Every C-store in Mississippi sells rolling papers and I've met one person in the past 20 years that used them for tobacco.

The War on Drugs is all about big-government money, being spent in secret, with no accountability. (Remind anyone of the $$ going towards the Iraqi War?)

Marijuana - where are the studies and statistics to prove it has done any harm or caused any health problems? Better keep it illegal, because all it takes is a few seeds, some sunshine and water, and a little time. Even George Bush could grow it!

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1. Every prescription drug is available today on the black market without prescription, regardless of locale, for an elevated price. (You know this is true.)

2. Every person who wants to use drugs is either already using them or about to obtain them. (You know this is true.)

3. Prohibition simply does not work; it never has worked, ever, and never will work, ever. (You know this is true.)

Three salient facts. Are these not enough in and of themselves to put the lie to the violence-inducing policy of prohibiting the use of intoxicating substances? Would not the money spent on interdiction be better spent on education and rehabilitation? Would not the black market in drugs evaporate overnight in the absence of a customer base?

No more drug deals on the streets = no more drug deals gone bad = no more drug-related shootings. No more extreme risk/reward drug dealing = no more drug-related shootings. No more underground drug economy = no more bad street drugs = no more tragedy of people dying from a bad batch. No more illicit drug money = no funding for gang activity. No need for addicts to pay pushers = no more burglaries or pther property crimes to finance the addiction.

The math is easy. Summoning the political courage apparently is not.

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Marijuana is the one intoxicant -- indeed the only drug of any kind in the world -- for which there is no consumable dose that will cause the user to become either unconscious, comatose, convulsive, or dead. Think about that, please, and then decide what's more harmful, marijuana itself or marijuana prohibition. I think the answer is clear.

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First, Fox did a nice job of staying impartial on the issue. Shepard Smith is a pretty impartial reporter - he also did a great job covering Katrina, especially as he's from Miss.

I can agree on this issue somewhat as it relates to users - Dealers are the ones who should be put away for a long time! The problem with addictions is that they are extremely hard to overcome and rehab almost NEVER works in the long term.. Many are hooked for life! It often leads them to committing crimes..theft etc… for which they can wind up in jail .

So what are we saying here.. because our jails are overcrowded we should legalize drugs.. Or are we saying to legalize drugs because they are not harmful?? And who are we opening a dialogue with?.. Dealers??

In the end there is no doubt that drugs are harmful to ones health and ability to carry on in life in a productive way.. If you don’t think so..visit a rehab center or two and you’ll come away with a different view.

It’s true that jail is not the answer for users… at the point they need rehab, many times it’s to late.. so what is the answer?

Do we pass the buck to the users and say "buyer beware" drugs can be harmful to your health.. Wait, we already do that with ciggs and we can see how that works.. lots of addictions there - BTW, will drug users get to sue dealers for health issues as smokers do????

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Murray's segment was horrible. He was more than happy to distort Ethan Nadelmann's statements after calling him a "good friend". He implied that Nadelmann thought Chardonnay and methamphetamine pose the same risks. He went on to say that there are many problems with legal drugs like Oxycontin. Obviously, a drug being available by prescription doesn't make it legal, just obtainable.

Outrageous statements like these and others from the drug war establishment make one thing clear. When you are allowed to lie to the American public for decades at taxpayer expense, you become delusional.

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The time was decades ago. Think of the billions (trillions?) we have wasted on cops, courts and prison without making a dent in the "problem" - not to mention the millions of innocent lives ruined by bogus felony convictions. (No one will ever convince me that putting a harmless soul behind bars for possessing or selling a benign herb isn't completely bogus - and we still do that to more than 600,000 citizens a year!)

"Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" should be enshrined in the constitution - not just the Declaration - and the bluenoses should keep the hell out of my life!

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...And here's why they won't.

If I've said it or posted it on Internet blogs once, I've said it or posted it numerous times: recreational drugs, like marijuana, will never be legalized because there are too many special interests with economic stakes in maintaining the status quo.

On the legitimate side are your narcotics cops and rehebiliation professionals. If recreational drugs are ever legalized they'll have to find real jobs.

