If you’re a veteran from any era and have some time to answer questions about your experiences, your input could be a huge help.
A survey from Dr. Mitch Earleywine, a member of the NORML Advisory Board, addresses cannabis, military experiences, and a whole lot more. Responses are completely anonymous and there’s a chance to win gift certificates from Amazon.com.
Check out the survey here.
HERE IT IS –
San Francisco — A California lawmaker is proposing to require all marijuana growers and sellers to be licensed by the state as a way to increase sales tax revenue.
Democratic state Sen. Ron Calderon said Wednesday he plans to introduce a bill requiring all legal and illegal marijuana businesses to register with the Board of Equalization, the state agency that collects sales tax. The bill would not legalize marijuana beyond current state law.
Supporters say the measure is intended mainly to provide a system of regulation for medical marijuana dispensaries. Such dispensaries already are required to pay sales tax like other businesses, but board vice chair Jerome Horton says many don’t comply.
“There is a clear indication that many dispensaries are intentionally evading their taxes, distributing illegal products and may be laundering illegally acquired money,” Horton said in a statement.
Licensees would have to pay a fee, prepay part of the sales tax and pay an excise tax similar to manufacturers, distributors and retailers of tobacco products in the state.
Calderon spokesman Rocky Rushing said the lawmaker estimates full compliance from legal medical marijuana sellers could generate $168 million in revenue.
The Board of Equalization estimates that $1.3 billion worth of marijuana is sold legally in the state every year but only $8 million in sales tax are collected
I wonder how many times NORML gets letters and emails like the one from #48? The father has been properly brain washed into thinking cannabis is a horrible drug that will ruin his son’s life. I wonder if he would react the same if he found his son consuming alcohol or tobacco? Both are much more dangerous and addictive. Look at what our government has done to it’s citizens. Will the current rulers CHANGE the propaganda or will they keep the line of the “War On Drugs”. We need to help everyone understand the truth about cannabis. Thanks NORML for spreading the word. We will change America even if it takes a lifetime to do it!
Bill Introduced To Legalize Marijuana In Kansas
http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/83554557.html
(HELP ME PLEASE)If you read this, I wish I saw your post earlier today because I’d be happy to assist in your unfortunate problem with your dad. I’ll be on again in the morning about 4 a.m. cst.
Holy Smokes. WARNING- The Oregon National Guard is warning that 100% of soldiers will be drug tested if they have their way. Test positive lose all your benefits for being in the guard. Wow! With the number of PTSS patients looking for relief with MJ it looks like the man has another control to make you behave as they see fit.
Rev.sLeezy
Holy Smokes!
God Bless all of you who have served in the armed forces.
The Rev.sLeezy
TULCOTHS
CAMP
Don’t forget to add Big Alcohol in the toxic pool with Big Government and Big Pharma. Anheuser-Busch is in no hurry to compete with home grown pot
Completed the form and to all you other pot smokin’ vets – “Hoorah! and Semper Fi”
Did the survey, Desert Storm vet, yeah there was plenty of good herb in the Guard then. Isreal is prescribing it to their vets for PTSD already, when we wake up and free the weed, that has so much to offer humanity.
