It’s getting ugly and NORML needs your help now more than ever to stand up for the rights of responsible adults cannabis consumers. The Administration that promised to base drug policy on science and respect state marijuana laws is ignoring medical facts, the needs of patients, and the economic benefits that regulated dispensaries bring to medical cannabis-friendly states.
There is no way to sugar coat the terrible past two weeks we’ve had at the hands of Prohibition-loving federal and state governments.
Yesterday, the four U.S. Attorneys from California–along with their respective counterparts here in Washington D.C. from the DEA and IRS–declared that a statewide crackdown against large-scale medical cannabis cultivators and sellers with national implications is currently underway.
Question: Will U.S. Attorneys in the other fifteen states and D.C. with medical cannabis laws pursue similarly aggressive enforcement?
But wait! There’s more. Much more.
- Earlier this week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a long-awaited $2.5 million ruling against a major medical cannabis dispensary in California. Citing an obscure part of the US tax code meant to target drug cartels, the federal agency is barring dispensaries, even those licensed under state law, from taking any business-related tax deductions and is seeking millions in dollars in back taxes.
This adverse ruling has the very real potential to stop the regulated sale of cannabis currently underway in California, Colorado, Maine and New Mexico; and planned in Arizona, Montana, Delaware, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C
- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) issued a heavy-handed one-page memo to every gun and ammunition dealer nationwide informing them that they must, by law, deny sales to lawful patients who possess a physician’s recommendation to use medical cannabis–many of whom posses state-issues medical cannabis ID cards–effectively denying their Second Amendment rights to have a gun to hunt or for personal safety.
- Federal regulators cracked down on banks in Colorado, California and Michigan that had previously conduct business with medical cannabis dispensaries, forbidding these financial institutions from allowing cash deposits or processing credit/debit cards from state or locally approved canna-businesses.
- U.S. Attorneys in California sent warnings to local dispensaries in San Francisco, San Diego, and elsewhere warning that locally compliant facilities still may be subject to federal prosecution for violating federal ‘drug free school zones’ legislation — leaving these facilities with no choice but to either move or close.
- Also, federal attorneys in California have sent hundreds of legal warnings to the landlords of properties that rent to medical cannabis businesses (retail, delivery, cultivation and testing) warning that their properties and assets are subject to swift civil forfeiture proceedings, and that they themselves may be subject to decades in prison. Is it likely that federal attorneys do the same in Colorado, New Mexico and Maine; and to the numerous gray area dispensaries in Oregon and Washington?
- Rhode Island’s governor Lincoln Chafee pulled the plug on the state’s nascent medical cannabis dispensary program, despite it having been previously approved 102 – 3 by the state legislature. Why? Governor Chafee cites recent memos from the Department of Justice threatening to federally prosecute employees involved in the state-licensed production or distribution of cannabis.
- Michigan courts, the legislature and the state’s Attorney General are steadily dissembling the state’s medical cannabis program, despite the law having passed with 63 percent public approval.
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There are only two things to say after reading such an alarming list of recent setbacks to ending Cannabis Prohibition:
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- Rather than pour millions of dollars and human energy into creating a legally and politically contentious policy that allows some cannabis consumers who can obtain a physician’s recommendation to be immune from state (but not federal) prosecution during a time of general Cannabis Prohibition, all cannabis consumers, patients, cultivators and sellers and their families should focus their full attention and resources to once and for all legalizing cannabis for all responsible adult consumers.
- Make a donation to NORML now, join a local NORML chapter (there are nearly 200 of them nationwide!) today or purchase a NORML-related product and show the country that you support ending Cannabis Prohibition in our lifetime.
Everyone at NORML has known that 2012 was going to be the busiest year in our 40-year civil rights efforts to legalize marijuana.
…However, with the Obama Administration’s new and aggressive assertion of federal primacy over states and cities that have crafted superior, public-endorsed, free market-oriented public policies, we’re now assured long and difficult political and legal battles in the coming year with a federal government that still does not ‘get it’ regarding the public’s desire to retire the 74-year-old Cannabis Prohibition right next to the last ‘great social experiment’, Alcohol Prohibition.
