In what is passing for one of the first public debates ever between the government’s ‘anti-drug’ office (Office of National Drug Control Policy, aka ONDCP) and the world’s most famous pro-cannabis reform organization (NORML), check out my rebuttal to the ONDCP’s attempts to discredit the nearly 40 year effort to end cannabis prohibition.
To date, this unofficial debate between NORML and ONDCP has been one of the most popular public discussions ever at The Hill’s blog, which informs their editors (as well as other major publications’ and broadcast editors) that the issue of cannabis law reform is of great public concern and ripe for ongoing public policy debates about the future of cannabis prohibition.
Preview: In advance of you reading, and hopefully weighing in on The Hill’s blog, rather than engage in what I describe as the ‘flash card’ game–where every misapplication of science or anti-pot myth needs to be addressed–in my reply to the ONDCP’s rebuttal of NORML’s pro-reform advocacy efforts I try to focus on the larger issues at hand regarding personal freedom, autonomy, the proper role of the government in the private lives of it’s citizens and the obvious juxtaposition of the legal ‘drug’ industries (alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals) to the failed 70-year old prohibition of cannabis.
This is awesome! Thanks NORML and Allen St. Pierre. We did a review of this over at http://www.akdope.org and encourage the dialog to continue. There is no better case for contributing to / joining NORML than the type of advocacy that appears in The Hill this month!!
About the US seal pictured, are those hemp leaves in the eagles right claw? Also ,is it true that the ONDCP charter is scheduled to sunset on Sept.30,2010?
After reading this article, it’s very clear that lots of public support in any form would be critical to achieving the desired results. I’m an avid Ron Paul supporter and one thing I noticed through his campaign was the phenomenally fast build up of on-line supporters, (despite the media bias.)
Why not put together a campaign aimed at getting the message out to the people who use cannabis but don’t follow law reform? And I know there’s a lot of them. Ron Paul’s campaign reached millions of people, thousands of them–before Dr. Paul–probably didn’t even pay attention to politics (I didn’t.) So what made it go so well?
I can’t really say for sure; But, I do know some things that were tried to gain support. One was the money bomb, advertising a specific day (through blogs, youtube, word of mouth — anywhere people can casually find the information — could donate to support the cause.
In this particular situation it’s not so much a need for donations as it is a need for a petition like statement made and supported by thousands of people.
An idea to attract people would be to advertise a youtube contest were people create there own short video exclaiming the need for legal herb, pick the top 3 to present to the ONDCP backed by the total number of participants and signed supporters. Show them the immediate support of the people.
I guess my basic thought is just get things fired up a bit. Use common internet mediums like Youtube, myspace, etc… to excite and attract perspective supporters. Maybe create an online poll and have current supporters spread it around related blogs and forums. Freedom is a powerful message right now, and the people are starting to observe our government more closely. Changing the marijuana laws in this country would send a very positive message to many who feel very downhearted about the current state of our nation.
As always I’ll do what I can to help. hopefully my input is useful to someone
This is not just about the right to get high.
This is about the Right (capital ‘R’ intentional) to do something our public servants condemn as too risky.
The Controlled Substances Act (CSA) undeniably shows that certain recreational drug use is found by our public servants to be bad, solely because it has a “potential for abuse”.
While evidence shows that marijuana is abused by some, and there are questionable studies ‘suggesting’ that marijuana ‘may’ cause harm, I challenge anyone to provide ‘irrefutable’ evidence proving an instance of marijuana use automatically causes ‘any’ harm (i.e. that marijuana use automatically constitutes abuse).
Failure to provide that appropriate degree of evidence is failure to prove that marijuana use automatically violates another American’s Rights, denying the authority for our public servants to defy our Creator-given, unalienable Right to Liberty by banning its use.
The U.S. Declaration of Independence, the essence of our nation born in violent sacrifice against government abuse, an essence separating our nation from any other in that Liberty is naturally-given, not government-given, supports our public servants only in securing our Rights, not defying them.
No individual or group (e.g. government, public majority) can justly defy an American’s Rights.
Do we really want to allow our public servants to continue to defy Liberty on the sole basis that something is too risky to them?
Think of all of the high risk activities in our personal and professional lives (and the heavy damage from people exercising such risks). High risk yields high rewards at times for our nation, and who are any of you to tell me that drug use has no reward? You are entitled to your opinion, but not entitled to wield it against my Rights.
Does the CSA undeniably confirm that our public servants have effectively found a way to change Creator-given to government-given, defeating the true Liberty so many Americans have sacrificed (and continue to sacrifice) their lives to secure? If so, isn’t that a front-burner issue?
There are better ways to deal with abuse in society than Liberty-defying, all-out bans. Just ask the NIDA about the “strong correlation between stress and substance abuse”, noting there has never been a prominent ‘war’ on unhealthy stress.
Our nation is born on opposition against government abuse.
Our nation can only survive on opposition against government abuse.
May our public servants promptly fix the errant shift of our nation from its strong foundation.
Failing to do that sends the wrong message to children, and anyone else now through posterity.
McCain’s VP pick Sarah Palin is an admitted former pot smoker. From Achorage Daily News “Palin said she has smoked marijuana — remember, it was legal under state law, she said, even if illegal under U.S. law — but says she didn’t like it and doesn’t smoke it now.
‘I can’t claim a Bill Clinton and say that I never inhaled.’
I guess marijuana really ruined her life. Yet another successful pot smoker.
FREEEEE MARYJAAANE!!! ITS FOR THE BETTER
I find it funny that the ONDCP hides behind a computer screen to distribute its propaganda. It’s quite funny that they won’t publicly debate us. What do they have to lose? (Besides their credibility and funding). If they really are right, then they should be able to crush us. but, they’re not, and that’s why they won’t debate publicly: They’re just too damn scared.
I have heard folks argue against medical cannabis by saying that “better treatments already exist.” Isn’t that an admission that marijuana is a treatment? Shouldn’t folks who say this sort of thing be pressed into advocating the rescheduling of marijuana since they are basically admitting that it has medical value? Seriously, even if they consider it a weak substitute for various prescription drugs, aren’t they saying that it’s good, but there is something better?
If what they claim is true, and “better treatment methods already exist”, then maybe chicken soup should be schedule I. I mean, chicken soup has been used as a natural remedy for ages, but they have fancy store bought drugs these days. The evidence that chicken soup has any theraputic properties is mostly anecdotal, but brother, if you tried my mother’s chicken soup one time, you would be hooked. We’re talking HIGH potential for abuse. If they really wanted to be consistent and reschedule chicken soup, they would have to rename it Sopadepollo first, and they’d have to make a movie just to stir public opinion. But if the ONDCP set their mind and their money to it, I’m sure they could pull it off.
So anyways, you get the picture. The idea that Lortab somehow makes aspirin obsolete is confounding. I don’t believe that the “better treatments exist” argument holds much water. If somebody really does want to stick to that argument, then he must logically advocate rescheduling cannabis since he admits it has medical value, however inferior he considers it to be.
This is the sort of predicament that prohibition folk find themselves in quite often. It’s an obvious dodge that one uses to deflect a question that he’s afraid might not get him re-elected… or hired… or whatever.
Maybe that’s why the ONDCP published a handbook on holding your own in a drug legalization debate with Step 1 being: “Don’t get into a drug legalization debate.”
WOOOOO RON PAUL!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL sorry had to.
WTF! I wrote a nice piece, but it won’t attach to the comment section! I then pasted the article I previously wrote into the comments section, and it said that the post already existed…and that is not the case 🙁
Very well put great ideas, Matt. I also would like to suggest AM-Talk Radio with some very liberal marijuana advocates to just tear apart every piece of crap that comes out of the NODCP.
free the weed..it’s a plant with medicinal properties.
I respect every that norml stands for…
Hello, In my opinion Medical Marijuana should be made avalible for the suffering.
Most Americans do not realize that this is a MONEY Game.
In 1981 when I was a very young man with not even a speeding ticket I was handed a 10 year sentence to the Indiana Department of Corrections.Or also called the department of Corruptions, where people learn more, Further more I did not even get the marijuana, my passed away wife did from someone she knew.
This State Police informant had hair to his waist and came in posing as a friends fiance and they wanted to know if we knew where they could get any herb.
Like I said, my passed away wife knew a person and got them an ounce. The problem was I was the one who handed it to him and took his money.
When I went to court there was 2 seats left open. It just so happened that the prosecutor’s wife was a school teacher and they was showing the class how drug dealers was dealt with. I knew the minute I walked in I was a target.
There is NO rehabilatation in a prison for drugs. Not any that really work. I do not believe a person who makes a mistake one time needs to get a 10 year sentence like I did. And then I had a 7 year probation period on top of getting out.
Our government has known for years that marijuana has a medical value but will not admit it. They refuse to be honest with the public.
What should be made illegal is booze, it is what kills people and causes many wrecks that kill innocent people, not marijuana.
I believe a person should be able to use it medically if needed. Most people dont know that George Bush took marijuana pills for years for his eyesight but it was never mentioned. Why is it ok for the big wigs and not the poor people?
I believe this year the government will have to change some things on medical marijuana. There are just to many diseases that has been proven it works for. If it didnt then why has the big pharma put a patent on it?
I feel if it saves lives it should be made medically legal for the needy people and not sent to a prison and forced to work for 50 cents a day while they make untold amounts from inmates.
I say if it is made legal it will stop alot of big drug cartels from doing buisness and stop alot of crime. I think it is time the government catches up with the times. Stop jailing people for marijuana and stop forcing treatment upon them. Then they try to make it look like the person wanted treatment when he never asked for it but was forced to do it.
I say it is time for a change. Over 70% of Americans feel it is ok for medical use so why is their voice not heard? Make medical marijuana for the people who need it and stop jailing them.
Kudos to Mr. St. Pierre for the well articulated facts and professional presentation
The government has made a fatal mistake, they’ve decided to engage in discussion.
Fallacious arguments tend to fall apart when put up against well reasoned, non-emotional, fact based challenge.
Keep up the good work!
The War on Drugs was started for racist reasons and now enslaves us for profits. This War on US is illegal and I feel our representatives should be prosecuted for putting us in jail and stealing our rights as Americans. Don’t believe me believe the lies and propaganda our leaders feed you using your own tax money? Go to the WWW and read a little the truth is there for all to see or write me hood1@hoodstuff.com I will try to help. Due to my home being violated I have dedicated my life to ending the War against US and our rights as Americans. The corporations pay OUR representatives big money to protect there profits that is we are sacrificed (jailed) and our rights taken away.
The best way to stop the War on Drugs is to stop the flow of money from corporations to our so called leaders. Stop PAC money (bribe money) that is paid to protect profits of the giant companies. They do not care that lives are ruined and good people are put into jail to be raped they only care about profits. GEO corp. states profits by the number of good non-violent Americans they can put in there private jail (for 45K a head). Go to the WWW read it is easy to see through the lies our leaders feed us daily to ensure the corporate money keeps flowing. They should be put in jail for perpetuating this myth on us and stripping our God given rights as Americans!!