There are some interesting statistics out right now on how pot offenders in the military are not getting the boot at nearly as high of a rate as in the past. Do not mistake this as the military, “going easy” on anyone however. I am currently serving on active duty and am stationed overseas I have seen a few people i know pop on a piss tests, they get reduction of rank and pay, but they still ship them to Iraq or Afghanistan. The subject of legalization comes up at whatever shop I have ever worked at and it is safe to say that 90% of enlisted members are for legalization, even those who do not smoke and never have are for it. Some might think it is odd that a vastly conservative base would be so for legalization but the reason is because all of us see and take place in alcohol abuse on a very regular basis. We understand the negative effects and live with them, as do the local populations of the foreign countries we get stationed at. Also based on what I have seen the military only catches 8 – 10% of those who do smoke while enlisted. The truth is they do not want to catch anymore than that for many reasons such as public image, manning issues, as well as the fact that it is expensive to discharge someone who has already been trained and invested in just to do it all over again ….. well anyways i could go on all day but i will get off of my soapbox now. ~peace~
when i was in the army reserves 1981 to 1985 we never heard of a pee test.i never stopped
Hi, I am a former marine, I am a eyewitness to the pentagon attack on 9/11, I was stationed at Marine Barracks 8th & I in Washington D.C. My angish comes from the fact that I know for a fact that a 757 did NOT hit the pentagon, something much smaller did. I didn’t see what hit it, but from the damage, it was not a 757. This is what causes my PTSD. I go to the VA once every two weeks, and I’ve tried talking about this to the counselor, but he doesn’t really seem to care. I started smoking sometimes after 9/11, I smoked it in my room, in my apartment that I shared with another marine. I popped on a piss test a few months later. I recieved an bad conduct discharge. There was other shit to that went down, that also makes me really wonder about how fucked our government really is. Stuff that took place at my duty station. I am proud of being a former marine, but the federal government is NOT HONORABLE. I hope one day all armed forces are allowed to smoke, because alcohol and pissed off marines don’t mix well at all. Anyways, I”m glad that I got a chance to share, and I hope others can take some comfort for knowing that their not alone. Pot has kept me alive, I swear. Semper Fi!
@ #61 — i feel for you brother. they did the same thing to me because i made the responsible decision to NOT DRINK as i watched it destroy the lives of my friends and brethren.
i received a general (under honorable conditions) discharge but i still should have gotten full honorable.
our military is very, very corrupt and even though they have their stupid little “bold faces, face to faces before the weekend,” it is still very encouraged. very few airmen i was stationed with DIDN’T drink. it’s NOT acceptable in the military to be alcohol-free.
it’s very disappointing. i am sorry you had to go through that as i did…
To all of you facing issues with parents that are ‘brainwashed’ this is for you. I grew up in a family where I was the only person in the family who ever smoked pot. So when my parents found out I smoked I became homeless. They said I would remain homeless unless I quit smoking pot. I offered my father a proposition, and this is what I said. “Well, now that I don’t have a home I can live by my own rules. I chose to smoke pot. However, if you’ll humor me Id like to show you something, Id like you to watch me smoke a joint, and then hang out with me for a little while and if you STILL think marijuana is as bad as the government says it is- Ill NEVER smoke it again.”
To my surprise my father agreed and I proceeded to get high in front of him. After I finished my joint me and my father hung out and shot the shit for a while. My father was amazed at the fact that I could have a straight intelligent conversation with him because he was taught that pot turns you into a couch potato or worse a raving psychotic. He soon learned he had been lied to all his life and now, although he will NEVER smoke it, he understands why I do and his views on this blessing of a plant have indeed changed for life. Me on the other hand, im doing better managing my ADHD and my depression. I haven’t attempted suicide in the last 6 years Ive been smoking it. When I was on prescription medication I had attempted suicide twice. Which led to a barrage of drugs that I was forced to take under the threat of being thrown into a looney bin. (Because that’s where they put you if you suffer from severe depression.) The drugs ended up having a reverse effect and now I have 2 more mental illnesses, PTSD, and Anxiety disorder. Thanks Big Pharma! Thanks to cannabis im able to manage all of these disorders and Id just as soon die then quit smoking it. FUCK YOU UNCLE SAM. You’ll have allot to answer for when my real father Jesus Christ comes back to Earth.
@ #63 — Amen, brother… Herbert W. Armstrong couldn’t have said it better himself!
i am glad i now realize there are others like me and i am not alone anymore!
thank you guys and gals for your input and support!