Anticipating yesterday’s federal actions in California, members of the NORML Legal Committee (NLC), a nationwide network of over 600 lawyers, is already organizing and poised to challenge federal and state governments who seek to kill patients’ access to medical cannabis and to defend citizens egregiously charged by their own government for law violations.
If you watched the three-part PBS series this week on Alcohol Prohibition, it is impossible not to draw similarities to the absurdity of alcohol’s prohibition to that of the ongoing, heavy-handed criminalization of cannabis, and that ultimately only politically organized citizens came to end the federal government’s folly by putting sufficient legal and political pressure on their elected policymakers.
Our generation must do the same to end our nation’s long-suffering Cannabis Prohibition.
Get (More) Active. Donate now. Be NORML. Every contribution helps.
Thanks for caring and sharing,
Allen St. Pierre
Executive Director
NORML
Washington, DC
director@norml.org
President Barack Obama: Are you fucking blind to the violence and death of marijuana prohibition. What the hell are you thinking? So a former DEA employee, who was HIGHLY against marijuana legalization, said that if the Mexican Drug Cartels didn’t have money they wouldn’t survive, purely from a marketing perspective. What the fuck are you thinking??? Are you crazy???
What happened to the Tea Pot Party
The Federal Goverment has never bargained in good faith on this issue. It’s all been a tissue of lies and misdirections from the start. Ever since that lowlife criminal Nazi Nixon introduced the Drug Scheduling, and marijuana was placed in the worst of the categories, it’s been apparent that the government is never going to deal with us honestly on this issue. Spokesmen say one thing, and the jackbooted thugs do something else. They waste more taxpayers money on trying to stop something they can’t stop, and the worst part is they know it.
It boils down to a large number of law-and-order thugs trying desperately to justify their phony jobs from year to year. After all, what is an ex-narcotics agent good for in the private sector? All they’re good at is intimidating and frightening people, and lying with conviction. I suppose some bars will always need bouncers.
I have been making my rounds communicating about why marijuana should be legalized.
I also posted here, and there were 0 posts when I started.
I am trying to get visibility.
BTW – it does not seem to me that those in favor of marijuana legalization are the minority, only merely hidden due to its societal and legal ramifications.
Where are our public heroes, the stars with zillions of followers on Twitter? I know Kutcher got spotted with a bong, and everyone knows ‘Winner’ Sheen was way past it. Where are our voices? Just gaining ground at our sakes? Looking cool, making money, playing the game, and being fake?
They most all jump on the ‘yeah! I was for weed!’
bandwagon once the dust clears.
I call on you to stand up and use your public status to back us little people. We back you, check your box office statuses.
Anyway, here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/the-pot-republic-social-issues/president-obamas-war-on-medical-marijuana/
I have to agree with some others. I think it should be legalized like alcohol and tobaco. I understand wanting to get medical marijuana but then you also involve the dea and other regulatory boards that will mess with you the patient. If a drug is fda approved as a legitament medication then comes the regulations and prescribeing etc etc. It should be controlled by states like the alcohol. If the states that are currently looking to retranct their medical marijuana programs would just simply decriminalize it then the feds would have a hell of a time policeing and controlling it. The Federal government has a large expense and difficult time controlling the drug trade now. If Marijuana were legal in the states then the fed gov would have to consede or beef up to police the states weed use. Then the patients could get the marijuana also for their medical issues also.
Here we go AGAIN! No different than what happened over 230 years ago with England. TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! We DO live in the best country in the world, but our government needs to listen to the people. Our government shouldn’t be taking tax dollars for the sale of our medication, then tell us that what we are doing is illegal under US law and you will be prosecuted if you don’t stop… AND then, the Government takes another “summer break” without finishing their business.
I would like to ask NORML to make a post on who we can write to stop this madness. Who the hell is giving them the power to DO THIS?! This is getting beyond ridiculous… now they want to spend even MORE money on a failed war on marijuana? Who’s cashing their god damn checks… If they do make a post with an address and email, GET AT THEM! Enough is enough!
