The War on Weed: Marijuana Is Basically Harmless -- The Monumentally Stupid Drug War Is Not

I liked the picture.

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Weed kills!"

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Delta 9 tetra-hydra-cannabinol, because it is fat soluble, has a half life of 7 to 10 days. Alcohol is water soluble so its half life is hours. Because of these, and other facts, marijuana’s damage is ‘duration’ related while alcohol’s is ‘dose’ related. A person can die or do marked injury to the brain from a single severe intake of alcohol. Marijuana, on the other hand, being duration related does its damage over a long period of time. One joint a week will build up the THC in the brain and chronic damage can occur. Driving under the influence of either is dangerous to oneself and others. While several hours or a day is enough time to metabolize the alcohol and its breakdown products, it would take at least a month to reduce the marijuana metabolites to a safe level.
A number of years ago in California a study of erratic drivers (testing all with a breathalyzer to determine alcohol intoxication and a radio immune assay test to determine marijuana intoxication) showed that the majority were drunk on marijuana. About a third were drunk on alcohol. About 10% were drunk on both—and around 10% were just lousy drivers!

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It's always been and continues to be about control... pure and simple.

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The War on Drugs gives the feds the power it so desparately desires to run every aspect of our lives.

A massively funded government goon squad, the DEA, is here to stay.

The War on Drugs laid the foundation for the stripping away of our liberties, which really went into high gear after 9/11.

So here's the lesson kids. Get a business degree and a job on Wall Street.

Start up a bank and loot hundreds of billions, then walk away and let the taxpayers clean up the mess while you enjoy the good life.

But dammit, we'd better not catch you smoking some dope or we'll toss your ass in jail.

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In future history, if humanity even has a future on this planet, most people will look back aghast at Amerika's glorious [sic] fascist war on drrrugs in the same manner that we now look at cannibalism, $lavery and Adolf Hitler's racist/sexist Mein Kampf!

It is amazing that some people continue to abandon common sense for the $ake of obdurate partisan politics and outdated belief systems born in the foul bowels of fear and ignorance. The vicious war on drrrugs has destroyed or disenfranchised the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of Amerikans in the so called land of the free and home of the brave.

Truth be told, we the people... live in a capitalist/fascist nation $tate, a cruel corp-rat controlled plutocrazy called the UNITED $TATES OF PERPETUAL WAR PROFITEERING.

If you disagree with the criticism expressed herein, then YOU are one of the EWE folks... and EWE thinking folks are either blind, or they're bending over in willful ignorance for der glorious dogmesses of the $tatus quo!

True Americans prefer inhaling to the Chief... in lieu of in-Heiling! the Chief. So... let me ask! Are you a YOU... or one of the EWEs? Eh?

Be sure and spell my name correct-lie for the fascist fatherland files in the offices Homeland $ecurity.

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"Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron found that legalization would generate $7.7 billion a year in enforcement savings for local, state, and federal taxpayers, while producing annual tax revenues of $6.2 billion."

what a disgusting waste of taxpayers money...
very informative article that gives us the stats most publications never provide... and the MSM people wonder why they're loosing money and blame everyone but themselves for their decline... all i can say in responce is bullshit and outright lies results in lower public interest and thusly lower profits and there own decline...
I wonder how rolling stone and high times magazines are doing?

people aren't stupid, they see whats obvious and have been questioning the laws since Nixon's Presidency.

what is seriously wrong is how this prohibition funds all the gangsters and terrorists globally for HUGE non-taxed profits that they are putting to use against American interests... this is our very own money that we consumers spend are going to support murder and mayhem globally

time to legalize

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I agreee with Hightower's premise that the Drug War is misguided and ineffective, but weed is not harmless.

The smoke is carcinogenic and THC over-use damages the brain and the other organs.

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of the discourse about re-legalizing the Plant.

The propaganda is very well fionanced and Republicans control the frame and spin on what "debate" we actually have in this country.

I am aware there is more and better debate locally in the West, but here in the South it is still 1937.

It is not sufficient to put on a bow-tie and an expensive suit, cut your hair and make beautiful charts of facts and statistics. Raw data is emotionless and the "arguments" against reform are entirely emotional. Hysteria, to be exact.

Facts do not get past people's hysteria and fear about the "Evil Weed". It is essential that people be confronted and harangued for their backwardsness.

Tehre is no salient reason that canabis should ever have been made illegal except as a means to eliminate the hemp industry, even though the early writings about limiting cannabis clearly specified that hemp was separate. That all changed after WWII and I advise people to not waste time discussing "why" cannabis was initially banned. It has almost no bearing on why it REMAINS so demonized and illegal after 40 years of efforts to fix the problem.

It boils down to Republicans, and the spineless Democrats who cave into them every time the bastards want something. Republicans are all about fearmongering and the have fearmongered maijuana for 40-some years, having linked it to "hippies" and "anti-war protesters".

It is essential to be blunt and direct and harshly denigrate people who still buy into the tripe we have heard for our entire lives.

Blow it off with force. Don't be polite.

Use descriptive terms like "horseshit". Marijuana prohibition is based on horseshit, not anything defensible.

We should be buying herb at convenience stores, grocery stores and in specialty shops just like tobacco and alcohol.

Anything less is horseshit.

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I agree with Hightower with what a waste marijuana laws are. All of them. But, I've dealt with people addicted to weed. It's a nasty addiction, physical or not. Drug treatment is the standard protocol, but that's about 10 percent effective, if that.

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Places like tiny Costa Rica kowtoe to the US by chasing after weed smokers and growers while real crimes goes on unopposed. Scarce resources are stupidly diverted, while impoversed growers cause environmental damage by trying to hid their crops in the mountains. Any deviation of weed policy by the government would cause all kinds of grief from the US, so the misery continues. Geez!