Apparently they are not allowing more than 25 comments…I wonder if they are trying to manipulate the perception of the article…
I do not understand anyone that is not able to see the connection.
This month McCain voted to give EXXON (the one with record profits due to gouging us) 13.5 billion of our hard earned money. While they (EXXON) contributed 1.4 million to his (McCain’s) campaign.
The same applies to the War on Drugs the major drug companies (the so called legal drugs that generate billions in profits)also the Liquor industry they contribute millions. To both republicans and democrats in the house and senate. So our representatives vote to keep this weed anyone could grow and solve many of the worlds ills illegal.
We now have a president and vice president candidates that admit to having used marijuana but they did not get arrested and have there lives ruined by the War on US they were lucky. But they could have, perhaps they will have some compassion on the ones that were not lucky. Those of us that enjoy a smoke and defy the laws that are stupid and put in place for the wrong reason. As well I feel they are illegal and deprive us our freedom of choice as Americans. If they (the candidates for our highest offices) did the same as you and I and tried marijuana and choose not to smoke (for political reasons) should we as Americans not have the same right without fear of having our lives ruined and put in jail??? Or on the other hand if they are admitted marijuana users should they not be put in jail for there CRIME to pay the debt they owe to society? They are admitted criminals even in Alaska it was against FED law. You cannot have it both ways LEGALIZE, REGULATE, TAX take the money saved and pay for universal health care for all!! Help the people not put them in jail for being Americans free Americans!
I to would like Cannabis to be legalized, the problem remains.When Cannabis is legal what about the other end of the”drugwar”? Prohibition?
END PROHIBITION w/harm reduction the goal.
Thats the other side of the “drug war”.
They are both bogus.
peace
“Apparently they are not allowing more than 25 comments…I wonder if they are trying to manipulate the perception of the article…”
I noticed the same thing, it might have more to do with server space, I mean, we were pushing 100 comments on the other two articles. But, it is odd that they don’t allow more
I am so very tired of this, Barney Frank has made public announcements about how he is going to introduce the Bill,people who are respected have admitted it should be changed from its current scheduling. This is all fine and good…but give me a break, Jack Herer has published a multitude of articles and the attack is pointed the wrong direction.
Politicians are well known for their deceit, and abuse of the american way, still they stall and make token gestures towards legalization.It is illegal for all the wrong reasons to start with, its been handled with kid gloves long enough.
The voters, the public is the villain here, or at least the vast majority won’t come out of the closet, they all want someone else to run the risk, someone else to do their dirty work. They are lying to us regarding most issues, they being the government, but society is comfortable, with cars, homes,and their toys. So they won’t come out and say, yes I smoke pot, and I have for years. Where do they think it all goes, everyday you hear of another bust,who is smoking this pot? There are tons distributed in the United States alone every year. If you are so afraid to risk your safe lifestyle, then don’t complain.
I am a small time elected official, and involved with the courts, prosecutors, and judges. If everyone who smokes would just stand up(and yes I have), it would be legal tommorrow. Easy Rider, the movie coined a phrase,”Don’t Bogart that joint my Friend”,starting today if your too good to pick up your tired butt and join the struggle, then don’t complain when I do Bogart that joint cause your no friend of mine, and if you won’t fight for your rights you deserve no rights!!
so sit there and watch me fire one up, I will not share if you won’t share in the efforts of the few.
Politicians will always be a problem, our system is flawed, but the fact that some college grad is afraid to risk his comfortable way of life then that same person will get none of my stash, they can watch me.
The silent majority is the problem here and in most other areas of our dysfunctional society, wake up America if you don’t want it bad enough to expose yourself, you don’t want it. In the future, I won’t smoke with or around the parasites that want to benefit from the struggles of the few.
Heathen Devil Weed, my aunt Fannie.
I am really tired of my rights being violated. I do believe that I have the right to pursue happiness. How is that possible when it is regulated by this wonderful nation we live in. I do my best informing people of NORML and how they can make a difference, the NORML podcasts, and all the other information NORMLS web site has to offer. I encourage everyone to spread the news about NORML. We are on a great start to expressiong how silly it is for alcohol to be legal and marijuana not. I thank NORML, for the great reprenstation, my fellow bloggers for voicing their opinion. Lets continue in gathering more voices and fighting hard daily for this cause.
I am retired and 60 years old.I have been violated by this so called War on Drugs. I dedicate my life to ending this War on US. I read every day of the thousands of lives this war destroys every year. I see the billions thrown away 100 billion yearly of our money not counting the money spent in other countries. Plus the estimated 50 billion lost tax income estimated if marijuana were made legal. I see our representatives ignore the 71% of us that say end this War on US stop enslaving us to preserve corporate profits! This drug was made illegal because it was said to make white women have sex with blacks and our racist forefathers could not have that! Now our so called leaders are addicted to the power and money the war brings to them and many corporate CEOs. We as free Americans are enslaved our property taken away and sacrificed to feed the machine. I say it is time for all Americans stand up and take back control of our country and money and demand our representatives represent our interest as they are sworn to do.
Freedom of speech is at risk another one of our freedoms is in jeopardy. Many people I know enjoy marijuana but they live in fear of our government putting them in jail. They have jobs and work hard they choose not to use liquor because of its serious health consequences and addiction. But they are afraid to speak out to voice the fact that this should be there choice! But our so called representatives keep telling us no you do not have the right to choose! We will choose for you and we choose the one that pays us to make your decision. Liquor not marijuana is what we dictate you must use. So freedom of choice has already been taken away. How many more rights will we allow them to strip from us before we stand and say enough?
Yes, the ONDCP with its “dot org” status as if to suggest it is just a goodly “grass roots” charity movement ought to be top of the list for budget cuts in the coming years. Since we as a nation are going to be facing huge infrastructure-crippling deficits for at least the next decade at the Federal and State level, I can’t think of a government-sponsored program more well suited to get the axe than the ONDCP — I mean really now — come on people!!! Let’s trim the fat for crissakes!!
the hemp plant that marijuana comes from may also be helpful to make paper so we don’t have to cut down anymore trees and so the trees can grow and we can get our air cleaned out
THE FACTS:
1.Marijuana is not addictive! Liquor is addictive.
2.You cannot overdose on Marijuana! Liquor it will kill you.
3.Marijuana can be grown like a weed It helps many. Liquor is controlled by a few and prices are kept high.
4.Our leaders keep Marijuana illegal for greed. The liquor PAC pays our representatives to keep it that way.
5.We are enslaved daily to ensure corporate profits.
6.Our so called leaders sacrifice us to insure the flow of PAC money to them.
7.Marijuana has almost no adverse health effects Liquor will kill you.
8. Our representatives will tell any lie to justify Marijuana being illegal.
9.Even in states where the majority of people have voted it legal Our FEDS will still arrest you under there law that overrides the peoples vote!!
10.100 billion of our money is wasted every year plus the projected 50 billion lost in tax revenue if made legal that is 150 billion each year. Enough to fund universal health care and have 80 billion left over.
11. The war on drugs is illegal it strips our rights as free Americans!
STOP THE WAR ON US NOW!!
STILL BELIEVE THE LIES LET ME HELP EMAIL ME hood1@hoodstuff.com I can suggest sites where you can learn the truth don’t be a sheep think for yourself!
As I have said I am a retired male 60 years old I do not advocate anyone use drugs.But I fight this war on us ever day. Because I feel the pain of the millions in jail for nothing more than exercising there right to choose for themselves and they should be released. Our so called leaders should end this war started for racist reasons!
I NEED HELP PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS ONE FOR ME:
LEGAL DRUGS=
I sit and and watch TV they push the so called legal drugs all day. Then I hear lawyers saying join our law suit against the so called legal drug makers because there drugs harm and kill you. The so called legal drugs are addictive, stronger, and kill an estimated 100,000 a year based on federal numbers. This is all legal.Yet our leaders wine and dine the Legal Drug companies and favor them with laws that help them sell more at higher prices. They buy Methadone to give to heroin addicts even though it has been proven Methadone is worse for them (other countries have recognized this FACT and have switched to giving heroin again to protect there citizens.) Our country still gives Methadone to protect the profits of the major drug maker.
ILLEGAL DRUGS=
Marijuana has never killed anyone the vast majority that use the herb say it is not addictive (our lying leaders say it is) It is used and enjoyed by millions of Americans they want it. States have had votes and made it legal. But the FEDS still arrest us and put us in jail in those states and override the popular vote!
100 billion is spent yearly to keep this herb illegal and an estimated 50 billion is lost in tax revenue. This would pay for universal health care for all and have 80 billion left over. Yet our so called representatives keep supporting the legal drug makers (the ones that contribute millions to keep MJ illegal)
THE QUESTION I NEED HELP WITH IS. WHY? COULD IT BE THE SO CALLED LEGAL DRUG MAKERS CANNOT MAKE BILLIONS FROM A WEED ANYONE CAN GROW? THEY CONTRIBUTE MILLIONS TO OUR SO CALLED LEADERS TO KEEP IT ILLEGAL BECAUSE THEY WOULD LOSE PROFITS? SIMPLE AIN’T IT? LET ME KNOW IF YOU CAN COME UP WITH ANOTHER REASON WHY IT IS ILLEGAL hood1@hoodstuff.com
Most people know that the “drug czar”, — the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) — is an advocate for the government’s position regarding the drug war. But not everyone knows that he and his office are mandated to tell lies as part of their Congressional authorization.
According to Title VII Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998: H11225:
Responsibilities. –The Director– […]
(12) shall ensure that no Federal funds appropriated to the Office of National Drug Control Policy shall be expended for any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812) and take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance (in any form) that–is listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812); and
has not been approved for use for medical purposes by the Food and Drug Administration;
For example, the issue of medical marijuana. If the government finds that marijuana has “currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” or “accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision,” then by law, marijuana cannot remain in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, which would immediately legalize it for medical purposes.
But by law, the drug czar must oppose any attempt to legalize the use of cannabis (in any form). Therefore, despite the fact that there is extensive evidence of medical marijuana’s safety and effectiveness (including the fact that even the federal government supplies it to patients), and clearly the drug czar would know about all this information, he is required by law to lie about it. The job description also means that since he must oppose any attempt to legalize, he has no choice but declare that the drug war is working, that legalization would fail, etc., regardless of any scientific facts.
This is particularly disturbing because on Tuesday, July 15, the Bush Administration’s second-in-command of national drug policy, Scott Burns, visited Humboldt County as part of a California tour to condemn the state of the illegal cannabis industry. Burns, deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) met with county officials, participated in a sweep of grow houses in Eureka and points south, then came to Arcata. He spread so much misinformation during his visit, including in this interview. This “misleading information” creates undue fear in Congress, the media, and the American populus. It’s extremely difficult to make progress on scientific and medical grounds regarding cannabis when the White House pays official to supply “misleading information”.
