and you will want to ACT with decisive motivation. You will want a drug that causes the neurons to fire with greater efficiency. You will want a drug that crystalizes reality, allows you to make fast decisions, and that stabilizes your mood without fucking you up. That drug is nicotine.
Tobacco is difficult to germinate and trickier to cure properly. Not everyone can grow it, it takes skill and experience. The demand for tobacco will only escalate with bad times and stressful conditins. When you're stressed out because of the inevitable deflationary collapse, will you want a doob or a stogie? My money is on the stogie. Pot is for pussies.
Go for it, whatever it works for you. Outside the mind altering effects Hemp has some excellent qualities for carbon fiber products, bio fuel and soil regeneration.
well said Mess Nonster, cigarettes are fab, enjoyable and healthy too, like weeds medicinal properties
weeds out for me, i get uber-paranoid don't know why. And any DJ's i know on it are crap, they lose thre plot (rythem, beat, vibe) and are all over the shop!
thought there'd be a bit more 'Share the Love' vibe on ZH about legalising weed amongst all the non-stop totalitarian legal news we're used to ...are ZH'ers holding out for some harder drugs to be freed of State meddlers ....surely not?!!
while I agree that marijuana isn't for everyone,
don't tell that to the legendary Don Letts! ^^
http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/donlettsinterview.htm
haven't heard him play ...is it club/house or reggae/R&B ?
i know what i know, DJ's on grass are pants and in fact if they're on something else they're also pants ...you gotta be clean when DJ'ing or timing goes, all sorts slide out of line
I'd not do him the disservice of labeling his art, letts jus' say he's legendary. . .
and I'll add, late 80's Ibiza, and elsewhere, would disagree with your opinion on mixing while in the groove. same with bhangra, same time period, northern britain mostly - the dancehalls reeked of hash, heh.
sometimes the notion of music becomes all, all become the music really is the truth.
Ever hear of Big Audio Dynamite?
i get uber-paranoid don't know why ...
Yes. That is one of the most common reasons I hear from people about why they stop consuming cannabis. Personally, I am not so paranoid, as I am almost 100% objectively depressed. I stopped consuming cannabis in March of 2012, after the current government of Canada passed mandatory minimun jail sentences for growing and distributing marijuana. It used to be, for a while, in Canada, the chances of actually going to jail for a cannabis crime, especially in British Columbia, where I used to live, were barely 5%. The normal response actually was for the police to not bother to do anything but demand the growing operation be dismantled. The worst that usually happened was a fine. However, the current government of Canada is following the USA in all ways, and therefore, it decided to change the laws to apply mandatory minumum prison sentences for cannabis crimes in Canada. Of course, just like in the USA, although not nearly as bad, so far, Canadian jails are getting uglier and uglier, with things like double bunking becoming common, etc.. Anyway, by the end of 2014, everything will be fully in place, (such as the government's proposed and planned severe restrictions on being no longer allowed to grow medical marijuana in Canada) for the overall criminalization of cannabis in Canada to be way worse than it ever was before. For a while, in the late 1990s, and early 2000s, the marijuana situation in Canada got significantly better, at least in some symbolic ways, such as allowing industrial hemp cultivation (which I call albino pot) and allowing sufficiently sick individuals to grow their own medical marijuana (which I call black pot, that is allowed because it comes wrapped in a white lab coat.) However, since the current Conservative government took power in the middle of the 2000s, and especially after that Harper government won a majority power in Parliament, in 2012, the criminalization of cannabis in Canada is way, way worse than ever before, and all signs indicate that is going to continue to get much worse, in the foreseeable future, with no light at the end of tunnel, at least until 2016, IF then. Despite the fact that more than half of the Canadian public now routinely agrees in opinion poll after poll, done by many different polling companies, that cannabis should be decriminalized or legalized, (with the opinion polls in British Columbia now being 75% agree with that,) the REAL way that the political processes work, ARE that less than 1% of the population pays for all our politics, while 99% pay for nothing, and therefore, those who pay have way, way more political power, than those who do not pay, and so, the current Conservative Party, that controls the government, literally has more money than ALL of the other political parties combined, and tens of thousands more money than my little registered political party. Therefore, despite the fact that we have already won political opinion over to our side in favour of legalization, in the context of the REAL political situation, dominated by the funding of the political processes, and the ownership of the mass media by a handful of corporations, which provide 90% of all the "news" that the Canadian public usually sees, that overall REAL political situation in Canada is the same as everywhere else, which is FASCIST PLUTOCRACY, automatically getting worse, faster, and so, that includes that cannabis in Canada is actually becoming more criminalized than ever before, and there is nothing that is practically possible to do about that, despite the social facts that the majority of Canadians do not agree with that, the actual government of Canada has the power to continue to make cannabis become even more criminal, despite that fact that only about 25% of Canadians actually voted for that government! THAT is how the REAL political system operates! That REAL situation is symbolizing everything else, regarding our runaway fascist plutocracy juggernaut steamrollering over people, with the growing system of legalized lies, backed by legalized violence, dominating everything, such as the money system, etc.! Therefore, after those mandatory minimum imprisonment laws were passed in Canada this year, to treat marijuana more like it was as bad as murder than ever before, I have become almost 100% objectively depressed by the social realities surrounding me. Therefore, I find that I can not longer get "high." I do not have the slightest shred of optimism or idealism left. The REAL future looks to me to be a runaway trajectory towards TRAGEDIES. Therefore, since I find I simply can not get "high" anymore, because despite being able to consume the highest quality marijuana, and any other drug I would like, their effects upon me end up being nothing, compared to the overall sense of dismal REALITY that I face. Since I have become 100% objectively depressed by the political realities, I have given up consuming drugs, since I find that I can no longer get "high" from doing so.
