If "No one goes to jail for marijuana," why keep it illegal?
There are so many stupid arguments against reforming marijuana laws that one could be driven to madness attempting to enumerate them, but there's certainly a place on the list for the claim that decriminalization is pointless because nobody gets punished for pot anyway:
Deputy House Republican Leader Themis Klarides of Derby doesn’t like the idea either. She argues that very few people are actually sent to prison in Connecticut for having less than an ounce of pot. “There are 10 different programs they can enter right now to help them stay out of jail,” she says. [Hartford Advocate]
Well, that's a start, but if you've got 10 different programs to keep marijuana users out of jail, maybe it's time to consider not arresting them in the first place. Everyone, apparently including you, seems to agree that locking these people up is just insane, so what purpose is served by a maintaining a penalty that no one wants to see enforced?
The whole concept of opposing simple decriminalization of marijuana is so devoid of rationality that virtually anyone who seeks to defend that position will be found arguing the following:
1. We must continue punishing people for marijuana, otherwise the kids will think it's ok and life as we know it will descend into a smoldering abyss.
2. We haven't actually been punishing people that much for marijuana.
Variations on these two equally preposterous and irreconcilable propositions largely encapsulate the case against decriminalizing marijuana, and you can't help but marvel at the straight-faced spokespeople who remain committed to rejecting incoherently even the most basic possible reform to our marijuana laws.
Article of Faith
There you have it! Does one need to go any further to realise that the so-called War on Drugs (WoD) is nothing but an ideological, doctrinarian and fanatical school of thought when it comes to understanding and solving the drug problem? Like all religions, prohibition offers solace only to those who value superstition over knowledge, fear over understanding and faith over rationality.
As far as I know, there has never been scientific proof that even a single soul has ever been sent to hell, or heaven for that matter, because of their sins, or lack thereof. And yet, religious believers will blindingly threat you with eternal condemnation if you transgress their madder-than-a-hatter ‘holy’, or rather, hollow books. Never mind all the evidence available pointing to the contrary. Holy sh**!
Gart Valenc
http://www.stopthewarondrugs.org
Ending prohibition
There are many compelling reasons for ending prohibition -- for all drugs, not just marijuana. But there's only ONE reason to continue it, and that is to protect the careers of those who make their livings destroying other people's lives. Because they can.
Rita's Comment
Completely agree. But unfortunately there is no appreciation of the fact that 10-20% of the population do not abuse drugs. They *use* drugs. The reasons for use are multifold, and all relate to the exquisite sensitivity of the nervous system to infectious, immunological, insult; also genetical developmental variables. All of this, in broad brush, *is already* appreciated; and in time will be understood at a more fine grained level.
Vested interests, the inherently inability of society to accept and adopt new paradigms, and insights are the source of culpability.
The following quote is helpful
'Although seldom commented on, it is equally bewildering that the world order of science is able to live comfortably for years, and sometimes centuries, with beliefs that a new generation discovers to be false. How is it possible that we are able to build higher and higher on the foundations of such beliefs without fear of their sudden collapse? In addition, there is the paradox that the emotional investment of some scientists is such that they remain convinced of the truth of a theory long after it has been proved to be false. As E. G. Boring (1964) emphasized, in paraphrasing a comment of Max Plank: “Important theories, marked for death by the discovery of contradictory evidence, seldom die before their authors.”' Imbedded citation by E. G. BoringThat is why more states
That is why more states should decriminalize it if like 40 states are just giving fines for it then maybe the feds will just be like well since were not arresting users lets just make it legal so to destroy the black market. If the private prisons aren't getting people locked in jail for drugs then that is one less special interest wanting to keep it illegal too.
I like being stoned =D.. as a
I like being stoned =D.. as a person at the top end of the intelligence Bell curve I am daily frustrated by the mental slowness exhibited around me.. slowing myself down to their level makes it more palatable to me. Being a medical cannabis patient has made my life much more comfortable and bearable. Legislating this medicine(cannabis) when I was allowed to be prescribed another(Lyrica) that took away the photographic part of my memory- no law about that, just an oops we're sorry.. (NOT)... how I treat my medical conditions are my business not the gov't's... if they were truly interested in regulating things for health and safety and not economics then maybe their arguments might hold a little water, but it has always been about the dollars.