On April 2, 2003, Congressman Ron Paul wrote a letter to the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) asking for an investigation into ONDCP lobbying activities and their dissemination of “misleading information” (a polite euphemism for “lying”)
The GAO responded (pdf):
Finally, apart from considerations of whether any particular law has been violated, you have asked whether the Deputy Director’s letter disseminated misleading information in connection with statements relating to the debate over legalization of marijuana. […] ONDCP is specifically charged with the responsibility for “taking such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use” of certain controlled substances such as marijuana — a responsibility which logically could include the making of advocacy statements in opposition to legalization efforts. The Deputy Director’s statements about marijuana are thus within the statutory role assigned to ONDCP. Given this role, we do not see a need to examine the accuracy of the Deputy Director’s individual statements in detail.
Translation: Since “lying” is in the job description of the ONDCP, there’s no point in bothering to see whether they’re telling the truth. Keep in mind that this requirement to avoid the truth if it interferes with the mission of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is not limited to the current drug czar, John Walters and Scott Burns. The next drug czar, even if appointed by a President who tepidly supports certain reform measures, will be constrained by the same job description defined by Congress.””
This was taken from stopthedrugwars.com and con be verified through this ONDCP government website: http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/about/98reauthorization.html
The ONDCP is required to OPPOSE any legalization efforts of cannabis for ANY purpose including medical, so don’t take what they say as truth. They are allowed to LIE about science and statistics if it prevents legalization of cannabis
Over 900 people have been killed in homicides related to the drug trade in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. This has presented a serious concern about border security. El Paso might be next in this drug battle. Unfortunately, our laws allow this to happen. Let me explain.
When the United States passed an Amendment banning liquor, it gave up all control over the substance. People still wanted their hooch, and gangsters were ready to provide it. Many people were killed because alcohol was illegal. Some died from the violence associated with bootlegging. Others died from improperly made alcohol.
Now, we have the same problem. Smoking cannabis is a choice that people make. It is no different than choosing to drink (except it is safer than drinking). Yet, we continue to keep it illegal at the expense of death and destruction of good citizens. Gangs now have incredible power and lots of money. The reward for dealing is incredible. The drug cartels make millions of easy money. However, if you decriminalize or legalize cannabis, you regain that control. Now, we can go after the drug cartels instead of incarcerating some guy who happens to have an ounce of cannabis for personal use. Economically, it makes no sense for the drug cartels to continue the illegal drug trade. The risks began to outweigh the reward. Those who continue become easier to get and prosecute.
This Drug war is nothing but a sham to arrest good citizens and continue a police state. Too much money is being made by private prison corporations because of minor drug offenders. We need change, and we need to show compassion to users of hard drugs. Cannabis is not a hard drug, but a choice people make. Whether it be for personal enjoyment or for medical purposes, it is a choice. A better choice than drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco in my honest opinion (and in what studies show). De-criminalize or legalize. Treat the hard drugs for what they are: social problems, spiritual problems, and medical problems. Open room in prison for real criminals, like rapist and murderers (people who actually hurt others).
It is 12 PM I sit in my living room with the TV in the background. I try and think of something that will stop this War set upon us by our country. I point out the economics, lives ruined, illegality, waste, the filling of the jails, loss of our freedom, Nazi like response, even the cops at LEAP say Drug Abuse is Bad. The War on Drugs is Worse! I feel we cannot gain control of our country using reason and truth. It is time to march and demand our rights be returned and the day of Punish and Enslave are over.
Excellent point Herbilicious! Knowing my rebuttal to the ONDCP was running a tad long, I didn’t include what really is a fundamental point to the anti-democratic component built right into the the Drug Czar’s mission statement.
Want to hazard a guess who helped create such nefarious language and championed the creation of the ONDCP?
Answer: Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Senator Joseph Biden!
Thanks for your input and support,
-Allen
NORML
Most people know that the “drug czar”, — the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) — is an advocate for the government’s position regarding the drug war. But not everyone knows that he and his office are mandated to tell lies as part of their Congressional authorization.
According to Title VII Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998: H11225:
Responsibilities. –The Director– […]
(12) shall ensure that no Federal funds appropriated to the Office of National Drug Control Policy shall be expended for any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812) and take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance (in any form) that–is listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812); and
has not been approved for use for medical purposes by the Food and Drug Administration;
For example, the issue of medical marijuana. If the government finds that marijuana has “currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States” or “accepted safety for use of the drug under medical supervision,” then by law, marijuana cannot remain in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, which would immediately legalize it for medical purposes.
But by law, the drug czar must oppose any attempt to legalize the use of cannabis (in any form). Therefore, despite the fact that there is extensive evidence of medical marijuana’s safety and effectiveness (including the fact that even the federal government supplies it to patients), and clearly the drug czar would know about all this information, he is required by law to lie about it. The job description also means that since he must oppose any attempt to legalize, he has no choice but declare that the drug war is working, that legalization would fail, etc., regardless of any scientific facts.
Let’s call it what it is!
The “War on Drugs” is in fact a war on the American People.
Plain, simple and true …
I have been using cannabis for over 30 years on a daily basis. My IQ is just as high, my homeschooled daughter is on the honor role and plays golf, my criminal and driving records are clean, etc., etc. Nobody’s ever died from it. Internal combustion engines were run on hemp oil the first 30 years. The fiber makes the best rope, clothing and paper. It’s VERY renewable. Our forefathers believed in it and used it in many ways. I could go on for days why it is a MAJOR asset for mankind and the environment. I have yet, in 30 years, to hear ONE bad thing about it (besides the fact that ignorant and corrupt politicians have caused it to be a black-market gold mine). Stand up folks! We all KNOW that it’s worth is a million times more than it’s faults (if there are any). In a world full of chemicals and ‘altered’ food, this is one NATURAL thing that can actually help. Please pressure Congress (who drink like fish and take prescription drugs) to wake up and change the laws!
Our jails and prisons are overcrowded with people that were arrested for “drug offenses.” Many of those incarcerated were found guilty of marijuana offenses and face heavy sentences. Yet, I used to have a boss that was caught manufacturing and selling meth and who was in possession of assault weapons. He received PROBATION. Meth is one of the most awful drugs; it eats your body from the inside out. Yet he got probation. Marijuana has been attributed to ZERO deaths…at least I can’t find any recorded deaths…EVER. When will the government finally open their eyes and see that even alcohol, which is legal for adult consumption, creates a larger problem and leads to criminal behavior (drunk driving, reckless behavior, deaths, motor vehicle accidents, domestic abuse, the list goes on) and that marijuana does not create criminal behaviors?
The marijuana laws as they currently sit CREATE CRIMINALS. People that use marijuana, in my experience, would rather stay at home or carry on in a peaceful manner. By using prohibition to “combat” marijuana, criminals are being made of otherwise law-abiding people.
I live in a college town…I see the effects of drinking everyday…drunken college kids vandalising nearly everything, peeing outdoors-often on people’s cars, park benches, sidewalks, being loud and disturbing the peace, and getting in their cars to drive-which creates a hazard to the public at large. The use of cannabis does NOT create this type of behavior. Most of the users of cannabis that I know are peaceful people who have clean records.
The other issue I feel is important is that cannabis users have roadblocks to being successful in the form of drug tests. I know well educated college graduates that cannot get better employment because they could not pass a urinalysis because they use marijuana. I find urinalysis to be against my (and others’) right to privacy. What you do on your own time is none of an employers’ business. If you come to work high/drunk/under the obvious influence, then yes, I can see a drug test as necessary. But if you use responsibly on your own time, it’s really none of their business.
Thank you for reading,
Molly Wonser
i think it is so dumb that pot is still illegal that it isn’t funney. you have one off the worrse drugs ever known to man kind (that being alchol) legal and one off the lease worse drugs illegal. something is very wrong here. the people should be able too smoke pot if they want to do so. they can go out and drink and drive and get as many dwi’s or dui’s as they want and still get behind the wheel off a car and drive. they also can go home or stay at home and get drunk and bet up the girl friend or the other way around and nothing is done to the person the is doing this, to put it short they have it back wards pot legal alchol illegeal. dave s.
If the government considers marijuana to be so dangerous–despite the fact that there is no record of it ever killing a single human being in its centuries long use, as opposed to the millions killed each year by the combination of alcohol and tobacco, which are also drugs which DO harm others, as opposed to marijuana–and we all know and recognize that the principle psychoactive ingredient in marijuana is T.H.C, then why do they allow the pharmaceutical companies to manufacture dronabinol (trade name Marinol) which is 100% pure T.H.C, and is a Schedule 3 drug! A Schedule 3 drug is described as “a drug which has medicinal benefits and a low potential for abuse.”
It can be called in by a doctor over the phone!
Yet natural marijuana, put here on Earth by God, or Nature, or–as Thomas Jefferson liked to say, “Nature’s God”–is a Schedule one substance, and the government claims, under this Scheduling that it has “no medical benefits, and a HIGH potential for abuse!”
How can the same exact chemical have “many medical uses and a low potential for abuse when put in a pill and manufactured by Big Pharma, when the natural plant, containing the exact same chemical, has “no medical benefits, and a high potential for abuse?”
And the argument that “it’s because of the other toxins in the smoke,”doesn’t hold water, since marijuana can be cooked and eaten, or inhaled through vaprization, which eliminates all the toxic smoke–like that found in legal tobacco (so it’s really a non-issue anyway)–and burns at a temperature that only releases the beneficial cannabinoids–one of which, G.B.H, actually moderates the psychoactivity of T.H.C and these cannabinoids have many beneficial medicinal properties only found in whole, natural cannabis, and which interact with the human body’s own endocannabinoid system.
The fact is, there are NOT superior drugs for many of the ailments marijuana can treat. It’s the best medicine for narrow glaucoma, it can’t be beat for reducing nausea and helping to stimulate the appetite after chemotherapy and aids treatments. and new evidenc has shown that it kills cancer cells in a number of types of cancer–prostate, breats, and brain cancer, to name a few. It has also recently been shown to be a useful tool in creating antibiotics to treat organisms that have become immune to known antibiotics.
These are serious diseases, and funding should be given abundantly to researh these new uses, which could be groundbreaking.
But anyone with intelligence knows that pot’s prohibition has nothing at all to do with health. Big Pharma is able to get away with selling pure THC as a
Schedule 3 drug because they have dozens of lobbyists and pour millions into the campaign coffers of our politicians.
Marijuana’s prohibition has nothing to do with science or health. If those were truly the government’s concerns, they would outlaw alcohol, which is one of the most dangerous drugs known to man, which not only hurts the person consuming it, but often kills others who happen to get in the way of the drunk’s reackless driving, or set off his or her temper. Tobacco kills almost half of the people who use it, and second hand smoke affects the health of others, they say–although I find that to bea bit of a strech. We always worry about the wrong things. People get more lung damage from just breathing in the air in a new bathroom that has a new shower curtain. That new shower curtain smell is made by the release of toxic chemicals released from the PVC content of the curtain.
