When the producer of the FoxNews program ‘Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano‘ asked me to appear on air last week to discuss the issue of marijuana law reform, I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect.
Fortunately it became clear from the host’s opening monologue that Judge Andrew Napolitano is a powerful and articulate friend of cannabis liberalization.
“The War on Drugs that the federal government has waged, and on which it has spent billions and billions of taxpayer dollars, has been a complete waste of time, money, and effort.
Take marijuana, for instance. It’s been grouped together and enforced by the Drug Enforcement Administration with real hardcore drugs like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. But states like California and soon New Jersey have pretty much legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes. While the federal government contends that … marijuana has the potential to promote cancer, patients of cancer and other similar ailments actually use marijuana to fight these deadly diseases.
So wouldn’t the federal government be better off creating the incentive to empower people to make the right choice, to make their own free choice, rather than persecuting them and prosecuting them for what the feds consider to be the wrong choice?”
Watch our full interview below:
The good Judge is spot on. The primary reason cannabis should be re-legalized has always been that failure to do so violates God’s will for people to live in freedom with liberty as acknowledged and cited in the Constitution of the United States. I was surprised the “gateway” theory did not come up. My response to that is always, if cannabis is a gateway drug, and tens of millions of people have used it, where are the tens of millions of hard drug addicts? Maybe the government keeps them all hidden away somewhere, the same place it keeps the constitutional, rational, scientific-based and enlightened policy on cannabis.
Yes, the tipping point on this issue point has arived! I am in total agreement with Grandma420 that the President is a stand up guy. Well it is time to stand up Mr. President, I would perfer that you step off of my secure rights with this crazy ass Constructive Fraud created by a Jim Crow Government. I think Mr. President Obama it is fair to say the People would like you stand up for our secured rights and put our employees back under control of the governed.
Hopefully this interview will enlighten the cannabis consuming culture; that although hated by many, not all conservatives (whether they be Republicans or Liberterians) are against the advocation of marijuana reform. For too long I have heard about Fox News being the channel of lies and “misinformation”. As an advocate of nearly all Fox News programs for many years (whether I agree with them 100% or not) they offer an unbiased opinion of current events that affect our lives. Let’s not subjogate ourselves to the liberal biases of the NY Times or MSNBC, and realize that the conservative movement can also promote the advocation of cannabis reform.
Dammit NORML this is what I have been saying: LIBERTARIAN PARTY! Yet you keep on saying politicians like Ron Paul are not viable. Sure Ron Paul will not run for pres because he is too old, but the libertarian movement is growing fast!!
The ONLY way marijuana will ever truly be free is through liberty. The only political party that believes in liberty is the libertarian party.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE contact fox news and plead with them to give the Judge a prime time TV spot. Even if you still aren’t on board with the libertarian party, at least you will be changing neo-con fox newsers to liberty loving individuals. Please contact fox!!!
General-Jake #76 (post #60)
In regards to paraquat:
The information is out there on the web. I have done so much reading this past year on how certain diseases are affected by cannibinoids (THC is not the only one involved) that when I read this about paraquat inhibiting apoptosis I made the connection.
If you are old enough, you will remember the controversy surrounding “Agent Orange” during the Vietnam war. This was another government experiment and has been well documented.
Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. More than 21,000,000 US gallons of Agent Orange were sprayed across South Vietnam.
According to the post-war Vietnamese government, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.
The government refers to these chemicals as “Tactical Herbicides”. Since it is a “War on Drugs”, and Paraquat is a herbicide, is it really so far fetched?
Our government is more crooked than the average person wants to believe.
Ha ha. Funny. How did you guys do this. It looks so real…
This can’t be real
Finally, we got some unbiased airtime. Paul, you did an excellent job. Judge thank you for being unbiased and allowing Paul to make his speaking points. I have to agree the reason marijuana is still illegal, is that the politicians have lied to the public for sooooo long. They don’t know who, or what to believe. We have to educate the non-believers, each and everyone of us must promote the facts, be outspoken talk to complete strangers, it will amaze you how many have the same beliefs we do. Once we get the people to understand the wonders of cannabis, and hemp encourage them to write, call, fax, and anything else they can do to ensure their Reps know how they feel, if we pull together, we will prevail.
I think this is great! It is definately going in the right direction. We are just going to all have to reve our engines up, spread the word more, talk about weed on blogs, keep up with the latest news and tell your 420 friendly friends.
