Nancy Pelosi is just a kindly motherly front for the status quo in America. She, like Obama, dispenses sweet ambiguous platitudes to keep reformers confused and beguiled and then she goes back to the tobacco smoke filled back rooms of the white right wing leadership of the Party for her marching orders.

Get this through your heads, the war on drugs is a war on American democracy. It's purpose is to keep Pelosi's masters in undemocratic control of America and in that it is an absolute success.

Drug policy reform will not happen with drug policy reformers begging at the doors of power. You can see this with the dichotomy between the overwhelming popular support for marijuana reform and the repeatedly more aggressive and draconian actions of the congress.

Hell, medical pot won 68% of the popular vote in Washington, D.C. in 1998 with the Democratic leadership fighting it tooth and nail. Ten years later and NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!!!

Mass public protests specifically for drug policy reform is the only thing that will get the white Reich-wingers, who control the leadership of both of the dominance parties and who directly benefit from this subversion of American democracy, to consider reform.

Personally, I despair of the idea that drug policy reform can happen by democratic means when it's core purpose is the subversion of that democracy. Those benefiting from the subversion of our democracy are the same people we have to enlist to end the subversion. Hence, it is not possible to fix the drug laws and restore American democracy through democratic means. Simply not possible.

With 75-80% of the people nationwide in favor of Medical Marijuana, how much more support does she want??? What are we suppose to do wait until two thirds of the states legalize Medical Marijuana in America where it then becomes the law of the land without an act of congress?

I posted the following on my blog:

Our public servants ignore medical marijuana, because they’ve been generally telling society (for about seven decades) how evil marijuana use is. If they do a 180 degree turn, legally acknowledging that patients can use marijuana safely, their big ‘use and abuse are equal’ lie is exposed revealing the utter defiance of the American foundation, the injustice of the millions of ruined lives, and the wasted billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Drug prohibition involves ample ill-gotten power and money, all sustained by the “success” of this one big lie, so it makes perfect sense that politicians oppose marijuana in any context.

Mr. Morgan links to a list of polls, and though I dismiss poll results since they’re easy to manipulate, some of the groups conducting them are constantly relied upon by the media to express Americans’ opinion on any given issue. If roughly 70% of Americans support doctor-prescribed medical marijuana in polls conducted from 1997 to 2004 nationally, why is the resulting public servant ignorance not newsworthy in the mainstream channel?

Public relations experts could argue that the medical marijuana story isn’t being well-presented to the media, identifying the sharp news angles that journalists crave.

If I had the resources to conduct a perpetual campaign to reach the public majority, my focal point would be the following request:

“Please provide ‘We the people’ irrefutable evidence proving an instance of marijuana use is harmful at all.”

The statement isn’t flashy, but it is a single, polite sentence designed to quickly and completely discredit marijuana prohibitionists, pulling out the rug from underneath them.

I’m confident that marijuana prohibitionists can’t provide anything even close to that evidence (if they did, it would be prominently displayed), relying at best on questionable studies suggesting that heavy marijuana use may or can be harmful.

The measured flash surrounding that request would exist in the form of a mainstream style of continuous presentation, one that is simple, rational, clean, and patriotic. The presentation would be omni-partisan, easily embraceable by the status quo.

Since the mainstream would likely ignore it at first, I would use the Internet to build a strong support base, nationally and continuously spreading our polite and humble request and the dodging of it, especially targeting prohibitionist strongholds. I would find ways to make the whole unique effort into a newsworthy story, continuously working public relations techniques to gain access to the mainstream channel.

If a prohibitionist challenges us, any spokesperson can simply wield our one polite request and repeatedly point out the effort to dodge it. If they can’t honor the request, it proves marijuana use does not defy another’s Rights, and therefore can’t be justly banned in the U.S.

It is a righteous and precise metaphorical dagger to the drug prohibitionist throat in literal defense of our individual Rights expressed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Will it work? If only I had the time, energy, and money to find out, but that won’t stop me from working with what I’ve got.

The term "devilweed" came out of the Reefer Madness era
and has never gone away and when you think about it,
that it is BLASPHEMY of the highest order to call
an herb created by God and declared to be perfect
and for the service of humankind-
to attach the designation of DEVIL to that botanical wonder?!
Why,
these blasphemers would be stoned (literally) for their accusation
if Biblical Justice were applied to their wretched words.
I can not find it anywhere in the bible I use, that Satan the DEVIL
had anything to do with the holy creations of God.
I just can't.
These Prohibitionist Blasphemers are saying that the Devil
was a "co-creator" with God, then?
Yes, they are.
Another word come to mind: 'sacrilege'.
The denigration of this creation of God, cannabis, is over the top -
just unbelievably ignorant - and to prohibit its use in what
is claimed to be a democracy with all the ‘freedom of’ laws…
and to actually put a fellow man or woman who chooses
to use this plant in a cage like a wild and dangerous animal-
it makes you think just WHO are the ones
engaging in criminal behavior…
which reminds me of a parable Jesus once told:
"The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares"
and there you have, if you understand the symbology,
the Devil, as an Arch-Contaminater, to slither in, in the dead of night
and sow his seeds of weeds (tares) to spoil the farmer's
freshly sown field of wheat
and
reading the rest of the parable, it is easy to understand
that the Devil's Weeds are phony Christians.
Yes, the REAL Devilweed is a counterfeit Christian.
These blasphemous prohibitionists - the majority claiming Christianity -
are in actuality, after everything is unmasked, the DevilWeeds,
COUNTERFEIT-TO-THE-CORE!