Another thing: terrorism. Sure, it exists, and it’s horrible. But if you discount our illegal, pre-emptive invasions ofiraq and Afganistan (which fly in the face of the Principles established at Nuremberg when dealing with the Germans, and the laws of the U.N. Charter, which we most drafted; our invasions of those two countries met neither Articles 7 or 52 under legal reasons to engage in war. Anyway, if you discount the deaths that have occurred to these invasions, more people die, in the U.S. alone, than die from ALL of international terrorism COMBINED!
The government, mainly the neo-cons and “blue-dog” democrats, have allowed the fear-mongering of the GOPS, who never miss an opportunity to bring up 9/11, to get to them, and have passed draconian laws which are in direct conflict with our Constitution and which have eviserated the first 10 amendments of the Constituion, the Bill of Rights, the document which lays out our Civil Liberties and Rights as American citizens.
The so-called “Patriot” Act that was passed-the first one-was actually not the Bill that Congress had read and debated. Just hours before the vote on the Bill, members of the White House replaced the vetted Bill with a “secret” White-House version, that not one member of Congress had read.
Yet they passed the Bill anyway. One of the provisions of this now Law (just to give you an idea of how un-Constitutional and draconian it is)allows Federal agents to break into and enter any American citizen’s home, search and seize whatever they want, and never even tell the owner(s)/tenant(s) that they were there!
How does this law co-exist with the 4th amendment?
I’ll tell you how: in no way. It doesn’t. These laws have eviserated the Billof Rights,IMO, this surrender of our most basic rights is the greatest act of cowardice and surrender to terrorism we could possibly commit! Far, far, far greater a surrender than withdrawing our troops from an illegal, immoral, bankrupting war on a country that never attacked us, never had W.M.D.s and was never a threat to us or to our allies. It has always been about 2 things :carbon resources (oil and natural gas) and U.S. Imperial Expansion.
Another big reason pot has been kept illegal is due to the lobbying efforts of the alcohol industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the for-profit prison industry, and the pressure from all the people who make their livings from destroying the lives of people who decide to choose a safer and alternative form of relation, one that doesn’t cause a massive hangover the next morning. And most of the poeple whose lives they destroy are usually destroyed for mere possession. It is also a form of continuing rascism, as African Americans have a much higher rate of incarceration, despite statistics that show whites smoke just as much, or even more, cannabis than African Americans.One reason a lot of people don’t recognize is that America is the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn’t grow hemp. Hemp does not contain T.H.C.–or only in such minute quantities, that one could smoke a bale of it and still not get high. Yet, in America, hemp and pot are considered the same thing. Hemp can be used to make over a 1000 different products, many of them that usually require oil to make..it would also be a powerful biodiesal, and one that doesn’t affect the food chain. So, you also have the oil companies wanting hemp (or, in the U.S., pot)kept illegal, as well as textile industries, as hemp also makes great clothes, and of course rope.
Here’s another interesting fact: a few years back, a law was either pased, or attempting to be passed, to make government employees, State and federal, take random drug tests. Well, a group of them got together, fought it, (I think it went all the way to a Supreme Court)and won, with the Judge finding that random drug tests,without probable cause, violates our 4th amendments rights.
Yet, the Federal government continues to strongly encourage private businesses (which are not bound by the law, for some reason;I guess you only have 4th amendment rights if you’re a government employee)to screen employees for drugs. They used to–and probably still do–offer tax incentives for those who do this, become a “drug free workplace.”
Now, I don’t think people should use drugs at work, but the test for pot doesn’t even test for THC, it tests for its metabolite, which can stay in one’s urine for up to a month from a single use, especially in people who don’t drink a lot of water, or are overweight, as this metabolite is stored in fat cells.
So, a person could smoke half a joint on a Friday night after work, and test positive 2 weeks later, even though they haven’t smoked any since! Drug testing is another big industry that wants pot kept illegal.
So, it’s not about health, or logic, or any of that. it’s about politics, money, and the domination of corporate special interests.
Mussolini once said: “Fascism should really be called ‘Corporatism,’ because it is the perfect merger
between Corporation(s) and State”– (the government)-words in brackets are mine, there for clarification.
Sorry about the typos! I guess I should have proofread it more carefully. Hopefully, everyone can overlook this, and where there are mistakes, discern the meaning, which is what is important, and move onward.
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Alan.
People need to recall that it was Joe Biden (Obama’s chosen running mate) who was the author of the bill that created the ONDCP. None of the so-called “viable” or “electable” candidates will do ANYTHING to change the status quo of the second prohibition, not for marijuana, not for any other “illicit” drug. Ron Paul is the only one who would have done anything, don’t pin your hopes on Bob Barr either, look at his record in congress and you will see he was one of the worst offenders in making the prohibition more harmful to society. I, for one, do not believe he has actually changed his mind on the subject, I think, like most politician, he will do and say ANYTHING to get in office, even to lying about his “turnaround” on the drug war issue. We are not going to end prohibition by counting on elected officials or candidates for elected positions, they are mostly liars and thieves (with VERY few exceptions, like Ron Paul).
You should also know that just one state having declared marijuana medically useful should have ended the fed gov’s claim that it is not recognized as medically useful:
“The DEA [should be] under fire for not re-scheduling Cannabis out of schedule I, where it has been illegally kept, ever since 1996 when the state of California accepted cannabis as a legitimate medicine with “accepted medical use in the U.S.” The law does not require all states to find “Accepted Medical Use” only one, however 12 other states have agreed with California that Marijuana has “Accepted Medical Use.” All these states allow marijuana use, possession and cultivation at home. Because Marijuana has “Accepted Medical use in the U.S,” according to the express terms of PP (8)(b)(1)(A)-(C), marijuana can not legally be listed in schedule I. 21 CFR P. 1308.11 i.e. Schedule I.”
And also that since 2003, the fed gov holds the patent on cannabinoids for medical use. Talk about hypocrisy:
“your government currently holds U.S. Patent # 6,630,507 claiming: ‘Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties… cannabinoids are found to have particular applications as neuroprotectants… limiting neurological damage following… stroke and trauma… or in treatment of neurodegenerative diseases… such as Alzheimer’s… Parkinson’s… and HIV dementia’.”
We need to broadcast this information far and wide so as to embarrass the federal government, publicly, over their war on marijuana.
Bareny FRank Perfectly EXplains WHat the Goverenment has Done to Society today:
“The federal government’s misguided prohibition of marijuana is a war on young people,”. “Because of this failed public policy we have alienated an entire generation to believe that the police and the federal government are instruments of their oppression rather than their protection.”-Barney Frank
That is the true state of our society and is what will turn americas youth Against us, Because of Lies and Corruption are government puts out.
Legalize it , Because something as simple and harmless as marijuana being illegal will turn us away from you GOVT
I work with veteran’s at a very large VA hospital. All VA’s are affiliated with the local medical school and are teaching facilities for the nation’s supply of physicians, therapists, nurses and all other medical professionals that are in short supply.
All vets that I have spoken with about the subject are either currently using marijuana for their pain, anxiety, etc. or are open to the idea to help them defray the cost of medicines, the side effects of pharmeceuticals, the cost of gas to travel to the VA to pick up ‘free’ prescriptions, etc.
The sole affect of not only legalizing, but distribution of marijuana for vets and their physicians to use at they see fit would be an economic boom to this country akin to a drop of $100 a barrel in oil prices.
This does not include the reduction of taxes in, attorney fees, prosecutors fees, judges fees, incarceration fees to prosecute marijuana law offenders.
NORML keep on rollin!!!!!!!!!
Please add my name to the growing list of supporters for the legalization of marijuana. I have written to Congress and the Senate in support of passing H.R.5843. I have gotten the canned party line response, as expected.
It’s an election year and I for one, will not vote to re-elect any of my state’s current representatives because they all spout the lies and propaganda dictated by the special interest groups: AMA, BIG Pharmeceutical companies, liquor lobby and DEA. There is just no sane argument for keeping marijuana illegal. The only insanity is in keeping the current law-makers employed by your state.
Vote for almost anyone other than the current legislature and perhaps, before they’re bought off too, the laws can be changed. If things aren’t changed for the better, and soon, there may be a massive migration by American Citizens to other countries with more liberties available to us than we currently have here – in the supposedly free United States of America.
Save 400,000 lives each year! Work to pass a law that demands that cigarette makers must substitute cannabis for tobacco in their product or face prosecution.
I am puzzled as to why a prominent argument against cannabis seems to be that “many people just smoke it to get high”. How many “non-criminal” offenses are pleasureful yet bear a certain amount of risk? For instance food. Many people just eat it because they are hungry and like food. High fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, trans-fats, msg – the list goes on- are added to make food taste better but have a list of harmful “side-effects” such as weight-gain, heart-disease, diabetes and stroke.
Are our congressmen and women, law-enforcement agents, senators and other legislative bodies committed to eating only those foods that are used for fuel and not pleasure? Should any foods that bring pleasure without nutritional value be banned because “many people eat them only because they taste good”?
Wow there is so much useful information here. You would think that our gov. would read and wake up on this issue. Are they waiting for a revolution? Can this be done? I am willing to go to the White House and voice my opinion and I even might put a bag of good stuff in the Vice Presidents car and then call the police and let them know he is holding. Boy would that be a laugh. Would we be talking ” Cover UP” But the gov. is based on so much covering up this and that. And instead of leading us they are trashing the good Ole USA. They (gov) does not follow what the people want. To me we should have a revolution. We need to JUST SAY NO TO THEM and the man made laws that they have in acted to control us “The People” How many of you would be willing to go to the White House or to your local State capital and just light one up. Can you get masses to join you? Can we perform this all on one day? They could not arrest all of us at one time. They would have to say we have a voice. I have been smoking since I was 15, I am well respected in my neighbor hood. I work 40 hrs for someone else that controls my income, I have a fairly nice house, I encourage my children to join NORML and to send emails to their local Representative (Which is Randy Forbes) he will not even consider the thought of decrimalzation of MJ. this is sad when you elect a person (yes I vote) and then that person uses his power and avoids the people that put him in position. I say lets all JUST SAY NO to our government (State & Federal) When will the revolution begin? When will the True Americans (yes I am talking lower & Middle class) speak up and help change this crummy system that was put in place many years ago and make a major change. Quit taking our jobs away. Quit reducing the way to make a living in the USA (quit sending our work and our future out of the USA) At least if we legalized MJ we would be creating a product that can be manufactured and sold to the USA and maybe some exporting so we can bring money back into the USA instead of sending our jobs to other countries.
I want to make one more comment aboutthe harmful effects that are caused by the campaign to demonize marijuana.
