I understand that the ~ 95% of Canadian people support legalizing medical use for marijuana. And that ~ 60 % support legalizing ALL use of marijuana.

When that finally strikes home, and the Canadians change their laws to accomodate that, then the $100 Billion boondoggle that is the 'Drugs War' will be over.

I understand that BC cannabis is a very profitable crop. Also very high quality. Roll on that day, when it's distributed on a normal, taxed, basis.

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Obama did at one point consider lifting the ban but has flip-flopped on that issue and after picking Biden who was a drug czar, well to think that Obama/Biden are progressive shows how ignorant and retarded one is. It's like saying that Mccain/Palin are "compassionate conservatives".

I can see that Obama/Biden are for Big Oil/Coal/Nuclear while at the same time against Industrial HEMP that could free us from dependence on fossil fuels. How fucking dumb can the so-called "liberal" blogosphere be ?!?!?

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because appointing more fascist judges (that is what Presidents do) will have a dramatic effect on how many folks are sent up the river for marijuana offenses, and how many of our remaining Bill of Rights are trampled upon.

The whole climate of intolerance is SO much more dramatic in the Repug Party that it just isn't funny. The drug war was started by Repugs and they fueled it continuously with the help of Bill Clinton, to the most successful mis-information campaign ever devised. Turning it around is like trying to turn an aircraft carrier around under the Brooklyn Bridge...a daunting task indeed.

It is all about momentum...just how does a progressive thinking President stop this thing that has taken on a life of its own, without getting ground to a pulp under it. It must be done delicately.

But the first thing that HAS to be done is get progressives into the positions of power to begin the process of change. They can't be out there telling Joe Sixpack that they are going to change the world because they will never get elected. Progressives must appear to be very middle of the road...unlike Kucinich, et. al., and we must see through the dog whistles, nods and winks that are in the message. I think that this filter must be used whenever we look at the proposed policies of Obama/Biden.

Get real folks...them thar' are political realities in the USA.

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If you've seen American Drug War, then you probably know that Tommy Chong was busted in a sting, conspiracy to sell a bong in county where sales of bongs are illegal. The whole thing was a disgusting waste of taxpayer money, a fine contribution to the 10+ trillion dollar police state military industrial complex national debt.

Now check this out:
Biden Authored Bill that Put Him in Jail

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We have a global shortage of pain medicine due to the drug war and it has been suggested that the world begin purchasing the opium legitimately and thereby empower farmers and bring them directly into the world economy as well as lessen terrorist funding.

While that might mean being a "world red light district" to some, it would mean access to pain medicine for millions of people. Opiates are far safer than their synthetic kin but the drug war has reduced their availability greatly. See 2005 editorial NY Times--

Let a Thousand Licensed Poppies Bloom
By MAIA SZALAVITZ
Published: July 13, 2005

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Are bought and paid for by, by the same corporate/media/religious "LEGIONS"!!! That is why they made the cut, and the voice of the people, was silenced, yet again!!! Democracy, is dependent on a free press!!! America has a "DEMOCKERY"!!! MOCKING FREEDOM, EVERY STEP OF THE WAY!!! A tainted/ biased press, creates a tainted biased government, and policies!!! Hitler, had a "MORAL MAJORITY" also, and the war of drugs is the exact same religious persecution!!!The Jews, in NAZI Germany, were identified, by the circumcision, of their penis, where the drug war identifies people, by their urine!!! Denying us the 5 amendment right against self "INCRIMINATION"!!! But holding fast to that right for politicians!!! I dare call it treason!!! The government is at war against the people, for the benefit of the corporations!!!
Insanity: is the act of doing the same thing, but expecting different results!!!
Voting for either of these puppets, just give the "LEGIONS" continued power, and the death blow to the constitution!!! END TERRORISM,VOTE FOR NONE OF THE ABOVE!!! We have given our nation, to the "BEAST", but now we know who they are!!! ONLY GOD CAN SAVE US NOW!!!

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If the leftist of sites can't discuss the voting records and policy positions of 3rd party candidates on this issue what chance is there of CNN talking about them?

This is why voting is pointless.

Alternet is helping to perpetuate the myth that we have only 2 choices. Perception creates reality and they are doing nothing to help increase the perception that 3rd party candidates are in fact electable.

If Obama actually cared about the drug war he would discuss it in his campaign. It is an issue he doesn't want to touch at all and will not when he is in office.

The DEA will continue busting non-violent drug offenders under either administration, arrests for non-violent drug crimes will go even higher than under Bush, just like Bush did versus Clinton and Clinton did versus Bush Sr.


If you want the drug war to end, voting for either of these 2 losers will not make it happen.