[Paul Armentano responds: Several thousand NORML supporters have already contacted the White House via our ‘Take Action Center’ here: http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=54512501.%5D
Let me ask you this, how many tokers do you know exist in private? What would it look like if our police and leaders were drug tested? Assuming they were within compliance for testing – would not many of them turn up ‘hot’? Wouldn’t they, THEN, work to make it legal-
before they were in jeopardy themselves???
Too bad it isn’t a mandate that those policing drugs have to be tested themselves… I was surprised the first time I saw a uniformed officer roll up to my friend’s place – and order a chunk himself.
I was terrified, actually.
Now, the more I learn… I wonder how common that is…
I know a LOT of people have been busted and the amount they were charged with was far less than they had…
Gee… I wonder the fuck why?
What happened to Gary Johnson
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905
TIME TO GO BACK TO ALCOHOL PROHIBITION. Those drunken D.E.A hypocrites and the drunken idiots of government will cry like babies if we take away their baby-raper juice. wine , beer, whiskey, vodka etc. all baby-raper juice. We must stop these drug-crazed drunks before more children are raped by them. death and prison is a good start.
All drugs should be legalized. Sober or not sober. No more hypocrites!!!!!!!
Whose side you on??????????????
Sober or free DEA, Obama! no more hypocrites!!!
Seems Gandhi turned the tide of grevious government opinion with hunger strikes/food deprivation and an unwavering fortitude. On television, all could witness his commitment for his beliefs. Public empathy ensued.
In your face protests,lobbyists,petitions and threat of the vote has failed IMO.
@ Paul Armentano
We need to take it further than that. We need to show the corruption behind the white house. There is too much money being thrown at these politicians, they’re just puppets. Just because a company has a facebook doesn’t mean they’re good! Open your eyes as a consumer, quit buying into products that support this. Get a hemp oil powered engine on the market and put those other fuels out of business. Stop the corruption at its roots. I’ve watched enough GOOD people go to jail for smoking grass, I’ve watched our government infringe on our civil rights repeatedly, we need to do more. The companies behind the corruption need to be shown.. whether it’s a T.V. commercial or a documentary, we need something to counter EVERY single “propgandic” fact they have thrown at us… we’ve got the facts to back it up, we just need to get it out to the public… and apparently the rest of the world now that they’re trying to police that too… even though they can’t even handle the united states. It’s about more than just marijuana.. it’s about freedom, failed government branches force they corporate paid agendas. We have politicians taking campaign money if they promise to shut down wind and solar energy programs once voted into office… how is this level of corruption unseen by the public? How can we all just sit by and watch these same corporations trash not only America, but the rest of the world. How can we sit by and watch 40% of our corn get burned in a gas tank while people all over the world are starving to death. Politicians pushing our rights for a few extra bucks.. it’s time to stand up. At the point you can use the same plant family as: medicine, stress reliever, clothing, building materials, oil, fuel, food (hemp seeds are very healthy), rope, paper, a material similar to plastic – replacing one of the highest polluting substances on the planet, and even the frame of a car. If it’s not the corporations behind the politicians, the reason they won’t legalize is because with out it we depend on them, if it were legal, we could simply plant a few acres of hemp and build a house with it, then a few more acres and power our vehicle, then a few more acres and power our house, or how about a school, or hospital… it’s free power. Instead of cutting budgets, and cutting school programs while politicians ask for a FUCKING RAISE AND BETTER INSURANCE…
“I’d Rather Die On My Feet Than Live On My Knees”
GROW BUD
Obama just used the white house petition to fish for lobby money. After everyone seen how many backers our cause had, the Pharm-co Lobby groups stepped up and donated HUGE to Obama. They of course had a price, to eliminate the competition and that is Marijuana, the fake drug war moves on! and we march! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjfhOPCPJnE&feature=colike
I’d like to add this petition to the Whitehouse.gov We the People section, but would like to get some insight on it before I do. Please take a few moments to look over it and comment on anything you find that may be inappropriate and make suggestions which would empower the requests within. Thank you for being a part of something.
Greg
We the People of the United States of America
Hereby respectfully request a televised State of the Union Address from President Obama which focuses entirely on the current issues regarding cannabis, including medicinal and recreational uses and the harms, if any, both proven and perceived, of each.
