Pot Is More Mainstream Than Ever, So Why Is Legalization Still Taboo?

give me a break ! He already made it clear throughout his campaign trail when he flip-flopped on his earlier decision to push for legalizing cannabis and then picking drug czar Joe Biden as his VP. Ralph Nader was and still is a strong advocate for repealing the Hemp Prohibition but the electorate for the most part felt that it had to go right ahead and pick another "war on drugs" puppet. And this was the same Obama who earlier this year lied to the American people claiming that pot won't stimulate the economy. How do you like your chump "change you can believe in" ?!?!?

P.S.: It was the Democratic Party who supported the overtaxation of cannabis that Harry Anslinger asked for. It was also the Democratic Party that allowed Nixon to build the DEA. Ralph Nader would have put legalizing Cannabis on the table whereas Obama is doing more backdoor dealing with Big Pharma that strongly opposes legalizing cannabis even for medical purposes. It is no different from Saddam Hussein using chemical warfare to poison his own citizens. I'm glad I voted for Nader !

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

FREE AMERICA

REVOLUTIONARY (DIRECT) DEMOCRACY

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

"Why haven't more politicians -- especially the ones who inhaled -- come out and said, "Prohibition is absurd and criminal. Let's treat cannabis like alcohol"?"

~~~~

You are up against several lobbies. Alcohol, Tobacco and Retail Grocery.

Let' face it, pot will replace alcohol and tobacco for a large percentage of their business if it were legal. Retail groceries would lose sales.

Another impediment is tax receipts for local and state governments. Once legalized it would be grown everywhere and escape taxation. Unlike tobacco, pot is easy to grow. Despite what advocates say legalization of pot will lose tax revenue.

Having said all that I say legalize it ... screw alcohol and tobacco. But get ready for higher taxes elsewhere to make up the shortfall from state and local sales taxes.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

They got spine to suck up to the Prohibition scumbags but not show some generosity. It still beats me that so-called "liberal" cities and counties are the most costly places and home to absolutely corrupt pols. I think you nailed them right. Oh and welcome back dude. Didn't want to do numbers for names eh?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Well I am a liberal and I sure am not spineless in any degree of the word. I don't see the war on cannabis as being either a war on the young or a war on minorities. Sheeeh the price I pay for good herb, sure ain't no poor people buying it at that price. Crack yeah thats a minority drug, and thanks to the opium uprise, the young your talking about are using a lot more heroin than before.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

"Liberals have referred to the prohibition of cannabis as “a war on the young”, “A war on minorities”, and an assault to personal choice."

Those are charges leveled by radical leftists, anarchists and socialists. Liberals think of prohibition as simply impractical or counterproductive. Nationally elected Democrats are a group that includes few liberals and many corporate whores. Spinlessness is a red herring.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

From the London Times today:

"The Government’s chief drug adviser has suggested that Ecstasy, LSD and cannabis are less dangerous than both alcohol and cigarettes."

See
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6894710.ece

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Unfortunately, marijuana prohibition has had the side effect of hemp prohibition, which has contributed to deforestation and pollution by paper manufacturers. Dioxin, a major byproduct of paper manufacturing, is a known carcinogen. Hemp has so many uses: clothing, rope, shelter, food, etc. It's ridiculous that we can't grow a substance in the US that could revolutionize our economy and reduce our dependence on foreign sources...not to mention the medicinal value of hemp's counterpart, cannabis indica, which has been endorsed by the American College of Physicians as a medically valuable pain reliever.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

allows us just two choices for recreational drugs. It just so happens that those two drugs are 1. The most deadly (alcohol) and 2. The most addictive (tobacco). Of course alcohol is also addictive and tobacco is also deadly for millions.
On top of that we choose to make prison fodder out of the millions of citizens who take advantage of a relatively harmless plant/drug that grows wild in almost all parts of our nation.
By making these drugs illegal we are also fueling the massive drug cartels and street gangs by making the business of drug distribution extremely profitable and we have turned the prison system into a profit center for corporate America to further profit off of the misery of people. Not to mention the huge amount of destruction caused to individual lives as a result of this madness.
Bottom line is it is good for business (as usual) to shove this BS down our collective throats.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Part of the problem is people like NORML's Stroup and Allen St. Pierre who insist Marijuana is a "harmful drug" in order to rationalize for draconian state control. Marijuana is probably less harmful that ice cream and certainly less harmful than many ornamental plants common to most American gardens. Chewing on just a couple seeds from the Angle Trumpet (e.g., Datura) can easily send you to the hospital if not the grave. I dont' recall that to be the case with Marijuana. NORML is not an honest broker of US drug policy and never have been as far as I'm concerned.