Organized crime doesn't want recreational drugs legalized either, for all the obvious reasons. After all, when all human vices are legal, they are no longer vices and no longer profitable for organized crime. If Tony Soprano were a real mobster do you suppose he'd vote for a politician who campaigns on a platform of legalizing recreational drugs or one who says it's time to get tough on drug crime?

And the lessons of Iran-Contra tell us that our government, when it comes to drug trafficking, plays both sides of the street.

Out of all the mainstream candidates for president only Mike Gravel is unequivocally for ending "the war on drugs," at least on marijuana.

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I find it interesting that people want to legalize drugs often because they are under the impression that it will enable us as a country to regulate and control them. Guns are the most regulated and controlled product in the country yet anyobody that want's one can get one either legally or not. It's actually easier here in New York to get one illegally.
So whether you want to outlaw guns or legalize drugs the fact of the matter is this: where there is a demand, someone will supply it. Economics 101. Legal drugs will be too expensive due to taxes so everyone will still use the illegal tax free ones.
All legalization will do is help enslave the poor faster than is already happening. Just think about it. Where will the "drug stores" pop up if drugs are legalized? In suburbia? On Park Avenue? No they will all be downtown in former crack houses where there target customers are. If drugs are legalized we should also legalize prostitution so people can pay for them. With all the money raised from the drug taxes we can open up more homeless shelters because we will certainly need them.

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That would make a big hole in the government's plan for us. They created the 'drug problem' as a means of scaring the populace into creating this police state we have today! Why would they want to stop it??
We've taken third rate cocaine and opium producers and made them tops in the world. We've got the world's best import structure,via the military, no one can top. Plus by creating a fear of 'drug crazed maniacs' running about it's easy to get a scared population to give up big police budgets for the protection of the people.
Truth is the most abused drugs come from pharmacies,they are prescribed by doctors and kill thousands per year. More actually, than all illegal drugs combined. But we have to have that 'fear tool' or the government can't squeeze you out of your money. More of the maddness of Greed. We deserve better. We deserve a governance that's truly about personal Freedom and Liberty. We deserve the right to choose for ourselves what we are going to do with our bodies provided we've reached whatever legal age you need to be in your State. We need to Think Outside the System
Draft Jeffrey7 for Prez
www.youtube.com/RevJeffrey7

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the end.

plur

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As one of the above posters stated (re: Iran/Contra connection) that our government plays both sides of the street, it is more interconnected that that. As long as Bechtel, Halliburton, RJ Reynolds, KBR, privatized prison industries, Homeland Security, HUD, and a whole list of venture capitalists are raking in huge piles of money off of drug running through offshore oil rigs, money-laundering through tobacco sales, prison building/staffing/profiting, removal of low-income voters off voter rolls (while counting them in census districts for seats in Congress!) and draining our taxes, there is NO way that legalization is going to happen.

If you have the stomach, read this site:
http://www.dunwalke.com
If you don't have the patience to slog through the entire connection from beginning to end, read this page then the next starting here:
http://www.dunwalke.com/8_Dillon_Investment_in_Cornell.htm

My hair is on fire!

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First, second and most of all- marijuana should not be classified in the same category as cocaine or meth-amphetimine. I once heard a parent say, "if we told our kids the truth about marijuana maybe they'd believe us about the dangers of hard-core drugs".

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the RICH can go to their private doctor and get whatever they want-and even if they are busted-they just call their lawyer and go to some fancy resort 'rehab'.

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Throughout history, the legal and moral status of psychoactive drugs has kept changing. During the 17th century, the sale and consumption of tobacco were punished by death in much of Europe, Russia, China and Japan. For centuries, many of the Muslim domains that forbade alcohol sale and consumption simultaneously tolerated and even regulated the sale of opium and cannabis.

Each year, the U.S. government spends more than $30 billion on the drug war and arrests over 1.5 million people on drug-related charges. Over 318,000 people are now behind bars in the U.S. for drug violations, greater than the total number of people incarcerated for all crimes in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain combined. Our government is calling for billions of dollars to fight a drug war it can't win.

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.

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.

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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For its 25000 industrial uses that could tremendously help UNDO the MASSIVE POVERTY AND TERRORISM DAMAGE done, it is time to SHUT UP, STOP MISFRAMING HEMP AS "POT", and GIVE HEMP A CHANCE !

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No matter how dangerous the drug, prohibition always makes it more dangerous.

