They make it sound like we don't already have a very widely used, legal drug that causes catastrophe in the wrong hands. Critical parts of the context for legalizing cannabis or other illegal substances are that alcohol  is a drug and is already legal, and that even people who hate the consequences of alcohol abuse understand that alcohol prohibition did far more damage than good.

I'm very pleased with their statement overall, I just don't like them perpetuating the dangerous myth that alcohol isn't a drug.

I just realized that during alcohol prohibition all the violence and cartels were in America. Since it was still legal in Mexico there was no violence or cartels. I think since the violence was happening here that is part of the reason why it was repealed so fast. If we had 10000 dead in LA and another 5000 in San Diego every year then more people would think we have to do something this it is not working. Also people don't remember a time when drugs were legal so they cant see that a time with legal drugs is actually better. Sure drugs were a big problem epically with opium in china but that was because anyone could go down to a pharmacy and get them without a prescription or anything so it regulated about as good as Tylenol. Besides if we try this and after 5-10 years it doesn't work and all hell breaks loose then make them illegal again then tell all us "legalizers" we told you so and rub it in our face and i would admit we were wrong and we have to think of another strategy.

Alcohol prohibition in the US run from 1919 to 1933 - Now google 'The Great Wall Street Crash' and see when that happened!

During alcohol prohibition, all profits went to enrich thugs and criminals. Young men died every day on inner-city streets while battling over turf. A fortune was wasted on enforcement that could have gone on education etc. On top of the budget-busting prosecution and incarceration costs, billions in taxes were lost. Finally the economy collapsed. Sound familiar?

http://1929crash.com/

China has recently been in negotiation with a number of countries, asking them to replace the Dollar with the Chinese Yuan as their reserve currency. This, when it happens, will remove the Federal Government's ability to keep printing cash to cover the trillions it costs to fund prohibition. It’ll mean true freedom but the transition period may well bring consequences that are far more horrific than a slasher movie. -- It never had to be this way; we should have learned our lesson from studying the mayhem that alcohol prohibition wreaked on us.

We all have our victories and defeats as regards fear, but most of us strive not to let fear rule our hearts or our minds. Being free means being free to live and love as if death and fear had no power over us. Freedom also means that we have an ethical and moral responsibility to expose blind hate, lies and ignorance by shining eternal light, truth and love, sending such dark forces fleeing to the shadows from whence they came.

We explore outer space with various forms of space craft, but many choose to explore inner space via nature's abundant chemistry - an infinite journey into the heart of God. Whatever, we are here to explore this glorious universe. The Prohibitionist's brand of hateful, choking pseudo-Conservatism is the antithesis of all that. Like a lion who cannot grasp that he can do more than walk in a circle the size of the cage he's recently been freed from, the prohibitionist is incapable of exploration beyond the boundaries of his own fear, prejudice and loathing. We are all free to choose how we walk our own path, but when we choose to go beyond this by supporting drug-war demagoguery, to the point of even threatening others with imprisonment and physical violence, we loose the right to expect any form of respect from the once free and prosperous society that we are helping to totally destroy.

Thanks to prohibition we're about to lose all semblance of that once ordered, prosperous and safe society. Myself, along with many others, have been debating prohibitionists on this for many years. We have shown what destruction prohibition has wrought on all the civil institutions of this once great nation, -we've always provided facts and statistics - they, the prohibitionists, have countered with either lies, personal abuse or even serious threats of violence.

Ending the insanity of drug prohibition by legalized regulation, respecting the rights of the responsible users and focusing on addiction as a sickness, like we do with alcohol and tobacco, may save what remains of our economy and civil institutions along with countless lives and livelihoods. Prohibition continues unabated for shameful political reasons. It cannot, and never will, reduce drug use or addiction.

Prohibition has permanently scarred our national character as well as our individual psyches. Our national policies and cultural practices have become pervaded by the fascistic, prohibitionist mind-set which has turned our domestic police force into a bunch of paramilitary thugs who often commit extra-judicial beatings and executions while running roughshod over our rights in order to "protect us from ourselves".

When we eventually manage to put the horrors of this toxic moronothon behind us, we'll need to engage in some very deep and honest soul-searching as to what we want to be as a nation. Many of our freedoms have been severely circumscribed or lost altogether, our economy has been trashed and our international reputation for being "free and fair" has been dragged through a putrid sewer by vicious narrow-minded drug warrior zealots who are ignorant of abstract concepts such as truth, justice and decency. We'll need to make sure that such a catastrophe is never ever repeated. This may mean that public hearings or tribunals will be held where those who have been the instigators and cheerleaders of this abomination will have to answer for their serious crimes against our once prosperous and proud nation.

