Want to Prevent Marijuana Growing on Public Land? Legalize it
The widespread destruction of our national forests caused by illicit marijuana cultivation is becoming a bigger story every summer. The problem just keeps getting worse and it seems that Mexican cartels aren’t the only ones cashing in on it:
Forest Service law enforcement staff was doubled from 14 to 28 agents in California between 2007 and 2008, said spokesman John Heil, resulting in the eradication of 3.1 million marijuana plants in the last fiscal year.Congress is responding too, with a recent $3 million supplemental appropriation secured by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) that allowed the Park Service to add 25 new law enforcement officers to its Pacific Region parks…[New York Times]
The more marijuana gets planted, the more jobs are created for people to cut down the plants, which causes still more marijuana to get planted. The harder you try to put a stop to this, the worse the damage gets. The cops doing this work won’t hesitate to tell you that there's more of it every year. We haven't even scratched the surface of how bad it's going to get:
"As more pressure happens in California, they're going to start looking at Oregon, Nevada and Idaho," said Krogen, of the High Sierra Volunteer Trail Crew. "Then they'll start looking at the Southeast too, closer to distribution."
Does anyone really believe that law enforcement is going to solve this problem? I'm sure going on treasure hunts in the woods is a popular assignment, but I have a hard time believing that these guys actually think they're accomplishing anything.
The bottom line is that legalization is absolutely the only option that exists for controlling where, how, and by whom marijuana is grown. I hope it won't require the permanent destruction of precious natural resources across the country to illustrate that fact. It never ceases to amaze me that all of this is happening because the government won’t let people grow their own marijuana.
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redditI say we save all the seeds
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sat, 08/01/2009 - 9:59amI say we save all the seeds we peel out of the commercial pot ...and Johnny appleseed wherever you can...you get thousands doing this a goodly amount will take root...afterall ''its a weed!!'' I used to see it growing wild in the South Philly railyards....throw those seeds willy nilly in peoples gardens especially a cops if you know any..city halls are good as well.out along the major highways where the mowers don't cut......drive these idiot cops nuts....I did it years back,and I'm only one person...some grew some didn't....I didn't do it to raise it I did it to agravate....
legalizing is not an answer
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sat, 08/01/2009 - 8:05pmyou know legalizing it will just create more crime.and just think how much more voilent those drug lords will be if you legalize it.it will be much easyer for kids to get ahold of it.and it's just sending a bad message to america,saying we give up on the war on drugs.and that will just make our beloved goverment look like idoits and failures.it's sending a message that drugs are okay when you know their the curruption of our youth.there will be millions more on their death beds due to marijuana and who will be to blame for that YOU america for legalizing it!.think logical you dont want to put any of our well respected law enforcement officers without jobs do you or do u wish to contuine to act like nazis?if you do your sick and no worse than terrorist and murders and child molesters. thank you for your time
marrie c. cambell 5th grade
tallahassee florida.
proud DARE graduate.
Dare
Comment posted by Unitedwetokedividedwechoke on Sun, 08/02/2009 - 3:47pmWasn't it recently found that DARE graduates are no more or less likely to try drugs than a non DARE graduate. Wouldn't you rather us take some of the $49,000 a yr/prisoner that it costs to imprison non violent offenders and put it toward the measly $4600.00 a yr/ student.
We are a society that produces animals by locking up nonviolent offenders with violent criminals. America has 5 times the incarceration rate of the world average which means either we have the most evil people on the face of the planet, or we are doing something terribly wrong. Billions wasted annually to combat a demand that will never decline. And costs grow every year, we foresaw health care was unsustainable with its ever rising costs, how can we think the drug war is sustainable at the rate we are spending money that we don't have.
I don't smoke tobacco, drink alcohol, or take prescription drugs. I do however choose to vaporize a plant that is far less harmless and more beneficial than any of the aforementioned "legal" drugs.
legalizing marijuana
Comment posted by Bob Painter on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 7:07pmWell, Marrie, that is a very heartfelt comment and I understand where you are coming from. And there is no way you should be introduced to marijuana in the 5th grade or even in the 12th grade anymore than you should be introduced to alcohol. In fact, as a physician, I wouldn't put marijuana in my system at all. But presently we adults have allowed criminals to control drugs--we figured out a long time ago that to do that with alcohol didn't work. I don't think that is a very good message to send to children. In countries where they have allowed marijuana to be used above a certain age with certain restrictions--like in Holland--an increase in use by teenagers hasn't happened. We don't have to approve of marijuana, but we have to realize that it has been used for centuries at least and there is no way we will stop it. Controlling it, taxing it, keeping it out of the hands of children makes sense. And marijuana, unlike tobacco and alcohol, doesn't kill people. You need to know that. It doesn't make a good thing to use, but that is the truth.