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Pardon me for reposting a previous comment, but here it is:

"Listen up kiddies, 'cause here's the unvarnished truth -

When you go away to school (or to the streets) you will be surrounded by drug dealers - and a lot of them will be sitting in psychiatrist's offices and wil be getting kickbacks from Big Pharma for getting you hooked on a wide variety of drugs - for example, to stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall, which are really just methamphetamine knock-offs (ask for Desoxyn - it is pure meth).

If you tell them that life is getting you down, your significant other dumped you and you miss your family, they'll put you on some tricyclic antidepressant or monoamine oxidase inhibitor. The cardiac effects might kill you - tricyclics are the leading cause of deaths by drug overdose these days - more dangerous in that manner then cocaine.

You might find some random person offering you Ecstacy, which chemically speaking looks like a cross between mescaline (a neurotransmitter (dopamine/serotonin mimic)) and methamphetamine. Chances are that it's not really Ecstacy, but methamphetamine or some other drug (Ritalin?) ground up in a pill form. In other words, one white powdered substance looks a lot like another, and for all you know you might be getting one of those date rape drugs - so please, please be careful!

You might also encounter people who will offer you cocaine or heroin. While it seems okay to chew coca leaf or smoke opium (from which the two 'white powder' drugs are derived) in moderation (based on centuries of human experience), the purified drugs can lead to serious addiction and dependency - and if you use needles, you could get hepatitis or AIDS - so please stay away from these two drugs, because they really are dangerous - just because people say cannabis is bad, when it isn't, doesn't make that true for other substances.

Don't do methamphetamine either, whether you get it through a prescription or off the street - it'll play havoc with your wole system, you'll break out and get skinny and will come down with amphetamine psychosis - look at those old films of Hitler pounding on the podium with sweat pouring down his face - he was getting daily injections of amphetamines, did you know that? They use them a lot in the military - helps with sentry duty - but meth addiction will leave permanent marks on you - bad idea.

Other drugs to avoid include tobacco and hard liquor. Those two drugs kill more people in this country every year then all the others combined. I don't want to see you die of lung cancer or have to pick your body up from the morgue after you wrap your car around a tree after blacking out - and hard liqour leads to alcoholism in most cases.

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"Now, there is cannabis, aka 'marijuana' (a name invented by Anslinger when he had it criminalized back in 1937 - before then it was perfectly legal)- it's relatively innocuous and you can't overdose on it, but you still shouldn't drive on it - and if you smoke to much, you'll turn into a lazy pothead and won't get anything done. There is also beer and wine, which do have alcohol (but not as concentrated as hard liquor) and which are also okay - IN MODERATION! If you want to go out with friends on a weekend and have a few beers and smoke a joint, that's fine - if you're reaching for the bottle and the bong the moment you wake up, you need to stop.

As far as the hallucinogens go (LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, etc.), those are NOT recreational drugs, though it might be worthwhile to try them in a very safe and controlled environment with people you trust - but keep in mind that some people have done things like shoot themselves in the head or jump out of windows - so, just be careful, okay? On the other hand, you may gain a little insight into life... but extreme caution is warranted (try a little before you try a lot).

The bottom line in all this drug business (and sex too, for that matter) is this: if you find yourself engaging in such behavior becuase you are sad or depressed or lonely or angry - you are on the verge of creating a very serious problem for yourself. Drugs will not make your life better - get some physical exercise and some friends you like - don't fall for the consumption game. Our screwed-up advertising-based society attempts to tell you that buying things or eating things or smoking things or snorting things will make you happy - it's a lie.

One other thing - watch out for the undercover drug cops. They are incredibly slimy, and will not think twice about sleeping with their targets, framing their targets, and wrecking your life - all so that they can get their hands on that nice car your parents bought for you. They're all about the money - it's called 'asset forfeiture' - so don't get involved with slimy psychos posing as police officers.

If something feels rotten, it probably is. Learn to trust your own decisions - that's what really matters. Good luck, kiddies! Remember this too - people tend to be full of it - don't believe everything they tell you, okay?"

Well... it's a repost. Couldn't resist.

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"Be this juice the growth of God,
who dare blastame the twisted tendril as a snare;
a blessing we`should use it should we not
and if a curse, why then who put it there?
Omar Khayyam
"The Rubyiat"
13th century Persian Poet

just change a few words--- Crazy Carlos













'















































o

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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."