I COMPLETELY agree
I am an experimentalist my nature and as well am in a higher tier of intelligence than the "average" person...I dont mean this to be insulting but more of a reason why I can't understand why we write news articles at an 8th grade lever for the general population...I personally like smoking pot to dull the ignorance spewing around me in all directions. I also like to experiment with lots of stuff but that really doesn't make me an idiot by any means, just someone striving for a greater amount of mental stimul....mental masterbation...if you will...
"10 different programs they can enter right now..."
And I bet every one of the 10 programs could be eliminated if marijuana were legalized in Connecticut.
The drug war is fraud, pure and simple.
Giordano
It's about time we faced facts
It's true, if a law is barely enforced, then there's little point having it. In Australia it has gotten to the point where being caught with marijuana gets you an on the spot fine, much like a parking ticket.
dred scott case
Economics
15 separate businesses can exist in both Vancouver and Amsterdam that cannot exist in the states why? 15 separate business supporting employess, paying taxes, supporting plumbers, electritions ,machine makers, inspectors and carpenters and yet they take a taxpaying business like cheech and chong and turn it into a liability for the state and the tax payer. Why? They do this not for science not for logic but claim to have some moral justification, the moral they promote is the moral of the Talibomb, the moral they promote is a crime, consisting of violence, crime, cheating and stealing, and lying a moral that is in direct violation of Jesus Christ the Christian bible, freedom, and peace. A crime against the American declaration of independence that feeds their prison empire and breeds corruption as it creates a repressive regime that destroys our property values our economy and guts our cities. These 15 business are just the tip of the iceberg from * “fuel, cement, clothing and materials, plastics, food and pharmaceuticals” the manufacturing and production process would dwarf these small retail establishments that could peacefully exist in every major city and yet we have to pay the Arabs 5.00 per gallon and live in poverty for their morality that they can’t back with science logic or religion. Who is behind this probation against Gods nature? The talibomb, the pharmaceutical international corporations the medical monopoly, or their raciest bounty hunters and when will the Christian not be forced to condemn the Christian bible, when will the modern day Dred Scott get free from these adrenaline junkies who control the crave and **“subvert the true science of weed” as they work to deny us the power granted in the first page of the Christian bible all in the name of their morality which is as immoral as you could be. A civilized society is based on liberty and tolerance and prosperity comes with peace; until we bring these cowards out of hiding and expose the truth that they just don’t steal cars from the handicap or attack scoliosis patients, but control the crave and are carrying out a genocide, or else the talibomb will continue to flourish or just say no to big pharm. And read more in the book About Christians and [email protected]
Why keep it illegal?
<a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/07/clinton-legalize-drugs-too-much-money/">Why can’t the US legalize drugs?</A>
There’s ‘too much money in it,’ Clinton says
Thousands of U.S. agents x $60/hr…
and local police officers
<a href="http://www.yahooka.com/forum/cannabis-activism/139023-400-agents-x-60-hr.html">DEA to raid Humboldt County… 400 agents x $60/hr…</A>
Median Hourly Rate by Years/Experience
1-4 years $44.38
5-9 years $44.21
10-19 years $55.00
20 years or more $73.00
Q: What is the starting salary and grade for Special Agents?
A: DEA Special Agents are generally hired at the GS-7 or GS-9 level, depending on education and experience. The salary includes federal Law Enforcement Officer base pay plus a locality payment, depending on your duty station. Upon successful graduation from the DEA Training Academy 25% Availability Pay will be added to your base and locality pay. After graduation, the starting salaries are approximately $49,746 for a GS-7, and $55,483 for a GS-9. After four years of service Special Agents are eligible to progress to the GS-13 level and can earn approximately $92,592 or more per year.”
The Administration of Contracts and Agreements
for Linguistic Services by the Drug Enforcement Administration
As a result, we questioned $518,91212 (13 percent) of the $4.1 million paid
How much do DEA agents get paid their salary?
DEA Special Agents can expect to earn between $36,870 and $75,025.
Employees 10,784 (2009)
Annual budget US$2.415 billion (2010)
Cost of the DEA
In 2008 according to the DEA http://www.justice.gov DEA budget was $2.4 billion. The daily budget for this was $6,575,340. After 3 years during Operation Funk 49 (2004-2007)they arrested 59 people, came up with 2 pound of heroine, 1,246 pounds of cocaine, 640 pounds of meth, and (more than likely more than) $9.1 million in cash. Assuming that the budget from 2003-2007 was $1.9 billion, the total over the three year investigation cost the taxpayers roughly $5.7 billion. That’s not including other activities by the DEA, as Operation Funk 49 was the “Feather in their cap”.
