prohibition

[Happy]

I would like to see a discussion about the prohibition of Marijuana, including HEMP. Most people don't realize why it is illegal, or when it became illegal. For most of history, it was the #1 crop in the world. It has more uses than any other plant, It also can be used for many things from food to explosives. We are spending to much money on this.

[I know]

I seen a documentary on it on the history channel and it is kind of ridiculous why marijuana is illegal. If you search on youtube, I'm sure you can find the documentary that I watched on it. The one about coke is really interesting. People used to put it in everything, for example, it used to be used to help with toothaches.

[tasker109]

remember the movie tombstone where wyatt earps wife was addicted to laudinum? they used to use it for beauty purposes. it made the eyes dialate. unfortunately, then they became druggies...LOL

[I know]

No, but I do remember that old movie from the 20's. I think it was from the 20's but I could be mistaken. The name of the movie is called Reefer Madness. You can probably find that somewhere for free on the internet or you can watch it through xbox live like I did. People used to think you went insane if you smoked pot. People also believed that people gained superhuman strength from smoking pot. I'm sure there is a way the government can make some cash off marijuana. I believe it should be legal. You can't overdose on pot, but you can get alcohol poisoning from drinking to much. I'm sure most would agree that alcohol is most dangerous than pot, and if alcohol is legal to drink then I believe we should be able to smoke marijuana. It's not like I'm going to smoke a bowl and then go pick a fight or drive my vehicle like a jackass. No, I'm going to sit down on the couch and study or watch tv.

[tasker109]

hehe...thats what i always say. people who smoke pot just mellow out and nibble and groove. its the crackheads that cause all the trouble. i think you are right on the government not being able to make money on pot. you grow it. dry it. smoke it. how can they get in on that action? by making it illegal!!!!!!

[Blunted]

tasker109 wrote:

hehe...thats what i always say. people who smoke pot just mellow out and nibble and groove. its the crackheads that cause all the trouble. i think you are right on the government not being able to make money on pot. you grow it. dry it. smoke it. how can they get in on that action? by making it illegal!!!!!!

I saw a special on NBC about Mendacino County, CA. By state law marijuana is legal to an extent. I don't remember the exact figures, but it was a ridiculous amount. I wanna say they allow each person w/ a "prescription" up to 8 plants. WOW. There are numerous distilleries where you can go in and choose from like 15 different types and price ranges. Just from the sales tax on marijuana Mendacino Cty. raked in $11 MILLION DOLLARS! JUST FROM ONE COUNTY!! Thats crazy. If it was legal...well you do the math..Hell of a payday..Could sure use that type of cash during a recession!?!

[burnt]

Privately, people readily agree that we shouldn't be arresting people for pot - growing it, selling it or using it - and ought to be looking seriously at the revenue potential. The problem is they say it only in private, fearful that speaking up in public about the wrongheadedness of the marijuana laws would put their job, security clearance or custody of their children in serious jeopardy. It's a simple matter of priorities, and they have theirs right.
There's nothing like imagining one's own children as "criminals" to put irrational laws in perspective.
Today's anti-drug campaigns are slightly wonkier than yesterday's "Reefer Madness," but equally likely to become party hits rather than drug deterrents. One recent ad produced by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy says: "Hey, not trying to be your mom, but there aren't many jobs out there for potheads." Whoa, dude, except maybe, like, president of the United States.

Once a kid realizes that pot doesn't make him insane -- or likely to become a burrito taster, as the ad further asserts -- he might figure other drug information is equally false. That's how marijuana becomes a gateway drug.