http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP/RelegalizeNowObama25.htm

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

A tip of the hat to David Peel....

At this moment, legislators in California are considering some sort of legalization. Can it be? Is there actually a State House in this silly country showing the courage to do the right thing seventy-two years after this relatively harmless drug was made illegal??? Could the rest of the country be far behind????

I'll believe it when I see it.

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Most marijuana dealers do not last long, they are quickly discovered and arrested. Many choose to become police informers rather than do prison time. The surest way to discover who is working for the police is by the length of time they deal drugs without an arrest. This method of recruitment has resulted in almost a million informers scattered throughout the nation. They are the eyes and ears of a police state and report all they see or hear. The decriminalization of marijuana would dismantle the police state and restore privacy to the nation. It would also force countless police informers to search for an honorable way of supporting themselves.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

... simultaneously.

Even if just 10% of current users did this on the same day, our law enforcement/judicial system would seize up faster than consumer credit.

Unless there's a proactive demonstration of consensus on the absurdity of the current prohibition and it's crippling social and economic costs, we'll be having this same discussion a decade from now with a prison population double the current 3+ million.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Pot is the gateway OUT OF "hard drugs." Legalize it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I really wish the real reason legislators fear taking a stand in favor of re-legalization had something to do with losing votes. The real fear is losing money. Drug dealers on both sides of the law are sternly opposed to any change in the status quo and have no problem spending tens of millions a year to make sure nothing changes. I grew up on the front lines of the drug problem in Saint Louis, Los Angeles and Oakland. I knew my share of "mini-kingpins" and it would shock the sensibilities of most to find out that a few of them made large contributions to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

Alcohol would still be illegal today if a minority condoned drinking and all the producers did everything they could to keep it banned.

The forces we are fighting in this battle are many and varied. The author's point about politicians changing their positions to suit their ambitions is dead on. A perfect example of this is Senator Dianne Feinstein. While she publicly supports medicinal cannabis, she only does so because it is politically pragmatic in California. In reality, her support of modern prohibition runs just as deep and is as rabid as Representative Mark Souder's. Having wolves in sheep's clothing like this is horribly detrimental.

Many think that the racially disparate impact of the drug laws is an unfortunate confluence of social and economic factors. It would be unfortunate if it were not so intentional. Expecting laws founded upon racial animosity to be equally enforced among the races is beyond senseless. It is no coincidence that the Prohibition which overwhelmingly affected whites lasted only twelve years, while the other "dangerous" drugs have remained illegal for nearly a century.

I wonder how different things might be if most people knew there was a time when all drugs were legal and the percentage of hard core drug addicts has remained virtually unchanged. All the money, time and effort spent trying to reach the unattainable goal of a drug-free nation has not done anything but cause death, waist lives and give psychopaths immense power they would not otherwise have.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

"...an abuser's risk of heart attack more than quadruples in the first hour after smoking marijuana"

The few times I've tried pot, I thought I was going to have a heart attack - I even made my friend drive me to the hospital in case I went into cardiac arrest.

People that I've met that have used pot most of their adult lives don't seem quite normal to me - really rather off in some mental way. No way would I want marijuana legalized for recreational use.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Problems and plusses. Delta 9 THC has a half life of 7 to 10 days. Alcohol's is hours. Driving under the influence of either seems bad for society.
Mainstream use of MJ may not be an argument for it. Just as California's mainstream opposition to gay marriage may not be an good argument against it.
We live in a republic, not a democracy. We assume that our representatives will make informed decisions based on the evidence. Are they doing this in the health care debates?
Indulging our self centered desires may not be best for our society. If you want to understand the three basic assumptions of values we can live by, check out the free ebook series at http://andgulliverreturns.info. I don't remember if it tackles the marijuana question but it does a great job on many other 'moral' questions.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I am a 66 year old marijuana user, I am a veteran and responsible person. I first started experimenting with marijuana in Vietnam than stopped using it until I was injured in 1992. I had fallen into a hole, broke vertabra, was given 20 different types of pills with nasty side effects and was than offered a joint to see its effects. It worked and I lived in NYC where having a small amount was a ticket.
My injuries led me to the southwest for the winters and I bought property in Arizona and started building.
