by George Rohrbacher, Member, NORML board of directors; medical cannabis patient
[Editor’s Note: This essay was originally published on March 1st, 2009. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s deconstruction and the fall of Communism being recognized around the world this week, and with the ever-falling support for cannabis prohibition in America, this essay from NORML board member George Rohrbacher seems even more apropos today than last March.]
It is said that almost everyone in the marijuana law reform movement has a seminal moment they can point to when their public activism started. My moment was in the fall, six years ago.
I’m a past president of our local Kiwanis Club. I’ve been a member for years; we meet for breakfast at 6:30am, every Wednesday morning. My fateful “activism moment” was meeting face-to-face with one morning’s Kiwanis Club program, our town’s newly acquired dope dog. Some rock-ribbed citizen had left money in his will for the city to buy a dope dog for our town of 3,000, in a county of 18,000 people. The dog’s handler and the police chief were up at the speaker’s table. I had to fight back the urge to turn around and run.
As I sat down at my usual spot, ordered breakfast and clipped on my Kiwanis Club nametag, my heart was just racing! Thank God, my neck pain had not been severe enough that morning that it had required some marijuana medication, because, I imagined, triggered by the smell of freshly consumed ganja, that huge German Shepard would have leaped from the podium to pin me down to the floor, the dog’s sharp white teeth snarling and snapping at my throat.
As we went through club business about our kid’s reading program, ate breakfast and conducted the normal chit-chat that makes Kiwanis Club so enjoyable, I slowly calmed myself. I had not been found out as a marijuana user, yet. There was no need for me to panic, because the likelihood that I would be found out now by this agent of the state, was growing smaller and smaller by the moment. But, as the primal fear drained away, it started to piss me off; this dope dog was invading my space.
The dog handler got up and spoke glowingly about his charge, the alpha male of his litter. This dog had been born of a long and impressive pedigree in Baden-something, formerly East Germany. Looking at me from across the room was the pride of the jack-booted police state, the purebred German Shepard—smart, vicious, relentless.
The dog handler went chirping on, to mostly nodding heads, about what a fantastic dog he had and how many pot busts he had already made with it. Suddenly, all I could think was: This dog was born in East Germany, it’s father could have pulled someone down off the Berlin Wall…this dog’s great-grandfather would have marched the Jews or Gypsies to the ovens at Buchenwald or Auschwitz… And now, my own little town had a new resident from the same police dog gene pool that serviced the two most brutal totalitarian regimes in the history of the mankind!
Scenes from my childhood of when German Shepards attacked the Civil Rights marchers at Selma floated before my eyes… This well-groomed dog was a tool of the modern police state in all its scariest manifestations. The more I thought about it, the madder and madder I got.
I paid my breakfast bill and left in the first wave. I drove back out to the ranch and fed our cows their daily ration of hay, all the while mulling over my close brush with the dope dog. By the time I got done with my chores and back to the house, I absolutely had to do something! I picked up my telephone and called NORML, and I volunteered for the fight that very day…our fight for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…”
Marijuana prohibition is a corrupt and evil social institution, just like the Berlin Wall was. For generations both have been symbols of the ruthless and relentless oppression of the state. Then, one day, by the sheer weight of internal political rot and thousands of little hammers, the Berlin Wall came down, and it came down virtually overnight! Marijuana Prohibition is just as corrupt and evil as the Wall, and it, also, is rotting internally from seven decades of injustice. It, too, is ready for collapse.
incredible moment, especially the part in bold…….so f-in true my friends…just so true
I like the ending. It to is ready to collapse, Its been ready to collapse.
While I agree with the sentiment of prohibition being an immoral governmental control and money making mechanism designed on the principals of racism and hate (research William Randolph Hearst and marijuana). I don’t believe that the damage done by prohibition is quite the same as What was done to by the Soviet Union in an effort to Segregate East and West Berlin with the Wall. Lets be a little more practical with our comparisons of past atrocities, prohibition is NOT the same as What the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany did to their people for decades. Peace, love, and green to all!
That’s an interesting thought!
Let’s hope this wall falls soon.
I agree with Tim. It is very hard to say the struggle of pot smokers is equivalent to that of people who suffered under an oppressive regime. I also do not like the assumption that a dog bred in Germany contributed to atrocities. A dog under the control of a human master does not make decisions for itself it is not right to attribute its actions to anyone but the people who commanded it. Finally what really bothers me about NORML is their willingness to spit out promarijuana propaganda then turn around and point their fingers at people promoting antimarijuana propaganda. If you are going to discredit someone else’s methods do not use them yourself.
[Editor’s Note: You may certainly disagree with the writer’s narrative or perspective, but an essay comparing the falling of the Berlin Wall and the teetering of America’s 72-year Cannabis Prohibition is an analysis–a comparison of two long failing, yet govt-supported policies–not propaganda.]
may it fall in peace
Just one of many.