And a lot of law enforcement officers are joining an organization that recognizes the way we have been fighting this expensive and ineffective drug war doesn't make sense.
The thing that is important is that you are thinking about this complicated subject and are speaking out. Don't stop learning about good accurate information, though. That is important, too.
Bob
Marrie, it's nice of you to
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sat, 08/01/2009 - 10:26pmMarrie, it's nice of you to take the time to share your views with us. But some of what you're saying is over the top- "millions more on their death beds due to marijuana"? Uhh, is that what they've been teaching you? I think you're confusing cannabis (marijuana) with alcohol. What are they teaching you about alcohol, the legal drug? There's no point discussing any illegal drug (herb/drug in the case of cannabis) without comparing it to alcohol, the legal but oh so dangerous in the wrong hands drug.
Or am I getting worked up over an adult's parody?
-newageblues
Officer Crist warned me of your tactics
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sun, 08/02/2009 - 2:40amI know what you are up too.Officer Crist told us people like you would like to spread lies to people and kids to tell us stuff like that and it's not gonna work on me! i'm just gonna say NO!! and NO means NO!! i dont want your horriable drug.i also learned about alcohol too and how marijuana is very much the same as it but way more harmful,.how it causes cancer much easyer than cigarettes.and how if you use it you can go to jail because thats how dangerous it is.My Uncle Rick was in the Iraq war and he came home about 7 months ago and i was soo happy but then i saw what looked liked drugs in his room so i did what Officer Crist told me to do if i saw drugs dont touch them and tell a police officer .and i did what was right and now my uncle has to tell me how he's sorry for being a idoit and letting me down and how drugs are not okay anyways please people just listen dont do drugs we can win just think of my future please i dont want to live in a world full of drugs
Officer Crist isn't the
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sun, 08/02/2009 - 8:42amOfficer Crist isn't the whole story. I used to believe all that crap until I lost a brother to alcohol. I couldn't help but notice that all of the pot smokers still had their kidneys and livers and lungs, still able to work and walk around. It was the legal drug alcohol that led to a lot of early deaths in my family. On the sides of prescription drug bottles there are warnings against taking alcohol with a particular drug. Where are the weed warnings?
Also, shouldn't he have told you enough facts to defend intelligently? There aren't millions on their deathbeds even from heroin, which does kill. There certainly aren't with weed.
If you don't want to live in a world full of drugs
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sun, 08/02/2009 - 8:45amWhat are you going to do about alcohol, which kills more people in a day that cannabis (the traditional name for 'marijuana') kills in a year. Any war on drugs that doesn't understand that alcohol is far more of a killer than cannabis ever will be is nothing but a farce. If you really want to stop deaths due to drugs, you'll need to come down harder on killer alcohol and lighten up on non-killer cannabis. If you want to know why cannabis is illegal, google Harry Anslinger + racism, and educate yourself.
Check with the Centers for Disease Control for statistics on deaths caused by alcohol. As far as I know they don't even keep statistics on cannabis related mortality because it's too rare to be a public health issue (or because the contrast with alcohol would be too embarrassing to the war on selected drugs).
If cannabis is so dangerous, why hasn't the gov't developed a test to show when people are under the influence of marijuana? The piss test they ram down people's throats only shows whether they used in the last week or so, not whether they are intoxicated when tested.
Marrie has given us some first hand information on the scumbag garbage that DARE is peddling.
P.S. Even when you grow up, you will still have the perfect right to say no to legal or illegal drugs. That's your choice. What you don't have the right to do is force people to use alcohol when cannabis is much safer.
-newageblues
To me, the tragedy of the
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sun, 08/02/2009 - 10:40amTo me, the tragedy of the Maries of the world is this. Those who have relatives who have addiction challenges are then recruited into the world of prohibitionists. Having grown up with and lived around relatives who are dysfunctional drunks and addicts, and having seen and often suffered the results of same and the lack of concern about the effects by society, the answer is to arrest the drunk, the addict-make him go away somehow. But there are millions who are not dysfunctional and not delusional who don't need such intervention. The prohibitionists, driven by a need to "make society holy" or a belief that if nobody consumes , then nobody will act like an idiot due to consumption, aren't equipped either intellectually or emotionally to make such distinctions.
But criminalization makes
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sun, 08/02/2009 - 10:51amBut criminalization makes matters worse. While coming home drunk and high can be a bad deal, possession charges turn a productive (or at least present) person into a felon, breaking up families, lowering job propects, and in short making a short detour into a lifetime of reduced productivity. We lose millions of bright people due to these charges who can't get a good job or a good education, vote, or even get subsidized housing.
Nor can it be healthy to have to deal more intimately than is warranted with thug and other criminals.That certainly helps with sobriety, doesn't it?
Our Forests...
