“Because of the harm that substances like marijuana and other narcotics pose to our society, I have concerns about this legislation. The detrimental effects of drugs have been well documented: short-term memory loss, loss of core motor functions, heightened risk of lung disease, and even death.”
No, that is not a quote from 1936’s Reefer Madness, it came from the mouth of current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and it happened in 2012.
Prohibitionist arguments have always been quite laughable, the government originally warned of the dangers of reefer addicted jazz musicians and immigrants corrupting our youth and harming women. However, we’ve come a long way since the 1930’s and the fact that a high ranking elected official in the 21st century can say something so blatantly untrue with a straight face is disturbing at best. Centuries worth of use and countless volumes of research prove Senator McConnell’s statement to be nothing more than lies and scaremongering. Perhaps the good Senator should do some research of his own, if he did he’d find that inhaled cannabis has been shown safe and effective in trials using FDA’s own ‘gold standard’ method.
As long as our representatives in Congress hold such archaic, patently false views on marijuana our efforts to end prohibition will forever be stymied. We need to hold our politicians accountable and if they continue to make statements such as these, they will lose our support come election time. Help us give Senator Mitch McConnell a #RealityCheck by tweeting your displeasure with his recent statements:
@Team_Mitch: Centuries of use and decades of research say you’re wrong. Deaths from marijuana = 0. #RealityCheck
More info and a link to the original constituent letter are available here.
Ok, cannabis is not a drug, it is an herb. Second, death? What an ignorant and/or lieing, idiot.
P.S. God hates you.
The “drug war” is killing real people, with real illnesses. Where is the empathy, when will ill patients get some sympathy? What about a patient’s right to life? There was a lot of support for long time comatose patient Terri Shiavo, I see no difference between life support & plant support!
If Senator McConnell will come to my home in Albany,GA I’ll be happy to smoke a bowl of some good GA Kush, and ask him if he would like some.
Wow Senator Mitch McConnell is obviously not the brightest person in the world. The war on drugs has done nothing but spend millions of dollars and countless hours of work for nothing. Its time people opened their eyes and realize Marijuana is a cash crop, and can be taxed, and restricted to people with doctor prescriptions or have some kind of restrictions. Exactly like alcohol. Theres alot of money to be saved, and made in the legalization of Marijuana. Not only that, as Americans we should be able to do what we like in the comfort of our houses, so long as were not disturbing or hurting anybody else.
Andrew please drop the cannabis is just a plant argument. You really only hur our cause. Many hard drugs, such as oppiates come from plants, they are drugs. The people who argue that cannabis should be legal because its a plant only makes the rest of us look as foolish as you.
Try reading “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” by Jack Herrer. This book will remove the scales from your eyes and leave you astonished! Big Pharma, tobacco, alcohol, wood companies, Dupont and the such have been preventing the freedom of all the good this plant does do.
Oh ya What about crimes against humanity and treason against the Republic.
Life, Liberty and Justice for all! WTF happened to this. How the F*ck can you make statement like that, Death? No you have that wrong you must be talking about the legal FDA, government drugs you push on society assclown
Shouldn’t you focus on the FACT that you and all your buddies are murdering people across the globe, FIRST? Once you stop doing that we can debate whether or not pot kills, you fucking murderer.
McConnell is a joint short of a dimebag. Just another closed minded jerkoff who thinks his theory is always right. Get rid of this jackoff in November!!
be easy on the guy, he’s been spoon fed these lies for 50 or 60 years, of course he believes them. Don’t be surprised if we have to wait until anyone born pre-1960 is too old to be in politics for the truth of the beauty of marijuana to be mainstream facts.
Medicinal uses aside, what about its other uses. Hemp can be converted into a biomass which can be converted into fuel, it can be used to make a resin based plastic, you can make any quality of paper (which is cleaner and environmentally safer than today’s methods for producing paper) Not to mention the 100’s of other industrial uses…Hello..P.S. Did you know that the oil industry, plastic industry, and paper industry all donate large amounts of money to campaign funds…things that make you go hmmm.
This plant is the next billion dollar industry wake up people.you want to get ride of cartels or take contributions from them..no vote from me mitch you suck .
Understand This The right to take away lives from a Freedom World is more derringers dangers on a Furture Did you Know 3 and maby more ext Have Plainted fields in the back yard of the white house be real the real war is on meth leave the right to be free alone.
REALLY WEED NEVER KILLED ANYONE FACT. KILLS PPL WEN A DRUG DEAL GOES WRONG SMOKIN WEED DOESNT HE DOESNT KNOW SHIT JESSICA A FUCKING DOUCHEBAG.
Anyone else notice how glazed over his eyes are?
*sigh* legalize it.
short-term memory loss, loss of core motor functions, heightened risk of lung disease, and even death. These are his reasons!! so what is his reason for not being against alcohol! if death is a reason then alcohol so be way up there on his list because more people die alcohol poisoning then i have every heard about weed!! I could see him at the white house chiefing it up!everything he stated happens with half of the stuff out but it legal!! we don’t need him, just remember people of his, just vote him OUT. some day big business will see the money and buy congress out!! god bless you and good will
Understand This The right to take away lives from a Freedom World is more derringers dangers on a Furture Did you Know 3 and maby more ext presidents in The USA Have Plainted fields in the back yard of the white house be real the real war is on meth leave the right to be free alone.
He’s a * like how my phone change the words lol.
I wonder if he has an investment in the For Profit Prison System or the Drug Testing Devices? He couldn’t really believe what he said. I mean a Sentator? Really? No wonder our country is in deep sh%t.
This is 100% proof that alcohol saturated brains can’t tell the difference. Yes this is his peanut on drugs ( alcohol ). Diagnosis : brain damage. Only these people really believe their own crap!
Let’s git a team together and set this lad straight. Git him high as fuck! Operation featherweight. Should take 15 mins…
There was a err other before the last comment in the other statement it did not mention The Presidents that Grew Fields Listen being responsible is USA America LET FREEDOM RING (END METH) NOT WHAT COUNTS OF A TRUE MEDICINE of True Knowlege.
cannabis is actually used to cure certain lung cancers, and is proven to be successful in times of doing so, so why then does it cause “lung disease” and the death count for cannabis vs. alchohol…. ZERO to COUNTLESS.
That jackass should take a look in his own backyard. Speaking of something that kills, Kentucky bourbon has been intoxicating and killing Americans for years. I have yet to hear a rousing chorus of condemnation from this hypocrit on that danger. More than likely that industry is paying him to spread these very lies. It’s proven that alcohol sales drop in countries where pot is legal, although America loves its alcohol. Either way, we need to get these idiots out of leadership positions.
And his main contributions to his campaign are:
Top 5 Contributors, 2007-2012, Campaign Cmte
Contributor Total
#1 Kindred Healthcare $122,250
#2 Blackstone Group $82,900
#3 JPMorgan Chase & Co $66,575
Industries contributing:
Top 5 Industries, 2007-2012, Campaign Cmte
Industry Total
Securities & Investment $1,370,296
Retired $1,100,335
Lawyers/Law Firms $857,541
Real Estate $737,255
Health Professionals $725,975
This man may one day have a disease w/pain and nausea that would be eased by the use of pot. I wonder what choice he’d make?
You know they say light is faster than sound. Thats why people seem bright until they open their mouth. I just found this dude on FB and gave him a reality check. Senator Mitch McConnell is the name its under if anyone else wants to give him a quick education on marijuana
The difference between the marijuana plant and plants that cocaine, opiates, and similar is marijuana isn’t modified after that cocaine there’s a process, pills there’s a process you can’t just go pick an oxy off the plant and snort, shoot or smoke it has to be processed, and marijuana you can go find yourself a sweet bud pick it off and its almost ready to be smoked
How can someone this dumb possibly get elected?
Oh, right.. it was the people who voted him in.
Might have been a good idea to first check his I.Q..
You’re not by any means stuck with the fear mongering dolt — vote for someone who is educated and compassionate next time.
Mitch McConnell is an 800 year old tortoise.
Senator Mitch McConnell is a shining example of how the most ignorant and stupid among us somehow manage to rise into positions of power… What a sad state of affairs we all must live with in this day and age of the 21st century.
Sounds like somebody’s been into too much of that Kentucky bourbon.
He is only regurgitating what the drug czar of his era (error?) taught him. My Grandfather says the same thing.