How about another countrys President to say (America Legalize Cannabis) Just like Reagan Did when he said terr dwn tht Wall
The dog was from East Germany? Impossible, if he was born the last day that East Germany was a country; he would be 20 years old.
“Mr. Obama, tear down this wall!”
EXACTAMUNDO !!!
Tim
My take on the article was that the U.S. is using the same tactics as Nazi Germany , and the point was, the imagery was disturbing. Police state stuff.I don’t think George was equating the prohibition of pot, with the atrocities of the Nazi’s or Soviet Russia.
PLUS what a rotten thing to do, train a dog to attack people on command..that’s twisted man.
Just my opinion.
I hope it is soon so I can become an american citizen again. I have lived in fear since I got a felony arrest in 1999 for 23 grams of marijuana in Florida.
Soon the silant majority will be heard! Legalize it!
hello all I think we all feel persecuted in some fashion by current drug laws.I feel we all have a right to put any substances we want in our bodies, I argue with my wife constantly about the laws,all she can say is “its illegal thats whats wrong with it”,I tell her you have been trained to think that way how would you feel it was legal.I wouldnt feel so bad if she would at least formulate her own opinions about the topic,sometimes I just feel like im living a double life in my own home.I get tired of being told its wrong by abusive alcoholics who destroy their lives and that of their children because its legal.I guess i could ramble on for hours,any likeminded Americans out there E-mail me.
“Mr. Obama, tear down this wall!” <<<–exactly!
Mr. Obama, Legalize this plant!
Where I agree prohibition isnt the same as what the nazi’s did, it is true many many people have suffered due to prohibition,many have indeed died.Correct? Now continue this law for several more decades, how many more will suffer..die? Isnt this a persecution of a group of people? Germany’s reign was racist was it not? Prohibition is based on racism is it not? The majority of those arrested due to prohibition are of the black and hispanic race arent they? This law is an invisible wall to life ,liberty,and the pursuit of happyness isnt it? Just as the berlin wall was a thing keeping people from happyness. No people arent being sent to ovens…yet.There are those out there that would love to KILL all drug users. Give them freedom to act on their idealology and this prohibition will be NO different than that of the NAZI reign. To me..this comparison is truely correct. This fight is about stopping a communist,racist idea/law. Left unchallenged,we may wake one day to a nation we no longer recognize.
My moment of pro-cannabis activism came at a time after my father died of cancer. It started when I found that cannabis has a potential to kill cancer. As I investigated and found this law was based on racism and greed, I began to fight also.
This fight over cannabis is about freedom. The right to put in your body what you wish.
I for one would like to have intensive studies dont to find what medicines cannabis can provide. If we could have medicine to fight cancer,are any of you going to tell me you wont use it because its cannabis? If so you havent witnessed someone dying of cancer or had it your self. But back to my original statement, this is about freedom.
It must be a dark time indeed. Our ELECTED officials are fighting what we the people have voted for,why do they think they can go against the will of the people? They work for us. If those that dont agree with medical cannabis laws…Go vote! Thats how it works. If we would vote that penguins are tasty snacks to be eaten, you can bet people who love animals will vote thier butts off, but we dont arrest people for eating said penguins because law says we can eat them. Medical cannabis is no different. We voted for it.
People in this country better pull their heads out of their rearends before we ruin our freedoms. I’ve said for a very long time, “We are lawing ourselves right out of the very freedoms our founders fought so hard to give us.”
At least lets meet in the middle somewhere.
“Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.”
From Benito Mussolini
“London Sunday Express,” December 8, 1935
You know damn well that these lessons of the past are used today. How easy it must be to convince people they are living in a ‘free’ society.
Heres some common sense to counter this type of thinking.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)
Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have … The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)
We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826), letter to Samuel Kercheval, July 12, 1816
A little rebellion now and then…is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826), Letter to James Madison, 1787
If none of these quotes ring true to you, you are truely un-American.
Marijuana prohibition has always been a political and social cleansing from the very beginning. That is what the lie is all about from the prohibitionist.
This is pretty freaky, because I’ve had this correlation in my mind all this past week.
Wow.
In fact, I’m working up the courage and the right words to ask/beg/plead for President Obama to “let our people go!” but I want to make sure my letter is perfect, word for word before I send it off.
(First thought, …I Love Animals). Well, I agree with some parts of this article, but not most. Did some research and did not find where these dogs are trained to snarl bite and attack people people who smoke weed.
In fact, unless you are crossing a border of the United States, dogs are not allowed to search people. By law they can only search articles, cars and structures.
These “German Shepherds” have been around since 1899. Hitler was born in 1890 and I doubt that at ten years old he had input into this dogs behavior. The Berlin Wall did not exist until 1961.
Here is a list of famous Germans which include the likes of Sandra Bullock. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Germans . Please don’t be so judgmental of people because of their nationality.
These dogs were also used to locate survivors in New York at “Ground Zero” after 911.
