Yeah sure, uber-drug warrior Joe Biden will be on board for that one [rolls eyes skyward].

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While the subject of Cannabis is typically fragmented into discussions of either 'marijuana' or industrial hemp, the fact is that this is a vast, long-overdo conversation, requiring consideration of the whole plant, the myriad benefits of Cannabis agriculture, and the costly, counter-productive impact of prohibition on the environment, economics and human social evolution.

Ending prohibition of the world's most useful and nutritious agricultural resource is the fundamental challenge of our time, especially relevant to a proportionate, agricultural climate mitigation strategy that allows organic agriculture to work.

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I lean toward legalization, but haven't given it too much study. It should be considered, but there are surely many more important issues.

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I can be Rumi

I was just reading in Huffpost about Persian Rap, where this link came from. It is all the rage in Iran. When does this start looking like a global peace movement?

Oh yeah, the drug war is going down.

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In spite of the overwhelming evidence why marijuana should be legalized, and there are volumes of sane, practical reasons for it, the right and middle America will howl if Obama even considers it out loud. It could cripple his administration in the early days just like the gays in the military issue did Bill Clinton. Obama is a student of history and he knows that if he wants to move a progressive agenda that he cannot start out by alienating social conservatives with this issue.

Lest we forget, the anti-drug forces have carried out the most effective misinformation campaign ever devised, capable of convincing even Boomers that had personal experience with this drug that it now is poison. Just look at all of the myths that are out there that even savvy Alternet contributors have bought into, based on comments to articles like this one. The campaign continues under the auspices of Partnership for Drug Free America and other quasi-governmental groups with nefarious intent.

It may just be too hot to handle for a first administration goal.

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Armentato shows his "cluelessness" when he offers this solution:

"Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion-dollar industry right here in the U.S.?"

I have been involved in drug reform for over 20 years now. And NORMLs position of "taxing Marijuana" is definitely NOT the way to go. What really needs to occur is the MERP Model which basically treats Marijuana the same way we treat the home brewing of beer and the home making of wine. Neither of these activities are taxed or regulated.

Readers need to understand that AlterNet itself is heavily financed by the Ford Foundation and other organizations that not only frown on Marijuana Re-Legalization but are also major proponents of the North American Union which will strip Americans and Canadians of their sovereignty. If they thought NORML was really going to get anywhere they would not allow such articles.

The real solution is to have NORML, DPA, MPP etc. (e.g., the groups getting millions from Soros, Lewis and Sperling who also don't really support the MERP Model) energies the "grass roots" to directly lobby Congress and Obama to implement the MERP Model. We should all demand full implementation no later than May 1st. After all if Congress could spend 8.5 Trillion of our money after two weeks deliberation surely than can achieve something as simple as Re-Legalization.

The merits of the MERP Model are without question.

* MERP would seriously disable both drug gangs, drug cartels and the international banks that benefit from the Global Drug trade.

* MERP would bring some counter balance to the liberties that have been lost in the wake of the Patriot Act and various Executive Orders that have been passed during the last two Bush administrations.

* MERP would reduce the use of harder drugs by separating Marijuana users from dealers that sell both Marijuana and harder drugs.

The fact of the matter is that majority support for complete Re-Legalization is already realized on both coasts and the middle states are already at 46% and projected to reach a majority in just a few years. If Soros, Lewis and Sperling would put a few million into educating the public you could have majority support in a matter of weeks.

Also, the notion that we should create a million dollar Marijuana Industry only serves the interests of "medical growers" who are currently making absurd profits growing for the "sick." In point of fact the dispensary price is often higher than the street price which makes it uneconomical for medical users who still pay $35,000 each year to consume 7 grams a day, as Angel Raich currently does.

We have much more serious challenges before us and Re-Legalization is a no-brainer that should be dispensed by Obama in a matter of months. Frankly, if we cannot end 70 years of Marijuana Prohibition the future of this country will be no future at all. We are about to undergo the most challenging historic phase in the history of this republic in 2009 and the time for unnecessary compromised solutions needs to end right now.

So what is the MERP Model? Here are a few links to help you understand MERP:

Drug Policy
===========
Marijuana: Past, Present and Future from Bruce Cain on Vimeo.
http://www.vimeo.com/2056650

Why Lou Dobbs Should Support Marijuana Legalization
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VKf5YfQb7s&

The MERP Project
The Marijuana Re-Legalization Policy (MRP) Project

www.newagecitizen.com/ReLegalization01.htm

www.newagecitizen.com/editorial_on_the_marijuana_re.htm

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It's really simple. The war on drugs is:
(a) not working,
(b) EXPENSIVE at a time when expensive, useless, government expenditures are really dumb,
(c) a potential source of revenue for a revenue starved government,
(d) not widely supported in the country.

Does anyone (except the people who have to have been making huge amounts of money off this war since its inception) see a reason for continuing it? I doubt it....

However, with all the things Obama has to do to get us out of the mess the Republicans have made for us, and the probable jump the Republicans would make to vilify him for legalizing drugs, I sincerely doubt that he will use political capital in his first 1000 days to legalize any drug not created by big Pharma no matter how sensible it would be.

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.
.
. . . tune into The Jeff Farias Show, Mon.15.Dec@8pmEST!

come on out & join the conversation!

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seriously.

Look at the PRESSURE that the US 'drug war' puts on other societies to 'follow the American Model'

while the US power structure GIVES WEAPONS & TRAINING to subjugate those local populations into compliance with whatever goon squad supports American corporate structures....

Columbia?
Bolivia?
Peru?
Canada?
Venezuela?

...if you're a thug, you can get WHINSEC training to destroy 'off-shore' domestic union organizers, journalists, religious leaders & human rights groups...

to support Coca-Cola, Chiquita Banana & other economic thugs...

while effectively limiting drug economic transactions to the underground black "off-books" funding for off-shore operations like Iran-Contra.

keep your eye on the ball, people. Your Drug War is creating the need for the military subjugation of foreign peoples.

Imagine how much diplomacy & Love that generates?

==========================


...Don't take our boys away
Don't take our girls away

Those who build walls are pretending
That forever they can defend them
Those who dam streams can build fountains
Those of us who just let them run free
Can move mountains

But I know its time
Yes I know its time
It's time to go home... - Michael Franti & Spearhead, "Time To Go Gome"

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Election Day was a success for marijuana initiatives across the country, thanks to the work of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and numerous state and local groups.

In Massachusetts, voters decriminalized the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana. A campaign led by the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy and organized by MPP resulted in a 65 percent to 35 percent victory for the initiative.

In another state-level win, Michigan voters approved a medical marijuana initiative by a similarly lopsided margin. The campaign to pass that initiative was led by the MPP-backed Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care.

At the local level, two initiatives to make make adult marijuana possession the lowest law enforcement priority won big. One, in Hawaii County, Hawaii, was led by Project Peaceful Sky. The other, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, was led by a coalition called Sensible Fayetteville.

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... legalize this already!

anybody with half a brain recognize there's more harm then good emanating from prohibition!

get on with it already!...
my body, my choice!

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Come out of the closet and stand up for human rights!

Take the Cannabis Consumer's Survey

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