This is the same Grandfather that smoked cigarettes his whole laugh and has survived lung cancer twice, and told me when he found out I smoked pot, that he’d rather me smoke cigarettes than that “Devil’s Lettuce”. Hard-core, racist, Christian conservatives.
They just regurgitate what they have been taught their whole lives. It’s hard to “teach” something you are afraid to experience.
This really is a trumpeting for TERM LIMITS & State Rights.
I don’t live in KY and why should I have to suffer from the Kentucky voters who aren’t deft enough to get this relic windbag out of office.
It’s really sad how his work affects the lives of people all over the country when we don’t get to go beat Kentucky voters over the head with bags of rocks for their low expectation in representation.
Sadly this is the case all over the country with entrenched lifetime politicians.
Term Limits Folks – start having conversations around this subject and start advocating.
Sadly, many people do still think this way. How do you think a tool like this gets elected? Of course here on the NORML page we are all going to disagree with him but I promise you if you go to practically ANY Christian type forum and post this same story, you will get a much different response.
death really? there is no recorded deaths ever from it. it is not a drug it is an herb. he can come to my house in wyoming and i will smoke a bowl with him and he can see how it helps me with my back pain.
Just another reason why we need to get people like this out of politics. Dose anyone know how much money did the pharmaceutical companies donate to this man? Legalize it. People with his attitude that is so out dated and moronic are so out of touch with the tax payers he represent. Any politician with this line of thinking is detrimental to the freedom of citizens and our entire country. Please vote wisely.
The sad thing is you are probably not the only official who has over exaggerated the truth on this topic, many agencies have followed the deaths due to different types of drugs, tobacco, alcohol. prescript. pot…. and so on. and in the years of study record keeping and research. there have been no deaths due to pot being a primary factor.now with that being said. how the hell dare you. I am in a situation that i feel you are closing off any other options of care for my health besides the drugs made by the pharmaceutical companies. after being in a car accident 6 years ago at age 35 and having surgery and numerous injections. i am left with 3 damaged discs, pain down both legs and the inablilty to stand more than an hour at a time or so without regretting it for days. i am prescribed two pain killers, and i will have to be on these the rest of my life, now the side effects of morphine and norco are not only worse than that of marijuana but both norco and morphine have had deaths attributed to them being the primary factor. so you are telling me that i have to slowly die as my liver will eventually shut down due to the medications which are deemed safe. that is my two cents, and i know i am only one person.remember though. its WE THE PEOPLE..
Pot kills really? There is NO documents stating that pot kills anyone if anything it’s amazing and it’s helps people medically . Educate yourself you know what is killing us.. Roxie ( hydrocodon ) Zoloft which you can look up killed so many people ( susicide) and there is g
Senator Mitch McConnell is not funny. He is so much like Ahmadinejad because they are both trying to set up a legal hate crime towards citizens by twisting the laws with their lies.
You know this really is the answer. Those of us who care these issues have to get involved at the local level. Many of the local elections are ignored by the masses, each if us has to take it upon ourselves to get out and vote for Every election. There are enough if us but we have to be vocal and relentless in our efforts.
Perhaps you have not done any research on the benefits or positive attributes of medicinal Marijuana. Let me guess, Right wing extremist? Ah, probably an accurate guess! Open your mind dude. I can promise you that you one of your kids , friends, or family members have used marijuana peacefully. Perhaps they felt a sense of relief of pain and or an appetite stimulant along with non-violence and creativity mind set… Oh yah Mitch, so who are these people that have died from this medicine? Hmm, what do you know Mitchey boy wants to get elected this Nov. 2012. What a coincidence. Perhaps his next media speech will discuss how its the gateway and how we dont dare to have children harmed or tempted by this stuff. My answer is look at the stats of medical legal states where people under the age of 18 have lowered usage of Marijuana. Mitchey boy , you will have some questions ahead of you. All my best
Joe
Senator McConnell picture looks creepy.
Mitch, buddy,
Thanks for taking over my files. Remember the next rung on the cognitive dissonance ladder is claiming that the loco Mexican weed will turn you into a raping murderer. Don’t forget the gory pictures with the mental patient.
Sincerely yours
Harry J Anslinger
this guy is typical of the morons “running/ ruining the country
What is this in reference to? Is he speaking specifically about Marijuana, or all narcotics?
Without that information, this reads as propaganda. We have science on our side, let’s make sure our arguments are air-tight and we’re respectful of the other side, and we can win this fight.
I have come to truly despise this kind of willful ignorance. You see it from the climate change contrarians, young earthers, anti-evolutionists. The damn gateway theory has been debunked time and time again. Those are reproducible scientific studies, but they still believe it anyway.
They probably still believe the main reason for making marijuana illegal is its effect on the ‘degenerate races’.
When you make erroneous statements to your ignorant constituents they bang a drum that leads to the continued Draconian ideology surrounding marijuana and other drugs. Your agenda promotes profiteering for both drug dealers and those arming and supplying those who seek to “stop” them. This is a no win war. The simple reason is economics. Your ignorant stance keeps police officers employed and arms makers in business of supplying those police and others with an arsenal of equipment. Why would any of those COPs or manufacturers want to stop their money train? They neither want to stop the drug trafficking or see it legalized as both options would leave them without a business or jobs. The only ones dying from marijuana are those killed in a ridiculous drug war.
Nothing but another puppet in the senate what a surprise. Where does he get his donations from I will take a wild guess and say some people with ties to pharma and alcohol companies. Maybe even some with links to timber and plastic? In my view these sell-outs are the lowest plank in our society. Most people think it’s the homeless but I can tell you I have met a several of those people and they have more morals than these guys by far.
I’d like to see pro-cannabis debaters team up with Pat Robertson to debate and argue and counter publish or counter soundbite Bill Bennett, who was on CNN shooting off this mouth, and against Mitch McConnell who is singing backup for Bill Bennett. This makes nice footage for use by History or CNBC for another pro-cannabis informational special.
Basically, the prohibitionist answer to reducing the murders and atrocities in Latin America is to maintain the militarized enforcement of cannabis prohibition. More of the same, more of prohibition is supposed to stop the murders? What a bunch of fuckin geniuses!
Guy from LEAP I watched on Cannabis Culture is right. If the Latin American countries remain united and legalize, the U.S. isn’t going to go to war with them. The people there know that siding with the U.S. on prohibition is a death sentence. If you’re in the position where you have to choose, choose the cartels and smuggler organization. It’s silver or lead, that is, if they don’t cut off your head while you’re still alive. It’s easy to sit in D.C. in your comfy office and talk shit, thousands of miles away from the violence.
Legalize Now!
you are nuts man been smoking for 40 years, go home and have a stiff drink something that will really kill you! get real with your words please!!!!
Barrett, the difference is the poppy is not used in it’s natural form. Marijuana is planted, grown then dried. Nothing is added to it like opiates! IT is not the same thing! Opiates can kill and cause organ damage and all kinds of issues like addiction! Marijuana is not physically addictive and has even been proven to cure cancer over in Europe and in other parts of the world. I have fybromyalgia and am prescribed oxycodone and methadone and phenergan for the nausea these pain meds cause. With marijuana, my pain is taken care of and it’s the best medicine for nausea and vomiting. It’s ashame there are so many stupid close minded people in this country! Alcohol can kill, opiates can kill, but marijuana, probably the safest drug out there! Unfortunately for me, I have to take all those opiates that mess my body up for pain because I cannot chance asking around for it because of job situation. People need to do research instead of listening to blow hards like this idiot! PEACE!
Maybe he has such archaic views because he himself is archaic… I mean really… that senile old fart has to be 150 years old.
You could have called me a slut and not got my dander up as much as this.
The actual letter from GrassCity is, as we would expect, lumping all “drugs” (I think he must be referring to pharmaceuticals too) together here – including the only one our beloved brave constituent from Ky asked him about, Marijuana. And he was asking specifically about medical use too. By painting with a big brush and broad strokes he attempts to placate the toker with tired old retoric.
Now that he’s brought this out in the open (come out of his closet ((insert satisfying word picture here))) – it would be a fine opportunity for Norml KY to address Mitch’s concerns – perhaps a public response to this letter – helping him see the truth about MJ and MMJ. Thank him for bringing this topic out into the public where the discussion needs to be. Ask him why the senate – and his state in particular, does not reflect public opinion on this importaint issue. Ask him how HE is properly representing his constituentcy’s 50% in favor of legalization.
Sic some NORML KY on his butt!