What you should be asking is that these dogs no longer be trained in the detection of marijuana. They will only find what they are trained to find.
If one of these dogs bite a burglar inside my home, I would be overjoyed.
If people would stop saying that ALL DRUGS should be legal, then maybe marijuana by itself would have a chance of being re-legalized.
Finally we are seeing professional people in the forefront speaking for the re-legalization of marijuana and not a stoned stoner saying “dude”.
As far as the current laws surrounding marijuana, YES this is an excellent comparison to the Berlin Wall. It needs to fall.
we are gonna need more than that puppet to tear down THIS wall. we need to cooperation of the DEA, FDA, AMA (i fear they may try to patent cannabanoids instead of setting the stage for legalization.), congress, and state and local law enforcement. because apparently, if 80% of America wants cannabis for medical use, it still isn’t enough…
I agree completely with you peacefulsolution. When I heard President Bush say this is the land of laws, it sickened me. We are suppose to be the land of the free!
Did you hear about our friend Barney Frank? That one tickle me.
Oh btw NORML the article was right on! He lucky he has not gotten caught. After 10 years companies still will not hire me once they know I have a felony marijuana bust.
One more thing
Mr. Obama, tear down this wall! Stop the injustice in our country!
While it would be downright arrogant to compare our plight to that of concentration camp prisoners or citizen victims of communism, it may be on a less severe scale, but the paradigm is still there, and yes, dammit, I feel persecuted. I smoke marijuana for my health, yes that’s right, I think it is in my best interest to smoke marijuana, and yet I can lose my job and subsequently my home and a lot more for what I do in my own free time in my own home.
While in the short term the answer for me is self-employment, how long will it be before health insurance companies and drivers license bureaus start requiring drug tests? In my 36 years of being a pothead, not a single person or piece of property has been harmed by my use. I have done nothing to surrender my right to smoke pot and I’m sick and goddam tired of living under this invisible threat that could erupt on any given day.
If every employee who smokes pot were to stand up and refuse the drug tests, or piss hot and let themselves get fired, who would employers have left?
How many people (worldwide) have died because of Prohibition violence? I think prohibition killed more people than Hitler’s 20 million or Stalin’s 30 million. Has anyone ever done a thesis on this? (I really would like to know the answer.) This is why I disagree with Tim.
The only Baden-Anything in Germany is Baden-Württemberg which was never part of East Germany. It is in the far south west corner of Germany.
Also this would make the dog 20 years old. At which age if the dog still lived it would not be making any drug busts.
Your editor must have been high when he thought this story was ok to print like this.
To peacefullsolution: My wife used to get upset at me for the very same reasons you state. I have used cannabis for 40 years and at times it was a battle. Then one day while we were “discussing” my herbal use I got fed up and I so I fired off a list of the evils of my smoking cannabis. I have been employed for almost 40 years with the same employer. I have missed only 4 or 5 days in 40 years. I have been a faithful and loving husband and father. You never have to wonder where I am. I never drink alcohol so you get to miss the wonderful attributes of the drinking life.
Who am I offending or harming by the discreet use of cannabis in the confines of my home? Would you rather me drink? By continuing to outlaw cannabis the good people of the law are giving americans who seek to relax only one choice, and it is a bad choice as demonstrated by thousands of automobile deaths, thousands of homes broken and let’s talk about the health effects of booze and the violence. It is a toxic and dangerous choice forced upon us. I simply choose not to participate. No one has ever died smoking cannabis. There is no lethal dose. It is a gentle drug. Drinking numbs you and robs you of control, cannabis does not. And futhermore, what I do in my home as long as I am harming no one, is nobody else’s business. Including our dear Uncle Sam. I told her she had a choice, a gentle man who loves, supports and natures her. Who, yes indeed, dodges the insane cannabis laws and by doing so I am healther (I’m a runner too) and my dear, so are you. If I had been a drinker I don’t know that I could be saying these words. Love is the answer and love won the war. We have been married almost 40 years. Cannabis will be legal simply because it is a safer alternative to alcohol and we are finally wising up to that fact. Legalizing cannabis will save lives and livers and marriages and as a bonus ice cream will never taste so good!
Let it fall to our feets let it fall and crumble into small particals of dust let it fall be recycled and used to pave the way into a new world a world of change a better world so lets all join hands and skip down the road of change into the horizon and dont forget to bring the weed lol
this is just a anology that is well repesented and it needs to come down for the sake of the people that need it
the thought of using a dog as an instument of war weather it be drugs or otherwise is animal abuse in my opinion although your comparison is a little extreme and i think rationality is the best approach to american policies i hate extremists thats why we have those douche bags keep repeating themselves in the dea using extremists as a excuse to not open the gate way for all drug legalization
My moment that I started caring about drug policy reform was the day that a legalization bill was introduced back in february. I voted for the michigan medical marijuana proposal back in 2008, but I didn’t feel strongly about it back then. Now, I’m checking the news daily.