Each day you remain silent, you help to destroy the Constitution, fill the prisons with our children, and empower terrorists and criminals worldwide while wasting hundreds of billions of your own tax dollars. Prohibition bears many strong and startling similarities to Torquemada­'s inquisition­, it's supporters are servants of tyranny and hate. If you're aware of but not enraged by it's shear waste and cruel atrocities then both your heart and soul must surely be dead.

Prohibition engendered black market profits are obscenely huge. Remove this and you remove the ability to bribe or threaten any government official or even whole governments. The argument that legalized regulation won't severely cripple organized crime is truly bizarre. Of course, the bad guys won't just disappear, but if you severely diminish their income, you also severely diminish their power. The proceeds from theft, extortion, pirated goods etc. are a drop in the ocean compared to what can be earned by selling prohibited/unregulated drugs in a black market estimated to be worth 400,000 million dollars. Without the lure and power of so much easy capital, it's also very unlikely that new criminal enterprises will ever fill the void left by those you successfully disrupt or entirely eradicate.

Millions of fearless North Africans have recently shown us that recognizing oppression also carries the weight of responsibility to act upon and oppose that oppression. Prohibition is a vicious anti-constitutional assault on ALL American citizens by a criminally insane and dysfunctional government, which left unchallenged will end with the destruction of the entire nation.

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country… Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”
– Abraham Lincoln, November 12, 1864

 

First let us correct the misquote: in reality as much as 70% of the Mexican Drug Profits are from MARIJUANA.  So any moron could see that by JUST Re-Legalizing Marijuana the Cartels will go bankrupt.

Second, it is premature to give the CFR any rope on this as they have consistently fought to continue with Marijuana Prohibition for decades now.

Third, what they are eluding to is most likely a "tax and regulate" model that nudges us toward Pharmaceutical control of Marijuana (e.g.,, Cannabis).

Dave Borden has yet to admit it but MERP is the only answer to resolve this problem.  MERP merely demands that adults can simply grow their own in their homes and gardens.  It is time to take medicine back into the hands of the people.  The Rx industry should never again be able to restrict us from growing our own medicines.

More on MERP:

Because Marijuana is Safer that Beer . . .
How About We Start Treating It That Way?
MERP Headquarters
The Marijuana Re-Legalization Policy Project (MRPP)= "MERP"
http://www.newagecitizen.com/MERP.htm

I don't believe for a second that 70% of the Mexican cartels profits come from marijuana alone.  Cocaine alone accounts for more than 30% of their profits, and that isn't even including methamphetamine, heroin, investments in legitimate businesses, kidnapping, extortion, and whatever other scams they have going south of the border.  Who the hell knows though, good luck tracking how many people in the US use drugs, how much drugs these people use, and how much of it is coming through Mexico.  Do consider this though, for every 12 kilograms of weed that gets seized by the DEA, about 1 kilogram of cocaine gets seized.  If more than half of that marijuana is coming from the US or Canada and if 90% of our cocaine is coming through Mexico its not that outlandish to assume that maybe the Cartels are making more money off of cocaine than marijuana, especially considering that 1 kilo of pure cocaine is worth more than 10X as much as 1 kilo of shitty Mexican brick weed, its also a lot smaller and easier to conceal.  Who the hell knows though, its all estimates anyway.  Just because weed or cocaine comes from Mexico doesn't mean the cartels had anything to do with it, and I'm sure different cartels make there money in different ways.  Its harder to sell Mexican dirt weed in California than Texas I'm sure for obvious reasons.  Its all speculation, but while legalization of marijuana would seriously hurt there business, it won't cripple them.  It would actually cause even more violence because it would make it that much more competitive.  Until the US legalizes all drugs expect to see a lot of people being murdered on a daily basis in Mexico.

I don't believe for a second that 70% of the Mexican cartels profits come from marijuana alone.  Cocaine alone accounts for more than 30% of their profits, and that isn't even including methamphetamine, heroin, investments in legitimate businesses, kidnapping, extortion, and whatever other scams they have going south of the border.  Who the hell knows though, good luck tracking how many people in the US use drugs, how much drugs these people use, and how much of it is coming through Mexico.  Do consider this though, for every 12 kilograms of weed that gets seized by the DEA, about 1 kilogram of cocaine gets seized.  If more than half of that marijuana is coming from the US or Canada and if 90% of our cocaine is coming through Mexico its not that outlandish to assume that maybe the Cartels are making more money off of cocaine than marijuana, especially considering that 1 kilo of pure cocaine is worth more than 10X as much as 1 kilo of shitty Mexican brick weed, its also a lot smaller and easier to conceal.  Who the hell knows though, its all estimates anyway.  Just because weed or cocaine comes from Mexico doesn't mean the cartels had anything to do with it, and I'm sure different cartels make there money in different ways.  Its harder to sell Mexican dirt weed in California than Texas I'm sure for obvious reasons.  Its all speculation, but while legalization of marijuana would seriously hurt there business, it won't cripple them.  It would actually cause even more violence because it would make it that much more competitive.  Until the US legalizes all drugs expect to see a lot of people being murdered on a daily basis in Mexico.