Somebody should slip this guy a cookie – then demand he do a piss test
Mitch McConnell: What can I say about this marbled mouthed piss rodent? He is the poster child of what evil looks like and should be beaten to a bloody pulp in public.
How much drug enforcement money does his state receive? Be it lobby money or taxpayer dollars, just follow the money to insanity.
Good Karma Folks
I think the most dangerous part of this senators reefer maddness that he includes cannabis in the class of narcotics. Cannabis IS NOT a narcotic (neither is cocaine for that matter). People in this country are told from an early age in programs like DARE that cannabis is a dangerous narcotic when this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Telling these LIES is very dangerous game. Eventuly many of these kids are going to realize that the dangerous narcotic “marijuana” is much safer than almost every recreational drug including alcohol and tobacco. It is at this point many kids begin to think “if they lied about marijuana they must be lying about all drugs”. That is when they decide to try real narcotics(pharmacitical or otherwise
I think the most dangerous part of this senators reefer maddness that he includes cannabis in the class of narcotics. Cannabis IS NOT a narcotic (neither is cocaine for that matter). People in this country are told from an early age in programs like DARE that cannabis is a dangerous narcotic when this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Telling these LIES is very dangerous game. Eventuly many of these kids are going to realize that the dangerous narcotic “marijuana” is much safer than almost every recreational drug including alcohol and tobacco. It is at this point many kids begin to think “if they lied about marijuana they must be lying about all drugs”. That is when they decide to try real narcotics (pharmacitical or otherwise).
Damn , and they thought Ron Paul was too old. He must be washing down his meds with bourbon. Mitch you know they don’t mix. Needs to be an age limit set in place so the same old is not the norm in govt.
this is to you mitchell o’connell. Centuries of use and decades of research say you’re wrong. Deaths from marijuana = 0. look up the facts and revise your statement…
Seriously, we have to pay damn close attention to who we vote into congress otherwise ass clowns like this will always be in office
Senator McConnell, I quote:
“Because of the harm that substances like marijuana and other narcotics pose to our society, I have concerns about this legislation. The detrimental effects of drugs have been well documented: short-term memory loss, loss of core motor functions, heightened risk of lung disease, and even death.”
Wow… you know you are RIGHT, however you’re not CORRECT!
The World really needs to critique his statement. That means really consider it.
It begins with the slang for cannabis, “marijuana”. Then, it’s quickly connected to the term “drugs”. And this is important, to make that erroneous connection, one that has been drilled into the heads of every American, that “Drugs Kill”. From there it’s a no brainer, at least for those people hooked on drugs, ignorant people who drink alcohol, coffee, smoke tobacco, and for that matter, if cannabis is a drug, then anything we ingest, inhale, swallow is a drug, because it/they contain chemicals, the kind that effect the body, mind and spirit.
Sure “Drugs Kill”… but what drugs, what chemicals? The very chemicals in our air could, in enough concentration would kill us; fortunately the current levels of these harmful chemicals are acceptable by the EPA and other gov’t officials.
How easy it is to take 75+ years of Reefer Madness crap, continue to call cannabis, marijuana, completely and explicitly ignore the research and as a lawmaker/policy-maker, summarily conclude marijuana is bad because drugs kill.
How generalized can one be and have a brain? And these are the kind of people running our country? Whoa. That’s a Bad Trip!
wow, what a dumb statement expect that from someone who is the puppet of the drug co. whitney did not die from pot she died from rx drugs elvis did not die from pot rx drugs kill more than ilegal drugs booze and drunk driving combined pot kills? no thats not true rx drugs kill and half our school children are on it [rx] ruin my liver and kindneys with over the counter or kill my pain with a little pot thats 1000% safer than any rx drug. wake up!!! so sick of the lies that come out of your guys mouth. anyone with ANY brains knows better than that
McConnell goes wrong when he lumps marijuana in with “drugs” in several ways, the first obviously being that he lumps marijuana in with the rest of the crowd. Secondly, Mitch is saying that because drugs cause detrimental effects, they should be banned; this is a serious problem if Mitch were ever to try to claim that alcohol Prohibition was a bad idea. Thirdly, using the term “narcotics” is just as easily applied to legal drugs (this merges with the second point) as a narcotic is “A drug or other substance affecting mood or behavior and sold for nonmedical purposes, esp. an illegal one.”
But the biggest mistake Senator McConnell makes is that he states that “drugs kill.” Drugs don’t kill anyone. The saying “Guns don’t kill people… people kill people” comes to mind. Inherently, drugs are a product that is bought, sold and consumed. Even with marijuana’s very low chance of death, some idiot could be stupid enough to crash into a tree and die after getting stoned… it wasn’t marijuana that killed him, however. It was his own stupidity.
This guy DEFINITELY needs a #RealityCheck.
big tobacco has spoken, bought and paid for. when do our votes count?
It’s rediculous to think that Marijuana is some how dangerous!!! It helps so many people that are sick and, as for recreational use, it’s certainly not near as dangerous as ALCOHOL!!! LEGALIZE MARIJUANA it’s the right thing to do!!!!
Hi all, I am the original poster (Ghetty.Green) from Grasscity and receiver of the letter that I posted on Grasscity.
I am honored that this spread to this site and would love to talk to someone and have an opportunity to be interviewed or speak.
Thanks again
bhksk8r@yahoo.com
I wonder how much stock `ol Mitch has in the pharmaceutical companies that pump the poisons into us. I HATE living in Kentucky and can’t wait to go back out west to civilization. When we lived in Seattle, the ONLY pain med I needed was my Herb. Now, living in the commonwealth of misinformation, I have to eat oxy,hydrocodone and/or morphine for my MS pain. I have more side effects than you can shake a stick at…can’t wait for hubby (who suffers from CMT and other service related problems)to retire this next year so we can get out of this constant state of ignorance.
Someone should ask the good Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) if he would be willing to legalize marijuana if it could be proved to him that marijuana doesn’t kill. As many have pointed out, that should not be very difficult to do.
Wait to tell him that the drug war that he has supported for years is enforced in a manner that suggests blatant racial prejudice and has created a new form of Jim Crow that sentences people to lifelong status as second class citizens. Don’t tell him how many have lost their lives to the War on Drugs. Don’t mention that he has helped spend over a trillion dollars of our money on Richard Nixon’s war and that we still wait for any of the ten goals for that war to be met. Please don’t offer him any more money to meet those goals.
I would prefer to believe that Senator McConnell is suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia rather than to believe that he is as ignorant as he sounds. I am astonished that someone could be this blind to the damage that they have done and instead would choose to demonize a plant that cannot kill by overdose.
Am I the only one that wonders why God waited so long to set Pat Robertson straight on cannabis?
More tired Reagan era politics.
I never thought I would live to see the day that we would actually be sitting around discussing the legalization of pot. Bravo
I’ve been toking for nearly 60 years and I ain’t dead yet.
I’ve waited 60 years; I can wait a few more years the dream to come true.
Imagine what it’s gonna be like!!
Peace!
i think he should look in the mirror. with those cached eyes of his, he might be hinting at something we all know already .
My mother almost died in 2009. Had it not been for Marinol (liquid pot) and Gods will she would have. After she had surgery and had a stroke she lost her appetite, lost a lot of weight after a few weeks in hospital. They tried a few things but nothing helped. She also had nausea. My cousin came and told me about Marinol so I talked to the doctor and he was willing to try it. It worked slowly but it worked. If it was rolled instead of being a pill it would have helped more and faster but it’s not legal. My mother who’s now 86 is a believer of pots healing effects. Ban tobacco not pot.
…Like an unchecked cancer…Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. MLK+Isa 5:20=Word!
Maybe he was talking about the “other narcotics”?
OXYCONTIN KILLS , HEROIN KILLS, ALCOHOL KILLS, the endless supply of prescription pills kill!
If you live in Connecticut and want to end marijuana prohibition in our state, please take a minute to visit http://www.ctprimaryproject.com.
Please pass this on to anyone you know in Connecticut!
I think the Senator has been hangin around in the Kentucky backwoods too long. I always thought MARIJUANA PROHIBITION killed people. I always thought that FDA approved BIG PHARMA drugs kill people. I always thought that FEDERALISTIC POWERS OF the 21ST CENTURY INQUISITORS kill people. People killed by MARIJUANA, zero. All these thoughts are the REAL REALITY around me. Just another puppet of FEDERALISM to blow smoke up our asses and a mirror image of the STATUS QUO. They are starting to fear the light at the end of the tunnel. FEDERALISM can only kill our Constitutional rights as citizens. Will they kill me if I don’t conform to live under the NEW WORLD ORDER with a ORWELLIAN MENTALITY when it gets really full blown. Is this the new UTOPIA of the future? The DRUG WAR has killed a lot of people. When will the killing end?