“Mr. Obama, tear down this wall!” <<<–exactly!<<<–exactly!<<<–exactly!
Lake Forest, California, City Counsel stop trying to undermine our collectives and tear down your wall too!!!
They say that Cannabis has a high potential for abuse, No…It`s just POPULAR…Safe And Natural, Time for the dominoes to Fall, Propaganda walls need torn down.
Simply considering Americas national debt and what not, we have no other choice but to discontinue marijuana prohibition. If anyone hasn’t noticed, we are in debt 12 trillion dollars. We can’t be fighting pointless wars on a harmless drug that will never end, and to no benefit of any party, for no reason when we are 12 trillion in debt. Continuing marijuana prohibition goes against the basic principles of logic and reason.
Anyways, I thought we lived in the land of the free, not the land of the imprisoned! Lets prove this statement right!
I don’t know.. .am I the only one who finds this over the top? I started laughing as it went on and I realized he was really comparing the dog to a Nazi, and so forth.
I’m completely on the side of the fight for legalization and freedom, but this article, if circulated mainstream, reads as silly, IMHO. I don’t mean this in a mean way; it was still a very good article, fun to read.
🙂
Karen
Man, most of you people are idiots. How can someone compare The Berlin Wall to legalizing Cannabis? People died, people’s lives and families were ruined during the time of the Berlin Wall.
Yes, Cannabis was made illegal but Unconstitutional means.
However, the Berlin wall divided a Continent for decades. Smarten up people.
[Editor’s note: BTW, American citizens (and cannabis consumers in other parts of the world; where governments kill cannabis consumers, sellers and cultivators) die and/or killed by law enforcement; have their homes taken from them; their children removed; receive decades in jail; be denied employment via drug testing and access to a safe, effective and non-toxic medicine.
In your view, 72-years of cannabis prohibition in America may not equate to the 28 years of the Berlin Wall, but, others would see the over 20 million cannabis-related offenses, tens of billions spent by the government trying to enforce the feckless prohibition, and the govt abuses against its otherwise lawful, tax paying citizens as being as bad if not worse than a wall that served as a physical proxy between warring super powers.]
The essay is informative in that is shows the point at which a person decides to take action when an issue of personal freedom of choice is at hand. I’m not so bothered by the actual comparison of atrocities – it’s not an identical situation by any means, but the point is, many good people who choose to ingest a safe herb have felt persecuted for a long, long time.
The turn towards legalization is at hand, and it will require each and every one of us who are tired of ignoring injustice to speak out in a way that feels safe for them. The fact that the AMA just changed their recommendation as to the legal classification of cannabis is a huge event and we should all be aware of how much our voice counts over the coming months.
Wow, how big of a Nazi asshole does someone have to be to leave money in their will for a pot-smelling dog? Hope that person is feeling nice and toasty in the next life.
Good comparison?
Ask the friends and family of the many that have died needlessly in this country from our illegal and unjust drug war if this is a good comparison or not! Only one person close to you has to die needlessly for the drug war to represent a horrible, brutal totalitarian regime in your eyes.
Ask the kids who’s mom or dad are at this moment serving time for a nonviolent drug charge what they think.
Ask the people who can’t get a job because they have an arrest, conviction or felony record over a nonviolent drug charge.
Ask people who love this country and believe in the Constitution and have seen our Constitutional rights shredded in the name of the drug war what they think. The Constitutional right to freedom of religion, free speech, a free press, to keep and bear arms, to be secure in your person, house, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure, to life, liberty and property, to be protected from having your property taken by the government without due process of law and without just compensation, to confront the witnesses against you, to be protected from excessive bail, excessive fines, cruel and unusual punishment, to vote and others have been unjustly denied to millions of Americans in the name of the drug war.
The numbers of people brutalized and the number and severity of breaches of our Constitution are certainly less than the totalitarian regimes mentioned in this article but if we allow it to continue, where do you think it will lead?
More information about drug laws from Just Say Know:
Using Internet Explorer web browser: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/home
With All Other Browsers: http://jsknow.angelfire.com/index.html
Can’t blame that marvelous dog. I’ve had Shepherds, and they exhibit the kind of loyalty we only wish we could get from human beings. The dog was only doing what it was trained to do by the Dope Nazi in the uniform. That is what we fight against, that human alliance of committed liars and haters who hold us back from achieving our goal. Just as history has always reflected a certain percentage of people who wish to get high, it also points out another percentage of people dedicated to stopping them, and controlling our “freedoms.” The truth is this: You are free—to do exactly as you are told.
Please do not get me wrong, I completely agree with NORML’s goals and have donated to the cause. The point I am trying to get across is that I personally prefer straight facts to tell the story as opposed to the writers spin on a matter. I equate it to the fact that I am strongly democratic yet I hate MSNBC due to the fact that they spin everything towards democratic views. I think information speaks for itself without grandiose comments towards either perspective. Either way I know the tides are turning and marijuana laws will reflect the views of Americans soon, I’m just tired of waiting.