Awhile back..oh, I think it’s been about half a year ago, that I read about this, our “Drug Czar” came out with the statement that “Marijuana was the most dangerous drug of all, more dangerous than heroin.”
Now, you can imagine a teen seeing or hearing this, as part of the never-ending anti-marijuana propaganda effort, which all studies have shown actually increase the probability that minors will experiment with cannabis, and storing this nugget of disinformation away.
Then, let’s say, a year later, the minor tries marijuana a few times, and finds that it doesn’t make him violent, schizophrenic, or act completely retarded, or do any of the things he’s been told through these anti-marijuana propaganda ads.
Then, let’s say, next time he goes to his drug dealer–who wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for prohibition–and the dealer offers him a real good deal on some heroin, and does his drug-dealer spin about how cool heroin is. At first, the minor is reluctant, because he’s heard from some older friends, that while pot wasn’t that bad a thing–although they said he was too young to be smoking–that cocaine and heroin, drugs about which you almost never see the same kind of anti-drug ads, were very dangerous.
But then that ad that said marijuana was far more dangerous than heroin pops back into his mind. He figures his friends are probably just saying that because they saw the same ad, but, unlike him, didn’t see that if they had lied about the affects of marijuana, and marijuana was supposedly worse than heroin, then heroin must be safe.
Because there’s no education about heroin, like how much one should do as a first time user–because people believe that “would be sending the wrong message,” they always say–usually while sipping an alcoholic beverage or a cup of coffee, both drugs–the kid doesn’t know what he’s doing, and does entirely too much. By the time morning rolls around, he has been dead for hours.
Now, who is truly responsible for thiskid’s death? I would say the “Drug Czar” bears as much responsibility as the drug dealer!
Legalization and regulation would remove a lot of drug dealers from our streets. It would make it harder for minors to get marijuana, as drug dealers don’t card, but these minors wouldn’t even be allowed in a store that sold legal cannabis to responsible adults.
The same kind of laws would apply to marijuana that do to alcohol–no doing it while working, driving, etc. And there is a test that will determine if a person is currently intoxicated on marijuana and not just positive from something he did a week or month ago–a blood test, in which a specific smount within the blood would indicate intoxication, and cause the arrest of that person for D.W.I. These test are reliable, as THC stay within the blood in a concentration that can easily establish a threshold limit.
Also, the mere fact that marijuana is legal will dter a lot of minors from trying it, merely by removing the taboo, as well as the commercials. Thesurest way to get a teen to do something is to make it taboo, mysterious, and absolutely prohibited.
What works much better is educational campaigns like those directed at tabacco from “Truth.”
Just as some people can drink responsibly, and others abuse it, the same is true with marijuana. Except that abuse of marijuana is a lot less likely to cause serious problems, like inciting violence; also, most people who are “high” realize they are impaired, and do not wish to drive, as opposed toalcohol, which often gives peoplethe impression that they are actually better drivers when drunk! Alcohol also incites violence in many, and suicidal depression in others.
The worse consequence of smoking marijuana is arrest. As Jimmy Carter once said, the punishment should not be worse than use of the substance.
The people that end up in substance abuse centers for pot are there because they have been forced to attend (I would say 98% of them are there unwillingly)
in order to avoid jail, or as part of their parole.
Alcohol and tobacco are both psychologically AND physically addictive, and it’s this last element that
makes it so difficult for people to stop. They say cigarettes are almost as adictive as heroin. I think that’s an overstatement, but they are certainly highly addictive and very difficult to stop.
Alcoholics wake up in the morning shaking so bad they can barely poor the shot of whiskey they need to stop that shaking. Yet, as dangerous as this drug is,
the government and the people decided that prohibition was worse, that it caused more problems.
Why is that same argument not true for a drug that is not physically addictive? I smoked marijuana for years, and when I quit, the only problem I experienced was difficulty sleeping for a few days. I took some melatonin, which is what one’s brain produces to induce sleep, until I could sleep fine without it within a week. Other than that, I suffered no ill effects. My I.Q. had not dropped. In fact, I actually scored two points higher.
I’m not saying marijuana is for everyone. People with mental problems should seek the advice of a mental health expert–a psychiatrist, not a psychologist, as psychiatrists are trained almost as extensively as M.D.s in internal medicine, pharmaceuticals, etc, as well as the psychological training they receive, before ever taking any kind of substance with psychoactive properties. People prone to abuse should avoid using marijuana, except when recommended by a doctor. Sometimes, marijuana can be used to help treat addiction to cigarettes and/or alcohol, and I’m sure, if more research were allowed, we would find a multitude of applications for cannabis–but that’s something Big Pharma and other Corporations don’t want.
Nevertheless, it’s what the people want, and legislature in a democracy is supposed to reflect that,
not the special interests of a few corporations that are afraid they’ll only make 4 million a year if marijuana were legalized, instead of the 5 million they usually make.
Marijuana consumers are no longer a fringe minority. Now, both liberals and conservatives smoke it; doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, computer analyists, bankers, Chefs, etc, etc. smoke it.Between 70 and 80 percent of Americans support either legalization or decriminalization, with no criminal record, or loss of grants, unemployment benefits, or other taxpayer funded programs. Most of us would happily agree not to grow our own, too–it could even be kept illegal, or only legal with a license tht was nearly impossible to aquire. I think most Americans, if they could go to a store and purchase quality marijuana for a reasonable price(and it would be very cheap to grown..tobacco companies, instead of protestingit, should encorage legalization, and they could take over growing it and rolling it) would be happy with that, and would never risk any criminal penalties for dealing outside the regulated system. Most cannabis smokers are law-abiding, tax-paying citizens, and smoking marijuana is the only illegal activity in which they engage. They continue to do it despite the risks because it does have a very stress-relieving property, does not cause hangovers, does not cause one to become mentally incompetent, as does alcohol after a cretain point, and causes a delightful increase in one’s perceptions, with sounds, colors, and textures becoming more vivid; and it also releases one’s creativity and humor from its often stress-bound captiviy. Also, it just doesn’t seem like smoking the flowers/buds of a natural plant should be illegal. The
government should have no say over what we put in our bodies as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else.
Legalization and regulation of marijuana would also, of course, generate enormous tax revenues so we could start re-working our infrastructure to support electric cars and alternative energies, without raising taxes. Planting hemp and marijuana in large quantities would eat up a lot of carbon dioxide while releasing fresh air.
It’s a win-win. And finally, itwouldn’t really hurt the alcohol or oil industry. We need to save oil formore important things. People who like beer, like beer, and people who like pot like pot, and just because it were legalized,would not cause anyone that didn’t like it before to start liking it now. It would allow cops to focus on real crimes, like rape, murder, and police brutality! And truly harmful drugs, like methamphetamine.
But even with the worst of drugs, unless theuser has committed crimes, which they will have to face the music for, they should be handled like alcoholics–people in the grip of a disease, and should be treated by the health department, not the ciminal justice system. That only turns them into true criminals.
So, it’s a win-win. But all of us who smoke,or have smoked, or simply beieve in the right to be able to smoke, need to speak out! If we all spoke out, they
would have to listen, because we number in the millions!
I am a person that takes roughly 30 pills a night. I am Bi-polar…I would rather smoke weed and laugh and eat than take pills that make me sick and affect my ulcers to the point that they bleed. I go on a med for one thing then have to go on anouther med to control what that med does to MY BODY and so on and so on. It never ends for me. Missouri is the ONLY state that has nothing set. And I can say that Missouri is really cracking down. There have been more raids on pot smokers than on Meth labs. What is the deal with that?
The people in high places that have no real rules need to come down off thier high horses and let the PEOPLE speak for what THEY want…Thats what OUR Government is SUPPOSED to be there for anyway…FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE! Well listen up guys the PEOPLE are SPEAKING so HEAR US!!!! We elect YOU remeber? Stop letting the Big drug companies make the money and let US decide if we want to us a LESSER drug such as Marijuana to control our symptoms…I would rather keep my liver and the rest of my internal organs and smoke a little weed than take these pills that involve mood swings,physical reactions,emotional roller coaster and the rest of the works. I stand behind NORML and everything they are trying to do. Thank You NORML and all those involved in trying to help the rest of US have a voice.
It should be obvious to the ONDCP, as well as OUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES in the government, that what they are seeing is revolution. The patriots of this country are screaming for freedom. Our rights have been stripped from us and we don’t like it. Our REPRESENTATIVES should wake up and realize that they are employed as OUR REPRESENTATIVES because they were elected to REPRESENT their constituencies, we, the people of the United States of America. If 71% of the people of the United States of America say: “decriminalize drugs”, then what are the REPRESENTATIVES doing? Who are they REPRESENTING? From what I see – Not the people who elected them, not the people of the United States of America.
The war on drugs has become a war on the American people. We are 5% of the world’s population, yet 1/4 of the world’s prison population is in the land of the free – The United States of America. 1 in 100 American adults are in prison in the U.S. The United States government has turned America into a country of criminals. It may be that only a fraction of inmates are in prison for drugs alone, but I will bet that the mass majority are in for an action that was directly related to illegal drugs. Whoever it is that does this kind of survey should survey the prison population and see what the results are.
Illegal drugs creates a black market. The black market creates what we are seeing all over the world – the rise of the Drug Cartels. I do not see how the U.S. government officials can not see that the policy is the cause of the problem. By keeping drugs illegal the government fuels the black market. Whether its marijuana, cocaine or heroin, if people want it, they will find a way to get it. AND somebody will find a way to sell it to them. The only way to clean up this mess is to decriminalize drugs. Let me or my neighbor or my brother or my aunt or my mother or my grandfather, or whomever, choose for ourselves what we put into our bodies. Our constitution guarantees us the right to the pursuit of happiness, however we choose to pursue it. The U.S. government is in violation of our rights.
I think everyone who has ever been cited, arrested, imprisoned, or violated in any way by The War on Drugs should join forces and file a class action suit against the federal government for violation of their constitutional rights. People, like David Ertel, who found himself in prison for 10 years because he was “set-up”.
David, if no one else apologizes to you for the disgraceful abuse that you received at the hands of the our government, even though I am not in the position to do so, as an American citizen, please accept my apology, not only for your suffering and loss of your obviously beloved wife, but also for not speaking out sooner.
Awesome guys..
Also, anyone in the Orlando area, there will be “The Great Marijuana Debate” in a Heads vs Feds political thrashing with Kris Krane from SSDP taking on Kevin Sabet from the DEA. The event is on Wednesday September 24 at 7:00pm. Keep the debates alive!
We all know our government believes in justice.
Only they pronounce it “Just US”. LOL
Sorry, had to throw that in.
People ask me all the time who I am going to vote for in the pres. election. I say “Nobody”. And they think it’s terrible that I am not voting. But who would I vote for? Only thing I could put would be “None of the above”. The only difference between the parties (because either man is only a figurehead for the PARTY) is how they are going to get their money. Because that’s all they care about.