Radical M, you are prolific with words and I respect your ability to conjure them. Is there any chance that you might consider using paragraphs in future posts? I seem to think that I agree with you, but too often find myself awash in an ocean of verbosity to be certain of that fact. Some of your posts, or parts thereof, deserve to reposted elsewhere in my opinion. Thank you for your consideration and effort Sir.
As my Zero Hedge handle indicates, this is one of my forced favourite topics!
It is BECAUSE hemp is the single best plant on the planet for people, for food, fiber, fun and medicine, that the law asserts that "marijuana is almost as bad a murder." Follow the money to the source to understand how and why the English word "hemp" was replaced by the words "marijuana" and "pot" which both come from Mexican Spanish slang.
Pot prohibition fits into the fascist plutocracy, and the source of the criminalization of cannabis is the same as the source of our money supply, the banksters. Follow the money through the funding of the political processes, to understand how and why it is possible for huge lies, backed up with lots of violence, to have taken control by criminalizing cannabis, and for that to get worse and worse, decade after decade. Understand that the money system is the SOURCE of all the other problems, in a vicious feedback loop, that is automatically getting worse and worse, faster and faster ...
Of course, I liked this symbolic victory in Colorado. Amendment 64 in Colorado had no neoprohibitionist poison pills, like the Washington state Initiative 502 did. Both will drive an intense state's rights battle, with unpredictable outcomes. The problem with the Washington state Initiative is that the only parts of that which are guaranteed to be enforced are the drugged driving laws, which are extremely harsh on anyone under the age of 21. Therefore, it is possible that the Washington state situation will only make things worse, in the foreseeable future, for some, while not better for anyone, since the implementation of the good parts of that law may be held up indefinitely. Also, as a previous comment here noted above, the Washington state Initiative does NOT legalize any home growing. It only legalizes state run marijuana monopolies, with a tax, and tax, and tax, policy throughout.
On the other hand, Colorado's Amendment 64 allows people to grow 6 plants at home, of which 3 can be mature flowering plants. I expect that Colorado could eventually take the prize for breeding the biggest possible marijuana plants there have ever been. Previously, the marijuana breeders tended to be breeding for stealth, and therefore, little bushes. However, it is already easily possible to grow plants that are more than 12 feet high, and I have read reports that some marijuana plants used to grow that were up to 30 feet high, although I have never seen a living specimen. Anyway, the law that says you are legally allowed to only grow 3 mature plants would seem to probably drive plant breeding towards the biggest and best possible 3 plants, which could be fun to watch developing!
Passage of the Colorado state amendment is without historical precedent and the consequences will likely be closely-watched around the world! What I expect is for more and more of the basic characteristics of the Bizarro Mirror World to manifest. That is, I expect that fully legal marijuana would become so cheap you could not give it away, etc.! I expect that, after the false glamour is gone, less young people will still be interested in symbolic rebellions by consuming cannabis. Generally, I expect everything to swing paradoxically from one absurd extreme to another, without stopping sanely in the middle, for a fair while, with later a number of lesser swings, back and forth.
The mainstream "legalize" marijuana movements tend to be run by mainstream morons. They rehearse all the standard arguments about how the drug wars, which were 75% against marijuana, were "failures." However, from the perspective of the banksters, all of the so-called "failures" were precisely what was originally intended! The drug wars segued from slavery and racism, and were a cleverly coded way to accomplish the same things. The basic social pyramid system which we are in, with the banksters and their buddies being the pyramidion people, is basically a debt slavery system, backed by wars based on deceits. Criminalizing cannabis was merely the single simplest symbol, and the most extreme example, of the general pattern of social facts. Take the single best plant for people, and then assert the huge lie that "marijuana is almost as bad as murder," and then back that legalized lie up with more and more legalized violence, for decade after decade. That was deliberately designed to provide an excuse to build a bigger fascist police state, to serve the interests of the fascist plutocracy. From that point of view, pot prohibition has been a great success! All of the laws against organized crime and terrorism are applied much more against marijuana than anything else. There is no other gang of "criminals" than the cannabis community that has tens of millions of members. There is no other group that can provide the numbers needed to fill the privatized for profit prisons. The marijuana laws worked GREAT as a divide and conquer strategy, driving social polarization!
I always predicted that, within the fascist plutocracy, marijuana could only be "legalized" in the worst possible ways, and the Washington state Initiative was a good example of that. The Oregon Measure 80 was theoretically way better, but, it did not pass, although it got a respectable enough positive vote, (roughly 45% yes, compared to the about 55% yes in Washington and Colorado). Anyway, the Colorado Amendment 64 was GOOD ENOUGH, because it legalized growing a half dozen of your own plants at home. In the overall context that I have outlined above, namely that the marijuana issue is SYMBOLIC of the SOCIAL FACTS that our society is controlled by huge lies, backed up with lots of violence, EVERYWHERE, IN EVERYTHING, because of the domination of that society by the monetary system, working through the maximum leverage in the history of the funding of the political processes, THE COLORADO AMENDMENT 64 PASSING IS THE SINGLE GREATEST SYMBOL OF THINGS POSSIBLY GETTING BETTER!
Of course, the entire marijuana issue is trivial compared to the issues about the money and murder systems, but nevertheless, the symbolic meanings are significant. Looking at the overall swings of the social pendulum, or the times and tides of human affairs, the criminalization of cannabis was the single most psychotic thing that our civilization did, and the possible turning of that tide with Colorado passing Amendment 64 MIGHT be symbolic of some social sanity returning. Of course, since pot prohibition was always based on huge legalized lies, backed up by lots of legalized violence, BUT that violence could never make those lies become true, pot prohibition was always headed towards some psychotic breakdown. Furthermore, the psychotic breakdown of pot prohibition in that fashion was always a small component symbolizing the overall psychotic breakdown of the money system, which was also legalized lies, backed by legalized violence, except on an astronomically amplified greater scale. The ways in which Colorado's Amendment 64 is going to possibly trigger a serious state's rights battle with the Federal government also makes this issue take up symbolic significance in the bigger picture of American politics. Of course, I do not know what is going to happen there, since nobody does! However, for sure, these are interesting events, which will continue to have way more symbolic political significance! The government picked on pot to turn into tool of persecution, and when it did so, the government loaded symbolic weight on that plant. THEREFORE, THE SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE OF COLORADO'S AMENDMENT 64 IS POSSIBLY THE GREATEST RESULT OF THE 2012 ELECTIONS!