The estimated cost to incarcerate these individuals is roughly $30,000 per year.
<a href="http://www.drugsense.org/cms/wodclock">Money Spent on the War On Drugs so far this Year</A>
$6,476.000,000.00 state and federal
<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/">I was wondering?</A>
<a href="http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1175/Why-They-Call-it-DOPE">Why Do You Think They Call it DOPE?</A>
* Cannabis Hemp: The Invisible Prohibition Revealed
* The Elkhorn Manifesto
* Marijuana and Hemp: The Untold Story
* The Nation of Apathetic Puppets By John Pilger
* Maintaining Dysfunction
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/ntg5wy">Al Capone</A> and <a href="http://tinyurl.com/WhyHempsIllegal">Watergate</A> were red herrings to divert the countries attention from the Fascist acts of eliminating competition. Booze/Ethanol or <a href="http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1092">Ganja//Hemp.</A>
<a href="http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1530">Pro Life? Not even anti abortionists</A>
Wall street's Spontaneous Abortionists
Toxic Drift: Monsanto, WoD & Colombia
The timing and types of pesticide exposures are critical determinants of reproductive outcomes, according to a recently published study by Canadian researchers. The study examined pesticide exposures based on recall by farm families and reported histories of spontaneous abortions among women living on the farms.
Cotton is the most toxic crop on the planet
Switching cotton fields to hemp fields would improve: the quality of our soil, the durability of our clothes, the safety of our ground source water, the quality of our air, and the preservation of forests cut for paper (not to mention saving hundreds of thousands of lives prematurely ended by disease caused by pollution)
<a href="http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/373">The Colombian drug reform organization.</A> Mama Coca is asking people everywhere to sign their online petition to end US-sponsored Arial fumigation of drug crops in their country that has murdered children, deformed fetuses, poisoned and killed livestock, destroyed food crops, and ravaged the environment.
<a href="http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1347152&site_id=1#import">High on Hemp</A>
<a href="http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/662">Chemical Cotton vs Organic Hemp</A>
The Nation of Apathetic Puppets By John Pilger
Long before the Soviet Union broke up, a group of Russian writers touring the United States were astonished to find, after reading the newspapers and watching television, that almost all the opinions on all the vital issues were the same. "In our country," said one of them, "to get that result we have a dictatorship. We imprison people. We tear out their fingernails. Here you have none of that. How do you do it? What's the secret?"
The secret is a form of censorship more insidious than a totalitarian state could ever hope to achieve. The myth is the opposite. Constitutional freedoms unmatched anywhere else guard against censorship; the press is a "fourth estate", a watchdog on democracy. The journalism schools boast this reputation, the influential East Coast press is especially proud of it, epitomised by the liberal paper of record, the New York Times, with its masthead slogan: "All the news that's fit to print." <a href="http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1163/The-Nation-of-Apathetic-Puppets">continued...</A>
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Philipino's and Entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."
~ Harry Anslinger, Commissioner of Narcotics
testifying to Congress on why marijuana should be made illegal, 1937.
(Marijuana Tax Act, signed August 2 1937; effective Oct.1, 1937)
The Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp <a href="http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/grass.html">(CRRH)</A> goal is to educate people about the medicinal and industrial uses for cannabis in our global society in order to restore hemp cultivation and end adult cannabis prohibition.
<a href="http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/grass.html">crrh: "GRASS" the movie</A>
<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ca7/ddc/">I was wondering?</A>
<a href="http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1175/Why-They-Call-it-DOPE">Why Do You Think They Call it DOPE?</A>
* Cannabis Hemp: The Invisible Prohibition Revealed
* The Elkhorn Manifesto
* Marijuana and Hemp: The Untold Story
* The Nation of Apathetic Puppets By John Pilger
* Maintaining Dysfunction
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/ntg5wy">Al Capone</A> and <a href="http://tinyurl.com/WhyHempsIllegal">Watergate</A> were red herrings to divert the countries attention from the Fascist acts of eliminating competition. Booze/Ethanol or <a href="http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1092">Ganja//Hemp.</A>
Can't Happen Here?