I think that anybody that believes their politicians actually care about them needs a serious wake-up call!
They care about the almighty dollar and how many of them they can get.
They are supposed to serve us…but they are riding in limos, living in mansions and sipping champagne while their constituents are trying to figure out how to pay the car insurance on a 10 yr old car, the rent on a 2 room apartment, and still have enough for a bag of smoke or a 12 pack of beer, whichever they prefer.
I just hope enough of the people wake up to what is happening before it’s too late.
But I wonder what would happen if the majority of the U.S. wrote in “None of the above” on the ballot this year….LOL
We should all do it!
Tokes to all!
Sissy
I think Windy’s point is even MORE reason why Marijuana should be made legal re: “the patent on cannibinoids”.
I’ll keep my response brief, but the next presidential candidate AND the next congress need to keep in mind the following:
1. Baby boomers are starting to retire in record numbers and the money from Social Security isn’t there (it’s already been spent, remember?). You have to fund it somehow. . .legalizing and taxing cannabis and other currently illegal drugs would fund Social Security INDEFINITELY.
2. Drugs that are currently Schedule 1 have a “high potential for abuse”. Okay, well so does alcohol, PRESCRIPTION drugs, tobacco and in some cases, Food (for those with eating disorders). You don’t treat a health problem with law enforcement. You treat a health problem like a health problem.
And lastly, and most importantly:
“The Government is supposed to be WE THE PEOPLE. . .”.
Keep on plugging, NORML. Im over 50 and looking for work. After 15 years working for SF government, I am being drug tested for minimum wage jobs in Palm Springs! Thank god there are drug testing kits in the pharmacies! I just interviewed for a clericl job for the Public Defender’s office and hopefully I will be contributing to your war chest. Keep the battles going!
My choice is what I choose to do
and If I’m causing no harm it shouldn’t bother you
Your choice is who you choose to be
and if you’re causing no harm then you’re all right with me
If you don’t like my fire, then don’t come around
‘cuz I’m gonna burn one down.
Legalize it Legalize it.
The concept of complete proihibition of any substance, plants and plant products especially, does not work. It never has workd and it never will. It causes much more harm to our society than it prevents and it often harms addicts more than the drugs themselves.
can’t get through… they’re trying to silence us… John Walters is a rebellious teenager!
Yes on Emerald, No on Amethyst. We don’t serve teens!
the Free exercise of Faith, and the Freedom of conscience are foundational to our basic human rights. For the last 200 years, America has been an example and a model to the world of the best human government can do.
Our First Principle of protection lies in the freedom of it’s citizens to come to intellectually defensible conclusions on what to believe is True, and to act accordingly upon what they believe to be True. The First rule of protection for The People is the Free exercise of Faith.
HR 5843 allows me to be free to believe, and allows me to dream dreams, and hope in those dreams.
“Unless I am convinced by the testimony from Scripture or by evident reason- for I confide neither in the Pope nor in a council alone, since it is certain they have often erred and contradicted themselves- I am held fast by the Scriptures adduced by me, and my conscience is held captive by God’s Word, and I neither can nor will revoke anything, seeing it is not safe or right to act against conscience.
God help me. Amen”
-Martin Luther-
Please support HR 5843
To put it in the most simple terms, PROHIBITION DOES NOT WORK!!! It never has, & IT NEVER WILL.
Iam probably the same as the brothers and sisters out there. I smoked since Jr high I work have a home a pretty good life. Except for one thing is when I go to score some shit that I may lose eveything. Iam now fifty two years old I think I should quite haveing to look over my shoulder come on thats get with it and come out of the of the dark ages and vote.
thanks Richard
Former because I sit through countless meetings, watched 100’s of brewery speakers. All in which pot was brought to the for front as the thing they had to fight. And trust me they spend millions fighting it. Because they no that there are alot of people who would sit down the beer, wine and hard boose if weed was legal. With the younger people now its meth and crack. It cost 30,000 a year to keep a guy in jail, thats fine if he kills someone or rapes someone. But come on lets get real here. 30,000 in tax dollars to jail someone who was very likely a productive, responsable person. Just trying to relax after a stressful day or even a great day at work. The school systems will suspend a student for bringing an Advil to school, but yet they pass out condoms to that same student !!!! I now work for the schools by the way. I have a 21 year old daughter who is beat almost daily by a drunkin mexican. I bet if he didnt drink but instead sit down to toke on one he would play with the kids and have a different outlook on life (CALM). When will this country belong to the people again. What are the feds so worried about, Cheech and Chong types or Osama bin Laden.I think our prison systems tell who they are worried about. And why, MONEY. Just say YES !!
Thanks NORMAL for your voice.
I am a stupid old man; my leaders say I am not smart enough after 60 years on this planet to make my own decisions. So let me see if I have this straight? If she feels marijuana users should be put in jail and she is an admitted marijuana user, should she not be put in jail? If a bank robber publicly admitted to robbing a bank you can bet the FEDs would lock that person up! I don’t think Palin meant she should go to jail she thinks we should have the same old double system. If you are a rich person on Oxycodine its ok LEGAL. But if you are poor or black and smoke a weed you go to jail ILLEGAL. If you are running for VP you have no laws you are above the law. Too bad we still have to live with the laws you are above! I hope one of her kids gets caught with 28.5 grams and is sent to federal prison for 20 years to be raped and scarred for life. But we know that will never happen someone would get paid off big time! I hear what you are saying Palin.
You are saying let my only son spend the 20 years in jail to insure your PAC check is covered? How long do you think we are going to put up with this double standard? My opinion is not much longer!
A stupid old man
I have read all the comments and 100% are in support of marijuana law reform. I won’t get long winded as I usually do as I believe all positive remarks have been touched upon. I wanted to post MY TOTAL SUPPORT for H.R.5843 and H.R. 5842 and I have written to NUMEROUS congressional legislators more than once ( I write 2-3 legislators weekly) I rotate the ones I have in my address book and try different ones every 2 weeks or so. Some are really hard to get a message to as I get mail sent back with this attachment: This politician does NOT accept mail from NON-CONSTITUENTS. I say when it comes to certain issues “WE THE PEOPLE” are ALL the politicians constituents. I have written to and continually write to President Bush, Nancy Pelosi, John McCain, Barrack Obama, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Michael Michaud, John Boehner, and a few I have neglected to remember.
I am FORTUNATE to live in a State where VOTERS rule and have spoken to the establishment at the voting booth with an overwhelming 68% support of Question 2 in 1998.
Yes you guessed it I LIVE IN “MAINE” where our motto is “THE WAY LIFE SHOULD BE” and for the most part it is good. I fear the establishment of dispensaries as in California it seems OBVIOUSLY the right thing to do but it has drawn the TOTAL focus and unwarranted attention of DEA and their GESTAPO TACTICS. Its like ground zero for the “WAR ON MARIJUANA. BTW : YES I DO SMOKE and have for 30 years. I may still SMOKE in the closet , I no longer HIDE in there.
I am just an old Hippie, who minds her own business, tries to be easy on the planet, no longer uses hard drugs, except an occasional beer, yes I think alcohol is a hard drug. I recently was arrested for 6 plants that harmed no one. They were solely for myself, or the occasional friendly visitor. I now face 5-15 years in prison here in Missouri. I am a 50 year old mother with a 14 year old son, and a 16 year old daughter, already attending collage. So am a really such a threat to society? I own my own home, pay all my bills responsibly, take care of my children, and animals well, pay taxes, work, even though I am disabled, by a drunk driver (not myself) by the way. So I suppose I belong in prison, because I grew something that our country’s forefathers all grew along with most everyone else in Colonial New England? Our constitution is written on Hemp paper. You might as well burn that too, as it seems as though it means little or nothing now. I am no longer allowed to smoke Hemp, as I am in intensive “drug therapy”, where I’ve been accused of being an addict, although to stop is no problem, just the fact that my right to pursue happiness, is now null and void. Also accused of being a whore, and many other things, most usually classified with hard drug users, and alcoholics. What fun I am having, and to say I am not an addict is of no avail, as that supposedly means “I’m in denial”. Can’t win situation. Funny, I have recently looked up Marijuana in Wikipedia, to find that it is decriminalized or legal in Russia of all places. What a switch! All through school we were taught how there was no freedom there, and now its flip flopped on us! Shame on our government! Shame, shame, shame!!!!! Yes put me in Prison, or this new “Drug Court” where all rights are stripped, and even prescribed medication, life saving is denied to people!
Old Hippie Lady, on her way to Prison
Old hippie lady would love to hear from you and find out what we can do to help. This is a prime example of what I fight every day. Good people put in jail by our NAZI government!! Drop me line hood1@hoodstuff.com I am
Cherokee Fred Hussein or Stupid old man on this post…
the time has come for the voices of the stoners to be heard. we have spent years tryin to get this subject heard and its about time congress listens. the main problem bein its easy to be on a computer and talk about it but when its time to stand up for it noone is there everyone is worry about how they will look and if they will be alone so we never stand together and nothin gets done. if all the smokers got together and actually tried to really get it done then we wouldnt have a problem but lettin 60 or 80 voices do all the talkin then we get no where. we need to band together and all really stand for what we want. this government has taken over our voices and speaks for us without care to what we have to say. this government is no longer for the people but in fact is for the money. if pot was legalized then the government stands to loose far to much money to let that happen. they would have to empty alot of the jails and deal with outsiders cuttin there throats price wise. until the government actually listens to us willingly we need to stand up and make them listen cause its what the people want. and after all isnt this country for the people not the government…….
I think we all realize by now that the fact marijuana is illegal is absolutely ludacris. The good news that it looks like some of the important people are figuring it out too. I think all of congress should just hotbox the capital and get real baked… that might speed up the process. I know I will see the legalization in my life…. but for the love of god hurry up people!!!
If you are interested in the legalization of hemp check out the Stoner Army a more youthful group working towards the legalization of hemp and all hemp products.
If I left it up to the govt. for my health they would of killed me years ago marijuana saved my life i got medical records to back it up, I use it everyday for nausea, pain,instead of trying to eradicate a plant why don’t they put their energies into finding a cure or taking sex offenders off the street, they are so good at finding smokers you would think that the govt.would be able to find bin laden maybe they just put their energies towards him instead of convicting innocent folks…………………………………………..
This is AWESOME guys keep up the fight, its quite contradicting that the government that so strongly advocates against weed would make something like G13..but then again..tehy are politicians
I’m back.
It is not a matter of weed it is a matter of money and power. Stop the PAC money from flowing into OUR representatives pockets. All the major corporations that do not want weed legal. Because it will hurt there bottom line. Then our Representatives would stop the lies and represent us (75%) for a change!!I like Obamas idea make them post on a web site all the contributions they receive. Also list all of the bills they pass and how much money is spent on each including there vote. Then the most unsophisticated person could make the connection. Of course you would still have to catch the ones that sell homes for 700,000 more than they are worth to rich vote buyers. I try to watch senate/house on TV but they cover it up very well and it becomes boring very quick. Only they can make sense of how business is conducted, just the way they want it..
http://blog.thehill.com/2008/09/04/gov-palins-past-use-of-marijuana-is-significant/
read this blog entry and post your support for marijuana.