P.S.
I present lots more of what I call the fringe cubed "radical marijuana" position, on my little Web site:
www.marijuanaparty.ca
Radical, I've a simpler explanation for why Ye Olde Farty Pants Establishment banned weed and other nice drugs like cocaine and ecstacy.... they free your mind.
The legal drug, alcahol, makes you stupid, inane and incoherent (and males more violent).
Everything the State does, like the Church before it, is to try to keep people stupid and believe in crap they're handed down instead of think and consider key issues in life, society and the economy. And alcahol is part of that mix of stupid, it's legal because after a few drinks you're inane and pretty damn dumb
In contrast illegal drugs make you focused, up/happy, sociable and frendly, stimulate thoughts and very importantly free your mind of the daily baggage ...you get some great ideas plus it losens you up to others concepts that your daily commuter brain would shut out.
Finally I've spent the summer in a town where the Police spend their time chasing drug dealers, drugs that cause no problem, in fact they promote friendly behaviour. You can't get 3,000 in a club on alcahol and not have fights every 10minutes as the pissed-stupid drunks kick off. On illegal drugs there's not one fight in the club all night
And while the cops chase druggies in town the only time they're called to trouble is everytime drunk fights kicking off. They're persuing illegal drugs all night that cause no trouble while being called 10-12 times a night to sort out the problems of legal drugs, inane stupid alcahol.
It's a complete f'n farce ...the State with unerring precision always gets it worng on every issue every which way. No wonder they legalise alcahol, it makes you look stupid, it's the only way politicians could possibly look good!!
Yes, Zero Govt, of course I agree with you. One of my favourite explanations for one of the real reasons for why marijuana is illegal is the following one ... But first, a little basic background:
It is well-known that one of the effects of chronic consumption of cannabis is that it enables you to forget learned fear. The biggest bullies, the banksters, do not like that!
There is no dobut that one effect of marijuana is to help people diminish pain and to be able to forget learned fear. (See the December 2004, Scientific American.) That is why marijuana is good to treat post-traumatic stress syndrome. Why would a drug that helped some people decrease the after-effects from trauma be despised by governments is a very good question. The answer is related to the fact that the fundamental basis of our political economy was built on the history of ignorance and fear. Our pot prohibition is a perpetual political persecution, because our system depends on people staying afraid. The big bullies especially do not like marijuana because pot tends to make people feel less afraid of those bullies. Consuming cannabis tends to make people laugh at the biggest bullies. Consuming cannabis tends to enable people to stop being afraid of the biggest bullies, and the bullies HATE that. Therefore, the people who want to be able to control our society through keeping other people ignorant and afraid, HATE drugs that make that any harder to do. The biggest bullies do not see a problem with drugs that make people stupider. The biggest bullies do see problems with any drugs that increase consciousness, and they hate marijuana the most because it helps people stop being afraid of the bullies, and even tends to make people laugh at those bullies.
You've heard of prohibition right?
ill smoke an ounce to that!!!
word!
Dude!
Marijuana and Mental HealthMarijuana and Depression.
Marijuana and Suicidal Thoughts.
Marijuana and Schizophrenia.
Do we have your attention? As parents and caregivers, you probably never thought you’d see marijuana associated with these mental health problems … but it is. New research is giving us better insight into the serious consequences of teen marijuana use, especially how it impacts mental health.
Today’s teens are smoking a more potent form of marijuana and starting use at increasingly younger ages during crucial brain development years. 1 There is plenty of evidence indicating the ways pot impedes, even changes, the mental health of adolescents. In fact, those changes in the brain are similar to those caused by cocaine, heroin and alcohol.2 The overall impact that pot has on the brain can have long term consequences, and it’s up to you to influence your teen’s life when it comes to drugs.
DepressionWeekly or more frequent use of marijuana can double a teen’s risk of depression and anxiety. 3 Teens who smoke marijuana when feeling depressed are also more likely to become addicted to marijuana or other illicit drugs. Eight percent of depressed teens abused or became dependent on marijuana during the year they experienced depression compared with only three percent of non-depressed teens.4
Teen girls are especially at risk. More girls than boys felt depressed in the course of a year and substance abuse can compound the problem. Daily use of marijuana among girls is associated with a fivefold increase in the odds of developing depression and anxiety.5
Suicidal ThoughtsMarijuana can also be linked to suicidal thoughts. A study based on data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse found that teenagers 12 to 17 who smoke marijuana weekly are three times more likely to have thoughts of committing suicide.6 The same study linked increased anxiety and panic attacks to past year marijuana use.7
SchizophreniaSeveral studies have documented marijuana’s link with symptoms of schizophrenia and report that cannabis is an independent risk factor for schizophrenia. Heavy users of marijuana at age 18 increased their risk of schizophrenia later in life by six times.8
Further reports have found marijuana use increased the risk of developing schizophrenia among people with no prior history of a disorder, and that early use of marijuana (age 15 vs. age 18) increased the risk even more.9 In addition, youth with a personal or family history of schizophrenia are at an even greater risk of marijuana-induced psychosis.10
Let your teens know you don’t want them using marijuana. Their mental health may depend on it.
Next: Marijuana and Depression
- Home
http://www.theantidrug.com/drug-information/marijuana-facts/marijuana-mental-health.aspxKia Ora Pete!
Your post is spot on in terms of effects of the drug.