<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/as-egypt-goes-offline-us-gets-internet-kill-switch-bill-ready-20110131-1aah3.html">As Egypt goes offline US gets internet 'kill switch' bill ready</A>
January 31, 2011
Legislation granting the president internet-killing powers is to be re-introduced soon to a Senate committee, the proposal’s chief sponsor told Wired.com
"Medicines often produce side effects.
Sometimes they are physically unpleasant.
Cannabis too has discomforting side effects,
but these are not physical they are political"
The Economist March 28th 1992
One Trillion Spent is One Trillion Earned + Tax
<I><B>The Nation of Apathetic Puppets</B> By John Pilger
Long before the Soviet Union broke up, a group of Russian writers touring the United States were astonished to find, after reading the newspapers and watching television, that almost all the opinions on all the vital issues were the same. "In our country," said one of them, "to get that result we have a dictatorship. We imprison people. We tear out their fingernails. Here you have none of that. How do you do it? What's the secret?"
The secret is a form of censorship more insidious than a totalitarian state could ever hope to achieve. The myth is the opposite. Constitutional freedoms unmatched anywhere else guard against censorship; the press is a "fourth estate", a watchdog on democracy. The journalism schools boast this reputation, the influential East Coast press is especially proud of it, epitomised by the liberal paper of record, the New York Times, with its masthead slogan: "All the news that's fit to print." <a href="http://endingcannabisprohibition.yuku.com/topic/1163/The-Nation-of-Apathetic-Puppets">continued...</A></I>
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Philipino's and Entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."
<I>~ Harry Anslinger, Commissioner of Narcotics testifying to Congress on why marijuana should be made illegal, 1937.
(Marijuana Tax Act, signed August 2 1937; effective Oct.1, 1937)</I>
The Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp <a href="http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/grass.html">(CRRH)</A> goal is to educate people about the medicinal and industrial uses for cannabis in our global society in order to restore hemp cultivation and end adult cannabis prohibition.
<a href="http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/grass.html">crrh: "GRASS" the movie</A>
Can't Happen Here?
<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/as-egypt-goes-offline-us-gets-internet-kill-switch-bill-ready-20110131-1aah3.html">As Egypt goes offline US gets internet 'kill switch' bill ready</A>
<B>January 31, 2011</B>
Legislation granting the president internet-killing powers is to be re-introduced soon to a Senate committee, the proposal’s chief sponsor told Wired.com
"Medicines often produce side effects.
Sometimes they are physically unpleasant.
Cannabis too has discomforting side effects,
but these are not physical they are political"
<B>The Economist March 28th 1992</B></I>
<B>Happy Toking: Poll Shows Strong Majorities for Drug Reform</B>
A new poll from The Economist shows a huge majority of Americans support the legalization and taxation of marijuana. <a href="http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2011/02/22/Happy-Toking-Poll-Shows-Strong-Majorities-Drug-Reform">full story</A>
MM Prison Terms Pay More Taxes Than Burger King Jobs
I wonder often how many people fade away into their TV news for information. Not to engage in controversial issues because of the job, family, relatives, neighbors, teachers, or self esteem. Doing evil things in the name of good isn't a modern phenomenon. Selling products doesn't mean the gospel truth. The gospel truth doesn't mean the gospel truth. Checks and Balances and properly regulated rules governing what harms people. Without money influencing any government operation. Is the fair way to live together as a society. I don't see why capitalism can't work without special favors to the top 2%. Many tax sheltered in Cayman Islands or Calvina Fay Prohibition Inc. shelters. Competition kept off the market. More profit in traffic jams and from drunk drivers. Treating problems is the status weird.
Prevention and cures have become anti Wall St. Band Aids are being sold even if we have to pave the paths with broken glass and make wearing shoes illegal. The Koch Bros. can trickle down those tax refunds into jobs. Thanks to NAFTA/GATT they will be in India or Thailand in time for their druggie round up and mass murder. Haliburton Cheney in Iraq or Dyncorp and Private Prisons collecting on the drug war. WoD = cheap labor and profits, but only if it perpetuates. Not winning or losing. Keep them druggies movin" raw H. The Ganjawar is a product Madison Ave. helps sell with lame fried egg commercials. Lame except for the hundreds of millions they get from tax dollars to make them.