I remember reading this article originally when it was released.
Ben: The dog was from East Germany? Impossible, if he was born the last day that East Germany was a country; he would be 20 years old.
As if there’s never been a dog that reached 20 years old.
For some of the guys commenting here, it sounds like their wives are a bigger hindrance to responsible personal freedom than prohibition laws. Maybe it’s time to consider dumping that relationship and living as you wish.
as bad as i hate the thought because i love dogs .hey folks these four legged tools of the devil are not bullet proof they are a danger to the common man they gotta go
The most dangerous and destructive creature the world has ever known is someone who thinks they know what is better for you than you do and has the power to do something about that inclination, particularly if they mean well and just want to help. Life is too short to allow such self-entitled psychopaths to violate the God given freedoms and liberties of others, inalienable rights acknowledged and cited in the Constitution of the United States. God is right and prohibitionists are wrong, again, still, as always. It is prohibitionists trying to control the behavior of others, not the other way around. If you do not like to consume cannabis, don’t. Nobody gives a shit. But keep your hypocritical, lying, coward bullshit out of my life.
Too all you stupid idiot fucks havin a hard time takin this article for what it is…a comaprison PISSSSS OFFFFF. Im sick of you lonly internet geeks pickin at every little thing. Especially the moron above #37 chris. You dont even know what your talkin about homy. I could sit here and thrash every last closed minded and retarded commnent but im..jus…to…tired. Tired of ceacless stupididty.
I thought it was a great peice and great comparison. In this animal rights age it is hard to use an animal in anything without backlash. I think this “wall” is also dividing the people from the government. It’s obvious the people of the USA are not in charge like they once were. Our politicians and law enforcement are so corrupt in everything, not just the Marijuana prohibition. Just like how Marley sang redemption song to the victims of slavery, so he sings it to us as well. We must have hope. So never mind the darn dog. LOL =-)
I just think, to each its own. Like the one song goes, “Let it be, let be, let it be, ow let it be.” I’m in pain, I need some good medicine. I finally found the right one.
Great piece. I think my time of pro-cannabis activism came when I started college actually. Before then I never really knew anything about marijuana. I used it yes, but I didn’t know all the effects cannabis prohibition had on our country or all the benefits it had to patients in need of medication that pharmacies couldn’t dispense. I was doing an assignment in my Tx government class where we had to write up bills and try to get the class to agree with the bills terms through a speech. I decided to try to do a bill on the legalization of marijuana. Thus my research began and my political and social views began to slowly change.
I’m sorry that the main point of this piece was slightly overshadowed by very small objections, but I completely understood the direction you took and the logic behind it.
Down with the wall!
-trev
I am sorry, but comparing Pot to the Berlin Wall, is just as stupid as people comparing Bush and Obama to Hitler. I get that it is something we need to overcome, but choose another symbol.
[Editor’s note: Got another symbol or metaphor to employ instead?]
And finally if anybody out there cant see the similarities
between our cops and gestapo, come move your dumbass to kansas where they WILL kick in your door, come into your house without a warrant, hassle you as you walk down the street, and all around fill you life with fear and misery for smoking a plant. We have a small town and a shitload of bored cops with nothing else to do. DONT DISMISS THE CLAIMS OF PERPETUAL HARRASMENT AT THE HANDS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT ON INNOCENT SMOKERS
http://www.change.org/ideas/116/view_action/legalize_marijuana
This is a petition…LETS KEEP THIS THING MOVING…
O yes indeed! Come give good ol kansas a visit if you like see to rampant gang and violent crime (even in the small towns) unchecked while fearing lenghthy incarceration for havin roaches in your ashtray. Because yes folks if you look harmless and small and non violnet the cops will hassle you. Being hassled by cops not your thing? Kansas can accomodate that too! Appear as if you belong to one of the numerous violent gangs native to here such as: ms13, mxican mafia, bloods, crips, and many more and you can be sure our cops will be to busy shitting themselves in fear to do anything to you!!!!!!!! SO CMON DOWN!
http://www.nbc.com/news-sports/today-show/experts-weigh-in-on-women-and-pot/
New clip from Thurs morning 11-11
Mr. Obama, tear down this wall!
For the record, I am not #37.
As I stated in my post above, let this damn law persist for a few more decades, what how many more suffer and die. What how many more of our freedoms are stripped from us in the name of “Taking care of the people”.
Those of you on this post that cant see that are blind and close minded. WAKE THE HELL UP!
When the agents turn your house upside down. Dump your food out of the fridge. Call you names and scream in your face. Make you lose your job. Take away your house without a trial like in Hawaii. Neva be charged but lose your house anyway. Use illegal heat seeking choppers at night at tree level. Scaring your animals and livestock half to death by hovering so low over land.
Police state? Nah.