[burnt]

our drug policies, whether intended that way or not, are in the sole interest of organized crime. No one else benefits., except maybe the police and prison industries.
We don't see Budweiser dealers shooting it out on Main Street with Miller dealers to control the beer trade. That's because beer sales are legal.
That may seem absurd, but consider that the same sort of battles took place in the United States between bootleggers when alcohol was illegal in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Prohibition, as we learned during the 1920s, breeds lawlessness. In fact, it guarantees it.
Yesterday’s bootleggers and today’s drug traffickers must arm themselves in order to protect or expand their markets.
Mexican drug cartels reap 62 percent of their profits from U.S. marijuana sales.
As long as those drugs (marijuana) remain illegal, the illicit, untaxed profits associated with them will continue to grow. As will the violence associated with their commerce.
Most important of all, by failing to maintain a legitimate, regulated market we have given incentive to violent criminal enterprises motivated by the lucrative, unfettered profits, thereby jeopardizing the safety of all.
In short, no system could possibly provide America’s children with greater access to weed than the one we have: prohibition. Now when will our elected officials get the message?

End the ban on pot, and the drug gangs go away. American farmers find a new business, and government a handsome source of tax revenues. Turning marijuana into a controlled substance could raise $6.2 billion in taxes, according to Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron.

The immediate struggle is not to legalize marijuana, but to legalize discussion about it.

[TigerPride]

The US government finally stopped going after medical marijuana users/dispensaries. It is on NORML's website. It's a step in the right direction.

[propaganda]

I can remember being told in grade school (dare) that pot dealers lace the pot with heroin to try to get you hooked. I remember thinking to myself "What a crock of sh*t, these guys will say anything". That whole 'refer madness' lets scare the sh*t out of em' tactic is still goin on. Why can't kids be taught the truth about pot? When kids know they are being lied to they tend to disregard everything they are told.

[reason]

In addition to the huge possible tax revenue, there is also a huge amount of revenue in traffic law to be had. As it stands now there are no tests that can determine how "stoned" you are such as a breathalizer works for alcohol. Sure, cops can tell whether are not you have been smoking pot by doing field tests, but it's a black and white issue, you're either high or you're not. There would have to be some sort of guidelines set to determine your "stonedness" level. This would be very tricky to do. Pot accumulates in your body. If you smoked pot heavy for a month then quit for a week you would still show up positive for it. Pot will remain illegal Until this could be figured out

[dared]

reason wrote:

In addition to the huge possible tax revenue, there is also a huge amount of revenue in traffic law to be had. As it stands now there are no tests that can determine how "stoned" you are such as a breathalizer works for alcohol. Sure, cops can tell whether are not you have been smoking pot by doing field tests, but it's a black and white issue, you're either high or you're not. There would have to be some sort of guidelines set to determine your "stonedness" level. This would be very tricky to do. Pot accumulates in your body. If you smoked pot heavy for a month then quit for a week you would still show up positive for it. Pot will remain illegal Until this could be figured out

Cops can tell you're stoned by field test? I think they are guessing. If they have you pulled over, you're in trouble if they want you to be. Most people are scared to begin with when they get pulled over, for good reason. It ussually cost them money, at the very least.

[reason]

You're right, they can't tell for sure if you're stoned by a field test, they can get a pretty good idea. A field test would never hold up in court, that was kinda my point.

[burnt]

Arguments against prohibition should be obvious. When you eliminate the victimless "crime" of drug use, you disempower the criminal element. Neutering drug gangs and cartels, not to mention the Taliban, would be no small byproduct of decriminalization. Not only would state regulation minimize toxic concoctions common on the black market, but also taxation would be a windfall in a hurting economy.

With marijuana legalized, a drug-free environment cannot be feasibly enforced. Of couse drug free really means "marijuana free", since the majority of drugs do not show after a few days, where marijuana will show for up to a month. But it is big business, someone is making a lot of money off of it.

Our government's commitment to outlawing drugs (pot) is expensive, violent and, of course, impossible to win.
The war instead serves as a prime justification for the maintenance and expansion of the police state and military-industrial complex. It's an essential tool of injustice that bolsters the status quo. Can you say BIG BROTHER?