When democracy operates via representatives, there can be lots of positions that are very popular yet produce no results. Who is ever going to lose an election on the basis of opposition to med mj -- other than Bob Barr, whose defeat was pyrrhic? Who is ever going to win an election on the basis of support of med mj? Would you vote for a candidate who was "wrong" on everything else but "right" on med mj? Or "wrong" on even most things but "right" on med mj?

The only way you'll get med mj is if it's worth a lot to somebody -- more than any individual's health. Like GW Pharmaceuticals. They'll make sure their med mj makes it to market. The interest of med mj patients is too diffuse to work that way.

Besides Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich and Bob Barr, Obama is the only presidential candidate to publicly announce that the drug war has failed. Now what that statement means in relation to his drug policy is hard to tell. Obama's recent shift to the center could indicate he suffers from the fear of the soft on crime syndrome that have lead so many Democrats to bad decisions and legislation concerning the drug war.

President Clinton put a General in charge as Drug Czar to appease his conservative critics. Who Obama would pick as Drug Czar should say a lot about his approach to drug policy and to what degree the soft on crime syndrome affects his decision making. With Pelosi and Obama in office, I feel some what confident that a federal Medical Marijuana Bill could be passed into law during Obama's first term.

The fact that a Medical Marijuna question was asked of the Speaker of the House on national TV is encouraging. But those questions were from regular people. Only if McCain and Obama make themselves available to venues where questions can be asked by the general public, they won't have to state their positions on the drug war. I suspect the national media will totally ignore the issue of drug policy for the rest of the campaign. Kudos to Pelosi for appearing on such a free forum. I hear that Bill O'Reilly is putting together a 25 part series on Obama. One of the segments will address the issue of crime, which should shed some light on Obama's position on the drug war. The series will air beginning September 8th.

What if we publicized EVERY politician-fool, politician-coward or politician-crook who oppose medical marijuana?

How about a website tracking & publicizing our lawmakers' stances (all relevant comments, all relevant votes, THEIR COMPLICITY IN A WAR AGAINST THEIR PEOPLE, their knowledge or lack of knowledge of medical cannabis, REGULARLY INTERVIEW LAWMAKERS, etc...).

Expose them all like Bob Barr and make them regret their ignorant or cruel statements about medical marijuana. People are beginning to pick up on the science & history of this amazing plant, but it seems only a handful of Republican lawmakers read more than the Sports Section (or they know the truth and try to obscure the truth). Force them to "catch up," by highlighting & publicizing their ignorance.

Have a "Dunce and Liar of the Week" to publicize the foolish, the dunces and the LIARS. At this point, our lawmakers can get away with incredibly ignorant and cruel stances, or can get away with being complicit in a very real war against people and medicine.

Make them regret their lies and inaction by telling the whole world about the ignorance and their blackness.

Compare their stances to Science and History and make them stop lying by PUBLICIZING THEIR LIES & IGNORANCE!! Right now, fools like McCain say anything they want, regardless of whether there is any scientific validity.

THE LIES WILL STOP WHEN THE LIARS' LIES ARE PUBLICIZED, AND THEIR LIES and/or COMPLICITY BECOME A POLITICAL LIABILITY!! (look how Bob Barr reacted to the onslaught).

I think most evolved polititions see the value in marijuana. Especially from a medical standpoint, most people want to be compassionate. Hard line drug-user criminal laws are starting to seem draconian. And Pelosi is making the step toward compassion and value in consuming cannabis, like Obama and others.

But the Federal Government's acceptance (read: truth) on the matter of legalized or even decriminalized marijuana, would open a huge can of worms; and our leaders are not prepared for the fall-out. How can the government now say it's okay, when for years they have been saying it's a deadly menace? What about all the investments in drug war industry, like prisons, law enforcement, courts, testing labs? How will the government say it's sorry to all the non-violent marijuana smokers that were victims by the drug war? Who would be set free from prison, rehabilitation? I think polititions are not afraid about making a harmless plant legal. Pot would be legal today if it was not for the investment in prohibition, and the larger Drug War industrial complex.

I think the way out is a human issue. Eventually, the government will see this as a crime against human beings, much like race, sex or religion. The day dawns when drug users are proven to be persecuted by drug war investment, with issues like slavery and non-religious freedom.

The whole thing about the opposition to medical marijuana reeks of big $$

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2008/08/agrilcultural-polit...

It is all about criminal mercantilism, protecting big pharm and big tobacco.

http://freedomofmedicineanddiet.blogspot.com/2008/08/1900s-big-medical-p...

If reform is proceeding at a snails pace with the Democrats, then perhaps we need to create competition on the issue by getting more Republican support. Liberals hate to be outdone.