I give up.
He may be old and you young people might think you will just wait these types out but that is not the case. When he goes a newer one just like him will take his place. God Bless Nazi America…
It would make more sense to say that cigarettes and alchohol, stuff that are on the market are killing people by liver and lung cancer, drunk driving, etc and you want to say that marijuana is a risk to someones life!? Show the facts that marijuana can kill. I bet you can’t find any proven scientific facts that marijuana kills but instead will find many benefits. If someone told him this or even if he read an article on mj healing, he would probably be ignorant and still think its the worse thing someone can do. He is desperate to help all his lobbyist buddies so they can continue to make bank. He is just looking like an idiot and if he was really concerned about the well being of people, he would target cigarettes and alchohol. We are getting closer and closer, we need to keep up fighting for this good plant to be legal.
I guess all that legal tobacco they grow in Kentucky doesn’t kill you, huh Mitch? How do you like all that tax money it raises?
Dear Mitch,
Censure yourself or resign your post. We, the American taxpayers, do not need more lies regarding Cannabis. Your seemingly convenient attempt at grouping Cannabis with other drugs, lacks reasoning.
Call him and tell him he is wrong…502-582-6304
just another silly politician who is living in the past.
VOTE OUT ALL WHO OPPOSE!!!!!!
I read that Ethan Nadleman, DPA, is going to visit and try to educate this sad sick illiterate with facts. Clearly Mitch has no idea of the truth, the reverse of his 1937 ideas. Ethan can then say, if he does not change, “you now know the truth-by ignoring it, You must have a hidden interest or not of sound mind”. NORML & DPA Ethan? That would really wake things up!
“To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” — Thomas Paine
I know 2012 is a leap year but are we 2012 B.C. or 2012 A.D. ?
One issue with article… calling him a “good Senator”!
Unfortunately, this fool represents my state… what a moron. This is Kentucky, ask the man if he supports tobacco farmers and enjoy the hypocracy!!
Iam a Kentucky citizen and my thought is FIRE MITCH THE BITCH & CAN RAND!! they are Bad for KY.’S GROWTH. They are living in the 40s & 50s. TIMES CHANGE AND THE PEOPLE KNOW THIS OUR POLITICIANS DON’T!! It’s time for KY. POT SMOKERS TO TAKE A STAND IN LOCAL,STATE, AND FED.GOVERNMENTS!!KENTUCKY MUST DO THIS TO BE PROSPERIOUS!! PLZ LETS GET TOGETHER AND STAND AS ONE!!>
i live in caaoll co. and the local and state laws of weed is so stupid its sad 4 real. Something NEEDS TO CHANGE!! REMEMBER AT VOTING TIME FIRE MITCH THE BITCH & CAN RAND!!THEN MAYBE JUST MYBE KENTUCKY WILL GROW AND PROSPER MORE THAN EVER ONCE KY.RE-ELECTS BETTER OFFICIALS FOR THE JOB IN FRANKFORT & ESPECIALLY IN WASHINGTON DC. WEED GROWS FROM YHE EARTH ITSELF. NOT A DRUG OUR KY. CONGRESSMEN ARE REALLY DUMB!!LEGALIZEIT!2012!!
The more people openly advocate and retort the government propaganda the more powerful the movement becomes. Stand up and speak out for your rights.
Just another typical politician living inside a sterilized bubble of ignorance; out of touch with the people and reality itself. It’s sad to know that true social progression will be stopped dead in it’s tracks until the old dumbfucks of our parents generation start to die in droves. If there had been any case of marijuana poisoning or overdose, then I would agree, but since that has never been the case, it only proves that you’re just not trustworthy to be where you are, Senator. Quit fighting for the lobbyists! They’re hardly human!
Senator Mitch McConnel statements regarding marijuana is analogous to an ignorant person shouting fire in a crowded theater, they don’t come from facts, nor reality, and he should be held legally accountable for making such false claims that have many times over been repudiated by Gov’t studies such as The LaGuardia Report, The Shaffer Commission, and Fed Admin Law Judge Francis L. Young’s 2 year study concerning marijuana. I suspect the Senator, and others like him don’t make such statements from ignorance, but that their real motivation behind such talk is based only on selfish greed.
I think it is time to bring ole Mitch to judgement for making a crimnal of God for growing cannabis on His Earth.
It is also time to bring all of our lawmakers to trial for human rights violations against those who choose a natural, God-given medicine over dangerous experimental drugs made by men, many of which are proven to be dangerous. I mean, for heaven’s sake, just read the side effects of those drugs our government has “approved’ for us to take.
Shut your pie hole, Mitch, and mind your own business and stop persecuting God’s children for using His medicine instead of those you profit from drug companies to keep the masses addicted to.
Can I hear an Amen?
McConnell has absolutely no idea what he is talking about. With that in mind – I wonder what else he has no clue about. BTW – he can’t produce “One” death from cannabis. Try again Mitch – you’re in the ditch.
Funny, POT hasn’t killed me in 25 years of DAILY use!!! Ignorant old motherfuckers…. put the vote the people damnit.
“Because of the harm that substances like marijuana and other narcotics pose to our society, I have concerns”
Here he uses the old rhetorical trick to say that marijuana is a DRUG, (like alcohol, tobacco, pharma, OTC, inhalants, fast food) and in the same breath uses terms like “SUBSTANCES” and “NARCOTICS” as synonyms. This is the old old dime-store trick used whenever politician-prohibitionists discuss any of the “illegal” and specific drugs targeted by the federal “war” on SOME drugs.
There is a special vocabulary, a drug-speak that prohibitionists use in their rhetoric, a cheap debate skill. Casual claims are made about potential/inevitable death and value judgments are made in black-and-white, good vs. bad terms.
There is immediate mention of Cannabis, followed directly by derogatory terms like “substances, narcotics.” This is a mind trick that states “it is bad” and negatively reframes the subject in a different light, as a “concern” or social problem. This way, he can keep talking BS, blah blah without substantiating or explaining a nonsensical, poorly formed argument at best, and a pile of maliciously deliberate lies at worst (i.e. as usual).
He ignores the fact that alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, drug store merchandise, are DRUGS too…..they’re just not the handful of drugs targeted arbitrarily in the war on *some, particular* drugs which hold a great deal of value for some very greedy interests who feel entitled to a plant for all mankind, a gift from the Creator.
“The detrimental effects of drugs have been well documented: short-term memory loss, loss of core motor functions, heightened risk of lung disease, and even death.”
-short-term memory loss
-loss of core motor functions
-heightened risk of lung disease
-even death
Isn’t this a partial list of what occurs to tobacco and alcohol users?
In fact, this is a list of a few things that occur during the process of natural aging.
McConnell is a joke. He can’t even argue. And isn’t Congress make up almost entirely of lawyers? He can’t even present a reasonable argument, the stuff learned by high school or maybe college kids.
He’s deliberately lying out of self-interest or is so naive about Cannabis, he’d believe anything told to him. Or maybe he’s senile. Maybe he wants to be reelected.
Instead, he should hang up his legislative cap and pick up an honest living, like learning a new trade. Like plumbing or landscaping, walking dogs for $5, etc.
we have become a fascist country controled by corporate money thru the reich wing fascist bastards.
At present there is more money to be made by opposing the legalization of marijuana than approving it.
His stances is formulated from that fact. When that variable changes…so will his opinion.
Look at the sweet innocent smile on his little boy face.
I wonder will he be smiling the same from behind iron bars serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity.
Never forget what these guys have done.
They have caused the misery and deaths of hundreds of thousands of people with terminal illness by denying them safe access to their medicine.
They have arrested and jailed hundreds of thousands more with a widespread campaign of persecution and harassment of minorities in the community.
They have robbed us of industries and a healthy economy.
They have flushed this nation and many more down the toilet. In doing so they have committed crimes against humanity and genocide.
This naughty boy face is the face of a genocidal maniac.
He needs to be in prison for the rest of our lives.
Legalize! Apologize!Compensate!
Then commence the drug war trials.
They are just stalling. They are afraid. What do you think is going to happen to these jerks when *everyone* knows they have been the victims of this huge mis-appropiation of the public dollar? They are going to be sued ’till they don’t have a cent! Stalling is their only option at this point.