The problem with criminalization of it is the profit margin forces for marketing to folks in early school years is so great. Being criminal it drives the profit.
If you have some time, talk to some kids in grade school, ask them if they are offered or can buy pot.
In grade school and high school pot was a lot easier to get than alcohol because the market and distribution network were unregulated and highly profitable.
My point is that it is more available because it is criminalized and not regulated, therefore under the current paradigm, all the bad things you cited about it for folks occur at a much higher rate than may otherwise be.
Gidday Mike,
I disagree with you there. Decriminalising it will increase availability which will increase useage. Simple as that.
I just think parents in those states that legalise dope are going to have a hell of a job keeping their kids away from it. It's hard enough as it is!
Not to mention that it turns some users into homocidal maniacs. Otherwise, Yay for dope!!
You don't hook half the American population on prescription drugs by allowing them to grow medicine at home.
And LMFAO, no homicidal maniacs taking prozac, zoloft, ritalin.
Ban xbox next why don't cha. Burn some books.
Kiwi: where's the /sarc? You can't be serious.
I'll not belabour your points beyond asking you to consider that teenagers are notoriously in a cultural & familial rebellion mode as their (hopefully) maturing minds learn to individuate between childhood and adulthood. there can be many sticky mind-traps inherent in that game of becoming an individual, as opposed to being known as someone's child, and unfortunately the ridiculous culture most western kids are stuck in doesn't help at all - there are no "coming of age" rituals beyond using drugs/alcohol/partying hard - so it's hardly rocket science to note that some kids get stuck "in between" the crack(s).
"teenagers" are prone to "suicidal" thoughts because they've yet to develop mental excuses to rebel against culture, they're still trying to figure out how to fit in best, and many are fucking horrified at what they see - I know, I work with the outsiders, have for years.
and, as you've noticed, schizophrenia runs in families, there are many triggers that bring it to the surface.
any substance interacts with individual minds, and while I agree that there are fewer "individual" minds lately thanks to media saturation, one still cannot blame re-actions on a single substance, unless we'd like to weigh them all up, alcohol, tobacco, sugar, pharma, foods, etc.
My dear Kiwi Pete, pot politics is such a tedious propaganda war that I am not going to bother to present a detailed response to yours. However, I will provide you with a few of my own links, to vast collections about the topics which you have raised:
Youth psychosis excuse:
And to repeat that link:
http://www.marijuanaparty.ca/forum/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=CMPmarijuanapa...
Children & Marijuana, bla, bla, bla
And to repeat that link:
http://www.marijuanaparty.ca/forum/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=CMPmarijuanapa...
Of course, the "truth" barely matters, since the reality is based on lies, backed by violence, and our society is actually controlled by the people who are the best at being dishonest, and backing that up with coercion. It all tracks back through the money system, and especially through the funding of the political processes. Therefore, the ACTUAL social pyramid system is basically debt slavery, backed up by wars based on deceits. In that context, the war against marijuana was one of those wars based on deceits, that deliberately drives more debt slavery.
Consider that the government of the USA is paying for its "war on drugs" using borrowed money, that was made out of nothing by the banksters. Of course, the bankers are the biggest gangsters. Of course, those pyramidion people are at the apex of the social pyramid. Of course, the bankers actually control our goverments, by controlling the money supply. Of course, the banksters benefit all the way around from running the established systems of legalized lies, backed up with legalized violence. Therefore, they deliberately promoted huge lies about marijuana, and are in a position to be able to pay people who agree with those lies. While, on the other hand, they are able to control governments and corporations, in order to punish people who do not agree with those lies.
Therefore, around and around we go. There are massive distortions due to the funding of "research." In all ways, the role of money is generating more and more fraudulent science. What you have written above, Kiwi Pete, is a bunch of disproportional exaggerations. Of course, nothing is perfectly safe. You can drown in water, and too much oxygen is toxic! However, the BASIC FACT is that marijuana is one of the safest drug substances there is. There are many, many other drugs that are way, way more dangerous, and that list includes almost everything else!
Therefore, IF you were providing young people with a balanced risk analysis, you would tend to put pot down on the bottom of the list of dangerous substances. Something like fructose would be way higher up on the list of dangerous "drugs." However, after having discussions with people like you thousands and thousands of times in the past, I am presuming that it is a total waste of my time to argue these points with you any further!
In the end, this is simply a drug war, based on deceits, and that the cannabis community has been willing to take enormous numbers of casualties, going to prison, for decade after decade, is what was really driving the victory in Colorado. The "overgrow the government" strategy has been working. The cannabis community, depite great personal suffering for many individuals, and their families, etc., has been able to make it more and more obvious that the war against marijuana was NOT WORKING, and that is WHY there is more and more public support for ending that war.
Your old-fashioned scare monger, and drug war mongering, such as your collection of material in your post, are simply not working all that well anymore. Your hand is being played out. The majority of people no longer believe in the exaggerations of the dangers of marijuana. Anyway, the point is recreational marijuana is fun for some. They do it because of the risks. There are at least 5% of youths that will consume cannabis simply because you tell them that they can not! IN FACT, the real evidence indicates that the best way to get youths to consume less cannabis is to legalize it, and therefore, take away the false glamour that it gets from being illegal, risk-taking, rebellious behaviour. Hah, one way to make young people stop consuming cannabis would be to make it a required course in school, and they then had to write an essay about their experiences.
The main problem surrounding the alleged diminishment of motivation caused by cannabis is not due so much to the cannabis consumption, but rather to the youths waking up to the real social predicament they are in, namely that they were born into social system based on runaway debt slavery, that is headed towards numbers that are debt insanity! The younger you are, the more you are being lied to, cheated, and robbed by the social system, which is really an enormous Ponzi Scheme, that you were born into, at a time in that where it is all pain for you, with no gain left. Youths that consume cannabis also tend to be the ones that intuitively understand that the authorities are bullies spouting bullshit. Therefore, everything you said in your post actually backfires when told to those kinds of youths, who are going to continue to do it precisely because guys like you tell them that they should not. ... I tend to feel sorry for young people today, because things are way, way worse now than they were when I was young.