I don’t believe that this ever did or will air on Fox News. It’s not in the schedule:
http://www.foxnews.com/fnctv/index.html
It appears that “Freedom Watch” is a web only broadcast. But this might signal that FOX is testing the waters with the subject to see how their audience might react to this type of rhetoric. The fact that legalization is apparently the majority opinion now may cause some political operatives to suggest that the drug war is all the fault of their opponents. In truth the drug war belongs equally to the Democrats and Republicans.
this kind of scares me. I could see this being a detriment. If fox news is the first major media outlet to jump on the band wagon than Im afraid itll be demonized as they are doing alot of off the wall crazy shit. The Libertarian party is a joke, its a system that could never in a million years work. It would be trading the democratically elected ‘big brother’ we allready have in government for a system that basically wants the government to have almost zero role, thus allowing private corporations whom none of us have a say in to power up the corporate communism and really drag things down. I do agree that the 2 party system is a complete and utter failure and needs to be changed.
“It would be trading the democratically elected ‘big brother’ we allready have in government for a system that basically wants the government to have almost zero role, thus allowing private corporations whom none of us have a say in to power”
Actually Charlottenc it gives the consumer ULTIMATE power. In a free market where the government doesn’t subsidize or give special favors to large corporations, their will be competition and the consumer will vote with their dollars. It puts the power back into the hands of the people. In our current system, big corporations own us because they are given so many political favors that the little guy could never compete. You should at least be familiar with the theories before making such comments so you can make a proper case against the libertarian party. At least research what you are speaking out against.
“We live under a FREE MARKET and what better NEW MARKET to create, tax, and regulate than Marijuana?”
You used tax and regulate in the same sentence as FREE MARKET lololololololol. The only thing worse than marijuana being illegal is our government having the power to tax and regulate it. They destroy EVERYTHING they tax and regulate. Rather keep it on the black market than that.
The libertarian principles in government would DESTROY corporate communism. It’s also quite frankly a system that many of our founders favored and if our representatives still cared about the works and thoughts of Thomas Jefferson we would all be in better shape for it.
There is an utter failure of comprehension here. The reason why some companies now are “too big to fail” to use a term of the times is because of government involvement in industry. I’m sure some here have read a Farm Bill and the laws regarding agribusiness, or read the legislation concerning the insurance industry, or the pharmaceutical industry or any large industry. Much of this legislation tips the scale in favor of the few. There’s a reason why wealth continuously trickles upwards through both Republican and Democratic administrations.
The reason why there are strong lobbies and influential think tanks in this country is because big business has understood for quite some time that Congress can be used as a tool to enforce favoritism as it abuses powers that were never meant to be. The Constitution is a restraining document on the Federal Government and its powers as well as a document that dictates these powers are extended from the people to the government. This was almost unheard of at the time of its writing and we surely have lost our way.
The libertarian principles do not allow laws to be passed that remove something from one person to give to another and yes this is all that Congress does on a daily basis these days.
It’s sad that some think these principles would put corporations at a greater advantage when in fact they would remove all advantages in the entire system.
Or we can go on thinking that the FDA, the USDA, the SEC, the FCC, the Dept. of Education and numerous other government bureaucracies are benefiting us all at little cost when in fact they’re doing more harm than good at great cost to all. If your liberties were paramount all drugs would be legal and your right to choose what you do so long as it does not bring harm to another would be guaranteed by the 9th and 10th Amendments where quite frankly we should have stopped. (The amendments for voting rights and civil rights should have simply clarified the term “man” or “men” to mean all people regardless of color, sex or creed within the Constition and existing Bill of Rights therefore securing the entirety of rights to all instead of creating special classes of citizens due to the creation of legislative powers given to Congress from those acts.)
Paul you nailed it! Well done sir. I am so happy to see Fox news isn’t afraid to get to the truth.
Cannabis, and Cancer. I have used Cannabis(Marijuana) Oil to treat, and CURE skin cancer. I am willing to duplicate my success in public under the supervison of a physician of the medias choice. If you think I’m lieing, or bluffing, call my bluff please. ANY TAKERS?
Yes fox news! Or at least judge napolitano for that matter. Either way this is great for cannabis reform. As a matter of fact right now, I’ve decided to stop smoking for a while (two weeks so far) just to bring down my tolerance because being a college student I smoked a little too much ha. Anyways, I still drink a beer every now and then and last night I got pretty drunk and am now HUNGOVER, AHHH! Ha, this experience I’m going through just makes me love pot anymore and I can wait after the third week when I spark up again that it will be like it was in the early years and more of a reward. Cannabis to me, is a pretty euphoric experience especially while listening to classical music and it makes me think and wonder. When your drunk your mind becomes numb and sometimes people just get abnoxious. First, drunks will love you and want to be your friend- then they hate you…I mean it’s a very confusing time to be in hahaha. Fortunately enough, I’m not that kinda drunk simply because I don’t like to drink that much and would prefer a substance any day of the week like cannabis to ease my mind after a stressful day after spending 11 hours at the library like I did this past sunday. Can’t wait to hit the ol’ billy baru again!