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IS NOT A WEED.....IS AND HERB.........stop calling one of the most beneficial herbs on earth a weed damitt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the white man calls it a weed only because no matter what he does do destroy she comes back,,,,,,,,,,you cannot destroy what the god/dess has blessed........the truth is coming out,,lies exposed
STOP THE LIES FREE THE MEDCICNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

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if one drug warrior were to die .for every innocent civilian who was murdered by these despicable profiteers in human misery.this war would be over tomorrow.

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Nearly three-quarters-of-a-century after it was made illegal; half-a-century after it was proven to be practically harmless - why is it still illegal to possess and smoke marijuana?

Here is a list of ten famous people who died as a result of nicotine abuse:

Humphrey Bogart
Edward R. Murrow
Nat King Cole
George Harrison
John Huston
Noel Coward
Betty Grable
Walt Disney
Gary Cooper
Peter Jennings

Here is another list. Ten famous people who died from alcoholism:

Billie Holiday
Jack Kerouac
Truman Capote
Lorenz Hart
Veronica Lake
Bix Beiderbecke
Montgomery Clift
Dylan Thomas
John Barrymore
Errol Flynn

Now I ask you: name for me one celbraty who has died from too much grass.

I'm waiting.

http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

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Don't forget the forgotten soldiers:

Meth Rats

(satire)

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There were three co-conspirators who worked to persuade Congress to legislate against marijuana. There was William Randolph Hearst, as mentioned in the article. He was acting to protect his investment in newsprint timber. Greed was his motive. There was the DuPont Corporation that had just invented Nylon and sought to eliminate the competition its new miracle fiber would face in the marketplace from cheap reliable cannabis (canvas). Another greed motive. And finally there was Hearst's and DuPont's ace in the hole, the tyrannical Harry Anslinger, a power-drunk racist appointed to head the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (forerunner to the DEA) and out to leave his mark on society. Together this unholy alliance mounted a huge media disinformation campaign which included not only the movie "Reefer Madness" and other outright falsehoods but also the bringing of perjured testimony before Congress that resulted in the odious legislation Roosevelt signed. The entire campaign was built on lies and we're still paying the price for it.

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Imagine all the money going to the Prison-industrial complex, the judges, etc.

I reckon cops would rather be going after stoners than coked-up narco-traffickers armed to the teeth.

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in the congress of the United States of America. If you want it ended then you need to aggressively lobby your representatives in congress.

Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia authored S-714 to create a national criminal justice commission to look into all aspects of the use of America's criminal justice system. Sen. Webb has even indicated that marijuana legalization is "On the table".

Thus far 35 senators have signed on to Sen. Webb's S-714 as co-sponsors. S-714 tally sheet of senators thus far co-sponsoring the bill. The bill needs all the support it can get because drug war supporters have offered a counter bill in the House of Representative.

H.R. 2943 To eliminate most Federal penalties for possession of marijuana for personal use, and for other purposes. Please consider writing to your representative and asking that they support this bill.

IF THEY DON'T HEAR IT FROM US THEY WON'T HEAR IT!!!

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Although in his campaign for the presidency, Nixon promised an end to the Vietnam War, he did an abrupt about-face once elected. The "War on Drugs" was an easy way to incarcerate people for their opposition to the war, which inevitably led to a further societal rift and armed confrontations like Kent State. The "War on Drugs", including the pretrial confiscation of property, is and always has been, unconstitutional. So is the practice, appropriated by the insurance industry, of drug testing as a condition of employment.
Marijuana prohibition ruins lives and erodes civil liberties, not to mention the loss of hemp as a much cleaner, greener alternative to the production of paper products from trees.
Marijuana has been endorsed by the American College of Physicians for its known medicinal value in the management of pain and treatment of glaucoma.
Keep the pressure on President Obama to change the outrageous prohibition of marijuana.

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We know for certain that punishing the possession of this weed is very toxic to our society. However, no matter what the facts, there will always be people who are firmly convinced that this weed is toxic to people.

This should be argument enough for decriminalizing it. Whether or not it harms our health should not be cause for making it illegal; if it were then tobacco possession would be punished even more severely and none of us could legally drive automobiles or use cell phones.

Even more crazy, however, it the fact that industrial hemp cannot be grown in this country out of the concern that it looks too much like the marijuana plant. We can buy imported hemp products, but our farmers cannot grow this wonderful crop that can produce fiber for clothing as well as food for eating and fuel for burning. This is truly insane.

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If the federal government is good enough to FEMAlize healthcare, seems they'd do a great job telling adults what and what not to eat, drink, and smoke, huh?

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The whole reason for the insane war on drugs is government power. Government officials are greedy, they want more power over your life, they want to feel important and they want the lucrative salaries that go with "important" positions.

In fact, everything the government is doing is about that. The wars, for instance. Also the way they are resisting the move in Congress to audit the fed.

Speaking of the Fed and monetary policy (which is *blatantly* an exercise in government power) see my blog at http://www.alicelillieandher.blogspot.com

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...that marijuana remains, and will remain illegal. And it never had anything to do with the drug or its effects.

Not bad article, on the whole (some details are inaccurate) but misses the point. No one has EVER died from this drug, and it has apparently anti-carcinogenic effects among other things. But the "illegal" status justifies surveillance and a prison economy and a war. And war is profit. The largest beneficiary of the War on Drugs is the C.I.A. and there has been such conflation between the opiates of the middle east and coca derivatives from South America with cannabis that this too all works to one purpose. And if you haven't figured that out yet, you shall never understand why keeping pot illegal can help keep the world in military and political turmoils. This makes for a good cover, and it controls the masses. Especially the ones who are stoned on either booze, pot, or the myriad "legal" psychotropics.

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Seems to me like your preaching to the choir. I believe there's an address on C Street that you may wish to visit to elucidate your perspective and share your epiphany.