Marijuana is the safest drug with actual benefits for the user as opposed to alcohol which is dangerous, causes addiction, birth defects, and affects literally every organ in the body.  Groups are organizing all over the country to speak their minds on reforming pot laws.  I drew up a very cool poster for the cause which you can check out on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/01/vote-teapot-2011.html  Drop in and let me know what you think!

They can start with the U.N. summit on drug abuse this weekend in New York city

 The biggest thing in this whole issue and it hasnt been addressed is the fact this all was started with lies! In 1937 a few very greedy and wealthy men from Big Timber/Paper plus Petrochemical and Big Oil all decided that Hemp was going to cause them huge profit loss. They got in touch with one man that could help them in this problem, Mr. Harry Anslinger, he had been in charge of alcohol prohibition but that had ended and so he and his whole department was up in the air what were they going to do or be now that alcohol was legal? These very powerful and greedy men decided it would be in every ones best interests to turn Hemp into enemy number one, but had to do it in a way where the public wouldnt know the real reason they did this, Profits and Job security. So in 1937 Harry Anslinger made up this new drug called Marijuana, Americans at this point had never heard of Marijuana this drug that Mexican workers were using from their homeland, it was part of their culture and caused them no harm. But Harry took this and ran with it, using fear tactics and race to scare the White Americans into believing this was the devil weed that turn people into animals that would kill people. One Quote from Harry was, "Reefer makes darkies think they are as good as the white man" that should show you how they scared the public.

 Now at the time this was happening Henry Ford had just about completed his famous Hemp made and hemp Fuel car, lighter stronger and all made from hemp grown in our fields. And the AMA of the time, American Medical Association, they too came to defend marijuana known to them as cannabis, known to everyone as cannabis, because every single American had some form of medicine made from cannabis in their homes. At the time 28 medicines were made from cannabis and had US patens on them, so the Government was all ok with 28 medicines using cannabis. But in 1937, with tons of Race based lies and made up fears, they were able to push through a new law called the Marijuana Tax act of 1937, banning marijuana and also secretly banning Hemp and cannabis behind the curtain of keeping Americans safe from this drug Marijuana. So Harry Anslinger opened the door for him to become the first Drug Czar, keeping all the federal police used in prohibition and now they all had jobs fighting marijuana. Big Timber and Paper plus others had what they wanted, End of Hemp and now they could cut trees and make oil and oil based chemicals and all with huge profits without any competition, Henry Ford was pushed to be silenced and he converted back to Oil based fuels and plastics over the bio safe Hemp. Our medical community had to replace century old drugs made with cannabis with man made drugs that were much more harmful than the cannabis ones, but they too realized how much profits were gained by doing so and grew to love this new law too. Harry had a very long carrier and grew marijuana prohibition to levels far beyond alcohol prohibition ever was. He continued to make up lies through this whole time and made fear of this plant a top priority for every parent.

 Now in 1972 Nixon had a commission to look a the harms of marijuana and when the report came back he didnt like what it said and threw it in the trash. Nixon the next day announced the new Drug War. His main focus was the War protesters knowing they smoked marijuana, so the main goal was to stop marijuana based again on lies. Even though he had a report saying marijuana wasnt harmful and should be decriminalized, he hated it and the people that used it, he did what he wanted anyhow. With that we have seen arrests grow to today highs of 800,000 marijuana arrests every year, 90% for minor amounts too. The truth is out but the government and many others dont want to change this law, too much money flows around this issue, money on both sides, on the dealer/producer side profits are used to fund even harder drugs and or worse crimes, murder and modern slavery and the government side too may cops and prisons and prison guards rely on the drug war to keep their jobs.