Last year I went out there and was stopped by a police officer while driving. I was coming back from the VA hospital and was bandaged on both arms, I had fasted all day. I have a full beard and the policeman didn't like me I could tell immediately. He asked for licence registration and insurance card which I provided, took off my sunglasses, ointed me in the sun and asked me to take a field sobroiety test, when my wife said I had just come from the hospital he told her to shut up or he would arrest her.
Anyway I refused and was immediately handcuffed and put into the police car where I was told I would either urinate into a cup or have blood drawn, I urinated and was found to have a metabolite in my system. I hired a lawyer, the lawyer spoke to the state criminalogist who stated I was not impaired. The lawyer could not testify to that or state I was not impaired, anyway $5000 for a lawyer a $1500 fine, 2 days in jail and loss of licence forever I have moved on. I now live in Portugal 6 months a year and reside in Mexico in the winter months.
This is huge business. The reason I lost my licence forever is that I refuse to do drug counciling at $60 an hour 45 minutes a week for 48 weeks. I would rather have my medicine than my licence.
The more I'm out of the U.S. the saner I become and see everyone has a better quality of life than people here.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I am a 66 year old marijuana user, I am a veteran and responsible person. I first started experimenting with marijuana in Vietnam than stopped using it until I was injured in 1992. I had fallen into a hole, broke vertabra, was given 20 different types of pills with nasty side effects and was than offered a joint to see its effects. It worked and I lived in NYC where having a small amount was a ticket.
My injuries led me to the southwest for the winters and I bought property in Arizona and started building.
Last year I went out there and was stopped by a police officer while driving. I was coming back from the VA hospital and was bandaged on both arms, I had fasted all day. I have a full beard and the policeman didn't like me I could tell immediately. He asked for licence registration and insurance card which I provided, took off my sunglasses, ointed me in the sun and asked me to take a field sobroiety test, when my wife said I had just come from the hospital he told her to shut up or he would arrest her.
Anyway I refused and was immediately handcuffed and put into the police car where I was told I would either urinate into a cup or have blood drawn, I urinated and was found to have a metabolite in my system. I hired a lawyer, the lawyer spoke to the state criminalogist who stated I was not impaired. The lawyer could not testify to that or state I was not impaired, anyway $5000 for a lawyer a $1500 fine, 2 days in jail and loss of licence forever I have moved on. I now live in Portugal 6 months a year and reside in Mexico in the winter months.
This is huge business. The reason I lost my licence forever is that I refuse to do drug counciling at $60 an hour 45 minutes a week for 48 weeks. I would rather have my medicine than my licence.
The more I'm out of the U.S. the saner I become and see everyone has a better quality of life than people here.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

1) Why isn't HEMP ETHANOL, the original automotive fuel, back on the table? We use corn while millions go hungry, when there is a hardy, drought-resistant alternative - that hasn't even been mentioned.

In 1961, Anslinger went to the UN and used the then powerful amerikan influence to make hemp illegal around the world. What kind of meglomania does it take to outlaw a valuable and harmless PLANT that was used peacefully for almost 10 000 years?

2) How can you justify continuation of laws that were based on entirely on racism? Typical Anslinger quotes:

"This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”

“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.”

In the thirties, this sort of talk was considered scientific rationale for hemp prohibition. Even the use of the word "marijuana" was intended to make american hemp sound like a foreign menace!

What kind of champion for civil rights is unwilling to address a law founded in racist hysteria that has turned millions of otherwise decent people into criminals and destroyed their lives?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

that they can't get a lucrative patent on, and that has medicinal & other beneficial uses!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Valid medicinal value, it’s a victimless crime, the War on Drugs WAY too costly, too many arrests for simple possession, tax it and use the money to pay for health insurance and to reduce the deficit. Need I say more?

Woodstock Universe supports legalization for a variety of reasons. Check them out and vote in our poll "Should marijuana be legalized?" at http://woodstockuniverse.com

Current poll results: 96% for legalization and 4% opposed.

Add your vote. Poll runs through October.

Peace, love, music, one world,
RFWoodstock

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Why all of society seemed so set against marijuana. Then I read, "Food of the Gods" by Terence McKenna.

What he said made the most sense to me. We live in a Dominator society, and the drugs of choice for that society are nicotine, caffine, and alcohol.

These drugs actually fit right in with the dominator model. Party hard. Be aggressive, get up and go to work every day. Make a bunch of money. Beat your competitors. Work boy, work. Feed the beast. Don't think about anything except making money.