Additionally, we request that Our President explain, in detail, his decision to reverse his “hands off” policy concerning Medical Marijuana Dispensaries who are in compliance with the laws of their state.
We also implore you, Mr. President, to diligently explain to the citizenship the reason the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), which is willing to test cannabis for safety and efficacy, has had research blocked by the ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy), which currently holds a monopoly as the only federal agency with the authority to grant cannabis to an institution for research purposes.
Furthermore, we would like to know why you feel it is warranted to deny medical marijuana patients their Constitutionally guaranteed Second Amendment Rights while those patients are in compliance with the laws of their state, and also why you believe it is appropriate to support the nullification of the First Amendment Rights of media outlets that chose to engage in business agreements with businesses operating within the boundaries set forth by the states in which they reside and conduct business.
We compel you, Sir, to help us understand how arresting more than 750,000 citizens each year for simple cannabis possession alone, which burdens families, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and society in general, helps our nation or economy prosper during these very troubling and uncertain economic times.
And finally, Mr. President, we ask that when you conclude your address to America, you immediately attend a well organized, well funded debate on the issues surrounding cannabis in America with media coverage tactically orchestrated to reach as many households as possible in order to give every possible citizen the opportunity to gain the most current, science-oriented insight into what the cannabis debate in this country really does consist of using the expertise of our nations’ top minds on the subject, both pro legalization as well as Prohibitionist opponents, after which you will interject your opinion on the matter and, within a reasonable timeframe, enact legislation to progress an agenda that supports the outcome of the debate, or more preferably, use your Presidential Power to issue an Executive Order which will enact the immediate changes necessary to finally bring this unfortunate, longstanding, embarrassing ordeal to a prompt end so we can begin, as a nation, to move forward once again.
Sincerely,
The American People
To Paul Armentano- I’d especially like to get your input on this, as I’ve found your past works to be very inspiring and your knowledge on the subject to be unparalleled. To me it doesn’t quite seem ready. If you were to post this, what would you change or add?
[Paul Armentano responds: “We also implore you, Mr. President, to diligently explain to the citizenship the reason the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), which is willing to test cannabis for safety and efficacy, has had research blocked by the ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy), which currently holds a monopoly as the only federal agency with the authority to grant cannabis to an institution for research purposes.” This is incorrect. It is the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) that holds a monopoly on medical marijuana clinical research because they have the final say regarding whether to make their supply of cannabis available for such research. DEA also plays a role, as any investigator who wishes to work with plant cannabis in clinical trials must possess a DEA license to do so. Presently, just over a dozen clinicians are licensed to do so.]
I posted in depth comments,
here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/the-pot-republic-social-issues/president-obamas-war-on-medical-marijuana/
and here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/the-pot-republic-social-issues/a-crushing-blow-to-medical-marijuana-dispensaries/
PBS is theoretically unbiased public.
Reach out. Communicate.
This prohibition crap is ridiculous.
Thanks, Mr. Armentano! It’s foolish mistakes such as that which discredit so many otherwise good ideas. I sincerely appreciate that you took the time to point it out. I’ll correct it immediately.
To Paul Armentano- Just to clarify, where you suggesting that I also add a statement about the DEA, or simply putting the info out there?
[Paul Armentano responds: Just clarifying that the two agencies responsible in this country for the dearth of marijuana-specific clinical trials are NIDA and DEA, not FDA — which simply approves protocols. NIDA and DEA decide whether those approved protocols actually take place.]
Greg and Paul Armentano – that looks really good, with Paul’s addition.
Here is what I would have them understand:
The prohibition of marijuana, for adults, has reaped many of the negatives which this country avoided when we repealed the prohibition of alcohol. It was clear the public wasn’t going to stop seeking alcohol, nor will they relent in seeking marijuana. Marijuana is safer to the user and society.
In the early part of this century, the rum runners, with their Tommy-guns ran a bootleg market.
The violence associated with the alcohol trade all but died overnight when its prohibition was repealed.
Americans don’t have to face the violence, as ‘pot heads’ are almost exclusively non-violent, and the cartels which reap the profits of our failed policies dominate Mexico, not the US. Our neighbor country suffers because we have failed to learn from our history.