All of the psuedoscientific bullshit that you are promoting is just more irrational risk analysis, that makes things get worse. It does not address the real problems that young people face, which is that they were born into a society which is destroying their future! Those who wake up to those social facts tend to become sad, which should be no surprise. It is actually a sign of deeper sanity for them to wake up enough to feel that way! To whatever degree there is possible scientific merit in some of the dangers that chronic consumption of cannabis may well have for some young people, sometimes, keeping it criminal only makes that worse. The best solutions to all drug problems, as well as every other problem, is a greater use of information, and higher consciousness, not more lies, and fear!
I am NOT asserting that marijuana is always good for everyone, all the time. I do admit that it probably does harm some people, some of the time. Everything does that! However, I do NOT agree that laws based on lies, maintaining fear, do anything but make things worse for the victims of that. I also DO assert that there were people, primarily the banksters, who benefit from maintaining a social system based on controlling other people by keeping them afraid. As far as I can tell, Kiwi Pete, you are working for those people.
Thanks for all the info and taking the time to share rad. I too agree some of the only good news from Tuesday was this measure from Colorado. Learned quite a bit from reading what you had to say.. Haven't posted in several months despite reading every day but wanted to make ya feel a little less depressed.
No RM I'm not working for anyone. I'm just a parent looking out for his kids. Do you have kids RM? Would you encourage them to toke up? Do you really think that is in their best interest?
We have the same debate over here regarding legalizing marijuana and it's not based on helping big pharma or keeping people afraid. The research is not pseudoscientific either as you can see with a quick Google search.
Of course not everyone who smokes dope will have a psyoctic break or get depressed and kill themselves. I've tried it too and had a great experiance but as you say it is not for everyone and some can't handle it. So let's keep it illegal for their sakes.
We have one of the highest suicide rates in the world here, partly thanks to illegal use of dope.
Here is an excert of an article by one of our coroners:
Marijuana and suicide
"With regular teenage use of dope, you have a combination of lack of motivation, poor learning ability, dropping out of school and the consequent problems with finding and keeping a job. After a few years, the realisation sinks in that they have stuffed up their lives and despair sets in."
"Now it is recognised that marijuana is the springboard to harder drugs. After years of use their brains are affected, it's harder to rationalise things and they can easily overdose on a mixture of drugs. It's not a classic case of deliberate suicide, but more suicidal behaviour given the risks. Where there is latent schizophrenia marijuana will make it emerge more readily."
http://www.life.org.nz/suicide/suicidekeyissues/suicidekeyissues3/Default.htm
while I'd never advocate any younger people using mind-altering substances, including alcohol, to excess/drunkenness, I realise the culture more than encourages this behaviour, at younger and younger ages.
I wonder if you've considered that the "highest suicide rates" that you attribute to "dope" - together with the quoted opinions in your post - might have something to do with the awareness that the culture is so irredeemably messed up, unappealing, hateful, that some kids chose not to even begin trying to squeeze into the box'd?
I've listened to young people who question where they could possibly fit in, when it's all so false and unappealing to them - and yet they're expected to slide right in and "earn their living" even in these incredibly difficult times.
the "despair" may be that the awareness or even the peace they felt when "high" is so far removed from what the agreed upon social norms are, they just cannot bear to begin. . .
Prohibition DOES NOT WORK!
[quote]
Prohibition is a sickening horror and the ocean of incompetence, corruption and human wreckage it has left in its wake is almost endless.
Prohibition has decimated generations and criminalized millions for a behavior which is entwined in human existence, and for what other purpose than to uphold the defunct and corrupt thinking of a minority of misguided, self-righteous Neo-Puritans and degenerate demagogues who wish nothing but unadulterated destruction on the rest of us.
Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior which has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most normal thinking people in the direction of sensible regulation.
By its very nature prohibition cannot fail but create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model - the international Drug Trade. Any decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous, ruthless
drug dealers, who are interested only in the huge profits involved.
Many of us have now finally wised up to the fact that the best avenue towards realistically dealing with drug use and addiction is through proper regulation,
which is what we already do with alcohol & tobacco --two of our most dangerous mood altering substances. But for those of you whose ignorant and irrational minds traverse a fantasy plane of existence, you will no doubt remain sorely upset with any type of solution that does not seem to lead to the absurd and
unattainable utopia of a drug free society.
There is an irrefutable connection between drug prohibition and the crime, corruption, disease and death it causes. If you are not capable of understanding this connection, then maybe you're using something far stronger than the rest of us. Anybody 'halfway bright' and who's not sychologically challenged, should be capable of understanding, that it is not simply the demand for drugs that creates the mayhem; it is our refusal to allow legal businesses to meet that demand.
No amount of money, police powers, weaponry, diminution of rights and liberties, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safer; only an end to prohibition can do that. How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?
If you still support the kool aid mass suicide cult of prohibition, and erroneously believe that you can win a war without logic and practical solutions, then prepare yourself for even more death, corruption, terrorism, sickness, imprisonment, unemployment, foreclosed homes, and the complete loss of the rule
of law and the Bill of Rights.
A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. -- Abraham Lincoln
The only thing prohibition successfully does is prohibit regulation & taxation while turning even our schools and prisons into black markets for drugs.
Regulation would mean the opposite!
Legalize all drugs and regulate them. It will put all illicit drug cartels, dealers out of business within a week in the US. When you ban a drug, you
relinquish all control, empowering criminals who otherwise have squat for a cash cow. Nothing offers profits like drugs. Most drugs are cheaper to make
than Alcohol, but because they are illegal, they are worth their weight in Gold...worth killing for. Even if legalizing really created a mythic drug zombie population, the fact bad people are the biggest winners due to our policies is cause to legalize alone.