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In his 1992 book, Visions of Liberty, former Executive Director of the ACLU, Ira Glasser writes:

"The use of wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping emerged during the Prohibition era. Roy Olmstead was a suspected bootlegger whom the government wished to search. It placed taps in the basement of his office building and on wires in the streets near his home. No physical entry into his office or home took place. Olmstead was convicted entirely on the basis of evidence from the wiretaps.

"In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Olmstead argued that the taps were a search conducted without a warrant and without probable cause, and that the evidence seized against him should have been excluded because it was illegally gathered. He also argued that his Fifth Amendment right not to be a witness against himself was violated.

"By a 5-4 vote, the Court rejected his arguments and upheld the government's power to wiretap without limit and without any Fourth Amendment restrictions, on the grounds that no actual physical intrusion had taken place.

"Olmstead's Fifth Amendment claim was also dismissed on the grounds that he had not been compelled to talk on the telephone, but had done so voluntarily. Thus the Court upheld the government's power to do by trickery and surreptitious means what it was not permitted to do honestly and openly. It wasn't until 1967, in a similar case involving gambling, that the Court overruled the Olmstead decision by an 8-1 margin and recognized that the Fourth Amendment applied to wiretapping and electronic surveillance.

"Interestingly, these cases arose in the context of crimes like bootlegging and gambling. During the past twenty years, the majority of wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping by both state and federal officials has been in cases involving drug dealing and gambling.

"Serious crimes of violence, such as homicide, assault, rape, robbery, and burglary, are rarely the target of electronic eavesdropping, which is not normally a useful tool in such cases.

"From the beginning, when wiretapping was virtually invented to enforce laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol, to the late 1960s, when gambling was a major target, to the present, when the use and sale of drugs other than alcohol are the main target, these intrusive devices have been used mostly to enforce laws aimed at punishing and proscribing personal conduct that society deems immoral.

"Because such conduct essentially involves private activities among consenting adults who are all likely to want to keep those activities secret, they are harder to investigate and prosecute than crimes like robbery or burglary, in which an unwilling victim will probably aid any investigation...the invasion of privacy inherent in wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping remains with us as part of the legacy of our attempts to criminalize personal conduct.

"The other major use of electronic eavesdropping has been to punish political dissent. For decades, former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover used wiretaps and other electronic devices to spy on political figures and citizens not yet suspected of having committed a crime. He built vast dossiers on their political activities and personal lives. Special units of local police called 'Red Squads' did the same."

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Perhaps this little silly comix strip summarises it all about War On Drugs: http://koti.mbnet.fi/maxt/Some%20Comix/wod.jpg

Well, not *all* but some key issues ? Nothing is black and white... but neither are the harmless pot smokers in labor camp jails.

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glassblowers busted. one thing we know about our fearless leaders is they love an easy target.
i often deride the idea that the usofa is the land of the brave. i think it is. its just that the ones that sing that tune are always on the wrong side of brave. its like most of our political class go to church. is that The Church of the Hypocrite In All Things? why yes it is. shouldn't it be illegal to take bribes while in public office and then vote according to the amount of money you've received? see our leaders have no respect for the law either. on our tombstone will be the phrase "humans fiddled while earth burned." no respect for life either. its all part of a whole. illusions and lies that's what we get. we can't last long on that diet. and we won't.

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From being a somewhat open minded person, I was sure that Mary Jane was actually quite a harmless bit of stuff and was not sure that there was really leg to stand on with the oppression of this simple drug weed.

I was talking to a young Lady one day and asked her,She was a User, I had just heard that this wonderful weed had some not so good points. They reckoned that it was a mind changing drug and therefore dangerous.

One person maintained that the altering process could be rather scary. You could be driving along the road and suddenly you could not be sure if you were actually only doing the speed limit as ones perceptions were slowed down. On the other hand, one could be travelling quite fast and it would appear to be quite slow.

The Lady's comment sort of blew me away when she said, "The real scary thing is that speed perception can change rather quickly and one is never sure if they are moving fast of slow

Another friend uses it for his head as he has bipolar and this is the only thing that really eased his pain. I can agree for the product being used for medicinal purposes but this mind bending is really quite scary

The other thing she told me is that NO body who is stoned really can comment on what they perceive their real situation actually is. If they say they can, then its wishful thinking. I don't know, I have never used it, but I can only take the word of a confirmed user who had nothing to gain by sharing information with me.

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Winning the right to smoke marijauna will be a fake victory that will require great effort to achieve and give us NOTHING. The people whose task it is to make a revolution will not be helped by yet another drug in this drug-sodden culture. You'll all be so stoned, you won't notice when full fascism arrives, much less what to do about it. A previous commenter noted how devastating drugs continue to be for the very poor and ghetto-ized. Try to see beyond your corporate-approved "need to party." You're being manipulated by your oppressors. Dope is a weapon in the arsenal of your enemies. Nothing more.

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Weed is addictive and any drug counselor can tell you that from firsthand experience. Last February I wrote an e-mail to a friend that said:

"I just saw Michael Beasley in an interview on Outside the Lines. That guy smokes so much marijuana it affects his speech. Anyone that knows anything about addiction can see that he smokes an insane amount of weed. I wonder how long before it catches up with him?"

Well it finally caught up with him in August, and he went into treatment for marijuana addiction.

I used to work with addicts and almost half of the cases I worked with were people addicted to weed. After a while I used to play a game with some co-workers, if someone called in we used to see how long it took us to determine whether our caller was addicted to weed or alcohol. It rarely took more than three sentences before it was apparent. Alcohol and weed were the drugs of choice for the vast majority of people we worked with.

What I did like about the weed cases was the lack of violence connected with weed smokers. If a someone called us, male or female, and was having an alcohol problem they usually had a violence issue as well. Women alcoholics were a little less violent and tended toward promiscuity, but the alcoholic men almost always hit someone regularly. The weed patients were rarely violent. I cannot recall a case when someone said the smoked a joint then beat their spouse.