The machine doesn't want people questioning the whole enchilada. "Do I really need this big house to be happy? Why do I have to give those pricks at least forty hours of my life a week? For what? Couldn't I be just as happy with less?"

"Screw working for the man. I think I'll call up some friends and play some music today. Or make some art."

"Why are we always at war?"

It's these kinds of thoughts that come to mind once a person starts using drugs that are against the Dominator model. The drugs that open the mind. The drugs of the lost Earth Goddess society of which marijuana is one.

I believe that is what the guardians of the Dominator society are really afraid of.

As well they should be.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

One point that I do not see being discussed is the fact that most of those same legislators that oppose or refuse to discuss legalization of MJ own shares of stock in prisons and prison related industries. The more that are incarcerated, the larger the dividend that that stock pays.
If you do not have enough criminals to support a police state, the solution is to create more. You do this by passing laws that cannot be obeyed and so therefore you have your criminal. (Incarcerate them quickly before they get away)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This should be a no brainer - our governments need money and here it is, gift wrapped. People are going to smoke it, it's a given. So instead of wasting money trying to stamp it out why not legalize it and tax it.

It has just been like pulling teeth to get America beyond it's Puritan past, beyond sticking it's head in the sand. You would think the alcohol prohibition debacle would have taught us a lesson, guess not.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Because of this ridiculous war on marijuana to benefit the prison industrial complex is sickening. And to those involved, your karma awaits! Don't think you can ever escape it. Your earthly power is only temporary, what you reap you sow!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

IMHO, all drugs should be legalized. All of the drug laws have an origin of racism. Opium was first controlled so the white man could control the Chinese. Cocaine was controlled to keep black men from raping white women, and marijuana was controlled to keep the hispanic population at bay.

All drugs were legal prior to the turn of the 20th century. The most common group found to be using opium was middle aged/income housewives. You could buy opium powder (heroin) that was manufactured by Merck for 75 cents a two ounce tin. Some chewing gum had cocaine in it to aid tooth aches. Certain wines and soft drinks (Coca Cola) had cocaine in them. Yet the world did not come to a halt.

I find it amazing that alcohol and tobacco were the two substances finally allowed by society. Pharmeceutical grade heroin is safer than alcohol. Alcohol is a poison. That is why you puke after consuming too much...your body is trying to purge the toxins from itself. Nicotine is more addictive than heroin and is also a poison. It used to be used to kill rats. Marijuana has never killed anyone, ever, yet it remains illegal while the two poisons are acceptable? This is a complete farce and totally immoral at best!

The government has no business telling anybody what they may or may not consume. By doing so, they are taking control over your very body away from you! As long as you are not harming anybody else, you should be free to do as you wish and consume what you want. The war on drugs is not only as waste of taxpayer money, it is totally immoral as it wastes the lives of otherwise totally law abiding citizes who have harmed nobody. Our nation did just fine for the first 125 years without drug prohibition. Drug laws were created and are perpetuated to isolate a certain segment of our society and label that segment as being inferior to the remaining portion. They serve no other purpose. As such, it can do much better with out them.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Valid medicinal value, it’s a victimless crime, the War on Drugs WAY too costly, too many arrests for simple possession, tax it and use the money to pay for health insurance and to reduce the deficit…Need I say more?

Woodstock Universe supports legalization of Marijuana for a variety of reasons.

Check them out and vote in our poll about legalization at http://www.woodstockuniverse.com.

Current poll results…96% for legalization, 4% against.

Peace, love, music, one world,
RFWoodstock

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Prohibition led to Al Capone and rising crime, violence and corruption, overflowing courts, jails, and prisons, the labeling of tens of millions of Americans as criminals and the consequent broadening of disrespect for the law, the dangerous expansions of federal police powers, encroachments on civil liberties, hundreds of thousands of Americans blinded, paralyzed, and killed by poisonous moonshine and industrial alcohol, and the increasing government expenditure devoted to enforcing the Prohibition laws.

Our government spends billions of dollars a year on arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating drug-law violators. Choked courts and prisons, an incarceration rate higher than most other nations in the world, and tax dollars diverted from education and health care are just a few of the costs our current prohibition imposes. There are health costs in drug prohibition. During the prohibition era, some fifty thousand Americans were paralyzed after consuming "jake," an adulterated Jamaican ginger extract. Today we have marijuana made more dangerous by government-sprayed paraquat.