I’ve been refused entry to the service due to the ritilan I was put on when I was 3 yrs old (I cant recall the first 8 years of my life thx to that, even tho I was taken off that particular pill when I was 7..) been thru 13 years total of doctor drugs and locked up with a bunch of psycho’s most of that time (I quit cold-turkey taking any of their meds as a 16th b-day preset to mysef) and never eventied pot till I was 18 and after 13 yrs of their drugs I’ve found cannibis is the only one that has actually helped my severe bipolar disorder, ADHD and other mental instabilities. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get my card but after reading ppls posts here I think there may be hope for this damnable situation yet…
I’m a veteran from Desert Storm and suffer from a head injury that has will now and forever cause me problems with migraines and vision issues. The VA does everything they can to try to get me to stop smoking even though I can’t take anything else for pain due to stomach issues with other types of medication. Though cannibis is illegal in my state,(NY) for now. I refuse to let the Gov stop me from using the one thing that is helping me. I’m hoping this year NY finally passes the medical use law so I can get some relieve from the anxiety I have from needing to use an illegal drug to make me fell better and help me to keep my anger in check.
I am an Army vet that has spina bifida and severe insomnia. I smoked the entire time I was in service. They found out and wanted to pump me full of tranquilizers and get me addicted to pills my whole life. If I did that, i probably wouldn’t have a liver. Needless to say, I was forced out because I wanted to take something natural rather than take a bunch of bad pills.
@ #65 i went through the same thing you did different drugs loonie bins ext due to my bipolar disorder add and mental instabilities. i will smoke pot the rest of my life because weed is the only real drug that helps my bipolar. i was also denied entry to service due to my medical past.
TO NORML
i think marijuana may also be applicable to treat people with bi polar. i have been off all medication for 4 years now thanks to marijuana. it levels me out. tell your buddies please so others such as myself might get the help they need so desperately
I am a 100% disabled Viet-Nam Veteran, I live on a fixed income in constant pain from back injuries and suffer extreme PTSD, severe anxiety attacks, and also have colon cancer and Sub-arachnoiditis from head trauma sustained while in the military
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I was a user of Medical Marijuana because I received better pain relief and relaxation from it than most of the meds the physicians will give you.
In October last year, I had a generalized warrant served on my home . maybe it was wrong but The way I was arrested is insane. I answered my door completely unarmed with no intention of denying access or show aggression in any way. My wife was in Florida caring for her sisters children while they were on a vacation.
I was met by a 12 gauge shotgun in my face and after the initial shock noticed that there was 1. The Buffalo Trace Area Drug Development Task Force. 2. The Ky State Police 3. The Fleming County Sheriff’s Dept, 4. The Mason County Sheriff’s Dept, 5, A Swat team was on standby, 6. A helicopter was on standby for whatever reason.
I came to find out through my attorneys Petition for Discovery that this was supposedly an investigation into charges that I was trafficking Marijuana to Lexington, Ky. Selling Controlled substances, and possessed huge amounts of pills that were allegedly sold by me. This was all based on two anonymous tips from April to October and was told that my neighbors had all been interviewed and there was irrefutable evidence.
On the warrant, my name was spelled wrong and SSN was not correct, my wife’s Birthdate was wrong and the Petition for discovery showed that the only evidence that was found was that there was allegedly some Marijuana leaves in my trash can which is located 750-800 ft from my residence on a highly traveled public highway.
My contention is that if there was this many funds allocated and wasted by this investigation, why was not one neighbor I have spoken with interviewed, why was there not one person who could corroborate that I had sold anything of any type to anyone and why were the names on the warrant and other information wrong.. That pot could have been placed in my trash by anyone who drives on US68 which is a major highway.
My concern is that if they had truly investigated me, they would have known there was no traffic by anyone except my Pastor and friends locally I attend church with who visit rarely. 10 days later my wife was arrested on the same charges and we were both held on 10,000 dollar cash bonds each.