 The money that surrounds this issue is only there because of the Drug War but a plant that can grow anywhere in the USA, in every garden, wouldnt ever cost what it does today, its only because its illegal. So many more companies are profiting from marijuana being illegal, everything from petrochemicals to Oil to fuel, from cloths, rope and paper, and even building supplies and the way we build our homes, to the new green energy and now Big Pharma, once profited from cannabis medicines now fight to keep it illegal. So many things could be done with Hemp, like homes made of Hemp that dont need heating or cooling and they absorb greenhouse gasses too. All this is nothing compared to the harm we are causing our country by still enforcing these failed policies. Let alone all the money we spend to police this issue, billions and billions have been spent in fact over a Trillion has been spent overall fighting this Drug War, thats our budget problems people. The worst of all, is the people that are sick or dying that could benefit from cannabis and it makes me wonder had we still had all these medicines that they had in 1937 if we would see so many die from cancer and would we be healthier today if we had it? It will really make me mad if we find out that cancer rates have increased over the last 74yrs because our lack of cannabis in our systems, humans have been using these plants for 10,000+yrs, and to stop for the last 74 could be the reason so many or sick today. 

With all this information and all the lies that have been told to the citizens of this nation I dont understand why or how we are still funding this failed policies. If the drug war was going to work wouldnt it have been over by now, but use is up, the price is cheaper, the quality is better and the amounts are higher, all this points to a failed policy! We now have criminals in control of this huge market and they profit from it to the point of funding their own armies in Mexico. Drug Cartels are the same as the Prohibition gangsters, just in a different time with much higher profits and much more violent crimes. The issue I see now is when will this end, its falling as we speak people are seeing the truth and are demanding an end to all of this. But we still have a lot of big companies that want it to stay the same, and we will have to start addressing them too    . Capitalism is the key, we spout about competition in our economy and Hemp and cannabis gives us the competition, to deny it is just going against our capitalist economy. If we had a choice of a Hemp car or oil/gas car, what would you choose and thats the problem Hemp can and will destroy these big companies and they know it. But Im all for destroying our need for oil and our need for plastics that dont break down, these would be good things, but not to those making money from them. Its always been  about profits and it still is today. 

 Shouldnt science and and facts be the base for our laws, not lies? Yes cannabis after legal for 20yrs will be easy to grow for everyone and the profits will be gone, Hemp too when we re open all our farms and start producing tons and tons of Hemp Fibers then we will start down the path of self fueling self powering and all clean and green, just what we need it to be. The only question is when? When will we end this mess and when will we have truth coming from our government about this issue( Drug Czar's job description says he has to lie to stop any efforts to legalize, he HAS to LIE, WTF) ? When will we as citizens demand they put a stop to all of this? Marijuana/Cannabis will be legal again, its going to happen, but why do we have to live even one more day like we have for 74yrs arresting people and destroying their lives over a plant? All this is based on lies, yet here we are 2011 and we still have to tell people the truth and they still think we are the ones lying about this harmless plant, hardly a drug by definition more like a herb but none the less made enemy number one for far too long and we have to demand they change it and now.

 Some day history will show how stupid this Drug War was, how far back it pout us and how it alone destroyed how we police and treat our citizens, how it alone took more rights away from citizens than any policy for hundreds of years. History also will name names, and all these high profile people that are still spreading the lies and misinformation that in turn scare the public into believing them, they too will be in our history books, as the bad guys and to me any War has War criminals too, those folks would be just that War Criminals! So are we going to change history today, next week, next year? Well when it happens I sure would hope we all step back and remember how we got to this point and make sure it doesnt happen again. Profits are whats keeping marijuana illegal, corruption is what made it illegal and truth will make it legal again, so keep telling the truth and getting the facts out, because we are just now at the tipping point where the majority are starting to agree that we should end these failed policies and legalize this plant for everyone to use.

Washington and the founding fathers wouldnt even believe you if you went back and told them to add a part in the constitution about keeping cannabis legal no matter what, they would make fun of you and think your nutz that this country founded on Hemp, made rich on Hemp and even could pay your taxes with it that in a few centuries would make it illegal, they wouldnt believe you, never! How far we have come, they wouldnt have ever thought we would stop growing the one plant that made this country, Hemp and cannabis!  Wake up people, the truth is out there you have to want it though and once you have it pass it along to more people, we can and will change these laws but its going to take all of us standing as one demanding our freedoms and rights back. Heck just tell the truth! 

Is the CFR the kiss of death for drug reform?  OK, I'm being a little tongue in cheek there, but it seems like ~40 yrs. ago positions like this seemed reasonable for "establishment" organiz'ns like the CFR, but in between it fell into the province of the anti-establishment, to whom the CFR would be anathema.  Seems like it doesn't say much to say we're back to the way it looked 40 YA, but in that way, it does.  And we're not exactly in the same place because there's been some substantive progress as well in the interim.