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Obama's compaign states...

"training them in skills and literacy,"

I know very few potheads who don't have a job because they don't want to work or are unskilled and none that can't read at an adult level. In fact, most are some of the most intelligent people I know.

What we really need is to be left alone!

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..and jail the corporate criminals. go to www.votenader.org and check out the issues page. The videos are great too.

I agree that Alternet should cover 3rd party and independent candidates. Obama-itis is an acute condition that causes people to want to make 3rd party candidates 'disappear'. Not good democracy.

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Biden has always been a drug warrior. He has never supported medical marijuana, despite a solid position in the Senate, and we have him to thank for our pre-employment drug screening, to a large degree. Even though it is un-Constituional for Congress members to be given pre-employment drug screens, they promote it for us, even giving businesses who do it tax breaks! It's a form of racism and discrimination. Congress was confronted with a Bill that wanted to make them have to take drug tests, but they fought it, and it was found un-Constitutional in a Court! It should be un-Constitutional for everyone!
They're all a bunch of f***ing hypocrites!!! Obama picked the worst possible vice-President he could for drug policy--asides from a republican, perhaps.
Anyway, the real reason these drugs are kept illegal is because of the huge amount of money that is laundered through our banking systems. Marijuana is the drug that doesn't make them that much money, so they target it, to support their "official" stance on drugs; meanwhile, one of the CIA's major jobs is to insure as much drug money is laundered through U.S. Banks as possible. This is why Marijuana arrests continue to grow, while other arrests continue to decline--arrests for truly dangerous drugs like cocaine, heroin, and methampetamine. But even these people, unless they commit a crime that has a victim, should not be put in prison! Who is the government to tell us what we can put in our OWN bodies? How come the pharmaceutical company makes a drug, generic name dronnabinol, trade name Marinol, that's PURE THC, yet it's a schedule 3 drug, which says: "it has medical benefits and a low potential for abuse."
Yet the exact same drug, when in a natural plant (marijuana) gets a Schedule One rating which says"it has no medical benefits, and a high potential for abuse."
Talk about hypocrisy! Same exact drug, THC--in a natural plant, it has no medical benefits, and has a high probablility of abuse.
But when the pharmaceutical companies, who donate millions to politican's campaign coffers, make a pill that is pure THC, pure marijuana in a pill, it's okay--a Schedule 3, a precription that can be called in over the phone by your doctor. When they make it, the same chemical suddenly has "medical benefits, and a low potential for abuse." I think that says it all.

It's these international bankers, and their corporate buddies, that run this country, and the world...Politicians are really just figure-heads..they make some of the decisions, but they will never go up against these private bankers. Our country's and the world's money supply is controlled by private, for profit banks, like the Federal Reserve (which is no more "Federal" than Federal Express, and the World Bank and the IMF. These bankers cause these booms and busts--these booms and busts are NOT part of the natural business cycle. They come from these controlling private banks, by them expanding then contracting the money supply. Thomas Jefferson knew this when our country was founded:
"If the American people ever allow banks to control the issuance of their currency, they, and the corporations which will grow up around them, will deprive all the people of their property, until their children wake up homeless"--President Thomas Jefferson.

Homeless. Sounds kinda like Jefferson might have known what he was talking about. If anyone wants to learn about this, go watch this movie on google video, and make sure you watch the newest, remastered version. It's long, but it goes by quickly, and is the best film of its kind: "The Money Masters-How International Bankers Gained Control of America." Check it out-very eye-opening.

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What is up with that?

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Where is there any mention of Coca and the criminal mercantilism laws that pervert it into concentrated cocaine?

Likewise, where is any discussion of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and the Georgetown U directed USA's criminal bullying?

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com
See tags Coca and criminal mercantilism

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"McCain has said repeatedly that he sees a distinction between alcohol and illegal drugs, even though medical professionals and drug experts view alcohol as a drug."

Collegiate excess has repercussions far beyond hangovers and missed classes, and should be of concern to members of the surrounding community. "Binge drinking hurts not only the drinker but also others near him," says Henry Wechsler, Ph.D., a lecturer at the Harvard school of Public Health, where he was also the director of the College Alcohol Study, and author of Dying to Drink: Confronting Binge Drinking on College Campuses.

"The binge drinker disturbs the peace, through noise, vandalism and sometimes violence. Like secondhand smoke, binge drinking pollutes the environment."

"The [social] cost of alcohol is in the billions of dollars. Roughly half the total is related to what's called alcohol addiction," says Paul Gruenewald, scientific director of the Prevention Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, which is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

"The other half is related to other harms that happen to people when drinking; primarily drunk driving, drunk driving crashes, pedestrian injuries, violent assaults, and various criminal behaviors and various injuries," Gruenewald said.