The reason "not many" get arrested is simple logic. Fabricated one sided just us against a stacked deck. 95% please barter out of a jury of their peers for one reason. Not their guilt for breaking an unjust legal lie. The risk of a jury trial has hoops to jump through. 404 gag rules means even if you have the blessing of your community and town counsel a political sheriff can bust you. The jury can't hear anything about medicinal use. Meaning you sell dope. If a doctor prescribes the RxGanja to a minor. Even if it is the only relief. It al;l falls on the DA portraying you as a drug thug selling dope to kids for profit. Amount means time and the NRA paid Mandatory Minimums to rid guns from criminals naturally is great for sending cannabis growers away for 5 or 10 years. Some crude oil states gave you 90 years or hanging in Texas. But I think thats just a custom and the actual crime part isn't mandated.
See who profits and low and behold, the same ones protesting any reform of their profit margin. Rehabs and pisstasters making a profit on the misery of an American. Terrorized more than Al Qaeda ever did. Prisons and Police advocating more prisons and more bigger guns. Tanks for swat. Military cops on the streets protecting us from stoners. Why do they care for the health of druggies more than the kids needing schools and their parents living wages. Must be a special bunch to worry so much. Putting their own children in harms way just to bury their heads and keep rehabilitating by court order. Pretty obvious you don't need a weatherman to see which way the winds blowing. So that means they know it too. Naive is no excuse. The myth's are all busted its time to start trusting our own lying eyes. Not Kashkowski now trying to intimidate Seattle for coming out of the fog.
Its the money. Its real live Fascism, same as the Romans, same as the Italians and Germans. The only difference is we hide the violence behind stigmatism, better. Right in the open. Plus with all this public broadcasting... censorship. The well informed stay ignorant. Just like it was planned. To keep a portion ignorant. Denying tuition assistance. Minimum wage jobs pay less tax than prison. Selling flip flops or steel bars is a paycheck. Nothing political.
So the red flags like millions protesting the Iraq war before it started. Through out the states and world thousands of people were wall to wall on the streets protesting and not one of the alphabet channels or cable aired it. Embedded "reporters" like a cheap John Wayne flick but no opposition. No Congressional inquiry except a small handful of senators. Duped Dopes buying fear to justify escaping into a legal bottle or pill. This WoD is a crock. It is part of a larger crock. Unless we remove the money from the court and justice systems we are fighting on a treadmill. Every 7th blue moon the drug worriers will drag out another anti drug commandment and recite it on Fox or CNN or NBC. Doesn't matter if its gutter science or even ridiculous. Its a new batch of fresh gullibles ready to fight the evil doers hearing it. Can't sell many Sikorsky choppers to Peaceniks.
<a href="http://www.electricemperor.com/eecdrom/HTML/EINDEX.HTM#table">electricemperor.com (contents)</A>
Just Re-Legalize It.
The bigger problem is within our own ranks including Stop the Drug War we have moneyed groups that won't support the obvious solution: just letting adults grow their own. MERP is one way that this could end: for good.
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
Let us make history not just headlines
Debates against legalizing "medical" marijuana has been on going, and day by day government and opposition side improves their point. Which makes it vague than specific, these citations and legal points covers the TRUTH that lies beneath the word Marijuana.
Several questions will be remain unanswered regardless of wins the ongoing battle, such as "What thus legalizing marijuana prepare for our youth in the future?" , "Will it aggravate and mitigate?" and "Thus uplifting economy justifies youth confusion?". Pending questions which cannot be answered even by the current situation and might get buried deep down if table turns on the other side.
I speak for those who cannot talk yet, those who cannot walk yet and for those confuse minds. I guess we need to focus more on how thus these intellectual ideas would benefit the young one's that would continue building what we are trying to establish now. Economy, Medical breakthrough and International credit are just small points that could lift us for now. But those "audience on the sideline", those kids will tell the story of how brilliant we were. So let's make their story worth listening.
Why is the DEA keeping marijuana on the highest list?
If the DEA say that marijuana is good now then why is it still on the highest list of narcotics? Marijuana is on the Schedule 1 list next to Cocaine. Whats up with that? There are more uses for cannabis then any other drug out there and there is hardly any side effects. Why DEA? Why? Move it to a lower list and get people out of the jail system to make room for the ones who really need to be there!!!!
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