The results of a new poll recently released by Third Way, a Washington, D.C. think tank, confirms the country remains largely divided over marijuana policy, a fact also made clear from a number of previous polls, including Gallup, Pew and others. This is, of course, a positive situation for those of us who favor legalization. Only 12 percent of the public supported legalization in 1970, when NORML began challenging prohibition, and it has been a long, slow slog to win their support.
And we can reasonably anticipate even higher levels of support in the near future, as the public become comfortable with the results of full legalization in the first few states to head in that direction. Legalization is no longer just a legal theory that people can speculate about; we finally have the opportunity to measure and analyze the results of actual legalization systems in place in several states (four and counting).
To read the balance of this column, please go to Marijuana.com
ironic that the support for legalization is so much smaller within the “get rid of government regulations” party. Ironic also that people would get hung up on the “cheech and chong” stereotypes and overlook that their playing out those stereotypes made them millionaires.
fireweed says:
December 15, 2014 at 8:32 pm
ironic that the support for legalization is so much smaller within the “get rid of government regulations” party.
Ironic also is that the “get rid of government regulations” party is into mass murder.
The Reagan administration tried to suppress the finding that cannabis is effective against cancer. You can look it up. Of course the Democrats did nothing when they had a chance.
Cannabis cures cancer. Cancer kills 586,000 Americans every year. Every Prohibitionist is complicit in mass murder.
Some of the best cooperation against prohibition I have seen yet has been between Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY). Those two are an inspiration to watch when they work together.
A little HIGHlight from the wake of this spending bill:
Senator John Cornyn, R- TX was faltering in front of the camera to explain the lack of support from his fellow Texas Senator Cruz’ reckless, partisan rants against Obama’s executive order for immigration stalling the Spending Bill. It even had even fellow Republicans furious as Majority Leader Reed’s last moves in office took advantage of the pointless delay and passed several nominations through that Republicans weren’t real happy with. As Cornyn studdered to come up with an explanation, Senator Corey Booker D-NJ, walked past him from behind, grinning from ear to ear and gave him a slap on the back shoulder,
“Let me know if you need some back up, Cornyn!”
Nice.
That party isn’t really the “get rid of government regulations” party, it’s the get rid of regulations on things that we like. Things like oil and banking. When it comes to things like women’s bodies, protecting copy rights, getting on airplanes… then they love regulations.
It goes along with the long list of contradictions among that side of the aisle. They hate “spending” and yet consistently vote to increase military spending every single year (despite it being larger than the next 13 nations combined). They hate “socialism” but use over half of all the taxes taken in to pay for that bloated military. They hate “big brother” and yet they created the Patriot Act to spy on all Americans and they militarized the police force. They love to say they honor the constitution, until it comes to issues like religious freedom or a Supreme Court decision they don’t like. They love to go on about “activist judges”, until those judges do something like rewrite the second amendment to remove that annoying part about militias. They’re the “moral” & “Christian” party, and yet they’re against paying to help the sick, the poor or immigrants but they’re for the death penalty, guns, wars and turning prisons into big business. Jesus spoke frequently about the horrors extreme wealth, guess what Republicans love?
Listening to their backwards outdated logic sometimes is just too much to take.
RobustFlower says:
December 16, 2014 at 5:08 pm
They could actually lower the cost of healing the sick by $1 trillion a year by legalizing cannabis.
Just one example: Cannabis cures cancer. Cancer kills 586,000 Americans every year.
MSimon, that simple isn’t true. Marijuana kills some cancer cells while making it more difficult to others to grow and multiply.
There isn’t anything “mass murdering” about it. Fracking (lacing air and water with toxins) and lacing food with other kinds of toxins is indeed mass murder. The lack of good regulations and inspections is mass murder. Making marijuana illegal is mass incarceration–slaving people for cracker’s profits; taking away their freedom and their live’s profits and giving it to someone else that is already well off. Defacto slavery.
And when they start lacing marijuana with toxins like they do cigarettes: Mass Murder.
@ Robustflower,
I wholeheartedly agree. I live in NM, a state controlled by the Dems for decades. In this last election, however, the GOP took control of the state house for the first time in 60 years. Add our Tea Party Gov., Susana Martinez, to the equation, and suddenly I’m a bit worried. I was sure recreational legalization was gonna come to my state in the non-too-distant future; now I’m having my doubts.
The statement from the feds regarding Native American autonomy on the subject brings a little hope, on the other hand. It will be interesting to see what happens if some of the pueblos or other tribes in NM attempt recreational legalization, with the GOP now controlling the state House.
Stay tuned.