"It's not a pretty picture. It's quite ugly from the public health point of view. It's a much bigger problem than crime related to illegal drugs," he added.

Alcohol, not marijuana, is the most abused drug in the United States. There are an estimated eight million known alcoholics in America, and the number increases by 450,000 every year. One survey reported that 75 percent of all crimes and 60 percent of all divorces have drinking in their background. The National Safety Council reports 50 percent of all traffic deaths are caused by drunk drivers.

According to Dr. John MacDougall, over seven percent of the adult population in the United States suffers from alcoholism, resulting in decreased productivity, accidents, crime, mental and physical disease and disruption of family life. Excessive consumption of alcohol leads to liver disease, cancer, birth defects (fetal alcohol syndrome) and multiple vitamin deficiency diseases.

A report by the World Health Organization states that "Alcohol is a poison to the nervous system. The double solubility of alcohol in water and fat enables it to invade the nerve cell. A man may become a chronic alcoholic without ever having shown symptoms of drunkenness." The conclusion of the report is that nobody is immune to alcoholism and total abstinence is the only solution.

Dr. MacDougall writes that excessive consumption of caffeine leads to an elevated heart rate, irregular heart beat, increased blood pressure, frequent urination, increased gastric secretion, nervousness, irritability and insomnia. Caffeine is known to cause birth defects in animals, and may do the same in humans. Caffeine stimulates the growth of breast cells, causing benign lumps.

Excessive intake of caffeine may cause a rise in blood fats. Cancer of the urinary bladder has been linked to caffeine use and it contributes to loss of calcium from the body. Moreover, the body actually becomes physically addicted to caffeine. Withdrawal symptoms include headaches, drowsiness, tension and anxiety.

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Via the Drugstore, like other Rx's are Issued,
then it's by a Prescription, by a Medical Doctor.
There's Millions of People, using Marijuana,
that Uses it, Addictively... ruining their lives.
Some of these People, already have ill-health,
& Choose to Not Do Anything to Correct / Improve Their Health.
One American Lady

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A pamphlet entitled "10 Things Every Parent, Teenager and Teacher Should Know About Marijuana" produced by the Family Council on Drug Awareness tells us marijuana is not physically addictive. The 1980 Costa Rican study, the 1975 Jamaican study and the 1972 Nixon Blue Ribbon Report all concluded that marijuana use does not lead to physical dependency. The FBI reports that 65 to 75 percent of criminal violence is alcohol-related. On the other hand, Federal Bureau of Narcotics director Harry Anslinger testified before Congress in 1948 that marijuana leads to nonviolence and pacifism.

In a message to Congress on August 2, 1977, President Jimmy Carter insisted: "Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself."

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Law Judge Francis L. Young wrote on September 8, 1988: "Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man."

After years of suppression by the government, the truth about medical marijuana is finally coming out. Dr. Tod Mikuriya, former director of marijuana research for the entire federal government, wrote in 1996: "I was hired by the government to provide scientific evidence that marijuana was harmful. As I studied the subject, I began to realize that marijuana was once widely used as a safe and effective medicine. But the government had a different agenda, and I had to resign."

Tobacco kills about 430,700 each year. Alcohol and alcohol-related diseases and injuries kill about 110,000 per year. Secondhand tobacco smoke kills about 50,000 every year. Aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs kill 7,600 each year. Cocaine kills about 500 yearly alone, and another 2,500 in combination with another drug. Heroin kills about 400 yearly alone, and another 2,500 in combination with another drug. Adverse reactions to prescription drugs total 32,000 per year, while marijuana kills no one.

A November 4, 2002 Time/CNN Poll found that 80 percent of those polled felt marijuana should be legal only for therapeutic purposes. 72 percent felt recreational users should get fines rather than jail time, which is essentially decriminalization. The complete legalization of marijuana was favored only by 34 percent of respondents, but this figure is twice as large as it was in 1986. Marijuana is safer than alcohol and tobacco, and our drug laws should reflect this reality.

According to a 2003 Zogby poll, two of every five Americans say “the government should treat marijuana the same way it treats alcohol: It should regulate it, control it, tax it, and only make it illegal for children.”

Richard Posner, Chicago's chief judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and one of the nation's leading legal scholars, says marijuana use should be legalized as a way of reducing crime. Posner, a Reagan administration appointee once described by American Lawyer magazine as “the most brilliant judge in the country,” explained his views on marijuana in The Times Literary Supplement, a British publication, and in later interview:

“It is nonsense that we should be devoting so many law enforcement resources to marijuana," says Posner. "I am skeptical that a society that is so tolerant of alcohol and cigarettes should come down so hard on marijuana use and send people to prison for life without parole.”