The biggest problems with the people I dealt with who had addictions to weed were that if they were young it seemed to slow down their cognitive development. Talking to teenagers was frustrating because you could see their talent just wasting away. Alcoholism was bad, but after a few days of sobriety you could see people really coming back, weed it would take weeks, sometimes months to see a person regain all their mental faculties.

Also, those who suffered from depression seemed to be particularly vulnerable to weed addiction.

Marijuana addiction does not come with the typical physiological withdrawal problems that other drugs, including alcohol, do. BUT, that by no means is a reason to declare that marijuana is safe, it is a drug like any other, whether it is tylenol, codeine, or weed, there are side effects to consider.

After years of working with these people I would never consider smoking weed...ever. I also would never consider drinking alcohol. I am 32 years old and I have never had an alcoholic drink or smoked a joint, purely because of my experience with people who are addicted to these substances.

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there is no war on drugs. the war is against the citizens.
Slavery still exists in North America but is "dressed up pretty", and disguised as the Justice System.
It is the legislated ability of Police Officials, to act regardless of usually applicable rights, where other offences do not give police liberties to suspend constitutional rights as they do to suspected drug offences.

Have you every thought of not electing/ reelecting officials, firing ( police chiefs)as long as the availability of non indigenous narcotics exists.

The sustainable growth of private prisons and the justice system depends on the bodies police provide for processing.

studies have shown that a vast majority of criminal activity is drug induced.

If they did not bring the drugs in themselves, the drugs would not on your street corner.

Your being played for suckers, while a chemical and biological attack is being launched on your country by your own security!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oszATUJ4IRE&feature=related

Dennis Baker

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The Prohibition starts and ends

Posted by: aahpat on Nov 23, 2009 5:43 AM


I totally agree with aahpat - "If you want it ended then you need to aggressively lobby your representatives in congress."

I just wrote my Senator and House Representative a long email asking that they support:

Sen. Webb's S-714 and Representative Frank's
H.R. 2943.

Everybody here needs to do the same.

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The 9th Amendment says:

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

This means that we have rights which are NOT specified ( enumerated ) in the Constitution. What might they be? One of them must be the right to "be one with nature" because we ARE nature and cannot be justly separated from it.

Anything which is natural is able to be used by anyone. Any plant can be grown and consumed. We are nature and cannot be separated from it. That's how we know our rights. Rights don't come from government, but from our understanding of our relationship with nature.

End of argument.

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sqwack and quibble, more and more young Americans are being criminalized for what? There is absolutely nothing wrong with Marijuana and it has been used for centuries by tribal peoples without any bad results. Also the whole American culture has been changed by this stupid "war on drugs". It is the typical Republican boon doggle with the typical conservative destructive results, many deaths for no purpose. Now because of this so called "war" the police forces have been militarized and the attitude of shoot first and ask questions later is prevalent. This one policy error has had such deleterious results that whoever in the political realm that supports it should be verbally pilloried for their stupidity and culpability in disaster.

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Wouldn't hemp oil solve a lot of our oil problems? Couldn't it be used in a LOT of applications so we wouldn't be so dependent on oil from across the ocean? I think it could stop a lot of wars about oil. And isn't hemp a good source of paper - we could save a lot of trees all over the world; trees that help us breathe fresh air.

Oh well, just a dream that Exxon, etc. would turn to hemp and stop demanding that people die for "black gold"......

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Pot is hit in the end because it is the best medicine and cheap to grow. Non-drug pot because it is cheap and easy to grow. That is the reason it is against the laws of the land. Cheaper than cotton and wool,and nylon is a product of petroleum. Get the picture, get a clue?

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ProfBob wrote above, in part:

"Marijuana, on the other hand, being duration related does its damage over a long period of time. One joint a week will build up the THC in the brain and chronic damage can occur."

Citation needed! What damage?

Another person on this thread claims that cannabis is a carcinogen when the evidence is that it is not. Dr. Fred Gardner, writing in CounterPunch and other venues has presented studies showing that it is NOT a carcinogen.

Meanwhile, given that the article emphasizes the law enforcement aspects of the War On Drugs, one should never forget that Big Pharma gains from the demonization of cannabis, Big Time. Anyone with a green thumb and a little perseverance can grow this medicinal herb, but YOU CAN'T GROW ZOLOFT. Or Paxil. Or other dangerous and debilitating but highly profitable poisons put out by Big Pharma. Opium and coca, both of which also have medicinal and traditional value, are demonized for similar reasons. Legalize these three plants and Big Pharma would lose billions every year and would reduce "health care costs" concominantly

Finally, in the case of cannabis the War On Drugs is really a WAR ON PEOPLE. My younger sister, who died from lung cancer in 2006, lived with that diagnosis for four years, outliving everyone else in her research study group. She found that marijuana eased her pain better than anything else (except total stupor), but because she lived in Ohio her entire regimen had to be kept secret. Except of course to all her friends!

The War On Drugs is but one of the tools in the arsenal of Oppression in our wonderful Patriot Act democracy. (Funny isn't it, how our military dispenses amphetamines to our pilots in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere but if you get caught with one pill you can go to jail... And notice how the rich can get high on any legal mind-altering Big Pharma substitute for the lowly, noble herb.)

What a country.

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Freedom to farm "every herb bearing seed" is the first test of religious freedom. Cannabis is nutritionally unique and essential, beyond the rightful jurisdiction of any court.

Cannabis agriculture as a biogenic tool for radiative forcing of the atmosphere is the best available proportionate response to climate change.

Cannabis is the only crop that produces a complete food and a sustainable yield of organic biofuels from the same harvest.

How bad do things have to get before all solutions are considered?