Prohibition did succeed in reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol-related ills ranging from cirrhosis to public drunkenness and employee related absenteeism. But this was due to the effectiveness of the temperance movement in publicizing the dangers of alcohol. The decline in alcohol consumption during those years, like the recent decline in cigarette consumption, had less to do with laws than with changing social attitudes.

During the 1980s, for example, Americans began switching from hard liquor to beer and wine, from high tar-and-nicotine to low tar-and-nicotine cigarettes, and even from caffeinated to decaffeinated sodas, coffees, and teas.

Alcohol prohibition was repealed after just thirteen years while the prohibition of other drugs has continued for over 75 years. Why? Alcohol prohibition struck directly at society's most powerful members. The prohibition of other drugs, by contrast, threatened far fewer Americans with hardly any political power.

Only the prohibition of marijuana, which nearly 100 million Americans have violated since 1965, has come close to approximating the Prohibition era experience, but marijuana smokers consist mostly of young and relatively powerless Americans.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Personally, I couldn't care less about ANY combustibles' smoke getting into my lungs, filtered or not.
That doesn't mean I have the right to get snotty about anyone who may be interested; that's their RIGHT, after all.
Prohibition is NOT the answer to psychoactive drug use.
A few minutes studying the history of alcohol prohibition shows what's glaringly obvious; the more repressive and insistent the prohibition is, the more it'll be RESISTED by people defending their personal liberties, and the bigger the crime families become, rushing in to fill the supply vacuum.
It's time to grow up here, face reality, and quit calling pot smokers criminals.
This would pull the rug out from underneath the drug racketeers and their allies.
How much of a problem is MOONSHINE, nowadays, anyway?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Before the cry for pot legalization gets any louder, it's time to recall the Sixties. A serious look at the political movements of that era reveal a near pre-revolutionary situation that was destroyed by a number of forces: police intimidation, a massive right-wing media campaign, AND DRUGS. Yes gang, dope is for dopes. The effects of cannabis are primarily pacifying. It turns its users into passive dreamers. With the transformational work that lies before us - revolutionizing this culture and economic system - drugs are nothing more than another weapon in the arsenal of the enemies of progress. Look at America today: do you honestly believe that yet another drug will help us break free of from our present role of benumbed, politically confused consumers? The case can be made that Prozac got George W Bush the presidency. America's "unassailable" quest for happiness has infantilized its population and turned them into helpess, apolitical dupes, who get really juiced about their right to consume yet another drug. Wake up. Defer some of that gratification till after the revolution. There's work to do.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

There are many people in Washington's political and media circles "who know the right end of a joint to light..."

As someone who has smoked pot for over 40 years, I did not know there was a "right end of a joint to light". Well, other than it shouldn't be the end you are going to put in your mouth.

Can someone enlighten me? I am afraid I may have been doing it wrong all these years -- though I must say I have certainly enjoyed the way I've been doing it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I am Black and I don't really think that legalization of marijuana is important. Indeed, I think it could hurt my community -- the Black community -- very deeply. I have seen first-hand the young men and women showing up to classes already high as a kite at 8 o'clock in the morning. This is in middle school and high school.

A colleague who teaches in an elementary school in my area (Oakland, CA) says that young people's parents have actually shown up -- when they bother to show up -- to meetings with the teacher so high that it hampers communication.

What will legalization do to stem the tide of drug abuse in my community? You say that you want marijuana to be treated like alcohol? Well, let me tell you: alcohol is hurting my community. Having another legalized addictive substance may make middle- and upper-class white people on their college campuses and in their suburbs happy. But every time an addictive substance is made more easily accessible -- the establishment of liquor stores throughout Black and Latino inner-city neighborhoods, the introduction of crack, the increasing availability of marijuana out here in California -- it strikes another blow against our Black children's abilities to have safe homes with unaddicted parents and their ability to show up at school and to socialize on evenings and weekends without ingesting harmful and judgement-clouding amounts of some sort of intoxicant.

The fact that Black and Latino youth are arrested for marijuana is just the tip of the iceberg. The real crimes related to marijuana -- the child neglect, the intoxication in school, the driving under the influence -- are the ones that hurt our families and our children.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Pot should absolutely be legalized, and the whole ridiculous "war on drugs" ended. But AlterNet, really, is the issue of pot legalization really worth all the electronic ink you spend on it??? It seems like there are at least two or three articles a week extolling the virtues of pot. I'm sure that the millions of people who have lost their jobs and/or homes in the past year really give a rat's ass about whether or not pot is legal.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Obama's "chuckle," he says, was emblematic. When legalizing marijuana was the top issue cited by visitors to Obama's transition Web site, the president dismissed it with a joke implying that there must be a lot of stoned people on the Internet.