Posner is the highest-ranking judge to publicly favor the repeal of marijuana laws. Several judges of the federal district court, a level lower than the appeals court, have made similar calls, including Robert Sweet of New York and James Paine of Florida.

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or far, far worse

I think Jeb Bush's daughter also was protected from drug laws against the poor only.

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I wish it were true but it's not,America is all out of Liberty. Why? Because that means YOU are in control of your life and not some jackass who just takes your money and vote so they can pass issues you never get to hear about or want done,like the Bailout.

Remember 'Adult's Only' things. You know, stuff you have to be the legal age to do like smoke cigarettes and drink alchohol. Those two Adult things kill over a half a million people every year,but if you're old enough,it's OK to slam that last shot and smoke that last cig and then die,and why are thery legal???

Hemp,marijuana's real name, in all of recorded history, has not one single death due to overdose. Smoked in a waterpipe 97% of carcer causing agents are removed. Eaten,there's no lung ailments at all. Hemp smokers are 98% less likely to get into fist fights over misunderstood jokes. You could never say that about booze.Ever!!!

Barney Frank has the only intelligent Bill put forth in almost a century. It deals with Adults being able to use,possess and share with other Adults Hemp and Hemp products. As Adults we should enjoy the widest possible pleasures of Liberty,as long as no one is at risk of 'harm' except yourself. It's that way with booze and cigarettes and they really do kill people,in great numbers. Is it really that hard to give us the same luxury with the less harmful Hemp? Or is it that the powers that be don't want a more Peaceful populace?

OK so Biden gave us 100,000 more cops on the street and the Nation's first Drug Czar. I guarntee you if he had a relative that was ill and could be helped by Hemp, he would push for total legalization tomorrow.Barack just wants to sidestep the 'Black guys smoke lots of dope' sterotype. Grow a set dude, this is no time to suffer from testicular shrinkage.

The real truth is, Hemp,marijuana,Bang,Weed,
Acapulco Gold whatever you want to call it was
put here by a Power much greater than any human. By the same Power that created the entire Universe as well as the Quantum Realities. HUMANS made tobacco so poisoned it's no longer 'Sacred' in it's RJ reynolds form. It kills. HUMANS made booze and it's a lot stronger now than it was in Christ's time when he made water into wine,but,it Kills too.

I don't know about you,but I have much more Faith in the Power that Created the Universe,
you, me and Hemp then I do the greedy assholes that made products that bring disease and death to not only Cultures and Nations,like it did to the Indians,but also Kills quite nicely.

As Adults we should have a choice,check that, THE LIBERTY, to choose and use whatever we wish to get through the ever tougher living in America.
Either the 500,000 a year Killers Booze and Cigsarettes
The 10,000 a year Killers,perscription drugs
Or the ZERO DEATHS EVER, marijuana.

Whomever gets in office should sign into law Barney Frank's Bill. It's about damn time we gave 'Privilage" back to being an Adult. It's time we restored Liberty to Adults and put Peace back into our lives as Adults.
Really it is 'the least' we can do

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If this was a true voter guide it would include ALL of the presidential candidates not just the two crammed down our throat by the main stream media. I expected more from Alternet...

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It is not the governments place to regulate drugs. in a society of supposedly educated and ftree people with total access to information it is personal responsibility to obtain whatever knowledge one may need or want.The reason drugs are,(even plants are "outlawed which is high blasphemy)ouitlaqwed is to obtain a monopoly and increase the price. when thy outlawed poppies they would even arrest oklahoma wives for having them growing. the whole idea is absurd.

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As for cannabis re-legalization, of course there is no difference between Obama and McCain. Obama's "promise" not to raid cannabis dispensaries will now have to turn into policy. We will see. And we will see about all of Obama's cannabis policy. The people do want this changed, as one can plainly see by our victories in Michigan and Massachusetts. Obama will not be tied down at all by any state law though, and will have free rein as U.S. President to do just as he pleases. And as actual power-holder, he will not be bound by any "promise" he made prior to being president. I suspect that only more cannabis users will be arrested, fined and jailed, or worse during the coming four years than ever before. I would be more than happy to be proved wrong on this account.
The people have spoken, and we all have to accept that Obama will become President in a couple of months. That does not mean we have to shut up and go back to work. It does not mean that we have to abandon our precious Constitution or our liberties. It means, like usual, that we have to keep asserting ourselves as Americans and act for the changes that we want. Obama will have the Presidential power. But power in our land is not exclusive. We have always had to show that the people rule, and that is not going to change.

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