The REAL Question
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edZw3hXkGJo

projectpeace's YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/projectpeace

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You can see people out on the streets dealing crack or just about anything, especially deep in the poor part of town and in the wee hours. What you can't see are the people who supply the financing for the inventory, which could be in the millions of dollars on any given night.

When arrest records need to be publicized, the few people who are easily available get arrested again. Some of these people are in jail 30 or 40 times a year. Meanwhile the guy in the penthouse suite, the developer sweating over a not payment, the businessman in the house out by the lake, these people are able to afford layers of privacy. It should not be a surprise that some people don't care how they make their money or who they hurt in the process. It should also not surprise anyone that there are some who are well enough connected to call up and get the DEA to surveil a certain portion of the border with the AWACS plane and other resources, so they can move merchandise through undeteced.

It should also not surprise anyone that people get busted because there has been a falling out, or someone has failed to pay bribes, or it is simply time to hang a scapegoat out there.

The War on Drugs has turned into a mechanism to cover the richest participants and enforce against interlopers. Anybody who doesn't already suspect that is the truth, is too naive to bother with. Out in the Texas countryside, there is most likely a plane landing tonight deep in very conservative territory where nobody would dare question it.

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I was busted for pot before many of you were born. I'm sick of hearing the same ole shit for over 45 years. I'm just f--king sick of it and mad as hell!
Don't even try to break my door down again.

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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 80 percent of those polled felt marijuana should be legal only for medicinal 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.” Close to 100 million Americans, including over half of those between the ages of 18 and 50, have tried marijuana at least once. Military and police recruiters often have no alternative but to ignore past marijuana use by job seekers.

In 1996, California voters passed a law to regulate medical marijuana within the state. In 2000, voters in California approved an initiative allowing people who are arrested for simple possession of drugs to go through a rehabilitation program rather than through the court process that would result in prison. Since the program began, most agree it has been very successful. It results in less recidivism and is considered cheaper than imprisonment.

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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, both Carter Administration appointees.

New York University law professor Burt Neuborne said it's significant that “one of the leading intellectuals in the judicial system recognizes that the laws don't seem to be working well.”

Posner and other federal judges have complained that sentencing guidelines force them to give unjustly severe prison sentences to relatively minor drug offenders. Says Posner: “Prison terms in America have become appallingly long, especially for conduct that, arguably, should not be criminal at all. Only decriminalization is a sure route to a lower crime rate. It is sad that it appears so far below the horizon of political feasibility.”

Rufus King, a Washington, DC lawyer who has served on the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, calls the drug war, “A worthless crusade.” According to King, drug use is a social problem, not a law enforcement problem. He observes: “Cigarette use is declining through changes in cultural values in the population. Like most smokers and alcoholics, most users of illegal drugs poison themselves because they want to be intoxicated. No human force can do them much good until they want help.” King is optimistic that the current anti-drug hysteria will subside, and responsible and reasonable drug law policies will be adopted.

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or choose whatever cliche you want...but rational arguments against (any aspect of) the drug war simply dont hold water with american voters...especially dont try to paint the drug war as some kind of a corporate scam..because voters in this country worship the divine right of corporate scammers above all else...ending the drug war requires an attack on that kind of religion...

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It's time to end the failed, destructive policy of marijuana prohibition.

Tell Obama and your elected representatives that marijuana should be legalized and taxed.

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I don't usually join in comment forums anymore; the trolling and pointless bickering are more fun to just sit back and read, rather than trying to engage in any reasonable discourse.

That said, I've been noticing a disturbing trend on my beloved Alternet recently that is pissing me off so much I had to register just to point it out:

I think we've been infiltrated by conservatives, with the nefarious intention to promote discord and distraction. I don't know if the scheme was cooked up in the Teabagging caucuses (pun fully intended), or was hatched by some right-wing think-tank, but we've got a cancer in our midst, pretending to be the honest views of well-meaning readers.

Cases in point:

ProfBob's comment
--The phrase "drunk on marijuana" is just so wrong it's utterly ridiculous. You know this guy didn't come to Alternet for the intelligent journalism.

robchapman's comment:
--"The smoke is carcinogenic and THC over-use damages the brain and the other organs."
Now this could be a case of legitimate ignorance... Still sounds suspicious to me. Too similar to fmcevoy's comment a little further down.
Notice how the disinformationists never have sources to back their hogwash?

franklyspanking's comment:
--Not really about anything in particular, but is undeniably Teabagish.

thisizrob's comment:
--Something's funny alright! Funny enough to inspire me to write this post. Notice the reference to someone he "knows"... The best and only source of "facts" for the disinformationists: personal experience -- can't check it, can't argue with it.

Llewellyn's comment:
--Could be a legit comment from an anti-pot, otherwise liberal person(do they really exist?)... But anyone who claims cannabis is just for "partying" doesn't really understand the deep insights and spiritual connection many people consume it for. And the "revolution" bit seems Teabagish -- anyone with half a brain realizes a violent revolution, from the Right or Left, is pretty much DOA in our high-tech police state.

austex_chris's comment:
Austin, Texas, Chris? This is a typical disinformationist comment: appeals to personal experience as the only source; claims to speak from a position of experience (drug counselor -- that should alert anyone: he's a Prohibitionist); then he ends with the true mark of a conservative -- speaking about his own "moral" way of living.

Anyone else see a pattern here?

BTW: Sister_Lauren, Tom Degan, xxdr_zombiexx (Hey Doc, still on MJ.com?) -- Keep up the fight! Somebody has to keep repeating the truth, even if only to the wind...

Peace.

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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.

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in that marijuana and its enjoyers are being absurdly persecuted. We hear a variety of socio-economic and misplaced moralistic excuses for this but I would suggest an even more basic reason. The marijuana high induces a profound sense of connection, compassion,introspection and relaxation. Can you think of any corporate, governmental, law enforcement or otherwise modern grunge job or "approved" way of life in today's America that reinforces these four qualities in a person? No; marijuana is a danger to our "wallowing in ignorance and suffering" way of life. Legalize it now for America's and the world's sake, please.