I didn’t mean to start a storm of flames (post 3). The point I was trying to make was this and only this: Although you and I can view prohibition in the same light as Nazi Germany and or the Soviet Union; non smokers will find this argument a little goofy. Many people have lost their livelyhood because of this unfortunate prohibition, but loosing your livelyhood and genocide are different. I’m all the way with the article…I understand the imagery and respect it. I was just trying to say that as we are trying to end the problem, we shouldn’t muddy the waters with opinions as much as facts that support our Arguments. That’s my two cents…peace and green.
I think anyone who has ever dealt with our law enforcement and judicial system (after being arrested for cannabis)finds this comparison very realistic. Ask someone that has been through this process and listen to their response. This is without a doubt the single most destructive law the United States has ever imposed on it’s own citizens! The human toll is so large we can hardly begin to measure it. Now think about the impact on the rest of the world due to our foreign policy about cannabis.
Heres an answer to any nay sayers here. If you go against the law they will make you suffer. If question their motives you will suffer. If you think its bull, come out of the closet. Fly your flags, make your protest signs, speak your mind against this police state that is before us. They will more readily call you a terrorist, extremeists,criminal than they will a man that just killed 13 people in fort hood. This is the world we are living in. Conform or be considered criminal. If that isnt communist I dont know what is.
On e other thing some of you should consider. Our founding fathers were considered extremists,radicals,criminals. With out them where do yo think we would be today. It will take us”extremists,radicals,criminals” to fix what is wrong today.
O.K.
So…..you guys don’t like comparing Cannabis Prohibition to the Berlin WALL because of the whole genocide “thing”, huh??
Well, how about this comparison…..the PREJUDICE against freedom of personal choice mixed with the cruel and unresonable inprisonment of a SELECT group of people(a.i. Cannabis consumers) might be a lil’ more similar to…Oh, I dunno…SLAVERY in the good ol’ U.S. I mean, let’s face it…the sparks of Prohibition were fueled by a few choice remarks I would DEFINATELY view as racist/prejudice.
Let’s see,….what else?. Oh yeah!! Non-violent Cannabis users are taken against their will and put behind bars. Kinda like Africans(who also posed no threat to Americans at the time)were taken against their will…..and put in SHACKLES!!!
Non-violent African women were abused and RAPED! by their Slavers…..and I’ve heard a few nightmarish tales about how Non-violent cannabis-convictee’s get abused and RAPED when put in the same cell as a KNOWN rapist. I don’t know about you a***oles, but I don’t think somebody deserves to be physically VIOLATED, and possibly infected with AIDS because they FREELY choose to RESPONSIBLY enjoy Cannabis in their own home.
EVEN after African folks were set free (by the Emancipation Proclamation)they had touble finding descent jobs simply because of the PREJUDICE towards “Blacks”. Kinda like how today many people in America are refused jobs or have a hard time finding employment simply because of the PREJUDICE towards “Stoners”.
AND let’s not forget the BIGGEST similarity between Prohibition and Slavery—HYPOCRICY.
Many WHITE men once enjoyed freedom while(at the same time) unjustly infringing upon BLACKS entitlement to that very same right–FREEDOM.
Today, many DRINKERS practice and enjoy the right to get “HIGH”; while(at the same time) unjustly condemning TOKERS for trying to practice AND enjoy the same right—TO GET HIGH.
2+2=??………any takers?????
I just hope it doesn’t take 200 + years to end Prohibition the same way it did Slavery……
P.S. by the way, SLAVERY is still legal in the U.S.A.
as long as your “plantations” *cough*sweatshps*cough* are located in other countries…..like China or Honduras.
We should have a day where we grab our hammers and stand in protest in D.C. That should send a message…. and buy stock in tools.
Oh and another thought on this Wall comparison. What if hemp oil really DOES cure cancer. What if the really are cures for many deaseases from cannabis? The government has effectively STOPPED anyone from finding out! What if MILLIONS of people have NEEDLESSLY died from cancer! Wouldnt that easily be called a Holocaust!? After all it was a government in germany that killed millions. Our government could have done the same with different methods..huh?
Now tell me this comparison isnt right!!
I’m with R.O.E. and many others. I don’t think the author was saying that there is a direct comparison between our police state and nazi germany. He was making allegory to show when his ‘defining’ moment came in the fight to end the war on marijuana users (which those waging it deny its existence).
I too love animals, but what they train animals to do sometimes sickens me (attack dogs, dolphins carrying mines, etc). Whoever said dogs aren’t allowed to search you is plain wrong. Why do you think they stand in front of lines at airports, etc? If that dog catches a whiff of something it doesn’t like you can be damn certain you’re going to be pulled and searched. If you run the dog will be biting the sh*t out of you. There are no 4th amendment rights with a police dog around.
End the war on PEOPLE (and marijuana users) because that’s what it really is.. not a war on drugs, it’s a war on PEOPLE. If you don’t hold sovereign power over your own body then there is a HUGE PROBLEM!