The great scandal is most of the illicit drugs are actually far safer than the popular legal ones, Ethanol & Tobacco; Ethanol causes serious social deterioration on its own, whereas illicit drugs cause problems because they cost way too much, & are far too impure to be usable for most people. If legal, they'd be dirt cheap, as they once were and sold by reputable decent Americans. It's a trade as any other, like buying Alcohol. When they were all legal, ironically they valued Heroin as a remedy for Alcohol Addiction. Heroin addicts did not beat their wives. We never hear of 'HEROIN CRAZED DRIVER KILLS 4', & we would hear about it much more if it were true.
If re-legalized, almost anyone could afford it, reducing homelessness & street people who turn to crime to feed their habit. They could lead legit lives. And these Billionaire Cartel Fiends would be out of business...period. No one wants to buy overpriced impure junk made as cheaply as possible, sold
by violent people if they could buy it at their local drug store, as it ought to be. The dealers & cartels do not want Legalization, nothing scares them more.
For that reason alone, we have proof Legalization is a good call.
[/quote]
"I don't have a problem with drugs, I have a problem with the Police!" -- Keith Richards
The fact that Keith can take the amount of drugs that he has, and still play fantastically on the guitar (for over 50 years!) puts the lie to a lot of Statist propaganda.
Dear Kiwi Pete ... correlation is NOT causation. Furthermore, IF there is some possible causal relationship between chronic cannabis consumption and the onset of mental illness, the FACTS are that places that experiment with decriminalizatin, e.g. Holland, Portugal, find that the youth consumption rates go down. Therefore, IN FACT, legalization would make it be LESS likely that marijuana would cause any mental illness. Also, of course, you deliberately ignore the other correlated factors, which are primarily that youth are growing up in a society dominated by the bullshit from the biggest bullies, which makes it difficult for youths to come to terms with how SCREWED UP THEIR SOCIETY IS! It does not assist with the mental equilibrium of vulnerable young people to have to come to terms with the FACT that the drug wars were always based on political corruption, and rationalized with racism, etc.!
Drugs being illegal enables organized crime to make money, and the banksters laundering the drug money skim the cream of that off. The real loop is that the banksters control our puppet politicians, and the banksters directed our government to impose drug prohibitions because the banksters benefit all the way around from doing that. The FACTS are that ignorance and fear about drugs, imposed by prohibition, makes it all worse for young people.
Here is an amusing little video editorial about the points I made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5t3j6xQLmY
Funny FKN Planet - Deek Jackson
Hour long collection of video essays.
At 14:45 mark begins one on drugs.
(Segment ended at the 21:18 mark.)
Here is another link to one of my favourite little articles about drugs:
http://www.marijuanaparty.ca/article.php3?id_article=440
P.S.
My own children made their own free choices, and tend to not want to do drugs. Most people are like that, and would be more like that if they had more free choices and a better life. To overgeneralize, about 90% of the people who experiment with consuming cannabis do not continue. 10% like it, and about 1% love it! Trying to force them to be different through prohibition only backfires worse!
However, as I said, it is surely a waste of time to argue with you. Since you believe that the government backing up lies with violence will make things better, you are INSANE! ... You may not directly work for the banksters, but you ARE working for them when you promote the use of police against pot! Only criminals, and especially the supreme criminals, the banksters, benefit from prohibition.
"I philosophically do not believe the Federal government should have any say in what people put into their bodies."
Yep, that just about nails the issue.
The Govt shouldn't have their fiddly fuck-up fingers in anything in fact, this institution is an epic 'FAIL' at everything it touches ..it's a monopoly, it's not designed to deliver anything but 100% guaranteed garbage
Zero Govt ...you'll be amazed what a difference it'll make to everything
I absolutely agree. Besides any sort of laws in general.. one thing that drives me absolutely nuts is that there is even a discussion about medical marijuana being regulated in each state when there are thousands of medical opiate and amphetamine based drugs.
Agree entirely ...and it gets worse
80% of overdoses on drugs are LEGAL drugs
they talk about the medical clean-up costs of illegal drugs but legal drugs are the overwhelming No.1 cost in dealing with drug overdoses ...that's before we even get to policing alcahol (see my post just above)
Legal drugs are the real terrors and they're also pretty crap to boot. Legal Druggies, it's a mssive social issue, let's ban the drugs and imprison Big Pharma encouragng these overdose junkies
Adults can make their own choices from their experience ..they're adults, alot more matured than politicians
perhaps some can consider this same argument when applied to regulating wombs, and make the connection as to why many women of childbearing age decided against opening up that possibility in a future constitutional amendment.
Are you trying to justify why you voted for Obama? You do realize that abortion is unavailable in most of the country already. Repealing Roe v Wade wouldn't change much at the state level and a constitutional amendment is extremely unlikely.
Still, if that's issue #1, good for you.
*yawn*
once again, I'll repeat, I don't vote, never have, never will - and I don't choose between figureheads, and I don't believe anything will change the road to hell amrka is on.
there. that's out of the way. again.