Comment posted by Anonymous on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 10:21am...I thought that was the subject in discussion. Anyway, clear cutting of national forests causes far greater harm than some leftover plant food and trash. DARE...well thats just about done for,is it not? Only susceptible children will believe that non-science/propaganda/ DEAdogma ,nonsense.
The forests won't be saved for a while
Comment posted by TrebleBass on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 2:28pmWe will have to legalize in the whole country, or at least in many states, before we can finally solve this forest problem. California exports a lot of weed, so there would still be a lot of illegal weed grown in the state once it's legalized there. The more states that legalize, though, the less is grown in public land.
They will stop it!
Comment posted by Tony Mann on Mon, 08/03/2009 - 7:23pmThey will stop it just like they stopped alcohol in the U.S. during prohibition, look at all the crooked cops and politicians then, and look at organized crime. Thank the Social engineers for all this. The cops get rich legally and illegally, the poor go to jail and more jobs as jail guards are made how can it be a bad thing? Long as you are not the one in there. Want to read more about dirty justice check this site out also.
Medical Pot Clubs suck. Doent anyone care about the children
Comment posted by Anonymous on Wed, 11/11/2009 - 4:43amIf America ever wants to be on the top again. The government has to stop the growing of pot. Every young kid is smoking it and there all stupid as hell. Literly.. I was a honers student till I got stoned back in 1993. First team all american basketball player and track star. Since I became a pot head my life just head down hill. I can name so many friends of mine who started smoking weed in highschool who are now hard core drug users.. It is the gate way drug for real.. I just recently quit after ( no joke) smoking weed everyday for over 16 years. Only to stop for a day or two if I can down with a bad chest cold or something.Now Ive been clean for 3 months and I finally free of this addiction and hopefully will never look back. I never finished college cause I was to stoned. THe pot clubs and pro pot movies and culture is just making so hard for the young people to understand this and how it will effect there future.. When I was growing up alot of people didnt smoke because they were affraid of getting in trouble and still so many reuined there lives. Not to mention I now have lung problems now from pot abuse. Im from Nor Cal the heart of weed country, and Ive seen it get worse and worse.. STOP THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF AND THINK ABOUT THE CHILDERN OF THIS COUNTRY. Ok you smoke keep to yourself.. The children deserve better. I honestly dont want to raise kids in this mess of a country.
Haha YOour an idiot i smoked
Comment posted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/12/2009 - 2:44pmHaha YOour an idiot i smoked with my 12 year old last night and he still has sttraight A's maybe your the problem not the weed.
They need to learn some history & basic economics...
Comment posted by Anonymous on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 6:31pmThey need to learn some history & basic economics... or stop ignoring them anyway!
History teaches that the 1st drug, war against alcohol between 1920 - 1933, was a massive failure and lead organized crime to new and unheard of heights.
Economics teaches if you make it we will consume it and that markets hate a void.
Of course the huge difference between the first drug war against alcohol and the current drug war against marijuana will not be the outcome but rather it's legality and consequences.
Alcohol prohibition was done legally through the amendment process. We can argue whether or not the politicians involved in that amendment process acted in a legal fassion by providing facts or acted criminally by knowingly lying to constitutes then handing down dictates in the pretense of promoting the general welfare.
Marijuana prohibition, in all it's incarnations over the past 70+ years, has been based upon laws circumventing the constitution and therefore many of our inalienable rights.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness - and for Libertarians like me 'Legally Acquire Property' - is all I need to know for my self determination... understanding that everyone else has the exact same rights and treading upon them should have dire consequences.
The tenth, and arguably most important commandmant is clear about what should happen to theives and liars that attempt to steal the rights and properties of others by bearing false-witness.
Today, grand juries must be summoned inorder to indict for an infamous crime. Well, the many crimes of politicians and agencies like the DEA are not infamous.... they are quite routine, common, and dangerous to democracy.
Makes sense when you realize that "bearing false-witness" is the standard operating procedure for authoritarians and the grease that makes the world in which we mentally masturbate go around.
How else is it our 4th Amendment Right, which clearly protects every american against unreasonable searches, arrests & seizures of properties, and our 8th Amendment Right prohibiting excessive bail & cruel or unusual punishment can be so grossly violated for 70+ years.
How is it a guy high on the drug alcohol can kill someone and spend less time in jail, if any, then someone growing their own medicine or there choice of recreational drug... especially when it's safer, less toxic, then other 'socially acceptable' drugs?
This is exactly what happens when you dance around the constitution and buy into the circular logic of the purveyors of gods and governments.
'Flicht' is the name Protestant Germans now give to the national psychosis that Nazi lies and propaganda helped create in order to round up the jews and exterminate them. Well friends just change a few names and faces and we've got our own Christian American version of 'flicht' with the usual suspects leading the way with lies and propaganda.
The drug war, and todays largely unenlighted society, reminds me of some lyrics by 'My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult': "You can call me crazy... but I know you're insane"!
Live long and prosper!