As a result, My Blood pressure medicine, my pain medicine, and my seizure medicines were withheld from me by the local authorities. They were in proper containers, recently dispensed by the VA Hospital and had the proper amounts in them. and I wound up spending four days in the local hospital being stabilized from seizures, dehydration and acute anxiety attacks.
I have still not fully recovered and will probably never be able to regain any sort of composure after this incident. thank God, my neighbors knew of my medical condition and when they heard the story, went voluntarily and got the money to get me out of that jail before I died. My wife had no sort of prior record and I did have prior convictions from when I was experiencing a severe case of PTSD in the time frame of 1975-1979. if this is not an utter waste of our tax dollars and an overkill attitude by these agencies, I would like to know why.
I sincerely believe that someone needs to look into why this incident occurred and why there was such shoddy information used to obtain a warrant when a simple phone call to the local Law enforcement would have netted the same results at a much greater savings in both money and my health. Plus the humiliation and way we were treated by this/these agencies was absurd and needless.
My wife was a substitute school teacher and was immediately relieved of her job which she loved, we are both active in the Church and local community affairs and I am a huge advocate in trying to help our kids stay away from drugs and also voluntarily try to help our returning veterans get the help they so badly need upon their return.
I am sure I will never see this on the news because it is dominated by those who have already become celebrities for whatever reasons. But I thought that someone should come and look into this matter.
I feel there is more to this than just what is being told in the local papers. I have at least voiced my thoughts on what I consider a travesty on someone who volunteered to serve their country and as a result am being persecuted for it.
Thank you for your time and I hope someone will read this and take an interest.
Sgt Robert E Silvey USAF/DOD 25 years (ret)
While I do not suffer from PTSD, I can tell you as a war vet that reflecting on my military experiences can send me into an emotional downward spiral comparable only to the release brought on by the burning of a joint. It is important to be able to be calm and composed with nothing but one’s own breath, inhaling and exhaling, but while I think it is dangerous for anyone to believe that they cannot be OK without a substance (any substance), I will admit that I for one did not know how to relax immediately after my honorable discharge from the military, coming immediately after a fifteen-month deployment to Afghanistan. Cannabis was instrumental in helping me learn how to chill out.
I didn’t dare smoke cannabis while in the military, and had had very limited experience prior as a minor. But somehow I knew towards the end of my deployment that it was something that I owed to myself; something that would do me a world of good; and something that I very possibly needed. I couldn’t have imagined how much I would smoke. Sorting out the emotions, trying to make peace with myself, I wound up smoking about an ounce per month for six consecutive months. However, I do not consider this amount–or any amount–too much for someone who desperately needs peace of mind and to rediscover some joy in being alive. It was just a lot more than I had anticipated wanting or needing.
I had been in a very stressful situation serving as an infantryman during my final deployment. I consider my entire last deployment one stressful situation: There was no end to stress, and there was no beginning to stress. The stress had built up since before we had arrived and would persist until long after we had left theater. There was no ebb, and there was no flow to the stress. There is no point in tallying the amount of times I was in danger or under fire; I was no more or less stressed bounding to the next position than I was waiting for the next mission. If I had just watched someone get killed or hadn’t been on a mission in days, I was on edge. Every minute felt the same: a year of stress and vigilance from beginning to end….
Cannabis helped me find peace of mind. Although I had never contemplated suicide, I would often wonder how long I could go on bearing the mental burden I had to bear. Although I did not want to die–on the contrary: because I did not want to die–I considered how that burden would ultimately break me. Cannabis helped in part to lift my burden off my shoulders.
I knew I was in trouble, and cannabis helped get me out of trouble. It helped me relax, plain and simple. Relax over a long enough time, and what you have is called healing. Cannabis helped to heal my mind. Thanks to cannabis I found peace after war, and I am grateful for it.