Furthermore, there are no logical reasons marijuana should even be illegal.
It is virtually harmless, it has many documented medical benefits, it is not addictive like cigarettes nor alcohol, where even a heavy user can quit ‘cold turkey’ without being at risk for system shock, it is well tested, as many people in many countries use it often, and have for many centuries and longer…
The classic arguments for keeping it illegal have to do with it being a ‘gateway drug’-
well, get this: take the bottom rung off a ladder and then next rung then becomes the bottom rung –
the ‘gateway’. And, even if that logic had some merit – IT IS SEPARATE FROM ANY LOGICAL REASON MARIJUANA SHOULD BE ILLEGAL. How it relates to other drugs or other crimes is moot.
Alcohol can increase chance of provocation in people.
Marijuana does not, at all, unless the user had already planned on such action prior.
The theoretical crimes associated with marijuana are in no way logical reasons to withhold marijuana from adult, American, tax payers.
It should be regulated like wine.
I call for a referendum on marijuana, to declare in all logic and rationality why it should be illegal, and if its illegality is not something which can be defended with logic and reason, then I call for and end to prohibition, and finally LEGALIZE MARIJUANA.
@Greg -164 – the petition is excellent. Well written. I for one support it wholeheartedly.
@Ben – 169
Excellent also, but I’d drop what begins with “The classic arguments for keeping it illegal have to do with it being a ‘gateway drug’-…” You said what needs to be prior to that.
I have some things to add however.
1) The primary reason given by lawmakers is that “marijuana is illegal as ‘drugs must be kept out of the hands of young adults and children'”.
2) A Schedule One drug is exactly that… Schedule One. If I follow what NORML has disclosed, that means as far as the Federal gov’t is concerned, it’s in locked down, solitary confinement, never to see the light of day. Some deemed so dangerous and deadly that no research will be permitted.
3) And who would do this research? The NIH, Nation Institute of Health. I understand IT advises the DEA, and the DEA said NO change in marijuana’s Schedule One status, as the NIH stands firm with it’s assessment that cannabis is useless as a medicine, and a danger to society. And further, will not conduct, nor allow funding for research that proves different perhaps, or affirms it’s findings.
4) The NIH is responsible for the US Gov’t filling for a patent on medicinal uses, methods of delivery of THC in Sept. 2001. The patent was approved March 30, 2004. How does the NIH justify it’s claim that cannabis has no medicinal value, yet provides the research that patent proving quite the opposite – that cannabis does have medical value?
5) If we can’t rust the Federal Government to act responsibly and truthfully, and honestly, who can we trust???
Why are the governors of the medical Cannabis states not standing up to the federal government, with force if necessary? Do they not have an obligation to uphold their state Constitutions, and protect the rights of their states and of the people therin? Intrastate Cannabis is protected by amendments IX and X of our great Constitution of the United States of America.
I Support a “States Rights” Initiative!!!
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#1. We dearly need Legislation that would assert our “States Rights” to take precedence over the Federal DEA authority!!! Is there any way forward that this could be accomplished?
#2. As a group, we should support those Legislators that would fight for our “State’s Rights”!!!
#3. We must educate the general public about the adverse effects of the actions of the DEA that are supporting Illegal Drug Businesses!!!
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Liberals have given up on, and abandoned Obama; Obama “Talks the Talk”, but, Obama does not “Walk the Walk”!!!
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U.S. registered voters say they are more likely to vote for “the Republican Party’s candidate” than for Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, by 46% to 38%. The Republican has led Obama on this measure in three of the last four months.
Read more at GALLUP.com.
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The Democrat’s who have Moved to the Middle will join those “Blue Dog” Democrats that lost election in 2010!! Thus, paving the way for a 2012 Republican take over!!!
“Fat Cats” have already dumped $150M into the Obama reelection, and will likely triple by November, 2012!!! After all this money is spent on expensive advertisements, the incumbents will see that money without the Liberal’s vote is not the “Cat’s Meow”!!!
Come 2012, ask “Michael B.”, where are the Hordes of Voters who elected Obama in 2008???!!!
I bet that Obama will have completely “Self Destructed” by November 6, 2012!!!