Steven, I was watching this on TV when it occurred. Obama was asked if legalization of marijuana could solve all debt and current financial problems if it were legalized and taxed. The answer of course is "no" and is laughable as well.

I am in total agreement that MJ should be legalized (and personnally I think all drugs should be available so that there is not this constant pressure for new customers - most people I know that were addicted (don;t know anyone anymore) once they realized what had happened to them.. did not not want to inflict it on others).

I am also disappointed that Obama is not doing more to correct this situation. Was glad to see the new instructions to the Justice Dept. about Medical MJ though. This is a baby step in the right direction.

Hopefully Obama will do more in the future but let's please get the facts straight about this particular event and what question was asked and why Obama gave the answer he did. Which I also agreed with BTW, since taxing MJ cannot solve the financial crisis..

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The Botany of Desire a two hour special, on PBS 10/28/09. Four species were covered, the apple[desire of sweetness], tulip [beauty], *marijuana [intoxication], potato[control].

I thought the coverage of *marijuana was EXCELLENT. I hope many people see this program and minds are changed positively.

Our so-called Public Servants will claim ignorance,even if they take time from raising funds to view this program. As you know they are the only ones that can take Control and exhibit Leadership to CHANGE THE LAWS !!!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Let's not forget the opposition of Big Pharma. A couple of days ago in the local (redneck) paper, there was a story about two people using legal, medical marijuana in CA. One did it to replace Valium. One did it to replace OxyContin.
Drug companies don't like having their livelihood threatened as legal pot certainly does.

And the prison guard lobby, at least in CA. has a vested interest in keeping the prisons full.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Aside from the obvious police state control issues around pot , here is something that is frequently overlooked. When the military did studies on LSD many years ago, they concluded that the drug would not be useful as a military mind control agent because the subjects that were administered the drug displayed the opposite of being controlled. they showed very clear signs of being independent free thinkers that dismissed any type of control that was presented to them. The military gave their findings to the white house and congress and shortly after that it became not only illegal but could not even be studied. the powers that be are terrified of psychotropic drugs because it means the end of their reign of power.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Not completely, but I was and still am pleased. Back when Marc Emery, the Canadian the DEA wants to extradite to Amerika for selling seeds, was in the news, I e-mailed all my reps. and several north of the border. I received a phone call from my local congressman office thanking me for informing him of the situation. I actually got a response. I have e-mail hundreds of times about this and other issues, and never hear anything. Now I have the congressman's phone direct phone number I don't need to go through the switchboard. We have to keep trying.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Legalization of Marijuana will not happen as long as there is more money to be made by its' restriction. That's the ONLY reason it has NOT been legalized.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

which catch phrase does the govt and MSM use..to the total exclusion of the other??...as long as the answer doesnt change..voters will continue to view marijuana as an existential war enemy that must be defeated at any cost...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The middle of the twentieth century had brought forth an era of mind expanding drugs, ‘free love’ and a rethinking of all the core values held so dearly and for so long. The enlightened began to realize that those values had only brought the world to the brink of global nuclear destruction and the devastation of irreplaceable eco-systems with greed and the so called work ethic. The twisted inhumanities of puritanical ethos and beliefs were finally exposed as cancerous malignancies to the human spirit. A new age had arrived.
Mind-expanding psychotropics such as LSD-25 and THC led to enlightenment and unbelievably rapid technological advancements. For the first time in history many became concerned about the environment and turned their backs on their primitive violent past. Most began to challenge the validity of the old religions as the mass insanity of fundamentalist fervor led to rampant terrorism, child sex scandals and hatred.
NO government can survive if the majority of people become aware of truths. They require the perpetuation of false hob-goblins and imagined fears of the un-enlightened to justify their very existence.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I certainly agree that racism and classism have much to do with the issues that afflict the Black community, including the pervasive drive to numb ourselves against the pain of our struggles, with both alcohol and drugs.

Still, while alcohol and drugs may not be the problem, they certainly don't help, either. Drug dependency of either a parent or a spouse or a child can wreak havoc in a home.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Legalize it,and legalize now.
I've tried it for my Glaucoma,and It decreased the use of my eye drop (DORZOLAMIDE 2/TIMOLOL 0.5% twice a day.