Much respect to those whose wounds cannot be healed by the mere smoking of a weed. I make no claims to your degree of sacrifice. I claim no sacrifice at all. I compare myself in no way to you. I can in no way compare what I have witnessed to what you have suffered. Much respect to all who suffer from PTSD. Americans cannot imagine what you have seen because you have shielded them from it. American troops serve neither policy nor politician; they serve the people of the United States of America. It’s up to the people to vote for the right politicians to pursue the right policies. Taking proper care of veterans must be one of them, and so must be marijuana law reform.
i want to instigate a lawsuit against indiana and the federal govt. for denying the right to medical marijuana as allowed in many other ststes.please advise me on what group or organization to contact. im declared disabled by the federal govt but denied the disability rights of many others in many other states.
On the marijuana to me its better than the hydrocodone and muscle relaxers the VA tries to keep me stoned on its acetaminophen is terrible for the liver. They could save money and not harm us as much with legal pot I would even pay for it myself think of the money the goverment could save. But i think they are trying to wipe us out quicker with the tons of meds they give us. I am off all my pain pills and mood elevators any way something to think about!
Hey, me again. I just want to say, how dare they treat us like this. I served my country, until I finally was losing it, a month after 9/11. I had a roommate who was nuts, and armed with a pistol. He hated me. As soon as I started smoking again, its like my backbone came back. I moved out from that apartment, and moved in with my friend. It was like, “NO, the only thing thats going to get me through this is cannabis.” I didn’t have anyone that I trusted to talk to in my unit. So I started using pot. I still went to work, and did my job. I only smoked right before I went to bed. This is insane. Alcohol is dangerous, especially in the hands of young service personel. The Marines especially is mostly made up of young people in their twenties. I remember when I started using, I could understand why Vietnam vets, and even George Washington! Used cannabis. It just totally relaxes you, and DOESN’T make you do stupid shit like alcohol does. I still feel like I’m a marine. I have no friends, because everyone else is a “civilian”…….. I have serious issues with trust. Its been like eight years since I got out, and nine since I officially got out………and I feel nuts, and my body is so messed up. I can’t go for runs anymore, I get the worse back pain. I can hardly do my four day of week work week because of the pain I am in. I don’t know if it is from doing honor guard stuff, or what, but I am in pain almost all the time. I have been stoned almost all the time since I’ve been out…….but in the last few years the pain has gotten worse. I feel so alone. I will always be proud of being a marine, but at the same time I feel so, so alone. I feel alone because I know 9/11 was a inside job ( please don’t take me for a nutjob, I was stationed by the pentagon, and also they took away all the armed guards from my duty station for a couple of months AFTER…..when before we always had armed guards, marine sentrys. Why the fuck would you downgrade the security after the WORSE terrorist attack in history? I wonder…….I wonder if they weren’t originally planning on a little “terror” at my duty station……..and then maybe later got cold feet and called it off) and because of my discharge, people automatically assume you were a shit bag marine……..Its so fusturating!!! I was in the honor guard, I did full honor funerals at Arlington National cemetry. I laid to rest war heroes, and former astronauts, Sentators, etc. That all had served in the Marines. I did so many that I can’t tell how many I did, but I was doing around three to four a week sometimes, plus other duty at the pentagon. It just fucks me up. Its not like I forgot everything I was taught in the marines, I still feel like one. I hate civilians……….and I especially hate the civilians who decided to create 9/11, and decide to invade countries on the OTHER SIDE OF THE GLOBE, and drain our treasury, and destroy and kill our people, and the victimes who’s only crime was to be born on the land our country wanted.
i got busted on a piss test in 1985.about 75 or 80 people and i were sent packing.they made it a little rough for me said that they were going to court mar. me and finally kicked me out with a oth discharge and i lost all my vet.ben. fuckers!!!!
i know for a fact that alcohol is a lot worse drug than pot from self experiences alcohol. Ive had black outs many times. pot only mellows me out my girl friend was paralyzed from a drunk driver 25 years ago at 18 years old and was never ever to have children or go to college as a defense lawyer to put bad people away like (o.j. simpson