Obama is the Black horseman. The Black horseman is the one who carries a pair of weighing scales and of the four horseman he is the only one that is vocal. He says “and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”
So, when will the petition be posted and ready to sign?
With Federal regulators cracking down on banks in Colorado, California and Michigan that conduct business with medical cannabis dispensaries and by forbidding these financial institutions from allowing cash deposits or processing credit/debit cards from state or locally approved canna-businesses the impact is devestating.
This increases unemployment, crime,more & continued mass genocide and is another stand against our freedoms putting more & more control over the America people by the U.S. government which has rapidly turned our government leaders into nothing less than elected dictators . WE elect them but are fed by the lobbyist, industries & corporate money who persuede them up and above the peoples interests .They have no care or concern over we the people . They plead for our vote but once elected they stand up & rule against us .
Every time I reread this excerpt:
“Title VII Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 1998 – H11225”:
http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/drug-czar-required/
“Responsibilities (of)The Director– […] (12) shall ensure that no Federal funds appropriated to the Office of National Drug Control Policy shall be expended for any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812) and take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance (in any form) that– is listed in schedule I of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812); and has not been approved for use for medical purposes by the Food and Drug Administration…”
How much more, blatantly clear, can the shit be in our faces, reading this, knowing who throws this shit in our face! Add to that a President who promised CHANGE and TRANSPARENCY, upon being elected.
The law is pretty clear as I understand it that the FDA does not regulate herbal substances. I recall 1 exception, a stimulant found in energy drinks, caused heart attacks. After an enormous amount of discussion between representative parties, the plant was banned as unsafe.
Well, hallelujah, because that herb was bad! I tried it in those energy drinks a few times and started getting heart palpitations. I mean serious palpitations. But that’s one plant substance, out of thousands.
This “medical marijuana” initiative, although extremely important so to provide people medicine, is the exact approach the federal government wants to see marijuana played out. It’s like the kid arrested in Indonesia lately, who, because of his age, if he can prove he was physically addicted to marijuana, he can be released into a substance abuse program. How do you PROVE YOU’RE ADDICTED TO CANNABIS??? It’s not physically possible.
Neither is it physically possible for the federal government to treat cannabis any different than any other plant, until extreme proof is present – a Clear and Present Danger. For which cannabis is not.
Someone needs off the Merry-Go-Round, and I don’t think it’s us.
.
Likely by the weekend, probably sooner. I’ll post when I do along with a link. Thanks for the enthusiasm and support. It’s very encouraging.
Obama has turned out to be as big a jerk as Bush. It’s time for us as citizens to not recognize the federal government as our government anymore no matter who they select for office or what left vs right distracting game they play. The federal government needs to be viewed as illegitimate as of now.
to the people who want to vote for change;
20% of eligible people vote dem.
20% of eligible people vote rep.
60% of eligible people do not vote !!
if that 60% all voted GREEN PARTY, it would be a landslide victory !!
and then the GREEN PARTY would be a major party and displace one established parties.
GREEN PARTY is PRO POT, and also has many other good things on their platform !!
re; reasoning with politicians;
politicians and the PTB’s cannot be reasoned with.
they know the truth about this SCAM, BECAUSE THEY ARE THE SCAMMERS, who made the scam up, and put it in place, and defy logic, reason, and reality, to keep it going.
they are the same psychos who took us to war, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE OIL COMPANIES.
the scam is the same with alcohol prohibition and pot prohibition; ending production of cheap, plentifull ‘green fuels’; hemp oil biodiesel and alcohol based fuel, so ‘fossil fuel’ has a monopoly.
(farmers used to grow and distill their own fuel)
if we could legalize pot on monday,
the psychos would make it illegal again on tuesday.
to #161; Gandhi used hunger strikes and non-violent protests.
that is true, he did. but others did not.
those others killed high-ranking gov’t. officials in their homes, or at lunch, or while commuting, when they were unguarded.
and those others forced the gov’t twards talking to Gandhi. Gandhi could not have done it without the violence of the others.
the gov’t’s choice was; make a deal with Gandhi, or be killed.
many people in india consider Gandhi a sell-out and a collaberator, as they wanted a brand-new gov’t., not a ‘settlement’ with the existing corrupt gov’t. that leaves the existing corrupt gov’t. in power.
to the california bashers, prop 19 was a wolf in sheeps clothing, a very bad bill, and did not contain the word ‘legalize’ AT ALL, and would have ‘corperatized’ it, just like they are doing when they say it is sch. 3 when a corp. grows or sells it, but it is sch. 1 for you to grow or sell.