It also made an extreme drop in pressure of my eyes. From .22 to .09.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

so goes the rest of the nation. That's the old saying as California has the largest population in the nation and can by thier collective buying power, change how business is done.

I am watching with extreme interest what happens in California on this issue in the next year.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

End the drugs prohibition. Legalize all drugs and regulate each of them with the degree of strictness based on their documented harm to public health.

An "overnight" way to do this is eliminate the DEA Schedule One substances, e.g., marijuana (technically a herbal substance, not a drug), heroin, MDMA, etc., and move them all to Schedule Two. Let fifty states figure out what to do then.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I'll vote for anyone who supports Marijuana Legalization until it gets done. They all end up bought off in the end anyway, Joe Lieberman on Heath care is a prime example of this. We can figure that at the very least this one HUGE issue will be gone and with it a large portion of the drug war, I can live with that.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

He always was and he always will be.

The only real positive I see related to him is that he has vacuously attempted to distance himself from the term "drug war". I say this is a positive, not related to Obama but related to the reform effort to demonize the term. Obama's attempt to declare the drug war an obsolete terminology was actually an admission that the term has acquired so much negative political baggage that even a drug warrior like him does not want to be associated with the term.

This is why, every time I refer to Obama I include the term. I believe that that is the only thing that will cause him to make real reform changes. He knows that he will loose a voter or two every time people see his name attached to the term 'drug warrior'. He is forced to make grudging concessions in pure cynical political reaction.

The only thing that has ever gotten any Democrat drug warrior to back-pedal is the threat of real political risk.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

america land of the brave, just joking. land of the free, i'm such a clown. the idea of people choosing their own high is just to much for our fearful leaders. senator feinstein wrote me she would never legalize marijuana. her home town is san francisco. she's only in office because mayor moscone was murdered by danny white. if moscone was in the senate he would be ok with legalizing weed. but we have that ultimate of opportunists diane feinstein, little miss uptight and inhibited. repub in dems clothing.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

It's great to see the California Assemblyman taking up the fight to end this ridiculous prohibition. He is planning to push the bill through in California and I sincerely hope that it does in fact pass. The only issue I have is that the DEA and FBI will still hassle people in California if thei bill is passed because they will argue the bill is unconstituional and most likely the supreme court will take the prohibition side. However, the Obama administration is easing up on the war on drugs...I hope they do the same because my glass pipes business depends on it and I love doing what I do. Prohibition of alcohol was bad for the country and so is prhibition of marijuana.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Don't forget all those farmers who recently went to Washington to plant hemp seeds on the DEA lawn, demanding the right to grow male hemp in the US. They want to be allowed to grow hemp, to create jobs for Americans, and they argue that by growing our own hemp we can cut back on importation and the trade deficit associated with it. Who objects to that and why?

The male plant does not contain any THC. The production of hemp has no effect on the use of the female plant, and contact with male hemp cannot be accused of leading to harder drugs.

The drug that does lead to harder drugs and is the most deadly is also the most legal. When is the government going to do something about controlling tobacco?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

It is all about money. Eventually California will figure that out. As they go broke and can't keep as many people sucked down in the vortex of the legal system, the stoners are the ones that seem like a good idea to let out first.

The problem is all of the lobbies. There is a whole industry built up around drug interdiction. Cops, DAs, judges, *lawyers*, prison guards and corrections officials, DEA, and my favorite, the rehab industry.

Likewise, who's pocket would get picked if pot were legal? Budweiser, Segrams et al. They have lobbyists in DC bribing their congressmen and senators now. There is no BC bud or northern lights lobbyist paying off the lizards in government.

This will end up being a cash cow for CA if they make it. They will save on corections costs, add tax revenue, and return otherwise productive stoners back to civilian life.

What they don't realize is that it will turn the state into a domestic Amsterdam. You think wine country tours are big? Humbolt Co would be a bigger attraction than Vail.

The other side effect is that if everyone could grow, prices go down and it isn't worth fighting over any more. Less gang violence, border wars, and all sorts of bad stuff.

Naturally this would be done with some common sense.. Not under 18, no OWI, and a tax.