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We're essentially a nation of obese retards with puritanical views of sex and sexuality whose sole purpose is to consume rather than question. I've always wondered why companies like Kraft, Hostess, Krispy Kreme and other junk food manufacturers don't advocate legalization- they would reap windfall profits!

I'd like to think people would become more open-minded and insightful by partaking in the herb, but I know this isn't the case. Weed simply keeps you what you are- whatever that may be. But the war on drugs is complete and total insanity, and so is drug testing.

As an intersting side note- Last year my neighbors' farm had four (4) pot plants growing in a wooded lot near one of his fields- NOT planted by him (yes, it sounds like bs, but this guy is a Hannity fan, not a Chong fan) It was spotted by the National Guard in one of their many seasonal marijuana eradication fly-overs. When they showed up to "handle the situation" it was basically a commando raid- a dozen fully armed guardsmen in full camo descended on our neighborhood for these 4 fucking plants- my neighbor, oblivious to the fact, was essentially treated like a felon until these dimwits determined he in fact had no clue the plants were there. One incident, $20,000- (they initially told him if found guilty he would have to foot the bill for their little adventure.) BTW- a federal law passed in 1984 gives the Nat'l Guard the right to search & seize property without a warrant so they are used to bypass state & local authorities. This took place in the Northeast, not some draconian drug state like Oklahoma or Utah.

Our tax money is being relentlessly squandered on military activities here and abroad under the guise of "national security"- it will be near impossible to reverse this trend, Ike tried to warn us so many years ago......

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Millions of middle class Americans owe their incomes to the war on drugs. They are the drug warriors. Most are armed and carry handcuffs. The rest work for the multi billion dollar prison industry. If the war on drugs was ended many would lose their jobs. Millions of inmates who were imprisoned for drug offenses would be then be freed. Many would celebrate their freedom by getting high. That is the American way.

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The Pine Ridge Stories, the Rick Simpson stories, this story... There is an enormous momentum here folks, and it's swelling like a tsunami.

Bob Marley said "a billion man a-sparkin'".

I can't wait to share this link with others. I think 2010 will be remembered as the year of hemp.

Judging by Mr. Obama's recent directive to the Attorney General re: ceasing federal 'medicinal' prosecutions, and the mounting hard scientific research (and patents) with respect to hemp's healing properties and healthy/non-toxic nature, I believe that it is safe to say that we are well on our way to NORMLized civilization once again.

Save the planet; sow a seed.

The Rick Simpson / Pine Ridge stories (and much more info) can be viewed at:
linked text =http://www.thymeforhemp.viviti.com

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Growing cannabis hemp -- the nonspyschoactive variety of the plant--is outlawed in order to enforce the marijuana laws.

Hemp has many economic uses. It contains the longest fiber in the plant kingdom and is one of the strongest and most durable. It can be used for commercial and industrial applications, including insulation, textiles, clothing, and rope. The fiber and pulp can be used to manufacture nondeteriorating paper using a relatively pollution-free process. The plant can also be used for biomass applications. Its seeds yield oil similar to linseed, which can be used in many commercial and industrial applications. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the seeds have been used for human consumption.

"Hemp. It's marijuana's nonspyschoactive sister," writes Ed Rosenthal. "You couldn't get a buzz if you smoked a bale of hemp, but it's still illegal to grow it in the United States." Industrial hemp is legally grown in over thirty countries. For thousands of years, people grew hemp and prospered. It flourishes without pesticides.

Thomas Jefferson considered hemp so vital to America that he risked his life to smuggle hemp seeds out of France. George Washington grew hemp and instructed his caretaker at Mount Vernon: "Make the most of the hemp seed. Sow it everywhere."

Industrial hemp was first grown in Kentucky 250 years ago. It is currently grown in other countries across the globe, including France, England, Canada, Australia, China, Hungary and the Ukraine. Industrial hemp has virtually no THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. It cannot be used as a drug. None of the countries that allow industrial hemp production have experienced any drug problems relating to the crop.

Using modern processing techniques, hemp can be used in place of petrochemicals. Instead of synthetic plastics made from oil, we can use natural fiber and processed bioplastic derivatives. Plastics and polyester rely on foreign oil, while cotton consumes enormous amounts of water, fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides.

Industrial hemp is very clean, easy to grow and is one of the most environmentally sound sources of industrial fiber in the world. Environmentally friendly detergents, plastics, paints, varnishes, cosmetics, and textiles are made from it in Europe. Industrial hemp can meet our fiber needs while also revitalizing our struggling rural economies.

Hemp is being used in place of trees for pressboard, particleboard, and core concrete construction molds. Paper made from hemp is acid-free, stronger and lasts far longer than paper made from trees. Hemp fabrics are far stronger and more resistant to mold than any other natural fiber. Builders in France and Germany use hemp for construction material, replacing drywall and plywood.

Hemp can be used to manufacture plastic plumbing pipe, replacing such toxic materials as polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Hemp fiber is already being used in place of glass fiber in surfboards and snowboards. Hemp could also provide the resin itself.

For ideological reasons, the federal government refuses to allow farmers to grow hemp despite the fact that industrial hemp is currently grown legally worldwide. The George W. Bush administration took anti-hemp policy to a new extreme, attempting unsuccessfully to ban the import of hemp foods and cosmetics.

Erwin "Bud" Sholts, director of the Wisconsin Agriculture Department's marketing division, said hemp "is the most value-added, prolific fiber crop man can grow." Sholts acknowledged that hemp is an emotional issue, but says, "other nations with drug laws as tough or tougher than ours have overcome this hurdle."

The U.S. is the only major industrialized nation that prohibits the growing of industrial hemp; anti-drug hysteria should not blind the public to the commercial and industrial applications of hemp.