Robert, thanks for the url I have been waiting for a forum where we could post our thoughts about her MJ use. I could care less I feel it is a personal decision every free American should have the freedom to make on there own. But to hear Palin state she used but still wants to put others in jail for it boils my blood.
goto http://www.november.org/
Read the stories of Americans in jail at the wall section. I brings me great distress that is why I fight this war every day and night. To stop people having there lives ruined by a government running on greed and power.She is saying I will not go to jail and my loved ones will not go to jail. But I will sacrifice your only son and put him in jail to ensure my PAC check is covered!!!!!!!!!
STOP THE WAR ON US NOW!
There are a lot of things that have the “potential for abuse” and that will kill you if abused. Driving a car is one of them. Marijuana is not. Did you know that if you drink too much water it will kill you? I never heard of someone dying from smoking too much weed.
“The Message is very simple, THINK FOR YOURSELF, AND QUESTION AUTHORITY. Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities — the political, the religious, the educational authorities — who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing — forming in our minds — their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to inform yourself.”
By Timothy Leary
I thought in a democracy the majority should win, but apparently we do not really live in a democracy. This is a retarded oligarchy where the greedy get richer.
“Our safety, our liberty,depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States, as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both congress and the courts, not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”
–Abraham Lincoln
Although I wholeheartedly agree with many analogies I’ve read, I stress that numbers are the only true currency that will take us anywhere positive in the fight to normalize marijuana culture into our country. I am saddened by the great apathy and cynicism expressed by the pot smoking populus in general. Our representatives (good or bad) are basically responding to the teat that feeds them best. If the opposition to marijuana culture carries more flesh in the voices being heard, then they will be the only ones that are viably listened to. So many people who either use, are in favor of, or are even indifferent to marijuana use are not being practical in the sense of excercising their democratic duty to fix what is broken in our ever changing policies and laws. I salute Congressman Frank, and at the same time wonder what has happened to the “common sense” of so many others that hold these higher offices as well as many of our voters out there. Ya know, I believe the the worst enemy of democracy isn’t terrorism, communism, not even conservative fundamentalism – but apathy. We do not count as citizens until we stand to be recognized – face this fear of condemnation, and break free these very bonds which effect so many.
I myself was arrested last year for growing plants on the back of my farm. A poacher was hunting (no permission), saw my stash garden, took a modest share, and called me in. Although I was charged aplenty, this man who was trepassing with a firearm and an intent to kill on my land was credited for doing a “good deed”. I spent thousands of dollars I didn’t have to defend myself for minding my own business. Mind you, I got off with only probation (thank you NORML attorneys), the point is that NRA has voters, the GOP has voters and we need more voters. Those who feel the marijuana laws and other laws in government are wrong or need ammending need to stand up and be recognized. As wonderful as the results could be, the real beauty is so many Americans working together for what they believe in. Our gentleman-farmer ancestors would be so proud.
I cannot let a day go by without asking my fellow Americans to help end the WAR ON US. All we ask is a little compassion. We don’t ask you to do something you do not wish to do. All we ask is allow us to enjoy something that helps us and stop putting us in jail. You will save 100 billion in the process.
I am still looking for something to force the majority to action. How about this one if you go out and wear too much cologne it will give the cops the right to search your car. It is called using a masking agent. Or if you appear to be having a good time and should smile while driving this to is considered probable cause to search your car.In other words you have no rights using this the cops can search you for any reason they can come up with. How long are you going to wait to take action???
I believe that arguing against the legalization of marijuana, especially for medical reasons, is completely irrational. I know I’m preaching to the choir, but my point is this: In order for people that don’t smoke to see it as okay is to publicly admit smoking it (unless you will lose your job or anything like that). Many ignorant people who are actually very smart don’t know the massive amount of smokers in this country, or even the true effects of marijuana when smoked in reasonable quantities. It is especially important for the younger generation to spread the word, because we have more time to help people see rationally. Younger people also tend to have more open minds (def. not always the case) because once they move out of their parents house they learn that not everything mommy and daddy told them is true, and they start to experiment for themselves to learn things. We have to speak up, because the people who are now young will someday be the leaders of our country. I firmly believe that the next wave of politicians is our best hope for full legalization, because a lot more people start smoking at a younger age than before. The internet is vital to the movement as well, because if the knowledge we have today was available during the reefer madness days, we never would have had this problem. We have to remember though that most people won’t trust a website that’s solely pro-drug. That is why I think it is necessary to branch out to all areas of the media and especially to well-established non drug related websites. Even if it is just a banner on your personal website, everyone who has a website that gets traffic should consider putting a norml ad on it. If there are thousands of people with websites that get hundreds of people or more daily in traffic, it adds up to a lot of potential visibility. Spread the knowledge to everyone you know, because you might be surprised at how many people are misinformed. Let people know the ups AND the downs of smoking, otherwise they won’t take you seriously. Just make sure that they realize that the benefits far outweigh the cost of prohibition. Once again, everyone with a website should add a norml banner to it, whether it is small or large, because thousands of small websites, teamed up with thousands of large websites will add up to a whole lot.
Even if you are neutral or against, help us end the madness. Take the 100 billion and fund universal health care for all Americans. Don’t fire all the people used to support this War on US use them to do good rather than harm….
Being mindful of my language I have something else to say. I am a 60 years old a grown man. I volunteered for service during the Vietnam War and served my country honorably. I worked for forty-five years before retiring. I spent six hours today on the back of my D31 dozer clearing 16 acres I just bought to build my last home (A green home off the grid). I am not a racist or a bigot or a hypocrite I am what I consider a freeborn American Citizen leaning toward redneck. I feel I have as many rights as the next citizen. With 60 years of survival behind me I feel I have the right to say what is on my mind. I have never been one to hold my tongue. Sometimes this brings me success and other times failure. But you never have to wonder what is on my mind, if you ask, I will tell you.
I have dedicated my life to ending the War On US (drugs) I have seen the destruction it is causing this country. Like the cops from the LEAP website say (a 10,000 strong police site) there motto is, “Drug abuse is bad. The War on Drugs is Worse.” I just watched a video that featured our present drug czar. The lies continue I think sometimes if I where him, would I forfeit my job and power to admit the drug war is a failure? Waste 100 billion a year, is filling the jails with our good non-violent fellow citizens, is causing mothers to lose their children, ruining hundreds of thousands of our young peoples lives, enslaves one in three blacks, also a disproportionate number of Hispanics. Men in there 60s+ are losing land passed down through three generations, children are lied to and they know it! Sick people are denied medicine prescribed by a doctor; these people say marijuana helps them with their daily problems. Our police at one time sworn to, “Protect and Serve”, are now told to, “Punish and Enslave.” For a herb that we call weed, in the 60s we called it grass. Why are our leaders (house/senate) so persistent about putting us in jail? Why do they feel they have the right to over rule a vote by the people and violate states laws and rights to insist on putting us in jail?? Why are they accused of a conspiracy to undermine states rights and laws to continue the war??? I have requested to hear if our VP pick will support Barack on his promise to back off the FEDs in medical marijuana states. Where the people have spoken through their votes. I feel this is a simple request but it almost got me kicked of the Obama site. There is nothing that will stop me from voting for Barack Obama I feel his is the one. He will turn this country around and give it back to the rightful owners citizens like us. He will return the right to choose and the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Today I feel these rights do not exist unless you are rich enough to buy them. I am not rich like the majority of citizens today I struggle through life. I live with the knowledge that there is a double standard in place today. Those that can/cannot afford health care, those that can/cannot afford justice, those of us that live with the laws our leaders (house/senate) pass. And those that are or at least feel they are above them. People like Palin, McCain’s pick for VP she wants to continue the War On US (drugs) while admitting she may test positive for THC (marijuana) herself. She will still put YOUR only son or daughter in jail and ruin their life with no compassion. This sacrifice of others lives and money will insure her PAC check will clear. When are Americans going to grow some and stand up and say this is not right? This War started in 1937 to keep blacks from having sex with white women, marijuana was said to make blacks think they were as good as whites. It was for racist reasons this fact is well documented. Now our leaders (house/senate) have built a machine over the years a machine that consumes 100 billion of our dollars and 800,000 lives every year (they get their (house/senate) share of the money for sure). After 72 years it (the war) does no good (see this years drug war statistics) it cannot be won! American citizens will not conform to a law based on lies against something they feel helps them. (liquor was illegal remember?)
For, against, neutral we do no care, all we ask is quit putting us in jail and stealing our property, that is all we ask we will not bother YOU trust me. Do not believe the lies you see and hear everywhere (the normal scare tactics our leaders use) they are bought and paid for with your tax money to ensure our leaders can feed the machine with our money and lives. LEGALIZE, REGULATE, TAX BUT PLEASE STOP THE WAR ON US (drugs) We are the ones that advocate Live and Let Live, if only others felt the same way.
Please email me at hood1@hoodstuff if you need more information or want to help end this war. We could use the money saved to fund universal health care so those few,”druggies”, that want or need help could get it. Plus we would have and estimated 30 billion surplus. Not counting the 50 billion estimated tax income this would bring our great country in its time of need. That is a plus $220,000,000,000.00 (220 billion) with free health care for all. Please support ending the War On US (drugs). Email me if you just read what I feel and have a comment! Hell, just email me if you read it. I spend my time for a worthy cause but does anyone hear me or care? I do not advocate drug use of any kind. I demand our rights and that our representatives hear us the 75% that say represent us not PACs. PACs that fear there lose of profits if the war were to end and our lives and money were not sacrificed. God bless our great country and vote for Barack Obama to save it! If only we could remove greed and power from our system what a great country this would be for us all!
The astounding facts found on this website and with this organization (to which I am proudly a member of) need to outside of this realm and to the eyes and minds of the rest of population. With less than 60 days to go until the presidential election, we have to encourage apathetic who believe that they can’t make a difference. We need to get people to realize that not only will our voices be more easily heard by petition and elective response, but those actions will also open doors to other thinking as well. Imagine if we could change our marijuana laws and show the world that we are not criminals, junkies or bad guys, we could lay to rest assumptions and fears that have existed for almost a century. It would stand to reason that other countries would follow in our influence and example. It would also stand to reason (and this is just my assumption) that we would look at other laws and political actions that we disagree with and openly question them as well – not in the sense rebellion, but rather to realize that it’s okay to think for yourself instead of comforming to the crowd. I see so many great possibilities for America if more Americans “play ball” and at least look at the facts, wiegh the evidence (the “true evidence”), amd decide accordingly. In a nutshell, let’s take it to the streets – these facts are important, but are sadly confined to publications and websites such as this, and it’s safe to say that the majority of those reading it are already on the same side. Tell a friend…..
how bout we try to make alcohol and tobacco illegal? think that might wake them up?