I am making a proposal. Please say yes or no.
My proposal is to have a “Green Flu” day.
Simular to the old police problem, they had over their contract. They came up with “Blue Flu”, and everybody just called in sick.
Pretty straight forward. Imagine what it would be like if several Million marijuana users just happen to all call in sick One day.
We would definatly make some heads pop. If we could coordinate this, we would be the ones leading the conversation.
Ultimetly we would be the ones telling them to stop going against the Constitution.
The unpopular Terrorist Attack. America’s shame!
A day that should go down in infamy! May4.org
The thought of the full legalization of marijuana sounds like god’s greatest gift right about now, but to fully “legalize” MJ, your talking a world of change. I don’t think our great nation is ready for the challenges incurred when it comes to full legalization. I believe the first step should be simply “decriminalization” of marijuana… It would be an introductary to legalization, and prepare the states for what’s to come.
I think if we were to legalize it, not only would the courts, police, and politicians be so bass-ackwards that they couldn’t tell they heads from their asses, but medical MJ patients and providers would be greatly effected as well. Everyone thinks it would be the end of all their problems, that they could just grow weed and make a living off of it, but the truth be told, with full legalization, not only would all the in’s and out’s be controlled by the government, but we’d be talking about the “$28 ounce”. The demand for MJ would plummet, beings that it’d be availible at any local grocery store, mini mart, and gas station, yet the quality would be poor considering that the extra care and attention in producing top-shelf MJ would fall due to the fact that the governments (and any bumper harvests) ultimate goal would be to produce as much MJ as possible in as little time as they could.
My personal opinion that would keep these issues at bay, is the “decriminalization” of MJ- This would mean, you could possess, cultivate, and distribute MJ without criminal penalties (instead a simple ticket, like a traffic offense), yet would keep the industry of MJ in the hands of the people who diserve it- you and I. I would WAY prefer to be able to grow it myself, and keep it in my own “loop”, than have some government facility grow it. Who know’s what chemicals etc. they’d use to manufacture MJ, and as I said before, the quality would diminish. The UK is already currently trying to make highly-potent strains of MJ illegal, and the same thing would happen here aas well. TLook at alcohol- they have wiskey, rum, and vodka legal, but moonshine and everclear are illegal due to it’s extremely high alcohol content. But does that prevent people from drinking and driving, or dying from alcohol poisoning? No, it just drags it on even longer.
So, in my closing arguement, think about this- do you REALLY want the government controlling another aspect of your life, or would you prefer to keep it at home, and be your own boss? I don’t know about you, but getting a $100 fine for possession sounds alot better than having to deal with crappy pot and the government even more… DECRIMINALIZATION NOW!!!
@196 – IF you are correct about how legalization and decriminalization compare, then I agree with you that decriminalization is a better goal.
Any comments NORML? I’m really not sure!
to #196;
so under your view of legalization,
cops will not know what to do,
there will be no high quality smoke,
and you can’t grow your own ???
ha ha ha ha !! no wonder there is such fear of legalization, you don’t know what it looks like.
alcohol is legal, you CAN get high quality, you CAN brew your own, the gov’t. is NOT in-your-face about it, (just show I.D.) and there was NO DECRIM, no ‘preparing the states for what’s to come’. it was illegal one day, and legal the next, and the cops figured it out.
oh, and under your system, when you get your ‘$100 fine for possession, a simple ticket, like a traffic offense’, WHAT IS TO PREVENT THE PIGS FROM GIVING YOU ANOTHER TICKET EVERY DAY ??