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I wonder if there are any photos of a healthy heart next to a pot smokers heart. Would the pot smokers heart be all bright shiny red?
Being a drug and alcohol counselor, an article like this makes me sick.

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To those few who still insist on giving up their rights (and money) to support one of the biggest fiascoes of all time, I suggest you carefully reconsider. Please stop empowering your own and everyone else's oppression, along with the destruction of the rule of, and respect for, the law and those sworn to uphold it.

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Numerous posters here wish to quote scientific data that shows the long term effects of weed. This, in their mind, justifies the swat teams, the innocent people shot by swat teams, the violation of the 4th. amendment of the bill of rights, and presumably the continuation of the power of the Mexican Drug cartels in our prisons and within Latino communities throughout the land. These substance bigots are blinded by bias and prejudice, and as other posters note, will be looked upon by history about as well as slave owners and Klan members. They don't give a shit about anyone except themselves, and you stoners be damned. Others have noted, and the irony is not lost on me, that the drug war built the law enforcement machine, making conservatives happy and smug. Odd, now after 911, that those very conservatives want to preach about states rights and the 2nd. amendment. Guess what, assholes, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want your rights respected, show some respect to others, even if you don't like them or want to associate with them. It's a two-way street, not everyone has to be like you. It's America, fool. If I'm not harming others or violating their rights, leave me the fuck alone.

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Nobody explains how to distribute the weed to the consumers.

Will this be by the big corporations?
Probably the same maffia making the big bucks now will receive the licenses.

many of the comments are made by spoiled kids, big state no give me my candy.

Nobody says ;
production and sales should be in the hands of public enterprises, so that the CEO of the corporation cannot have another billion.

The states should have licensed shops selling for costprice, marihuana shouldnt be another profit commodity.

In the netherlands marihuana is licensed sold but the shopowners are often former dealers.
Crime didnt disappaer.

A wise step could be;
own use production allowed for max.10 plants,
through drugstores medical marihuana.
But still ARREST the BIG drugsdealers.
Even when marihuana is legalised smoking in a car isnt allowed.
in the dutch cafees to drink beer and smoke weed is NOT allowed.

The way to end the war on drugs could be a step towards freedom from the big corporations back in the hands of Mainstreet but nobody metions it.

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Legalization will remove the risk from openly promoting personal growing and visiting neighborhoods to teach families anything they don't already know about the subject (or at least where to look it up on the innanet). So my expectation is that everywhere on the planet hundreds of millions of families will soon know everything necessary to raise their own cannabis and other useful herbs, and the trillion-dollar-a-year colossus we know today as Big 2Wackgo will disappear into dynosauria textbooks, along with its tributary Big Algohel and its beneficiary Big pHARMa...

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Ganja is harmless? Please!

What we need is calm and reasoned argument--not exaggeration and falsehoods. Anyone and everyone who's ever used the weed--except, of course, old Bill who never inhaled--knows that a toke or two of good weed means you shouldn't get in a car and drive, shouldn't, in fact, handle any complex technical task or machine. Even Alcohol isn't that bad.

The war on drugs is a war of corporations against people who don't want to be a part of their mechanistic culture. It is an insane and irrational war. It should be dismantled. But you're not going to stop this insanity by claiming insanity (and falsehoods).

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alcoholism and lung cancer. Otherwise, what is the point?

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(McClatchy) UCLA pulmonologist Dr. Donald Tashkin, who has studied marijuana’s effects on the lungs for three decades, studied heavy marijuana smokers to determine whether the use led to increased risk of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. He hypothesized that there would be a definitive link between cancer and marijuana smoking, but the results proved otherwise.

“What we found instead was no association and even a suggestion of some protective effect,” says Tashkin, whose research was the largest case-control study ever conducted. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Tobacco smokers in the study had as much as a 21-fold increase in lung cancer risk. Cigarette smokers, too, developed COPD more often in the study, and researchers found that marijuana did not impair lung function.

Tashkin, supported by other research, concluded that the active ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, has an “anti-tumoral effect” in which “cells die earlier before they age enough to develop mutations that might lead to lung cancer.”

However, the smoke from marijuana did swell the airways and lead to a greater risk of chronic bronchitis.

“Early on, when our research appeared as if there would be a negative impact on lung health, I was opposed to legalization because I thought it would lead to increased use and that would lead to increased health effects,” Tashkin says. “But at this point, I’d be in favor of legalization. I wouldn’t encourage anybody to smoke any substances. But I don’t think it should be stigmatized as an illegal substance. Tobacco smoking causes far more harm. And in terms of an intoxicant, alcohol causes far more harm.”

Dr. Tashkin is one of the government’s leading anti-pot researchers. His whole career has been spent searching for that (pardon the pun) smoking gun showing marijuana causes cancer. His prohibitionist funders (our government) have spent millions looking for such a link, one that Dr. Tashkin was certain he would find. A link between the tragedy of cancer that kills so many Americans and the marijuana the government has told us is our country’s gravest threat. A link that would provide the political justification for the war against that grave threat, even though all the evidence seems to show that marijuana is actually quite benign and there is no link to cancer. A supposed link that unnecessarily frightens Americans into supporting that war, which diverts our attention from real threats like meth.

Fake links, lying government, ignoring evidence, diverting attention, a war on a noun… man, it all seems so vaguely familiar…

This is a huge moment when even the government’s own researchers can’t deny the science behind marijuana anymore.

Put the separated lines together for the URL:

http://stash.norml.org/
leading-researcher-at-this-point-
id-be-in-favor-of-legalization

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Just to be clear: Marijuana IS still illegal in Alaska.

The Alaskan Supreme Court has only said that suspicion of growing or possession cannot be used as the basis of a search; NOT that possession or growth of the weed cannot be charged, if its found. This, and some rather confusing "personal use" limits, are the basic facts of pot here in AK.