I don’t know how this stupid Howdy Doody lookin bastard has managed to stay in Ky. state government this long.But now that i’m a registerd voter his days are numberd.
Is this the last guy to get the memo on the failed drug war? In the not too distant future, this guy’s view will be considered not only moronic, but racist, irresponsible, and full of hate. Marijuana consumers have been viciously trampled on by government, not because of real facts or science, but with lies, ignorance, and the support of the system.
thats it mitch! youre goin back to de-tox! and by the way, youre fired!
why is it that mj is still classified as schedule 1, no health benefits, yet OUR government has been allowing big pharma to make, sell, and profit off the distribution and sales of marinol, which is derived from mj? pay attention, mitch, doesnt this sound really hippocritical? im startin to smell kickbacks here….
do you ever have a few drinks before you go to bed, or at those fancy elite dinner affairs you rich politicians think you have earned from us humble taxpayers? have you had your driver get you home safely a few times? if so, then YOU GET HIGH, TOO!!! except you pour it down instead of toking it up! is that difference a good reason to tear apart families, arrest and imprison people, allow criminal cartels to get rich while murdering people, all because you want to criminalyze a plant!
i can only hope that the american people rise up and vote every moron like you out of office! soon!
signed,
sincerely,
up yores
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“Because of the harm that substances like marijuana and other narcotics pose to our society, I have concerns about this legislation. The detrimental effects of drugs have been well documented: short-term memory loss, loss of core motor functions, heightened risk of lung disease, and even death.”
Prohibitionist arguments have always been quite laughable, the government originally warned of the dangers of reefer addicted jazz musicians and immigrants corrupting our youth and harming women. However, we’ve come a long way since the 1930?s and the fact that a high ranking elected official in the 21st century can say something so blatantly untrue with a straight face is disturbing at best. Centuries worth of use and countless volumes of research prove Senator McConnell’s statement to be nothing more than lies and scaremongering. Perhaps the good Senator should do some research of his own, if he did he’d find that inhaled cannabis has been shown safe and effective in trials using FDA’s own ‘gold standard’ method.
As long as our representatives in Congress hold such archaic, patently false views on marijuana our efforts to end prohibition will forever be stymied. We need to hold our politicians accountable and if they continue to make statements such as these, they will lose our support come election time.
The time to end the prohibition of Marijuana,(not drugs as a whole) is now and I ask you to at least read some of the reasons why.
1) Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco), and has been used by nearly 80 million Americans. According to government surveys, some 20 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 11 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use. Our public policies should reflect this reality, not deny it.
2) Marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco.”A careful search of the literature and testimony of the nation’s health officials has not revealed a single human fatality in the United States proven to have resulted solely from ingestion of marihuana. Experiments with the drug in monkeys demonstrated that the dose required for overdose death was enormous and for all practical purposes unachievable by humans smoking marihuana. This is in marked contrast to other substances in common use, most notably alcohol and barbiturate sleeping pills.”
Marijuana is classified under federal law as a Schedule I controlled substance, defined as a drug with a high potential for abuse, no accepted medical use in the U.S., and unsafe for use even under medical supervision. Other Schedule I drugs include heroin, LSD and PCP.
Schedule II drugs — still considered to have high abuse potential but with accepted medical uses and considered safe for use under medical supervision — include cocaine, morphine and methamphetamine. That’s right, federal law currently classifies marijuana as more dangerous than methamphetamine .
It gets stranger still. THC, the component responsible for marijuana’s “high” (but not all of its therapeutic benefits) is available as a prescription pill called Marinol. Marinol is classed in Schedule III — rated as having lower abuse or dependence potential than Schedule I or II drugs. Indeed, the abuse risks of Schedule III drugs are considered so modest that your doctor can phone in a prescription! This is the case even though the American College of Physicians has noted that Marinol’s psychoactive effects are “more severe” than marijuana’s.
This federal classification — enacted by Congress in 1970 and not based on any scientific or medical assessment — stands reality on its head. It ignores the massive evidence of marijuana’s medical value, and treats marijuana as more dangerous than pure THC, heroin, and meth. This is simply ludicrous, which is why in February 2008 the American College of Physicians stated, ” ACP urges review of marijuana’s status as a Schedule I controlled substance and its reclassification into a more appropriate schedule, given the scientific evidence regarding marijuana’s safety and efficacy in some clinical conditions.”
The World Health Organization reached the same conclusion in 1995.
Source:
Shafer, Raymond P., et al, Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding, Ch. III, (Washington DC: National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, 1972).
http://druglibrary.net/schaffer/Library/studies/nc/ncc3.htm
===
Hall, W., Room, R. & Bondy, S., WHO Project on Health Implications of Cannabis Use: A Comparative Appraisal of the Health and Psychological Consequences of Alcohol, Cannabis, Nicotine and Opiate Use, August 28, 1995, (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, March 1998).
http://www.druglibrary.net/schaffer/hemp/general/who-index.htm
The DEA’s Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young concluded: “In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care.”
Source:
US Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, “In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling Petition,” [Docket #86-22], (September 6, 1988), p. 57.
http://www.iowamedicalmarijuana.org/pdfs/young.pdf
Around 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning. Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking. By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose.
According to the prestigious European medical journal, The Lancet, “The smoking of cannabis, even long-term, is not harmful to health. … It would be reasonable to judge cannabis as less of a threat … than alcohol or tobacco.”
3) Legalization of marijuana would cut down on crime. Because marijuana is illegal, it is difficult to manufacture, and is expensive, so users often have to turn to crime to sustain their habit. Legalization would drive the price down and alleviate this problem. Currently, much of the crime that goes on is a result of territory disputes between dealers. Legalization of marijuana would hurt organized crime as a whole. If marijuana was legal, the entire infrastructure of organized crime involved in its manufacturing and distribution would lose any reason for existence because marijuana would be legally produced and sold at a much cheaper price by legitimate companies. Police officers and suspected informants often face retribution by gangs and drug dealers. Legalization of marijuana would simply eliminate the need for dealers and put a stop to all this. Legalization would cut down on corruption in the law enforcement, the government. Officials will no longer be tempted into accepting bribes, and pocketing large amounts of drug money.
4) Legalization would free up resources to fight legitimate crimes. It would end prison overcrowding, as many prisoners are sitting in jails for non-violent possession convictions. It would free up the court system and the police and allow them to concentrate on other crimes. Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually and results in the arrest of more than 872,000 individuals per year — far more than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Fighting marijuana-related “crimes” is costing us tax money.
There have been over eight million cannabis arrests in the United States since 1993, including 786,545 arrests in 2005. Cannabis users have been arrested at the rate of 1 every 40 seconds. About 88% of all marijuana arrests are for possession – not manufacture or distribution.
Although large-scale marijuana growing operations are frequently targeted by police in raids to attack the supply side and discourage the spread and marketing of the plant, the great majority of those arrested for cannabis are there for possession alone. However, in 1997, the vast majority of inmates in state prisons for marijuana related convictions were convicted of offenses other than simple possession.
According to the most recent Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual Uniform Crime Report, police arrested 847,864 persons for marijuana violations in 2008. Of those charged with marijuana violations, 754,224 were charged with possession only. The remaining 93,640 individuals were charged with “sale/manufacture,” a category that does not differentiate for cultivation offenses, even those where the marijuana was being grown for personal or medical use. Marijuana arrests now comprise about one-half (49.8 percent) of all drug arrests reported in the United States
5) Legalizing marijuana would make it safer for users. One of the main reasons why marijuana is unsafe right now is because it isn’t regulated, and its quality isn’t monitored by anyone. When people buy marijuana, they don’t know for sure what they’re getting or where it’s been. By legalizing, the goverment could safely control the potency of distributed marijuana.
6) The government has no right to interfere with people’s right to life, liberty, and the pursut of happiness as it is currently doing. Smoking marijuana only has the potential to hurt the health of the user. An individual should have the right to choose to use it. People are allowed to skydive, and drive cars. There are risks in those and many other activities, but the government isn’t regulating them. Sure, smoking marijuana does put others at minimal risk through second hand smoke and the user’s actions towards others, but this is also valid for alcohol and tobacco. When cannabis(marijuana) is enjoyed responsibly, subjecting users to harsh criminal and civil penalties provides no public benefit and causes terrible injustices. For reasons of public safety, public health, economics and justice, the prohibition laws should be repealed to the extent that they criminalize responsible cannabis use.