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."

Of all the reasons to legalize marijuana, the most compelling is its medical usage. Marijuana has a wide variety of therapeutic applications, and is frequently helpful in treating the following conditions:

AIDS. Marijuana reduces the nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite caused by both the ailment itself and as a side effect of treatment with AZT and other medicines.

Arthritis and Other Autoimmune Diseases. In addition to its effectiveness in controlling the pain associated with arthritis, new evidence shows that marijuana is an autoimmune modulator.

Cancer. Marijuana stimulates the appetite and alleviates nausea and vomiting, common side effects of chemotherapy treatment. People undergoing chemotherapy find that smoking marijuana is an anti-nauseant often more effective than mainstream medications.

Chronic Pain. Marijuana alleviates the debilitating, chronic pain caused by myriad disorders and injuries.

Glaucoma. Marijuana can reduce intraocular pressure, alleviating pain and slowing (and sometimes stopping) the progress of the condition.

Multiple Sclerosis. Marijuana limits the muscle pain and spasticity caused by the disease, and relieves tremor and unsteady gait.

Muscle Spasm and Spasticity. Medical marijuana has been clinically shown to be effective in relieving these.

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, while marijuana kills no one.

A November 4, 2002 Time/CNN Poll found 80 percent 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, 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.

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great to see the drug law reform position getting some eloquent high profile attention.

Transform Drug Policy Foundation in the UK have produced a new 76 page guide to making the case for drug law reform, titled AFTER THE WAR ON DRUGS, OPTIONS FOR CONTROL, it available in print or free to download in pdf format here. free to download in pdf format here.

It explores many of the issues discussed here, and is designed to:

* Re-frame the debate, moving it beyond stale ideological arguments into substantive, rational engagement
* Provide the language and analysis to challenge the prohibitionist status quo, and to make the case for evidenced based alternatives

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People need to find out for themselves what works or what doesn't work. We are our own experts. External laws create chaos and disorder which keeps goobers in power, and a world regulated by "slow and stupid".

Do lots of drugs! Take Risks! Feel it all! Then you'll know you don't want to do it anymore. It's what anyone who had anything interesting to say has done.

We do drugs to escape or enhance our current situation. We've been doing that since the beginning and it's not ever going to stop! EVER ...why would anybody not want us to do drugs/ escape or enhance our current situation? why would anybody not want change now? It's very uncomfortable to be alive, if you haven't forgotten how to feel. Disease is dis-ease / not being at ease.

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Both Total Prohibition (so-called War on Other Drugs) and Unrestricted Legalization (Legal Drugs like tobacco and alcohol) are extreme policies that exclude government regulation and control and leave the market in the hands of unregulated big corporations or big drug cartels. As a result, these policies foster the widespread availability of marijuana, alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and the enrichment and empowerment of big corporations and cartels that control these markets.

The War on Drugs merely replaces the street corner convenience store with a whole bunch of unregulated dealers operating out of houses and on street corners. It pushes marijuana grow houses into suburban residential areas and dealers into our schools. Unregulated drug dealers often stir up violence and lure young teens into the illegal drug trade. The federal government reports nearly a million adolescents ages 12-17 sell marijuana and other illegal drugs every year. This seriously impacts all kids in the low-income inner city to the middle-class and well-to-do suburbs. Can any parent look into their kids eyes and say this is a responsible policy and they support it because they love and care about them?

Clearly, we need to find some smart middle ground solutions between the extremes of "whack-a-mole" prohibition enforcement and unrestricted legalization of drugs, because neither of which allow effective government regulation and control over all aspects of the legal and illegal drug markets.

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Drugs were legal up until 1902. There were few problems.
99% of ALL problems with drugs is because they are illegal.
back in the 1800's anyone of any age could get pure opiates for about $10 an OZ. There were no drug related gangs, robberies, prostitution, killings,government corruption, corrupt police and the people addicted to opiates led normal and productive lives.
People don't go nuts unless the "fruit is "forbidden' and they use less potent varieties of their choses intoxicant.
Alcohol is the worst intoxicant in every way. It should stay legal though.
Face it people and animals love to alter their state of mind and always will.

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