This means that a cop MAY enter your home for "something else," (so long as there is probable cause or a warrant, of course) and therein "find" your weed, and then arrest and charge you for it. The full panoply of sentences awaits, for those so charged.

So far, however, the change is working to substantially lessen the efforts that our cops devote to weed collection, which I think was the main impetus for the decision (public efforts vs. social benefits).

But be warned: the cops COULD get sticky about it, and then we'd be back at square one.

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dominate Alternet. Bob Marley died at 36 because he did not treat cancer of toe by recommended amputation due to his Rastafarian beliefs. Pot contributed to his death imho because he could not feel the pain of the metasicizing cancer. Addicts I have known claim the fat soluble nature of THC makes the addiction more subtle since it takes weeks rather than days to wash out of your system. if i ever go back to hash/pot i intend to take orally; i think smoking is inherently dangerous.

I entirely favor legalization and we should contact Jim Webb and other Senators to say 40 year War on Pot Users should be ended as our prisons are too filled with Americans. Perhaps a tax on marijuana to fund universal health care--All American Health care as I like to call it.

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For how much money they are spending to keep marijuana out, they should just legalize it and tax it. We could use the money in the budget. People will smoke it regardless and its easy for people to get anyways.





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Inmates Raise Fish for Whole Foods

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they stole our future wrecked our economy in broad daylight
they took our eyeballs and now they're coming for the sockets... Something has got to give.
Medical Marijuana and its therapeutic benefits is a breakthrough. Legalized and properly taxed it could help us get out of this economic crater we're currently stuck in.

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Great discussion, I bookmarked this site, great information on what is marijuana and why this war and use of it. Ovulation test
Thanks

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Wow, look at the huge amount of words typed here in response to the article on Marijuana!!

Nothing gets people more interested than DRUGS.

I think this is because humans have a conscious mind that needs to be massaged a lot, and only pot can do that without causing a "strong addiction" [like the physical addiction of opiates, or the mental addiction to cocaine].

Plant-based drugs!! Opiates from poppies, cocaine from cocoa leaves, and cannabis from cannabis plants are the big three, and mushrooms have a unique corner on the psychadelic effects. WE NEED THESE THINGS to keep us sane... they don't cause insanity or even stress - the War on Drugs does that.


Religion is more dangerous than pot is;
Prohibition is a religious thing too;
- so argue against religion and legalise dope.

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Wow, look at the huge amount of words typed here in response to the article on Marijuana!!

Nothing gets people more interested than DRUGS.

I think this is because humans have a conscious mind that needs to be massaged a lot, and only pot can do that without causing a "strong addiction" [like the physical addiction of opiates, or the mental addiction to cocaine].

Plant-based drugs!! Opiates from poppies, cocaine from cocoa leaves, and cannabis from cannabis plants are the big three, and mushrooms have a unique corner on the psychadelic effects. WE NEED THESE THINGS to keep us sane... they don't cause insanity or even stress - the War on Drugs does that.


Religion is more dangerous than pot is;
Prohibition is a religious thing too;
- so argue against religion and legalise dope.

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where it is written: to shut down competition from paper made from hemp--a species of cannabis that is a distant cousin to marijuana but produces no high.

genus cannabis

C. ruderalis - siberia, very short, no use****

C. indica - central asia. narcotic. grows to about 2.4meters. short internodes (not good for fibre)

C. sativa- native to India both narcotic and fibre vars. this species has been selected from time immemorial for both its narcotic potency and high quality fibre. It has longer internodes servicing fibre production. Most selection for fiber has been in colder northern hemisphere. fiber hemp is narcotically inactive

potency is in the genes., strong dope grows strong dope. with narcotic strains up until flowering males are equally potent / not potent as females

**** ruderalis might be of use to produce smaller stature narcotic plants to avoid detection or for indoor cultivation but of no use if cannabis legalized

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Put tobacco-level taxes on marijuana to help raise government revenues to get this country out of the economic pit that we're in.

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I tend to make amazing observations and experience wonderfully fruitful conversations.

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This is your Government on WAR.

When the DEA invaded his home, they asked him, "Do you have any drugs?" And he answered, "Hell yeah, I'm Tommy Chong!" But, they did not bust him for pot, They convicted him because his name was being used by his son to sell Chong's Bongs. In order to keep his wife and son out of prison, he cut the deal with the DEA.

Addicted to WAR, our government has lost its perspective. Even Mary Beth Buchanan, the lead prosecutor in the case recently admitted that it "was a mistake" to prosecute Tommy Chong. She did not elaborate on why, only that she was now running for public office.

The Military Industrial Complex has transformed the DEA into another branch of the military. They are now attacking poppy fields alongside the army. Illegal poppy fields that are under the Karzai government's protection (Karzai's brother is a major player here).

The Government is in serious need of interdiction, or this addiction to war may get out of control.

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This post is to alert everyone I can to the important U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Virginia Sen. Jim Webb's S-714, "To establish a national criminal justice commission". This legislation is the best chance in nearly forty years we have to roll back the electoral subversions of Richard Nixon's Jim Crow Drug War.

Sen. Webb has even indicated that marijuana legalization is "On the table".

I have posted, at the link below, more information and committee contact information in order for drug reform supporters to contact the Senate Judiciary Committee this week to show your support for this important bill, going into the hearings. The bill has 35 co-sponsors and can use all of the help it can get. Please consider alerting your friends in advance of this hearing, so that they may take timely action. Show your support for senators who are co-sponsors. contact them and thank them. Aggressively lobby senators who are not yet co-sponsors.

I have all needed information posted on my blog, Aid & comfort, in the post:

Drug War Related Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing

Thanks for your time.

Aid & comfort blog

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Now I don't have blog on the subject. Your piece said it all. --Fellow Texan

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It is beneficial in every way.

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Fairy tales? Stuff that your Mom told you about girls to scare you about them too?

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