7) It can help stop suffering from many medical conditions.Modern research suggests that cannabis is a valuable aid in the treatment of neuropathic pain (pain from nerve damage) — nausea, spasticity, glaucoma, and movement disorders. Marijuana is also a powerful appetite stimulant, specifically for patients suffering from HIV, the AIDS wasting syndrome, or dementia. Emerging research suggests that marijuana’s medicinal properties may protect the body against some types of malignant tumors and are neuroprotective.
Marinol is the brand name for the generic drug called dronabinol. It is a man-made form of marijuana THC. It was made available to patients (with prescriptions from their doctors) in 1986. It has primarily been used as an anti-nausea drug for chemotherapy patients. It is also approved for the treatment of wasting syndrome associated with HIV/AIDS.
Many patients prefer to grow their own natural cannabis to Marinol for a number of reasons. A main limitation of Marinol is that it is available only as a pill that is taken orally. If you have nausea and vomiting, trying to swallow a pill can be a challenge. If you do manage to keep the pill down, you have to wait up to four hours for the Marinol to reach its peak effect. And only 5 – 20% of the medication is absorbed into the bloodstream. Another limitation of Marinol is that it contains only one compound – THC. Natural cannabis contains 60 cannabinoids (THC is the main one) and it is the interaction of these compounds with each other that gives a good therapuetic effect. Unlike pot, Marinol contains only THC so it has more psychoactive effects and less of the other medicinal effects that come from the other cannabinoids. Some Marinol patients describe hallucinations and other disturbing side effects. Marinol also is very expensive, costing about $500 – $1000 for a month’s supply. One advantage of Marinol is that is it pure and does not contain any bacteria, fungi, or pesticides. You can avoid this problem not smoking the medication and choosing another method to take cannabis (vaporizer or tinctures).
ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2007) — The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies.
They say this is the first set of experiments to show that the compound, Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inhibits EGF-induced growth and migration in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Lung cancers that over-express EGFR are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy.
THC that targets cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 is similar in function to endocannabinoids, which are cannabinoids that are naturally produced in the body and activate these receptors. The researchers suggest that THC or other designer agents that activate these receptors might be used in a targeted fashion to treat lung cancer.
“The beauty of this study is that we are showing that a substance of abuse, if used prudently, may offer a new road to therapy against lung cancer,” said Anju Preet, Ph.D., a researcher in the Division of Experimental Medicine.
Acting through cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2, endocannabinoids (as well as THC) are thought to play a role in variety of biological functions, including pain and anxiety control, and inflammation. Although a medical derivative of THC, known as Marinol, has been approved for use as an appetite stimulant for cancer patients, and a small number of U.S. states allow use of medical marijuana to treat the same side effect, few studies have shown that THC might have anti-tumor activity, Preet says. The only clinical trial testing THC as a treatment against cancer growth was a recently completed British pilot study in human glioblastoma.
In the present study, the researchers first demonstrated that two different lung cancer cell lines as well as patient lung tumor samples express CB1 and CB2, and that non-toxic doses of THC inhibited growth and spread in the cell lines. “When the cells are pretreated with THC, they have less EGFR stimulated invasion as measured by various in-vitro assays,” Preet said.
Then, for three weeks, researchers injected standard doses of THC into mice that had been implanted with human lung cancer cells, and found that tumors were reduced in size and weight by about 50 percent in treated animals compared to a control group. There was also about a 60 percent reduction in cancer lesions on the lungs in these mice as well as a significant reduction in protein markers associated with cancer progression, Preet says.
Although the researchers do not know why THC inhibits tumor growth, they say the substance could be activating molecules that arrest the cell cycle. They speculate that THC may also interfere with angiogenesis and vascularization, which promotes cancer growth.
Preet says much work is needed to clarify the pathway by which THC functions, and cautions that some animal studies have shown that THC can stimulate some cancers. “THC offers some promise, but we have a long way to go before we know what its potential is,”American Association for Cancer Research (2007, April 17).
Meanwhile, the U.S. government, which supposedly has no horse in the medical marijuana race, has patented medical marijuana. US Patent 6630507 was assigned to the United States of America, as represented by the Department of Health and Human services on October 7, 2003 and protects “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants.”
8) In 1492, Christopher Columbus brought Cannibis Sativa to America. From 1000 to 1500, the use of marijuana spread further. The French and British grew hemp in the colonies of Port Royal, Virginia and Plymouth. In 1619 a law was passed in Jamestown, Virginia Colony, which required farmers to grow hemp.
During America’s colonial era, many of the founding fathers — including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson — espoused its manufacturing for rope, sails and paper. Early settlers also used hemp seeds as a source for lamp oil and some colonies made hemp cultivation compulsory, calling its production necessary for the “wealth and protection of the country.”
Ben Franklin owned a mill that made hemp paper, which allowed America to have a free colonial press without having to beg or justify paper and books from England. Furthermore, the rope that was used in his famous lighting experiment was a hemp rope.
Rudolph Diesel
When Rudolph Diesel produced his famous engine in 1896, he assumed that the diesel engine would be powered by a variety of fuels, especially vegetable and seed oils. Rudolph Diesel, like most engineers then, believed vegetable fuels were superior to petroleum. Hemp is the most efficient vegetable.
Henry Ford Experimented with hemp to build cars.In 1908, Henry Ford made his first Model T with hemp plastic. The car was fueled with hemp ethanol.
In the 1930s, the Ford Motor Company saw a future in biomass fuels. Ford operated a successful biomass conversion plant that included hemp at their Iron Mountain facility in Michigan. Ford engineers extracted methanol, charcoal fuel, tar, pitch, ethyl acetate, and creosote—all fundamental ingredients for modern industry, and now supplied by oil-related industries.
Fiorello La Guardia, the mayor of New York, spoke out against the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act, saying the majority of Americans did not want the law and it should be abolished. He was skeptical of the government’s claims and propaganda touting marijuana as a dangerous, evil, killer narcotic. La Guardia commissioned a six-year study by a group of 31 impartial scientists. After an in-depth scientific analysis, researchers concluded that marijuana does not cause violent, psychotic episodes, is not responsible for anti-social behavior, does not cause uncontrollable sexual urges and does not alter a person’s core personality structure.
It is time to stop being a pawn to the big corporate lobbist and stop with the scare tactics
we the people are smarter then you think replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation similar to that used for alcoholic beverages would produce combined savings and tax revenues of between $10 billion and $14 billion per year, finds a June 2005 report by Dr. Jeffrey Miron, visiting professor of economics at Harvard University.
Dr. Miron’s paper, “The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition,” concludes:
**Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of legal regulation would save approximately $7.7 billion in government expenditures on prohibition enforcement — $2.4 billion at the federal level and $5.3 billion at the state and local levels.
**Revenue from taxation of marijuana sales would range from $2.4 billion per year if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods to $6.2 billion if it were taxed like alcohol or tobacco.
These impacts are considerable, according to the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. For example, $14 billion in annual combined annual savings and revenues would cover the securing of all “loose nukes” in the former Soviet Union (estimated by former Assistant Secretary of Defense Lawrence Korb at $30 billion) in less than three years.
Just one year’s savings would cover the full cost of anti-terrorism port security measures required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. The Coast Guard has estimated these costs, covering 3,150 port facilities and 9,200 vessels, at $7.3 billion total.
As Milton Friedman and over 500 economists have now said, it’s time for a serious debate about whether marijuana prohibition makes any sense,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. “We know that prohibition hasn’t kept marijuana away from kids, since year after year 85% of high school seniors tell government survey-takers that marijuana is ‘easy to get.’ Conservatives, especially, are beginning to ask whether we’re getting our money’s worth or simply throwing away billions of tax dollars that might be used to protect America from real threats.
Thank you for you time on this subject
Legalization, Regulation, Taxation
The problem is there’s a lot of people who sing along with Mitch. And they sing off key because they only know the words, and not the tune.
This is another old crony that is out of touch in more ways than one. We have too many like Senator Mitch McConnel in political office’s.
I have been smoking for 43 years, and guess what I’m still here and healthy as a thoroughbred horse.
Senator McConnell, your obfuscation kills. The obfuscation in the abstruse definition of marijuana kills. Cannabis doesn’t kill. THC doesn’t kill. If you would speak clearly, then you could say that the smoke is ill. Senator, you can evolve the exercise of civics with this simple definition of marijuana.