@Dave, Here are some thoughts aimed at clarification. I can’t judge MSimon’s point about curing cancer, but as regards PREVENTION: “tobacco” (mainly hot burning overdose monoxide $igarettes) is credited with nearly a half million American premature deaths a year, many of them through cancer.
Legalized cannabis can help PREVENT THOSE DEATHS as follows:
(a) substitute for tobacco– what if kids try cannabis and other non-addictive herbs– alfalfa, basil, chamomile, damiana, dandelion, eucalyptus etc.– instead? Give them a moderation utensil to try those alternatives easily and non-traumatically.
(b) important: substitute VAPING for $moking– and you can vape (385F/195C) just fine with a flexdrawtube one-hitter, see the free wiki article, “12 Ways to Make Pipes from Everyday Objects”.
(c) substitute the 25-mg single toke concept for rolling up a half gram in corporate overdose papers. Once the misnamed “Joint” is eliminated from American life a major cause of kids getting hooked on murderous “real nicotine” will vanish with it.
Also the stereotypical stupid behavior attributed to cannabis in the tobacco-paid media is actually caused by the monoxide papers format.
I noted the interest in Native Americans developing a cannabis industry (see other recent article), think what it will mean if Native Handwork re-emerges now in the form of several hundred million expressive 25-mg anti-monoxide utensils.
@fireweed – speaking of Cheech and Chong, Tommy Chong was recently on Dancing With the Stars and did great! 50 years of using cannabis and he is still more healthy and vigorous than 95% of the US Congressmen.
By the way, I’ve known many cannabis users in my life and none of them were anything close to resembling the stereotype. They are all good intelligent hard-working people. Some people would be surprised to learn that their nice good-looking neighbors, the ones that obviously work hard and take good care of their property, are cannabis users. I’m pretty sure that I would be one of the people that would surprise my neighbors if I “came out of the closet”. However, I can’t do it because I live in Virginia and some of them just might let the cops in in my secret…
It’s actually easier for a gay/lesbian to come out than a cannabis user in a state like Virginia. At least they don’t need to worry that the cops would be watching and preparing to break down your doors in the middle of the night, shoot your dog, terrorize your family, and haul you off as if you were some king of big cartel dealer because they found a plant growing in a closet.
@Miles. ^what you just said is spot-ON my friend. It is terrible that in today’s modern age people still refuse to see beyond spoon-fed stereotypes and make their own educated decision. I’m already 30 and am just realizing how unconstitutional the federal prohibition on cannabis really is. @mexweed you have a very solid point as well. Will cannabis ever be federally rescheduled to the level of beer, liquor & tobacco? That is still unfair to the actual uses & side effects of the plant, but it would be an obvious victory to see it rescheduled. Any thoughts? I feel like 2015 is going to be a great year…
Dave Evans says:
December 17, 2014 at 12:25 pm
Look up “Cannabis cures cancer”. And if you prefer medical journals try “Cannabis cures cancer NIH”
Watch the fist 8 minutes of the first video here:
http://classicalvalues.com/2014/11/cannabis-and-cancer-of-the-brain/
It explains how cannabis is antiproliferative, antiangiogenic, antimetastatic, and apoptotic in relation to cancer.
You might also wish to look up “biochemist Dennis Hill cannabis cancer” and “Dr Christina Sanchez cannabis cancer” and “Dr. William Courtney cannabis brain cancer”
The first inklings were in 1974 and the US government shut down the research. I believe that qualifies for mass murder.
So far about 3 million dead on Obama’s watch.
@Bob Gnarly, I think the major impediment to Reschedule might be that, as Luck would have it, Wash D.C. is located so near to Maryland (Rep. Andy Harris) and Virginia (as @Miles says, pro-tobacco snoop neighbors)– in the tobacco belt so to speak, where cannabis represents a threat to the Nicotine $lavery which supports their local “economy”.
Your next 2 (two) Good Morning tokes (don’t wait for January) might lead to a key discovery (such as a $cheme to BOPM Bail Out Philip Morris and retrain millions of “tobacco workers” worldwide in the sublime art of hemp-assisted reforestation).
MSimon, I know about all of that. You’re being over impressed. Cancer is not a single disease, but host of different but categorically similar diseases.
Certainly, not all cancer can be beat by cannabinioids. But it does make cancer cells die before they can become tumors! But probably only certain cancers are susceptible to this mechanism.
So you can’t say every person who died of cancer, died because they didn’t have access to marijuana. Plenty of people with cancer use marijuana and concentrates and die anyway. It does help them tremendously though, even if it doesn’t cure, and only a hateful piece of shit will say denying people this medicine is a useful policy.
Then are literally saying they are as stupid as racists and flat earthers.