…love pot evenmore*…
Just a note: not all other illicit drugs are dangerous or physically addictive. Those that are dangerous or addictive shouldn’t necesarilly be prohibitted either. My granfather was a biochemist and knew Dr. Hoffman, the chemist who created LSD, personally and professionally, and both men felt the prohibition on LSD was purely reactionary. They thought it to be a safe drug, and while we know Hoffman took LSD all his life the legend in my family is that my grandpa would make it up in his lab and then store it in the fridge for use and study. “The Economist” took a similar stance on MDMA, or “ectasy”, as a safe and comfortable treatment for depression, anxiety, and PTSD. They responded that the prohibition on MDMA was jsut the DEA’s reaction to people having fun, much like the recent movement to criminalize salvia divinorum (don’t even bother doing it though, it sucks in terms of fun.) Opposition to drug prohibition should be categorical, and the arguments for legalizing one drug for medical and recreational use can be modified easily to be used on another. For example, here in MA a lot of theories on controlling the spread of hard drug addiction if prohibition has failed outright started bouncing around when decrim went on the ballot. I got this one from a letter to the editors of “The Boston Globe” submitted by a state prosecutor who feels that all forms of prohibition are ineffectual and decrim still allows gangs to control and market drugs (for info on the *relative* success of total decrim of all drugs read “The Economist’s” article on decrim in Portugal, which has been a huge success.) The theory works like this, hard drug users have to register to buy hard drugs and submit to drug addiction treatment propaganda, spam, and some counsleing. The revenue more than pays for the treatment, and you know, if a heroine addict knocks over a 7-11, which one did it. Soft drugs and hallucinogens should *mostly* be treated like alcohol, and hard drugs should be hyper-regulated to assure public safety and reduce addiction rates. Drug liberalization (including decrim) has already been shown to reduce the spread of venereal disease due to drug injection (cocaine, heroine, etc.). In Portugal the percentage of HIV cases casued by drug injection dropped from 56% of all cases at the start of decrim in 2001, down to around 20% eight years later in 2009. Please don’t censor me for telling it like it is, this is straight from the pages of “The Economist”, one of our closest allies on legalization, and “The Boston Globe” which I admit sucks and is very middle market (if even), but it was a thoughtful letter. People need to consider the possibility that it isn’t just cannabis prohibition that has failed, but all prohibition. Even though shouting this truth too loudly may draw the ire of certain undesirable persons incapable of free-thought or apprehension of the abstraction of liberty, we have a sacred duty to tell the truth about the war.
The fact is that cannabis legslation wasn’t legal and apparently the majority of the People are learning this. The drug war / Constructive Fraud belongs equally to the Democrats and Republicans alike. We don’t need cannabis legalization, we need our secured rights of the people to be respected and all acts against voided out. This herb is given by God or the nature of things and no one, no just government or society has the right to outlaw my contact with it.
good article, thanks paul.
found it interesting that it was done by fox news of all news channels. whats more important is that this helps the cause and the movement. its obvious what the US government needs to do, but refuses to do. LEGALIZE and REGULATE marijuana! with the mexican cartels setting up camps in our national forests, crime at our borders and to many non-violent pot smokers getting arrested and having their life ruined over something that really cant do more harm to us than caffeine is getting ludacris. we need to end this madness called prohibiton. its time the US governement wakes and and smells the weed, cause its here to stay and they need to quit fighting with the constituents of this country who overwhelmingly want to be taxed and regulated.
STOP THE WAR ON DRUGS in regards to marijuana!
I loved this interveiw. I dont smoke BUT i think people should have the personal choice to smoke . Cigs kill thousends of people everyday but are legal and contain 2000 chemicals that cause cancer or are bad for you while being very addictive ..I smoked cigs for 3 years and it was really hard to stop When I smoked marijuana I smoked for 5 years and quit after one day!
About the drug war…
Am I right in thinking marijuana is NOT a drug or is there something I’m missing? Yet, there it is under “M” in the feds drug book…right along side of Methyl…something or other.
Someone enlighten me, please.
It is an herb, not a drug, not a poison. There are over 200 properties in the cannabis plant, many we do not yet understand. THC in the plant, when ingested is matched in the human brain by a product our brains’ produce. It is this product when porduced by the brain that gives you that high you feel. That is why alcohol effects are so different, it is a poison and our body attempts to purge that poison. Our body works with and response to the property in cannabis in a positive way.
Remember that any kind of smoke you put in your lungs will have a negative impact on the lungs.
They are ways of using cannabis that don’t involve inhaling smoke.
But then do’t listen to me, I use my cannabis in food, smoke it, and vaporize it. Enjoy them all but smoking is the least health but quick acting.