I do think that it is coming as our governments run out of money. Eventually they will figure out that it makes more sense to throw $800,000 at a real problem instead of locking up a stoner 20yrs because it was his third strike.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

They are bending to my will, George Will on Medical Marijuana

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I think part of the problem is that the legalization movement has kept the fight in such political incorrect arena's as freedom of choice and other civil rights, appealing to tired old things like health benefits arguing according to the science. If almost a hundred years of prohibition has taught anything it should have taught that politicians, as a breed, really don't care about such things. That's why I think the movement should adopt a new strategy, by enlisting big business to fight on our side. I think studies should be conducted to assess the difference in volume and cost in what a stoner will eat in a sitting as opposed to what he goes through sober. I can't believe we can't get the food and beverage industry on our side, while even retailers like Wal-Mart as a seller of bulk foods, I am sure, must be able to see the benefit in having munchie-maddened customers cruising the isles.
The sex industry is another natural ally given the usefulness of Weed as an aphrodisiac and pleasure enhancer. Surely Microsoft and Sony, could be sold on the fact that stoners get more inovled in and play video-games for longer hours than productive sober people. And only the most useless of lobbyists would be unable to enlist Hollywood in an appeal to profit. The industry is a bastion of stoners already, given the known benefits to creativity, but a stoned populace is a captive audience for the movies.

Lets co-opt the corporations and their lobbyists. Profit, profit, profit. Once we speak their language, I am sure the politicians will at last hear reason.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Ironically, many of the people who support the status quo in the drug war are quick to jump on new tobacco laws restricting smoking in public or raising taxes on cigarettes.

That's an opportunity, my friends. That's when you admit to being a pot smoker. "Yeah, I get what you're saying, I can't even smoke in my own HOME, let alone in a bar."

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I'm 63 and been smoking pot since my sophomore year in college. In my senior year of high school and freshman year in college, I was on the fast track to becoming an alcoholic. Thank God I found pot! Without it I would have been dead long ago. As it is, I'm healthy as a horse, and a judicious combination of cannabis and coffee keeps me both cheerful and productive.

Fuck anybody who dares to say I can't make these decisions about what to put in my body for myself. We're talking about nothing less than my God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness here.

Latest studies show that smoking cannabis not only does not cause lung cancer, it is protective against it. Latest studies also show that cannabis is protectives against Alzheimer's. It not only does not destroy brain cells, it rejuvenates them and fosters the growth of new brain cells.

Anti-marijuana laws are just insane. Cannabis is God's gift to man.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Physicians should advise patients to avoid alcohol while taking Abilify. The mean change from baseline in weight was 1. Abilify is indicated for use as an adjunctive treatment to antidepressants for major depressive disorder in adults. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS)-As with all antipsychotic medications, a rare and potentially fatal condition known as NMS has been reported with Abilify. Purchase generic Zyprexa online Depression affects approximately 13 to 14 million adults,(2) or about 6. For the primary endpoint, both studies showed that taking Abilify plus an ADT provided superior improvement in depressive symptoms to ADT alone at study endpoint (week six), as measured by the reduction of the MADRS Total Scores.
Buy Tamiflu without a prescription In these studies, adjunctive Abilify demonstrated no clinically important differences on metabolic parameters, including prolactin, fasting glucose, HDL, LDL and total cholesterol.
Buy non prescription Zyrtec Patients with diabetes should be monitored for worsening of glucose control; those with risk factors for diabetes should undergo baseline and periodic fasting blood glucose testing.
How to buy Diazepam without a prescription Two six-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter studies evaluated the efficacy and safety of add-on Abilify in adult patients with a primary diagnosis of major depressive disorder who had experienced an inadequate response to prior antidepressant therapy (one to three courses) in the current episode. Abilify is not approved for use in pediatric patients with depression (See Boxed WARNING). As with other antipsychotic drugs, Abilify should be used with caution in patients with a history of seizures or with conditions that lower the seizure threshold. The first and only available dopamine partial agonist, Abilify is indicated as adjunctive treatment to antidepressant therapy in adults with major depressive disorder. Buy generic Nitrazepam without prescription online
Abilify is available by prescription only.
The median percent change from baseline in triglycerides was 5 percent for adjunctive Abilify-treated patients vs 0 percent for adjunctive placebo-treated patients.
Purchase Zoloft online

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Please excuse my English. I have no idea why marijuana is still prohibited. Now is the time for legal weed. Nowadays, with the use of a vaporizer, smoking weed is almost perfectly healthy. Vaporizers remove all the harmful effects of marijuana. The best herbal vaporizers are now even cheap to buy and great to use. This presidency claims to want change yet is not doing anything to reap from the tax potential of legal weed. I think legal weed is inevitable and necessary. The government can't continue trying to police something it can't control. Think about how safer our neighborhoods would be near South Texas and California where drug trafficing is common place.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]