THEY WILL HAVE ALL YOUR INFO, AFTER THE FIRST ONE, AND KNOW YOU ARE A SMOKER, AND CAN WATCH FOR YOU, AND CAN TICKET YOU OVER AND OVER…
This is in reference to commenter, “me” #198- So what is your point? You laugh at my thories on decrim. vs legaliz., but your comment makes not one bit of sense. You say I “dont know what legalization looks like? I’m a MMJ patient of WA State, so I see what “legalization” looks like 1st hand… But think about it like this- The government has been ignorant about MJ for years now, and they just cant seem to figure out that legalization is good and prohibition is bad. Do you honestly think that if/when they “legalize it”, they’re just going to say “ok, do what you want with it… Have fun”? Because that’s what it sounds like your saying. But, unfortunately, that WILL NOT be the case. They are going to grow it themselves, sell it themselves, and tax the hell out of it to make it so its less appealing to the general public. They are not going to put the time and care into it to make it good, high quality stuff… They want it to be underireable so less people use it. And if the general public are granted the opportunity to grow it themselves, you think its just going to be that easy? WRONG again! There’s going to be every hoop to jump over, every fee possible, and you’ll be crossing T’s and dotting I’s for the rest of your life. The Gov. doesn’t want the production and distribution of MJ in the hands of the people cause then they will have no control over how much you grow, and where its all going. Ntm, the fact that the general public will be making all the $$$, and lord knows that’s what the gov’s all about. The fact that people such as yourself honestly feel like the government will be on our side when it comes to the legalization of MJ makes you just as clueless about everything as the government is about the medicinal qualities of cannabis.
NOW, when it comes to the infraction part of our comments… Do you honestly think the police would sit outside your home, wait for you too leave, pull you over, and give you a ticket everyday for marijuana like you said they would? When you get a traffic ticket for speeding, do you think they are going to sit outside your house waiting for you to leave so they can write you another one? Absoluetly not, that mentality of thinking is absurd… They have better things to do. Maybe in your world, this is how the cops are, but in the real world, the police honestly don’t want to write you a ticket. As a matter of fact, an estimated 40% of the police force in the US is in favor of decriminalization/legalization of MJ because they know there’s far worse crimes being committed and feel its a waste of their time, and know they CANNOT win the war on cannabis. Alcohol is a COMPLETELY different story, and you are one of those debaters who use the “2 wrongs make a right” theory. Just because alcohol is so lax in societies aspect is because its “socially acceptable”, and it’s a rarety for the government and/or media to “beer bash” it. It’s hard for people to even consider alcohol a “drug” because you can buy it at a store and consume it on a daily basis without incodent, but truth be told, it’s the worst drug on earth(in my opinion)… It kills over 240,000 Americans annually, whether its from alcohol poisoning, to a family of 4 being killed by a drunk driver. Ntm alcohol is the ONLY drug that can literally KILL you by trying to detoxify yourself from it. So, with that said, your argumnet about alcohol legalization and MJ legalization to me, is void and doesn’t have any validity. It’s a pointless topic that has nothing to do with the reality of MJ and its future. I believe that the decriminalization of marijuana should be and WILL be the next step we need to take before anything else happens with it. Think of it as an “introductary” to legalization of marijuana, so our nation can ween itsself into legalization. If we just jump into full “legalization”, there’s going to be some serious reprocussions that will turn out to be irreversible that will ultimately have dyer consequences. It will have a negitive impact on not only social smokers, but the people who TRUELY need marijuana- the patients.
to #199 + #196; what you describe is TOTALLY unacceptable.
under your view of “legalization”, there will ALWAYS be a black market.
you say; I’m a MMJ patient of WA State, so I see what “legalization” looks like 1st hand.
-is it fully legal there ?? news to me.
-is there a black market there ??
-fully legal = no NEED for a black market.
you say; do you REALLY want the government controlling another aspect of your life ?
-as if they are not controlling it now.
“legalization” = dyer consequences.
-NOT !!
if you need ‘an “introductary” to legalization of marijuana’; let it be spice/K2.
it is legal, and the sky did not fall.
‘decrim’ is sure to be a ‘can of worms’ that could easily lead back to illegality; that is what is happening in amsterdam; they never made it totally legal, and even though there were no serious problems, an election changed the party in power, and now they are restricting and closing the pot ‘coffee shops’.