16. The term ‘marijuana’ means all parts
of the smoke produced by the combustion
of the plant Cannabis sativa L.
For more information, google Talking Points for the Peloton.
The problem is there’s a lot of people who sing along with Mitch. And they sing off key because they only know the words, and not the tune.
Thats quite poetic:)
I decided to do I more reply on this guy:
I hope he goes away and leaves the Senate.
-short-term memory loss
-loss of core motor functions
-heightened risk of lung disease
Well, he has suffered 3, lets hope the 4th comes a calling on him soon!
@caninebob – What an excellent post! My first thought is that every single one of us should copy it and sent it to our Senators and Congressmen. But, then reality set in… The odds of any of them reading it past the first few sentences are not very good… I doubt that Senator McConnell is even capable of reading it with any understanding…
Shame at this point in time we still have folks wallowing in ignorance. How sad?
I dont even have time for this joke. I gotta go to work. Then when i come home im going to smoke a joint and watch cat videos on youtube and pray some lunatic doesnt bust down my door and shoot me.
Any flaw or attribute of human behavior- genetic or enviornmental, can be blamed on cannabis use:
It’s the drug of contradiction.
His reactions are too fast or too slow
She talks quick or not fast anough
His motor skills are inhanced or their impaired
The sex drive is increased or it’s a libido killer
A person went on a rage or it calmed them down
I made her sleepy or it caused insomnia
It heightenes euphoria or depression
It promotes passitivity or aggression.
Have you ever heard any of these senators talk?
Their long winded dialogues, the pauses between sentences,
the irritabilty,the anger issues,whats their EXCUSE for their debilitation
Gravity and DNA degradation
Perhaps being Human?
Okay. Narcotic? You say Narcotic… Be careful what you label on people. We are potheads. We are not Alcohol Addict. We are not smoke tobacco. Don’t stereotype us, period. It is not true about what he says. It is true about fact what we look for truth. McConnell, you are senator, you have degrees, you have education, you have good pay well, you have good family, and everything what you have but you are really not smartest enough what you do in political and talk is no good. I looked at you and all politicians are fascists unveiled craziest greedy dirty oppressors with war machine and denial ability, oh that their favorite is denial ability, no wonder they say no, no, no, no, no, no to them. Enough obsess about past of “Say no” campaign. Oh please today is 2012, not 1960s anymore. Duh! Ever weed is safest than drugs and other. Why you keep denial ability? Because you have favor-ism, oh that your problem, not our problem. All of you who politicians, lobbyists, governors, prohibitionists and others are so ugliest ever I see in my life in the world. You look bad. Also, I am proud of America, but I don’t proud of U.S. government like mostly people agree with me. Sadly, you are ignorance and need to open-minded. If you not then respect them and walk away that simple…. accept hard!
He even looks dumb and stupid .
I agree with everybody on this blog.
Pot will eventually be legalized in spite of folks like mr Mitch. We the people demand it. In Alaska 58% of folks voting voted in favor of medical marijuana and dicriminization of 1 oz. ….58%!!!! I’ll bet Mitch didn’t get 58% of the vote when he was elected!!
It’s gonna happen. Pot will be legalized!!
Long live peace and freedom!!!
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere. Voltaire
Marijuana never kicks down your door in the middle of the night. Marijuana never locks up sick and dying people, does not suppress medical research, does not peek in bedroom windows. Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could. P. J. O’Rourke
WOW! He should really try it before he comments! It might help to straighten that goofy smile of his!
@caninebob OMG! Please make your post’s smaller. I gave up reading it after the first paragraph. Your post’s should not be more than 2 paragraph’s long.
Why is Obama fighting Nixon’s drug war?
How do I contact this putz ?
@caninebob
Hey man, I’d just like to point out; do you think we’d be here if we didn’t already realize that ‘now is the time to legalize marijuana’? As followers and often contributers to norml, we’re all very well versed on the laundry list of reasons marijuana needs to be legal. Your heart’s in the right place, but trust me man, you’re preaching to the choir.
As to the article thinger, I always find it strange how when someone is scrounging for reasons that marijuana is dangerous, they cite short term memory loss. Really? Fun fact; did you know walking through doorways has been proven to negatively affect your short term memory? I’m serious, look that shit up. Are doorways dangerous then? I guess you can walk into them, but that’s besides the point.
And why exactly are we assuming people are invalids? If weed causes loss of coordination and memory loss then people can just not smoke weed when they’re doing things that require those functions. We trust people like that when it comes to alcohol. Not to mention in my personal experience with…other people…who smoke marijuana (of course I’ve never done something like that. I’m just a regular old 100% law abiding citizen with only the utmost respect for our war on drugs!) I’ve noticed very little of this alleged loss of motor coordination. Maybe a bit when one consumes a rather large amount, but one can also vomit when they eat a rather large amount of cake. Does that mean we should say cake causes vomiting?
Then again I’m saying this, but we all know the issue isn’t really that he believes those things. He likely does, but that’s not really what’s in question here. Just like many politicians he’s playing politics and attempting to maintain the status quo as best he can, and can’t just say “I make money off of people who make money off of marijuana being illegal, and I get nothing out of supporting marijuana. Therefore I must struggle to fight reform in any…form.”
Very simple, since Sen. McConnnell & the ALEC campaign donors refuse a new source of revenue, why shouldn’t we ask the 1% to pay their fair share?.
Note: In Judge Young’s report cannabis is referred to as marijuana
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Drug Enforcement Administration
_______________________________________
)
In The Matter Of )
) Docket No. 86-22
MARIJUANA RESCHEDULING PETITION )
_______________________________________)
OPINION AND RECOMMENDED RULING, FINDINGS OF
FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW AND DECISION OF
Administrative LAW JUDGE.
FRANCIS L. YOUNG, Administrative Law Judge
DATED: SEP 6 1988
FRANCIS L. YOUNG, Administrative Law Judge
……………………
Part VIII.
ACCEPTED SAFETY FOR USE UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION
With respect to whether or not there is “a lack of accepted safety
for use of [marijuana] under medical supervision”, the record shows the
following facts to be uncontroverted.
Findings of Fact
Point 3. The most obvious concern when dealing with drug safety is the possibility of lethal effects. Can the drug cause death?
4. Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But marijuana is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive medical literature describing a proven, documented cannabis-induced fatality.
5. This is a remarkable statement. First, the record on marijuana encompasses 5,000 years of human experience. Second, marijuana is now used daily by enormous numbers of people throughout the world. Estimates suggest that from twenty million to fifty million Americans routinely, albeit illegally, smoke marijuana without the benefit of direct medical supervision. Yet, despite this long history of use and the extraordinarily high numbers of social smokers, there are simply no credible medical reports to suggest that consuming marijuana has caused a single death.
6. By contrast aspirin, a commonly used, over-the-counter medicine, causes hundreds of deaths each year.
7. Drugs used in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of researchers have attempted to determine marijuana’s LD-50 rating in test animals, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough marijuana to induce death.
8. At present it is estimated that marijuana’s LD-50 is around
1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in onemarijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response.
9. In practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity.
10. Another common medical way to determine drug safety is called the therapeutic ratio. This ratio defines the difference between a therapeutically effective dose and a dose which is capable of inducing adverse effects.
11. A commonly used over-the-counter product like aspirin has a therapeutic ratio of around 1:20. Two aspirins are the recommended dose for adult patients. Twenty times this dose, forty aspirins, may cause a lethal reaction in some patients, and will almost certainly cause gross injury to the digestive system, including extensive internal bleeding.
12. The therapeutic ratio for prescribed drugs is commonly around 1:10 or lower. Valium, a commonly used prescriptive drug, may cause very serious biological damage if patients use ten times the recommended (therapeutic) dose.
13. There are, of course, prescriptive drugs which have much lower therapeutic ratios. Many of the drugs used to treat patients with cancer, glaucoma and multiple sclerosis are highly toxic. The therapeutic ratio of some of the drugs used in antineoplastic therapies, for example, are regarded as extremely toxic poisons with therapeutic ratios that may fall below 1:1.5. These drugs also have very low LD-50 ratios and can result in toxic, even lethal reactions, while being properly employed.
14. By contrast, marijuana’s therapeutic ratio, like its LD-50, is impossible to quantify because it is so high.
15. In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating ten raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death.
16. Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within a supervised routine of medical care.”