Dave Evans says:
December 19, 2014 at 4:28 pm
Well David suppose cannabis only cures 10%. Do 300,000 dead on Obama’s watch qualify as mass murder?
But in fact we don’t know the real number because human trials are not allowed. I believe that qualifies as a crime against humanity.
And none of the cures done with cannabis are Federally legal. Those people are illegality alive. Makes ya feel all warm and fuzzy don’t it? Makes me want to scream.
And until we have human trials the Prohibitionists are totally responsible for every cancer death. Let them prove otherwise.
Well, I guess so, but it still doesn’t really add up. Once they put marijuana in a legal position of being a narcotic when it is not and outside the constitution when everything the Feds do is bound to the constitution, nothing done after that point is legal. Using drug money to destabilize Mexico is achieved through the Drug War and even dumber spin-offs like Fast and Furious.
How does it go, “Tell one lie, then you have to tell another to cover that first. And then another.”? With their Drug War it is, “break one law by lying, and then you have to break another to cover the first lie and another and another until we’re all living in a Police State. And soon people are being arrested for growing herbs.”
People also die in prison, you know without having to get cancer first. People in the middle of their treatments have them interrupted on basis of some fake drugs charges based on finding marijuana in someone that should be using it.
Every time any sorts of these activities occur, it is a crime.
It is a marketing campaign. It is causing controversy. I want to ramp up the pressure. It seems to be catching on.
Let the prohibitionists wonder. Can it cure all cancer? Some cancer? Will it just improve chemo? Radiation? Am I a mass murderer? I want to demoralize them.
All the things you say are true. But we are near the limits of the mileage we can get from them. Because the non-smokers will say – “I’m not in line for any of those things.” Everybody is potentially in line for cancer. Bring the war home. As we used to say back in the day.
There is already clinical evidence that it improves chemo and radiation for brain cancer. But that is only one data point. They will need thousands to dispute the claims. If they are disputable.
Safer than alcohol. Probably safer than tomatoes.
Howmany patients are expected to apply for cards in nh
Mexweed: in many of your posts, you advocate vaporizing or vaping. This year, I did, and I felt it to be the most liberating way to consume cannabis. It’s very discreet and wonderful. I hope that you’ll keep spreading the word. Thank you and happy holidays.
MSimon, I think you’ll find you’re making more of an ass of yourself than you are being helpful to the cause of legalizing marijuana. But maybe I’m wrong. I like facts, not bullshit, maybe I’m just baised…?
Anyway, did you know that cigarette companies and chemical companies did conspire together to get the government to adopt fraudgulent regulations regarding “Flame Retardent” fabrics? The country is now loaded with funiture and carpets that have been soaked in insecticides that cause cancer and developmental delays in children. Ever wonder why Autism and Cancer rates keep going up?
Seriously, don’t you think this needs a little more attention than your ‘Prohibitionists murder people with cancer’ BS? After all, we actually do know who has been murdering kids with brain cancer:
Cigarette companies. Industrialists that poison large sections of the world. Anyone that doesn’t support tight regulations on dangerous materials. People that argued asbestos is perfectly safe! And the people that legislate Fracking is “too safe” to study for negative impacts are indeed murderers.
Denying people that become sick medicine that works because you’re scared of things that good bump in the night is cruel if perfectly usual. I’m not sure why they can’t be comfortable with good results simply because you could directly control the patient’s dose when it doesn’t matter? Control freaks can twist the removal of your rights with “safety” and “order” in a special way other people can’t. This is the same mental case argument some make for not studying marijuana that “It is too dangerous to study.” Which makes no sense, when people are indeed allowed to study any and every other dangerous thing… Except for Fracking of course.
MSimon, I think you’ll find you’re making more of an ass of yourself than you are being helpful to the cause of legalizing marijuana. But maybe I’m wrong. I like facts, not bullshit,
Well I’m actually making progress. And so far the prohibitionists have no answer.
Why? Schedule 1. There are no facts. Only anecdotes (actually there is one fact – THC and CBD in conjunction with chemo or radiation work better than any one of them alone for brain cancer). So you want facts? Get it off Schedule One. Let the anti-cancer orgs put up research money. Then we will get facts.
Until then “Cannabis cures cancer. Cancer kills 586,000 people in the US every year. Prohibitionists are mass murderers.”
BTW I had a Prohibitionist tell me that Americans wouldn’t stand for mass murder. I thanked him for the information.
Cannabis doesn’t cure cancer? Where is the peer reviewed medical proof on human subjects? See how that works?
MSimon,You attack Obama, turning your argument into an obvious partisan rant.
12 years of the Bush family didn’t further our cause either. you really do need to
Suck Weed.