I sit and watch TV they run one drug ad after another. Drugs for everything from help getting a erection to stop your legs from being restless ALL LEGAL! So how could any thinking American say a drug (HERB) that anyone can grow and helps thousand if only to get through your day be illegal? Spend 100 billion, jail 800,000 a year and loose an estimated 50 billion in tax money?
LEGAL= MADE AND PATENTED BY MAJOR DRUG COMPANY PRODUCES 1000S OF PERCENT PROFITS FOR THE COMPANY.
MUST OF HIT WRONG KEY
ILLEGAL=USED BY THE POOR AND POWERLESS CAN BE GROWN BY ANYONE LIKE A WEED. MAJOR DRUG COMPANIES CANNOT GET PATENT (FED GOV OWNS PATENT ON MARIJUANA!!)THEY WOULD LOOSE AN ESTIMATED 80% OF THERE PROFIT BECAUSE. IF PEOPLE HAD ACCESS TO MARIJUANA IT WOULD CURE DEPRESSION, INSOMNIA, CHRONIC PAIN, JOINT PAIN, MIGRAINS,RELIEVE STRESS AND THOUSAND OF OTHER DAILY PROBLEMS. OR JUST TO GET A BUZZ LIKE DRINKING A FEW BEERS WITHOUT THE PART ABOUT BEER KILLING YOU (ITS LEGAL!!) LEGALALIZE, REGULATE,TAX QUIT PUTTING US IN JAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I read, I find that the sentiment is the same, over and over and over again. Persecution and prosecution – not in Russia…. in The United States of America.
In Russia marijuana is legal. Now there is a twist for you! How I remember, at 10 years old, crying myself to sleep, worried sick that the communists would be bombing us to smithereens. We were so afraid of the Russians with old Khrushchev banging his shoe on the desk, telling us that he would bury us. My, my, my how the tables have turned! I agree with Old Hippie Lady – shame, shame, shame on the American politicians. And, by the way, where are all you old hippies? You shut down an unwanted war with your protest, your passion, your beliefs! Back then we had the freedom to actually protest in public, although even then some died for the cause. Remember Kent State and U.C. Berkley?
Now we are all so afraid to speak out in public, being silenced through fear of arrest, invasion of our homes, getting thrown into prison for years and years, stripped of our homes, our families, our jobs, our businesses, our (illusion of) freedom. We no longer have freedom of speech. Yes, all we have is an illusion of freedom. Really, what we have is the freedom to keep our mouths shut or suffer the consequences of not doing so. Isn’t this what we were raised to fear the most? So, it’s not communism in and of itself, it’s the fear that we were taught did not exist in America. We could speak out, we could say what we wanted, when we wanted, to whomever we wanted. Try it now and you will be accused of being a terrorist or worse!
It’s rather similar to Nazi Germany in the 1930’s wouldn’t you say. What Jew didn’t fear the sound of the siren, the bang on the door, being torn from their home and thrown into a prison (then called ghetto or concentration camp). What pot smoker doesn’t have the same anxiety? This issue is far more than just being about the ability to smoke a little pot. It’s about our basic American freedom.
We can all go running around raising old glory, praising our country and mouthing our glorious freedom, but how many of us go home, lock our doors and pray that somebody doesn’t decide to point the finger at one of us. Sort of feels like we all moved into the Twilight Zone doesn’t it?
I cringe when I hear Cat Stevens asking “Oh, very young, what will you leave us this time?”
Oh, very old, what, oh what, will we leave them this time?
As I read over what I wrote, I am fearful to actually send it. What do I do? Do I take a deep breath and hit the send button, or do I turn my back in fear. At nearly 60 years old, do I take a chance? Do I risk becoming a target because I choose to speak out? My 89 year old mother tells me “don’t say that – THEY will get you”. Who is the “THEY” she is talking about? Why it’s my brethren from the land of the free and the brave! The land my father fought in WWII to keep free, so his children and grandchildren would be free. What we have is not what he fought for. He would roll in his grave if he could see what our beloved political system has wrought upon the American people.
Well, I have held onto this for over a week now. Too afraid to actually send it. What will happen if I do? Will the Gestapo, oops, I mean the police be at my door in a few minutes? later today? tomorrow? next week? Ransacking my home, tearing it to shreds, treating me like the lowest of all criminals, calling me names, throwing me to the ground, beating or scaring me into submission? Looking until they find something. Something or Nothing – the result is still the same. I will have been violated and cowed into submission. I will suffer immense humiliation, fear and psychological damage. I will shrink from speaking out. I will shut up! THEY will win. THEY will continue to use these tactics, why not, they work! Look at the fine work of the DEA! I cringe in fear for my otherwise law abiding brethren who dare to take the chance. They buy or grow their medicine, they get relief, if even for a short time. Fearing the whole time that they will be next!
Should I stand by my convictions or hide in fear? Do I hear the cry of my fellow countryman – Patrick Henry – “Give me Liberty or give me Death” and raise my voice? Death of my life style, Death for my family, Death of my financial security. Can’t lie, really don’t want that Death part, but the sentiment is still there – Give me Liberty!. Give my countrymen Liberty!
With trembling fingers, I choose to push the submit button. Shame, shame, shame on all of you for letting this happen in this country!
I agree with you stupid old man, even if we possess marijuana seeds they are not legal and contain no THC. The big PHARM companies are either killing us off with FDA approved drugs and side effects included. When ever we read a newspaper or put on the boob tube, there are always notices to contact lawyers about side effcts from FDA approved drugs and then it is too late. FDA approved drugs kill more people than drugs that are not legal. WHAT A JOKE!!!!!!!
Mary, what a great post it says it all, how we suffer and live in fear. I to am 60 and enjoy a smoke to help with my depression. When will this madness end? More of us must be brave enough to stand and demand our rights. I feel they may come and lock me up any day for I fight this War On U.S.(drugs) every day. I feel our representatives that are sworn to represent U.S. should be prosecuted for forsaking U.S. In favor of the corporations that pay them (house/senate) millions every year. So they continue to enslave us, ruin our lives, steal our property for pure greed. We are the estimated 75% of American that says stop the War On U.S.(drugs) and let our people go!! It is time to get someone to represent us as sworn to do!!
To Buggsy 13420666 thanks I feel sometimes no one reads these post.
For the record the so called legal drugs kill an estimated 100,000 people every year. Liquor kills 400,000 every year. Tobacco kills 500,000 every year. They are all legal so it is not our lives our so called leaders are trying to save.
ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS COMBINED ARE ESTIMATED TO KILL 10,000 EVERY YEAR. MARIJUANA KILLS ZERO PEOPLE!!
So based on the stats they should make the legal ones illegal and the illegal ones legal that would save 1 million lives if that was our so called leaders objective, it is not. The want to ensure the PAC check clears the bank it is all about greed and power!!Our lives being ruined every day is not important to them..
I am a new guy. But I read everything I can get my hands on about this War On Drugs. You should as well, you say it does not concern you but it does. It cost you 100 billion a year. It is making our children lose faith in our system. I is putting millions of good fellow citizens in jail every year. It is tearing our country apart from the inside. It jails one in three blacks and Hispanics at a high rate. You say you are a racist and do not care if blacks are being put in jail. Well then fight the war because of the money wasted then.Whatever the reason quit putting us in jail is that so tuff??
It is time for our so called leaders (senate/House) to do their sworn job!!
Represent us the 75% that say end the War On U.S. (drugs)
NOW!
I found a unicorn mien drug czar! A man paralyzed from age four doing something that made him feel better and you bible thumping hypocrites killed the poor young man. Of course he was black so what does it matter, right? When you die you will be haunted by the souls of men like this one.
Twenty-seven-year-old Jonathan Magbie died while serving a 10-day sentence for marijuana possession in a Washington, D.C., jail. Magbie, a quadriplegic since age 4, used his chin to operate a motorized wheelchair and required a ventilator to help him breathe. The jail could not provide the medical help he needed, and by the time he was taken to a hospital, he was dead. Magbie was a first-time offender who told the judge that marijuana made him feel better and that he didn’t think there was anything wrong with using it.
Can you find one? The drug czar said anyone jailed for possession was a unicorn and did not exist?
Help end the War On US (drugs)
Cherokee Fred Hussein aka Stupid old man
Fighting this war daily please help THEY LIE WE FIGHT!
hood1@hoodstuff .com
Can you find one?
I am tired of the oppression. I was thinking why this war is waged and continued? Then it hit me while reading another article that described Rachel Hoffman as a hippie-ish free spirit. (Hoffman was killed in a botched drug buy the cops set up forcing her a MJ user to go covert undercover to buy cocaine) In this country of diversity some still think everyone should be the same, like them. There is a faction not unlike the KKK that feels free spirits have no place in this land. If you do not dress a certain way or attend a particular church or some other imposed criteria you have no value. They are racist or something akin to one they want everyone to be like them and act as they do.
This will never happen, only one problem these people are in control of our country today.
They call themselves conservatives, Christians, religious fundamentalist, protectors and other names. They have one goal to make everyone the same like them. I do not wish to remove their rights to be as they are. I live by the golden rule and the theory Live and Let Live. I am Native American I feel lucky I accept people for what they are and get along with anyone. But I will never fit the mold these people insist we conform to. I am like Rachel a hippie-ish free spirit.
That is why I fight the War on US (drugs) my people are being raped, murdered, jailed and eradicated. Last year 872,000 non-violent drug related (mostly marijuana possession only) were not helped but thrown in jail. I have tried to think how could our so-called leaders put non-violent good Americans (I have read their stories these are not criminals) in jail and ruin their lives. It must be because we are hippie-ish free spirits and the people in power fear us. The fear is from 72 years of our government using our money to spread lies and propaganda and the followers have bought in on their lies. I see them as followers they follow and there is nothing wrong with that I follow sometimes. But I am a free spirit and I prefer to lead. This must be the reason we are prosecuted the way we are. Many hippies enjoy a bit of smoke from time to time not that I do. I do not promote any drug use I insist that we have our rights as American citizens given back. I demand our government quit demonizing us and recant the lies and propaganda you have spread over the years. We are normal people just like others all we ask for is quit putting us in jail quit wasting the 100 billion of our money every year. Let the 2 million non-violent drug related prisoners out of jail. Leave us the hippie-ish free spirits alone we are non-violent fun loving people and do no harm. But we will never be like you even if you jail us and persecute us we will fight back. Like the crusades many wars were fought to oppress people unlike themselves or Hitler wanting to purify his race by killing everyone unlike him. We will never conform we are free thinkers and we understand the truth. This war is a scam based on racism. It is time to end the War on US (drugs) let us live in peace this is all we DEMAND!!