The Feds lied and created a Constructive Fraud some time ago that put in that drug group you spoke of but just because the Fed’s put in their book doesn’t make it true.
That my input anyway.
Best discussion I’ve seen about cannabis issues by any news provider. Good job Fox News! Good job Paul Armentano!
I’d like to throw out there as a fact that not only is it easier for teens to get cannabis these days, but also that it is on the order of at least 50% easier to get marijuana as a teen than it is to get alcohol. I know, I’ve smoked cannabis since I was only 13, and only recently in my late high school and early college careers have I been able to drink with any semblance of frequency, ease, or regularity. But even now it’s no secret among everyone that knows me, I would rather relax and smoke a joint than ever get drunk and lose track or control of my actions.
massive kudos to paul, da judge and, fox news.how can we get our personal experiences out to the people who dont know. oh yea, they all know we get high but, if they only knew the kind of buzz it is. it puts alcohol to shame. it is just the oppisite in my opinion. how can we convince those who do not know. and that includes many men and women of the law. in their defense, they are only doing their job. they only see us as breaking a law. if you went to work and did not do your job, would it suprise you if you were fired?well, they must do what their job requires of them, just like all of us! i am willing to bet that, many of our law enforcement only know one side! just like civilians who have never used the good herb.we have to find a way for people to know the truth. cops are little people as we are as opposed to our trusted law makers (trusted my ass, doing big companies big favors at our expence! ) how can we get it out to all the people who vote that it is so much safer, by telling them from personal experience? how can they know that we who use cannabis are hard working,decent and otherwise, law abiding citizens the have a great alternative to drinkin our livers away? ill tell you what im going to do. im going to have some tee shirts made up with a form of a question for people to read so they may ask me about cannabis. that way, i can tell them first hand my life style.i know someone who screen prints out of his home. im tired of not helping the cause. i have done enough bitchin.
peace to you all.
Theyve been pretty consistent with regards to legalization. Glenn Beck supports it as well.
Holy hell I cannot listen to that NORML rep speak.. Hes a professional advocate? He sounds stoned, unrehearsed, and uninformed.. THC and other "properties"? And he couldnt name any schedule I drugs besides heroin and LSD? Give me a break. This is pathetic. But props to Fox guy.
I almost cried with happiness when I saw this. People are finally opening their eyes and using their brains.
This has been a forward going around on cell phones, I called it and voted and it sounded legit and 100% pro-cannabis.
it says, Vote to legalize marijuana. On CNN today, Obama will consider w/ 1 million votes. Call 973-409-3274 listen and press #.
I was wondering if it was legit. its a cool idea though, maybe some thing like this can be done.
[Editor’s note: Ending a 70-year old war, the US government’s war against the cannabis plant and its consumers, will not happen because citizens need only call a phone number! The number is b.s. and does not advance cannabis law reforms one iota.]
Common Sense, why do we lack the Political common sense to Right this wrong? Because if People let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.
fox news always has the facts straight, that’s why you never see one of the government propaganda outlets such as MSNBC NBC CNN catching fox in a lie the way fox does to them on a daily basis. thank god for glen beck!
Not bad, not bad at all. He really shows how idiotic this war on marijuana is. I feel like he could have stuck to the questions a little better, but hey hes a stoner his attention span isn’t perfect.
I’m a supporter for so many good reasons that I would have to write a 10 page report on the legalization of recreational marijuana.
to #132: I don’t know what Planet you live on but Fox news is terrible and known for not getting their facts straight that is why this story is so amazing. For once one of their shows was no bullied and payed to report ridiculous claims due to the views of the station. I am surprised they let the judge keep his show. And Glen Beck is a media whore. They pay him to have these views. He use to work for another station where he blasted the health care system after having a terrible surgery and recovery and he reported on it. Now he spouts about how great the health care system is. The only thing different is who signs his checks.
Great interview, this needs to be in the media more so that people are aware.
The hooded man with no name #135 has all the facts!??? need i say more,, dah which way did he go.
When I watch the news, I watch FOX. They are as biased towards the right as CNN and MSNBC are to the left. Anyone who hates FOX, but sings the praises of the other two are just being political and anyone with an honest bone in their body knows this.
This interview is just part of the ground swell. Things don’t happen over night, but as said many times above, the tide is turning. It’s not going to be long until a state legalizes marijuana. When that happens, it will be impossible for the rest of the nation to ignore. It will have to be dealt with at the federal and public level.
Education is the key. This isn’t a dirty little secret. Let people know about the uses of hemp and the benefits that the sick get from medicinal marijuana. And as a mind altering substance, it’s EASY to show people with an open mind just how pot blows alcohol away in regards to safety and usefulness. FREDDY