I'm not talking about "abortion" I'm calling attention to the Sanctity of Life Constitutional amendment which seeks to enForce pregnancy irregardless of how it came about, including rape and incest. that's what the Sanctity of Life Constitutional Amendment wants to bring to the country - full and complete control of women's reproductive organs.
now, you may not give a shit, and I'm sure most here are in the queue behind you, from all that I've read over the past year, and all the exchanges I've had, to pretty much zero effect, apparently.
but I can assure you, if you pay ANY ATTENTION to government, you'll see the creeping loss of what you believed were your "rights" and if you think they'll stop > here < you're delusional.
if some women voted to maintain their body sovereignty, I don't blame them a bit.
here's Rand Paul on the subject:
http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=issue&id=3
that to me is so fucking obscene in the face of all the innocent lives taken daily, all the lies, all the deception. and no where is there found a plan to take care of all these enForced pregnancies, and given the Repug stance on "benefits" we all know that means "yer on yer own bitch 'n' baby" - everyone's all over the zygote, and no one wants to consider the consequences, just remove the baby-carrier's rights, end of.
no logic, no compassion, no plan. just anger. and lots of control, massive amounts of control, most in the guise of Religion, natch.
you dudes foam at the mouth when it comes to gun control, yet forcing a raped young woman to carry the rapist's sperm inside her for the better part of a year of her life - oh, and then the States can choose to give the rapist access to the child by law! isn't that special!! - that's okay, because. . . well, "innocent life" and "unconscionable" yeah, whatever.
zero respect until people start waking up to this.
That's the pathetic part about the whole "Republicans vs. big government" concept.
If you're speaking to someone who sincerely believes that creating a legal/governmental infrastructure that regulates the kinds of medical procedures a doctor can perform for his patients ISN'T "big-government intrusion," you should just stop talking. There's just no rational basis for discussion at that point.
Zero Gov, you missed the huge caveat. The author opposes the FEDERAL government telling you what you can or can't put in your body. He has no problem when the STATE claims the right to do so. The issue isn't individual liberty, it's legal jurisdiction.
A Liberty Blitzkreig apparently means vigorously attacking, not evangelizing, the virtues of individual rights.
Sure, that's cool enough.
Now if we can just spark the collective realization that no law which the people decline to observe can be enforced we'll be SET.
Beats the shit out of anti-depressants that the FDA says are safe... but are MONGO-toxic... of course, they love Rumsfeld's Aspartame too, be healthier to put drano in your java, but not enough profit in it... I wonder if the corrupt Holder can make it 4 more... or Osambo. IN AZ, "legal" pot is $400/oz. Street? $65/oz. That is the Gov for ya...
Whatever, Jimbo. 65 an oz? Where?
For what kind of crap weed?
Sorry, I call bullshit.
And if it IS true, that .gov 400 an oz is prolly a better choice.
Weed IS really cheap in Tucson, for sure. The $65/oz stuff isn't much like the basement or Vancouver-grown hydro "G-force" weed, but it does the job. If you think weed is supposed to be about skulling yourself on one bong-rip, it's not for you, that's all.
For 7x the price you should see SOME kind of difference in the product, right?
It's about time. Keep it strictly over 21.
Good luck with that. How many kids get their hands on booze now?
This will royally fuck up British Columbia's economy... thanks Colorado! Sheesh...
On Tuesday, Massachusetts also passed legal medicinal use for approved patients...
Since I have never seen the Prelinger Archives mentioned on this site before,(or any other) I would like to present it here. Prelinger Archives are an extensive compilation of old films and commercials. May the link be useful to all of you in your endeavors.
http://archive.org/details/prelinger
60,000 dead.
More than in Syria where people of the civilized world are outraged every minute.
Of all the races that were run yesterday I took a shine to only one horse, and I'll be goddamned if she didn't win! Eric Holder? States' rights, bitchez! As brother Krieger said:
Bring. It. On.
ha haaaa
legal weed in CO = B U L L I S H
the new economy where up is down and losses are profits via bailouts for more 100% bigger bonuses for the controller class
PLANTS ARE LEGAL! YAY PLANTS!
Governments, state and federal, are desperate for revenue. I think this is just the beginning of many—temporary—legalizations. Once SHTF, they'll clamp down, again.
If it REALLY hits the fan, they wont have the resources to worry about stuff like weed. They'll have bigger problems to deal with.
Give me liberty, or give me meth!!
The growers I know in Northern California voted against legalizing pot in 2010. They were afraid it would drive the price down even further. Currently, the wholesale price for a pound of choice buds is around $2,000, which is about half what it was a few years ago.
Nobody I know still smokes Mexican pot. It's nowhere near as good as the B.C. bud being grown today, and it's far easier and safer to bring bud across the U.S. border from Canada eh!
Since when has a pound of Humboldt's finest cost more than 1k per pound? Last time I smoked regularly- $800 was high
Well now, as a proud native Coloradoan, it sure amazes one how much so many can say about a simple thing like a plant.
Ah, but not just an ordinary plant for truly, the sister hemp is the real reason to see this go forward. We are tired of getting our hemp seed for our cereal from canada eh! The science of the youth will catch up to the wave and soon, alternative fuels too. Oh boy huh!
Being medically legal for over six years is not that big a deal until one makes the mistake of going to utah or something. NEVER GO THERE!
And smoking in the small downtown streets is no big deal any more either. Many do already. It is already Amsterdam like, or say, a more modern society all over already and our law enforcers are for the most part on board, or smoking themselves.
It will be the new world here indeed as we look forward to everyone having a smoke all over town and being happy and more than unusually friendly. Smiles and rosy red cheeks will abound as the Christmas season comes and the true spirit of joy is realized by more and more. It will be as the whole world should be, happy, joyful, and healthy being friendly. Can you imagine if wars were fought by smoking fatty’s at the round table. Here, I got one to share, no, mine is better, lets try it first….Yayyyyy says the world of nations with rational representatives of their good peoples smoking all the best the world can grow. After a few hours a nd a good meal, maybe some more movies and cookies for deserts. Why not? Let the united nations be that at a huge round table smoking all de best in de land mon!
Yes, we understand and can forgive that some people think they are better than others and we can also forgive the greedy who manipulate the small gears of the world for profit, plunder, and the pure psychopathic pleasure of seeing suffrage and death. Karma is a bitch in the place we all go eventually. Like the Law of Gravity, there is NO getting away from the Law of Cause and Effect. Better to pass away happy and high, than to go in pain and sorrow. There is enough for everyone and everyone can have some.