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Caninebob:
I really like your post. Its making mr mitch look just like another silly politician out of touch with information. Love it
Back in the day, I was smoking a joint when I saw our then president Ronald Reagan announce that marijuana was the most dangerous drug in America. All I could say at the time was, Cool Man. Lol
All these years later we are still hearing the same old tired stuff
With so much support for Cannabis, and the obviously broken/delusional/ignorant/murdurous govt which still supports decades old, ignorant, racist lies and propaganda, why aren’t we doing anything about it? The longer prohibition continues, and the reasons why – the more ridiculous it gets! In my eyes, the govt (which is the result of the masses support) is responsible for –
EVERY nonviolent drug offenders life that’s ruined, and what they go through in prison
ALL the deaths that continue to tally due to the war on drugs
This system responsible for anyone who had to resort to the black market and had something unfortunate happen to them as well as any deaths in the black market
This system is responsible for ALL the tax payer money wasted in fighting an obviously failing war
This system is responsible for ALL the pain and suffering that MILLIONS had to go through because they couldn’t get a safe and natural alternative to help their ailments
The current structure is responsible for ALL of the people who became addicted top prescription drugs because they couldn’t get access to cannabis
The establishment is responsible for the DEATHS of ALL the people who’s lives cannabis COULD HAVE SAVED
The establishment is responsible for the deaths of unarmed, nonviolent citizens (and pets) during drugs raids
The establishment is responsible for all propaganda filled human beings who walk around with ignorant, distorted views of one of the most benign substances on earth
The establishment is responsible for not allowing the hemp industry to flourish to keep profits in other polluting and corrupt industries like OIL
Denying hemp also stopped all the possibilities of all hemp products which could replace so many wasteful and polluting products we use today
Lastly, establishment policies (which in a way are supported by the public through continuing to vote for the nonsense called politics) are responsible for future incidents where all the things I mentioned will continue to happen!
How many lives would this add up to? How much money squandered? How many families ruined, and children displaced? It is truly disturbing the damage that cannabis prohibition alone has done to society!
With 20,000 studies on cannabis, no deaths directly related to cannabis, and a govt that is in cahoots with big pharma/alcohol/tobacco, and refuses any findings or studies on cannabis, it’s very CLEAR WHAT WE NEED TO DO! This list doesn’t include all the other ways maintaining political and monetary systems harm the ENTIRE PLANET! Nonviolent, civil disobedience and mass nonparticipation is in order NOW! Let 2012 be the year we kick this shit off!!! Stop looking within the system for solutions!!! If you continue to promote a politician, think throwing money at the issue, or anything the current elite classes use to operate society, you may as well just give up.
The establishment is not in any way here for your best interests. It makes zero sense to keep trying to do the same shit over and over within a system that is meant to suppress the masses through a wide variety of methods – its literally insane! Look anywhere in history – the values and “beliefs” of the public are based around the interests of the dominant class of the period. Right now we are dominated by a small 1% of the population due to the interests they have, and legal & economic structures they keep in place. So when you try to use their system to get something changed, one can see how we’ve been stuck for decades in a state of institutional classism. Laws are written to protect elite interests. When the people become educated, stand together, and discontinue support of harmful, contrived institutions, we will then begin taking steps towards civilization. Even the 1% are human beings – maybe some of them can wake up too. But, if the people CANNOT come together on common ground, recognize the root/core issues, and unite across the planet in a way never before seen in history, everyone may as well stop all forms of activism now.
@Paradigm Shift 2012
You are correct however people must use their votes in addition to posting on public chat boards. Fire each and every one in all of your local, state and national elections until you get the representation that actually represents “you” the constituent. Archaic prohibitionist laws are flawed in both practice and theory because they are based in lies. We all need to be preaching this message to the uninformed, the mal-informed, and the ignorant, not just preaching to the choir. All of us here in the choir already know how the tune is really sung. Peace! Oh yeah! Start with this lying sack from Kentucky…I’ll bet he’s taken more than a few kickbacks from Kentucky based tobacco growers and other lobbyist. Now there’s a substasnce that definitively has been proven to kill. What an ignorant man.
Letter to Congressman:
Dear Congressman would you please support bill XXX to change US cannabis laws and stop treating cannabis users as criminals with harsh prison sentences.
My Congressman’s Personal Response:
I will never support legalizing drugs as I have seen the devastation of drug addiction; the children left without parents that society must care for and the crime that drug addicts commit prevent me from supporting any bill that would make drugs legal.
If there is anything else that my office can help you with please do not hesitate to write.
While I paraphrased a letter from perhaps 6 years ago, this type of response is far too common when Cannabis cannot be discussed alone on its own merits without including every other drug on the planet.
This mindset did not happen by accident, in many minds the US has 1 recreational drug and that is 1 too many; too many Americans cannot separate cannabis from heroin or other drugs as our government has done a great job of confusing the subject.
Drugs are approved by the FDA on a daily basis with serious safety issues but even IF the US had dozens of new studies the FDA will never approve of cannabis legalization.
Cannabis reform can only come by an act of congress that removes cannabis from “The Controlled Substances Act” it is in their charter.
The only way the US will see reasonable change is getting it removed from the Controlled Substances Act.
Not even talking weed, this man seems to be sent from HELL just to frack up the world. look at his past, he only herts us all. the guy is a real pig. we must get him out of the white house. SKYRIDER.
pretty easy to overdose on it
@Psu ‘What is eazy to Overdose on?
The Senator is patently full of BS!
If pot killed, I would not have made it past my teens; I am now in my mid sixties and still alive, healthy and cognitively functional, and my driving record is whistle clean after having a license for over 40 years.
So much for political hype/spin.
@Ron Combs:
You say you “…don’t know how this stupid Howdy Doody lookin bastard has managed to stay in Ky. state government this long…”
Simple: Kentucky is a tobacco growing state. Therefore; anything that threatens that industry is subject to legislation to keep anything that would undermine it’s main business. Once people find out that pot is safer and more fun than tobacco, the tobacco industry is history.
And, since pot is so easy to grow, everyone can, and will produce their own at home.
Even if the tobacco industry changes to raising pot, they will not survive long after pot becomes legal to grow, sell, buy, distribute and use.
The other industry that will be affected is the alcoholic beverage industry. In addition to this, there is a not-so-small fortune made off ofthe maintainance and funding of millitary operations in foreign countries to control the traffiking of drugs.
Finally, there has grown up around this issue a rehabilitation industry that makes a lot of money off of court mandated attendance, and the legal community who prosecute the cases.
As long as these vested interests rule with their power and money, we will be under the rule of prohibition.
Where there is big money, there is big legislation.
Thanks John Silverton, so true.
For vested interests, the entire legal system & biz of prisons backed by military is huge wasted cost in cash and lives-largest on planet and increasing.
As you also say, both tobacco & alcohol have big vested interests. Mitch shows his tobacco interests over truth.
You can also add Big Pharma to that list. And the odd mix of ind. hemp (Anslinger lies made them one, sweet hemp/ganja & ind. hemp) is added due to other fibre makers, plastics, cotton, wood pulp opposing. There are also food interests opposing.
Thats a lot of money on control lies for truth to overcome.
But what is happening is that truth is bringing change anyhow. All that money will not stop it inevitably. Its wasted cost. The cartels are the big winners too. This insanity is now being seen.
The states are forcing change as are other places on planet. The people who learn the truth, you and many of us know already, are being heard louder and larger.
Truth will prevail and this golden broad use plant will be a part of the world’s lives in all its uses as it was before the early 1900’s, even more so. H Fords idea of uses will happen, and so much more.
Its in the fastest change right now since 1937 and it won’t be stopped, even by Fed Terrorism of states and people, and those ignorants/bought offs in each state, or huge money control of the Fed.
The truth, due to the net, and so many of us on Earth, all levels, talking, is the larger wealth, that ends the truth being hidden & legislated against any longer by any buy off money.
Fewer people will vote for lies and those who support that.
Most will be happy to know that fools like this are becoming rarer and rarer among us everyday. :). We will win, they willise. Period. Legalize it.
Whoops, dumb phone likes to change my words sometimes. Let’s try that again. We will win, they WILL lose. 🙂
recheck yourself MITCH .POT DONT KILL……………….ACT?IONS DO,marijuana deaths=o if it is capable of curing then why is it being mentioned as a drug that is killing…..wow .you need a reality check senator i argue against that.think about it peoples actions sre what kills marijuana alone is unharmful proven studies noone is capable of overdose
legalize it
Weed kills?!?! Holy shit! I need to quit!