[I know]

Mmm...if it gets legalized, don't let the Chinese government in on that. The Chinese are taking over our country without firing a single shot. Their doing it by controlling our businesses. How the hell can we be the greatest country in the world we don't own most of the sh*t in it? I can't even say this is the greatest country, but I love my country because it allows me to run my mouth however I please. I love America, I just don't like Americans. Anyway, did you know that when Bush was still in office, he actually tried to sell ports on the east coast to Arab countries? I know this is a bit off topic, but I needed to rant about this problem most people my age don't give damn about, lol. Well, if the Chinese do end up owning our a$$es, I at least they bring some of their females over here.

[reason]

Although I agree 100% that pot should be legal, I don't believe it will happen in my or my young childrens lifetime. It's simply to complex, there are too many jobs that rely on pot being illegal. Our culture has excepted these laws, and unfortunately there is no turning back.

[happy]

“We lock up more people on drug charges than all of Western Europe locks up for everything, and they have 100 million more people than we do. We have less than 5 percent of the world’s population but we have almost 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated population. We rank first in the world in per capita incarceration, and the drug war is the No. 1 driving factor.”

There's nothing like imagining one's own children as "criminals" to put irrational laws in perspective.

The legislators must decide whether they want to fill up prisons with murderers and rapists or people selling marijuana."

[crab cake]

anything you put into your body is going to have an adverse effect ....granted tokin on a joint never caused any visual harm that I could see but speaking from experience, other than consuming tons of Cheetos and come to think of it how many corporations benifited from me smokin pot.....I helped Frito-Lay become the company they are today, I only wish we had Zip Lok baggies then instead of having to lick the flap to seal the bag, must have bought a million boxes of baggies, the makers of Boones Farm wines, I could go on forever. Many companies made it to where they are or are not also, today to all of us who stood up for what we believed in---Truth, Justice and a good old joint of Mexican reefer...or a Thai stick, Maui wowee, Panama Red, Acapulco Gold OH the memories just keep flooding back....it's been so long since I smoked a joint I know it would be like taking a tab of acid ....which is a whole nother story boys and girls....."role em if you got em"

[rat snake]

man it's been over 15 years since, then it was morning, noon and night. Drug testing saved me from the devil weed and made me find a beerter class of friends.

[tnt]

rat snake wrote:

man it's been over 15 years since, then it was morning, noon and night. Drug testing saved me from the devil weed and made me find a beerter class of friends.

Anti-Pot Propaganda Drives Most People to Drink Alcohol Instead. But Booze Is Far More Dangerous Than Marijuana.

You see, whether intentional or not, the government's greatest achievement when it comes to keeping marijuana illegal has been its ability to convince a majority of Americans that marijuana is as harmful as, if not more harmful than, alcohol. By doing so, it has secured alcohol's place as the recreational substance of choice for the vast majority of the public.

Influenced by the government's anti-marijuana propaganda, a large segment of our population is comfortable with a system that bans the use of marijuana but allows - and even celebrates - the use of alcohol, despite the fact that alcohol is objectively far more harmful.

Let's consider just a few facts about the two substances. For starters, alcohol is far more toxic than marijuana. Just ten times the effective dose of alcohol can be fatal. Yet there has never been a recorded marijuana overdose death in history. The highly toxic nature of alcohol is also what leads to the all-too-frequent occurrences of nausea and vomiting from over-indulgence.

Over the long-term, alcohol consumption is also far more likely to lead to the death of the user. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, between 33,000 and 35,000 Americans die annually from the effects of alcohol. The comparable number for marijuana? Zero. The supposed cancer-causing properties of marijuana? Non-existent.

Perhaps most disturbingly, as almost anyone who has been exposed to the two substances could tell you, alcohol is far more likely to produce dangerous and socially destructive behavior. It is cited as a contributing factor in 25-30 percent of violent crimes in this country and in about 100,000 sexual assaults on college campuses annually. These kinds of negative associations simply don't exist with marijuana.

A lot of money wasted........would you believe the Ligour industry is also one of the largest Lobbying groups