Watch us grow. After being legal for six years, the wish has always been to see everyone else enjoy this fearlessness after a lifetime of persecution for God‘s given grace. THIS! is what babylon does not want to see happen. If the imperial conditioning around the fear paradigm is broken, as it already has been for many, then there is no longer the CONTROL they have exercised for century's too long. Here is the hundredth monkey about to bring on a new age. An age of fearlessness. An age where everyone is happy, friendly, and just wonderfully beautiful to be around. Here, it is like a dream land in the middle of the land on the HIGH ground already. Next year is going to be fun!
Many moons ago this Heart read the book below and in it discovered an important reason as to why babylon has held the fearful suppressive cloak over this healing, marvelous tasting smoke from the mass mind. It has been to suppress the mind itself. The mass mind of the people. Speaking entirely from a lifetime of experience of course, oh maybe only from San Francisco 1967 or so, but it has been known that smoking the Ganga enhances the psychic energies of the human brain. It makes us think! Babylon does not want a society of creative free thinkers, rather they have been doing well at controlling the sheeple that are so dumbed down using well the sorcery of fear, and illusions. The true definition of collective insanity has been reached when the country elects for a second term, the criminal in chief that can not even prove he is a natural born citizen and thinks he can murder and kill without repercussions from Universe any time he wants. We as a nation are nazi germany in material form, and a monkey that can not figure out how to open a coconut in our mental form. (Way to go ol rothychid chap! Plans afoot…almost complete…shhhh)
So, bring on the thinking capacity of two great states full of people and watch freedom explode on all levels. There will be advancements on the spiritual, mental, and physical planes of existence that will be revolutionary and amazing. Speaking only from experience of course.
Pauses for the cause...
Hooowee ba-loowie people! If you have never read this book, you are in for some real light here. Truth is a pure treat to the hungry mind of a child. We are all kids after all. Check this out and find a hard copy if you can:
Mind Control in The United States, by Steven Jacobson, 1985.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2962412/Jacobson-Mind-Control-in-USA#page=46
From Page 44:
“Marijuana serves as a guide to psychic areas of the mind which can then be re-entered without it. This is the primary reason for the campaign against marijuana because the knowledge gained from its proper use challenges fundamental beliefs held by Western civilization and the power and authority of Church and State.”
"Often beliefs that we hold are never called into question; when they are not, it is relatively easy for us to lose sight of why we hold them," says psychologist Elliot Aronson in The Social Animal. Our beliefs are often based on something other than personal experience. Beliefs acquired during childhood indoctrination at home, school and church often masquerade as knowledge. Such indoctrination means that the individual takes on conclusions of others instead of arriving at his own. We tend to protect what we believe and unconsciously filter out information we don't want to receive. Most of us are programmed without being aware of it. A child learns that his needs will more likely be met if he conforms to what is expected of him. Society and its institutions teach and reward conformity and obedience to authority. What this does is discourage the individual from developing the capacity to think for himself and it also discourages any serious challenge to authority.”
Rebel yell!!!!!
What is amazing and already happening is the medical thing has already laid well the ground work for the way businesses operate with the taxing system of those towns and cities that are making handsome profits that the growers and stores gladly pay in taxes. This is going to flourish and there will be tons of new revenues and the streets will be clean and properly kept. It is ALL after all in the long range all about the money right! The state and small towns love it and as long as that significantly LARGE amount of tax revenues comes in, the sheriff will be vigorously encouraged to protect the interests of that taxation that pays his salary, as well as many others in the city and small-town corporations. Yep!
Thank you ALL for your inspirations and good words.
Gonna suggest to the ol guv that he indoctrinate this tune as our new Sate Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hghUdXKykM
This buds for you…ALL!
.
Silly wabbits! The feds will do nothing, but will add a little clause in the rules for kicking dollars back to the states that says you can't get those bux if you have legalized mary jane.
This guy has an interesting speculative marijuana stock:
www.bttrader.com
looks like it's worth a dip into the old penny jar :)
Meesa posted this long ago:
For all of those that believe that MJ should remain illegal, I just have one question: "Are you still that racist?" You only have to google "cocaine-crazed Negr0" to find out why drugs are illegal. It's the White man's way of being able to arrest anyone at anytime and placing them in prison for a long time (by the way, I'm a 55-year old White male). Everyone that thinks the Govt will legalize it for tax revenue are missing one important fact: It's called weed because that's what it is. And as such, if it becomes legal and taxes on it become too steep, people will grow their own. Let's say for the sake of argument that it finally does become legal -- what are the consequences?
1. The Police will have to spend their time and effort actually going after DANGEROUS criminals -- that have guns and aren't afraid to use them!
2. Church attendance won't necessarily go down, but how can a good Reverend preach about looking for rewards in Heaven when users are having such a good time here on earth? When one looks at the history of drugs vs. religion, one notices that almost every mind-altering substance known to mankind has been condemned by organized Religion (they can't stand the competition!).
3. Users will actually have to admit that they're responsible for their actions, while stoned and while straight. Lawyers are going to lose out on an impressive revenue stream of excuse-making for their clients misbehavior.
4. Doctors will finally have to face the end principle that they are no longer in charge of DECIDING what is good for their patients -- they will have to admit what's been going on all along -- that patients will only follow recommendations from the Medical Establishment, when it's not too inconvenient for the patient!
5. For everyone currently in Jail for using weed, well I would say that they should be released -- but they have to acknowledge the fact that they knew they were breaking the law, and that's a crime that cannot be excused so readily.
6. All of the Puritans and Politicians that think that somehow, vices can be prohibited, will have to recognize the hard truth that there are 10 Commandments in the Bible. After all this time, even those prohibitions are being violated on a daily basis. Even God has found out that forbidding a choice doesn't lead to righteousness, and trying to force someone to believe as you do is a total non-starter.