The founders thought they had Guaranteed the right to use cannibis George Washington wrote How can I start a revolution with no hemp? The moral of my troops will certainly droop if we stoop to stems and seeds…
I’ll have to cop from Jefferson to satisfy our needs.
Now Tommy’s mellow,in Monticello, toking up and writing down those grand ideals.
Since we smoked and spoke and joked about the future of this land,
I think I understand just how he feels.
We hold these truths to be self evident, etcetera,
down to the part we like the best;
to protect our own indulgences, we guaranteed the pursuit of happiness
How can we expedite this reform. Mr. President please legalize marijuana now today. Let’s follow Colorado and set positive examples. Ounce or less $100 fine and no tying up the courts.
Great article thanks a lot!
I made a copy of this article on CannaPrice.com:
http://cannaprice.com/forums.php?action=viewtopic&topicid=384&new=1
Marijuana prohibition started as as a racisit way to control the Mexican immigrants back in 1930’s. People think that it kill brain cells, makes you go crazy, and is incredibly addicting. It is none of these things, it is completely non harmful and beneficial for you health.
What the hell is wrong with you people?!?! WAKE UP! You are being blatantly lied to!!! You think our government really cares about our health?!?! Alcohol and cigs are legal, and how many people do they kill? Marijuana has never killed a single human being in the history of it’s existent.
The alcohol and tobacco company are laughing their heads off at how much money they can make from our government’s stupidity!
Yeah R.O.E I just wanted to say that if I openly spoke out about involvement with anything related to marijuana then I would instantly be labeled a radical hippy and never be looked at the same way by my peers, not to mention I could possibly loose my job.
I wonder how long it will take people to look past their complete ignorance of facts and denial of logic on such a simple issue. Prohibition does 5x more harm than it prevents. What is the point?
(best Reagan impersonation) ” Mr. Obama, Tear DOWN this wall.”
http://www.slate.com/id/2234017/?gt1=38001
Yes . it is ……….America’s ” Berlin Wall ” but , we will knock down this wall just by telling the truth not by using distortion , lies and deception as they do .
# 55…………. It was filled with lies .This is what i mean . Lies , Distortion , deception . They are of the Great Satan themselves .
that’s exactly what I meant in one of my last blog entries: The wall of ignorance is still standing!
http://alricocannabis.blogspot.com/2009/11/el-muro-de-la-ignorancia-aun-sigue-en.html
but that’s not only America’s ‘Berlin Wall’…
Greetz from Berlin!
I only saw the first 10 seconds of this clip showing the badly damaged car and then heard them saying that the driver was a known cannabis driver . That was enough of B.S. for me . That lady who drove that vehicle had a blood alcohol level of 1.6 % . They didn’t tell you this .They hide the truth . This is what is meant by …..distortion .
Just a little hypocrisy humor here. The next time you see a sign that says “Drug free school zone” within 5 miles of a bar or store that sells alcohol, think of all the people put in prison for growing canibus. While the drunks run free in these school zones with their government approved baby raper liquid drugs.
Have your door broken in with a no-nock warrant for your electric bill being too high (computers not grow lights) and then tell me this is not out of order in comparisons. Show me that the people I’ve known who committed suicide versus spend more than a decade of their lives behind bars is not comparable. Tell me why it is okay to profile and pull people over simply to be searched for cannabis?
Like many I grew up with 1950 ideals and live in an Orwellian world of police raids, helicopters and dog assisted searches and roadblocks. How is this not similar to how people were kept from one another in Berlin?
I do agree the bit on the dog was really ludicrous, but the intent was to show just how far people have gone down the rabbit hole and the polarization is not a welcome one on either side of the wall outside of those who built the darn thing..
…for me the issue of personal souvriegnity is paramount. keep your opinions and machinations off of my body/mind/spirit.any lesser approach invalidates any claim of a free society.
as far as cannabis is concerned… in our culture we allow armed agents of the govt to acost, enquire, subjugate, assualt kidnap,accuse, and imprison citizens for possessing a FLOWER with the heinous intent of making themselves somehow feel better.
this seems to me to be INCREDIBLY STUPID.
by what logic does this apply?
the costs are innumerable and the positives inappearent.
i guess the ghosts of evil puritanism will haunt us till the culture crumbles.
THE wealthy tobacco companies try to make weed sound worse than it is because they know that if people try it they’ll like it better than cigs or beer and therefore will lose income. comparing weed to heroin or meth is idiotic. booze is more dangerous than weed.
