Once again when pressed to explain why marijuana is so dangerous, the authoritarian engages in..

1. Repeated use of discredited and unscientific data
2. Exageration of questionable scientific data
3. Blaming the social effects of prohibition on the substance that is prohibited.

Pot doesn't make people want to join gangs, it gives gangs an easy way to make money. Permit adults to cultivate and use marijuana privately, and dealers will be more easily defeated.

Or you could incarcerate teenagers, which makes it much more difficult for them to have a decent life that isn't based on crime. They lose job prospects, student aid, social standing..... oh yeah, and their personal safety. You start with a decent albeit curious kid, and you end up with a skinhead with hepatitis C.

Marijuana prohibition is a gateway to criminal behavior. Decriminalize marijuana and you will have fewer criminals. Fight crime - legalize pot!

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What should really be remembered here is that getting into a position such as his REQUIRES one to have such a stance towards drugs.

After all... those sorts of stances are exactly the thing that creates his position in the first place.

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What Costa means to say is that cannabis poses a tremendous threat because it is cheap, readily available, and easy to grow, and thus threatens the interests (profits) of the pharmaceutical, alcohol and tobacco industries.

In addition, decriminalization would be a serious blow to the prison-industrial complex and the law enforcement organizations who have enjoyed ever-increasing power and budgets over the last 30 years.

Costa knows who his masters are--he wouldn't even be in his position if he weren't a faithful hound.

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Come on folks....let's not forget the REAL, HORRIFIC dangers from smoking pot. IT'S GOING TO RUIN US ALL!!!!!!

Too much giggling!
Too much munching!
Too much cartoon watching!!!

Yup, pot is a real menace to mankind! Can't be overstated. Get these dangerous people off the streets and outta the cookie aisle!

The stupidity of America's pot laws makes this old bitch sneeze! I really wish they'd just go smoke a doobie and calm down!

VideoProductionTips = Learn Internet Video

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Until you pay my medical bills, sir, what I put into my fucking body is none of your concern. I didn't ASK you to keep me safe. I certainly don't NEED you to keep me safe. I'm a big boy who has done alright on his own so far. Until you pay my bills, you have no reason to concern yourself with whether i'm sniffing blow, smoking pot, or chewing on broken glass.

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Well - given the stories about flushed pharmaceuticals turning up in our water supply - technically, he's right.

bwahahahahahahahaha...fuck him anyways.

jdfu!

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He acknowledges that alcohol and tobacco kill hundreds of thousands--but he doesn't advocate putting these poor souls in prison to protect them from themselves. But he will imprison the marijuana smokers to protect them from themselves. Is he saying the lives of marijuana smokers are more precious than the lives of the alcohol and tobacco users? My, my, I'm touched. Unless he or any of the other drug warriors can make the case that marijuana is more dangerous than alcohol or tobacco, the drug war simply comes down to the following proposition: I get my drug; you don't get yours.

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I was at the conference he mentions, and goddamned right, I was high as a kite!

No seriously, I think someone already pointed this out - but we will never have decriminalization of marijuana until the alcohol, tobacco, lumber and energy industries say it's ok. What the government doesn't realize is that many affluent, laid back pot heads such as myself would GLADLY pay a grow or purchaser fee or license, just so we didn't have to deal with getting hassled. Like a permit to carry a weapon - a permit to smoke shit. A license to sit on my couch taking bong hits and not worry about the cops raiding my house. That would be worth a lot to me!!!

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... and just how did he get into such a position of trust and responsibility?...

something tells me he's an American or a person who was pushed into this position by the same old forces that are pushing the same old war on DRUGS shenanigans...

shame on you...
maybe a shakeup of the UN is needed if idiots like this is able to sound off on unsupported and frequently debunked facts and myths!

take the profit out of Organized Crime and terrorists Organizations
simply and easily by legalizing POT!

TAX the hell outta it and redirect all the current policing, court and incarceration costs
into health care, education and harm reduction techniques

come on... it's been 70 plus years and it still doesn't work!

something stinks... and I think its skunk-weed

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So. We sort drugs into three categories:

1. Pharmaceuticals.

2. Drugs in foods and beverages or sold as spirits or tobacco products.

3. Illegal drugs.

I'm struggling to figure out the criteria for placing a particular drug in a particular category, and I think I almost have it.

If a drug is patentable, then it pleases the pharmaceutical industry, so it's ok.

If a drug is not patentable, but can be used to hook consumers on foods, beverages, spirits or tobacco products, then it pleases the food, spirits, and tobacco industries, so it's ok, too.

If a drug is not patentable and not suitable for hooking consumers on food, beverages, spirits, or tobacco products, it has to be illegal.

What about pot? Can't be patented. It outperforms profitable pharmaceuticals in relief of pain, nausea, and glaucoma, among other things, so the pharmaceutical industry feels threatened by it. It's not very addictive, so the food industry won't fight for it. The spirits industry would prefer we get drunk on their products, not stoned on leaf grown in our back yards. Big tobacco doesn't like it because pot has a long half-life in the body: one or two joints will produce effects for the better part of a day. Can't make money that way; nicotine works ideally because soon after a hit, you need another. (Even worse for tobacco industry profits, some have suggested that a joint a day will suppress the worst symptoms of nicotine withdrawal.)

In other words, pot not only lacks a big-money proponent to fight for it, pot actively threatens big industrial interests.

Let's face it. Our drug policy isn't rooted in morality or concern for the well-being of citizens. It's rooted in supercapitalism protecting its profits.

And it's going quite well, thank you. The industries in question are raking in the dough. Too bad we've had to imprison over 1% of the American population to pull it off.

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