For me it’s simple the wall needs to come down so I do not have to move to a state that has finally realized the medical benefits and people who are ill do not have to worry about being arrested while trying to relive themselves of extreme pain. I have Parkinson,TMJ,Migraines,deterating disc in my neck and the list goes on. Meanwhile I can legally walk around with many narcotics that I hate taking but, can not deal with the pain without them. Then I have another pill for the nausea. I have to spend hundreds of dollars a month for nerve blocks and another couple of hundred for the pills. Then the call comes when blood is drawn that my liver is showing distress. Enough of this crazy battling over this issue just make it legal already like so many states have arleady done. Lets help the ill,keep others mellow rather then all tanked up and shooting of their mouths after a few to many martinis that keep going into larger and larger glasses that are very cool looking so they appeal to the person holding them. All for seeing the national debt going down and we all know the money it will bring in. Life in prison for growing pot are you kidding me. We are letting hard criminals out of prison due to not having enough room for them.
The global elite will never let this “berlin wall”come down. They’ll most likely throw potheads and anti drug war supporters into concentration camps in the near future before they even consider letting the president legalize it. The people lost power along time ago. Im sorry fellas but we are FUCKED. They simply have more money then we could ever dream of. They owe most of that profit to marijuana’s illegal status. They wont let law change without a fight, and sure as the dick between my legs, WE WONT LET THEM WIN WITHOUT A FIGHT!!!! FIGHT THE POWER!!!!!!
The best way to tear down this so called “Prohibition Wall” is to become like Johnny Appleseed, plant em and pass em out freely. I would rather give some of my Cannabis out for free for those that need it than to try to profit from it, that way I can not be labeled as a dealer since I’m passing it out for nothing.
Jolly Old Toker,
Its funny you mention Jonny apple seed. Did ya know Jonny apple seed was removed from many school libraries due to its “sexual” indications(I believe). Cencor ship at its finest. The problem is, when I was a youngin in school,watched films and read books on J.A. S. I didnt see any sexual conotations. Just goes to show how some ‘ADULTS’ look for boogymen and demons in everything. Cannabis is not different. Its a scary world we live in when ‘ADULTS’ make dirty a simple childs story. Makes one wonder what will be banned in the future in the name of”protecting the children” .
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826)
Hi evereybody, I’m not a smoker of anything but, if cannabis is recomended for illnesses thats a great thing that nobody can say about tobacco. Nobody advice tobacco to get well, this one only kills and is not forbidden, it’s the biggest drug and it’s legal…Isn’t this the biggest irony ?
instead of thousands of hammers… imagine thousands of beaners… what if everyone planted a bagseed in their neighbors yard, then everyones yard would have a weed plant and everyone would realize their neighbor is actually cool ; )
fear is a poor substitute for respect lets face this drug war bully and tear down the wall
Wonderful piece of writing!
America would indeed soon turn into a similar thing as the Soviet Union if Drug Prohibition would not be resisted.
?Everyone, stop asking, pleading, begging the Federal government to legalize marijuana.
All one has to do is look to the rules for the Federal government. The constitution for the United
States.
Article the twelfth [Amendment X]
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it
to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
If a state decides to completely legalize pot, the Federal government has NO say in the matter
whatsoever.
Think about it for a moment. ?Prostitution is legal in Nevada, but not in the District of
criminals Columbia. Can a Federal agent arrest someone in Nevada for ?prostitution? No
they can’t. State law over-rides Federal law.
Same thing with ANY law a state makes that is in contrary to Federal law.
Section. 8. The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and
Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the
United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United
States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the
Indian Tribes;
To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of
Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of
Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the
United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to
Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences
against the Law of Nations;
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures
on Land and Water;
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a
longer Term than two Years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress
Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part
of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States
respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according
to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding
ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress,
become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all
Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for
the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; — And
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the
foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the
United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Section. 4. “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against
Invasion;…”
[Editor’s note: Its too bad that modern courts pretend the 9th and 10th amendments no longer exist…reformers citing the 9th and 10th Amendment as means to retard cannabis prohibition will be very likely be disappointed when trial and appellate courts largely ignore pleadings that invoke the 9th and 10th Amendments.]
Thanks very much for this great post! Was very very helpful. I get writers block from time to time and this will keep me writing for a YEAR! Great stuff and some types of blog posts I??ve never even thought of writing.Thank you very much.
Some people would rather waste money to make a point. Marijuana is illegal. For over 80 years it has been illegal. It does not matter that we know so much more about marijuana today than we did 80 years ago. It does not matter that today science says pot is a magnitude safer than alcohol. Science says pot is much less addictive than alcohol and non-toxic too. So why are we prohibiting marijuana again? We made a bad law back when we knew nothing about marijuana, does that mean we can never change it…ever? I like to think that we are not as stupid as what this appears. We are forcing people to drink and risk their health and life when they could have a choice, a safer choice! Our kids are drinking themselves to death and they could have had a safer choice but we are so ignorant we will let these folks die because our government made a bad law 80 years ago and we don’t seem to have the sense to change it. Over 30 of our kids died at college last year from alcohol poisoning…not one kid died from marijuana poisoning last year, or any year. How many of those kids would still be alive if they had had a choice? Please, please, end the alcohol monopoly in America. Help make America a safer place to live.