Ex-presidents of Latin America urge legal marijuana

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CNN

updated 9:05 p.m. EST, Wed February 11, 2009
Ex-presidents of Latin America urge legal marijuana

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CNN) -- Former presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil called Wednesday for the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use and a change in tactics on the war on drugs, a Spanish news agency said.

Ex-presidents Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, Cesar Gaviria of Colombia and Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil made their announcement at a meeting in Brazil of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, the EFE news agency said.

"The problem is that current policies are based on prejudices and fears and not on results," Gaviria said at a news conference in which the commission's recommendations were presented.

The 17-member panel worked on the report for a year and will forward it to all Latin American governments as well as the United States and the European Union, EFE said. Gaviria said the time is right to start a debate on the subject, particularly with the pragmatic openings provided by the election of President Barack Obama in the United States.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/02/11/brazil.marijuana/index.html?iref=hpmostpop

[Why Syzygy]

1. A change in classification

would do a lot to add "civilized" to society.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Recommended. It's time to end the prohibition...

Hopefully, with lobbyists' influence waning, the Federal government will stand down and leave users alone.

[clixtox]

3. Classic Case!

Of better late than never!

We can only hope the "hashball" keeps rolling downhill and growing...

The origin and creation of the legislation mandating the Federal prohibition/"taxation" of marijuana/hemp is also a "Classic Case" of the perversion possible, even common, in our government.

A significant reason for demonizing "pot" was to find Federal jobs for the anti-alcohol warriors, out on the street after that prohibition had ended in complete failure.

There was no scientific or health criteria considered by our esteemed, albeit deceived, legislative leaders of the day(1936). The rationale utilized mainly exploited the dominate American racism and jingoism of those times and has been maintained by:

Racism
Phony Fear
Corporate Profits and Prison Guards Unions
Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt "Journalists/Lackeys"
Ignorant, Incompetent, and/or Corrupt Legislators
Personal Career Advancement for Politicians and "Crime Fighters"
Greed and (of course) Stupidity

And now, here we are ruining lives, families and whole communities for what?

Expending/wasting untold billions of scarce dollars and myriads of other resources for what?

Suppressing a plant, hemp, which has numerous industrial uses, for what?

Since Obama has divulged that he had at least a typical American youth's experience smoking cannabis he knows how bogus the whole situation actually is and has been.

I am optimistic that big, positive, fundamental changes are coming soon!

[ixion]

6. Bush smoked pot, so did Clinton, so they knew the realities

and it didn't stop them for a moment.

I do hope Obama does the "right thing" here and legalize it, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Harry Monroe]

10. Reality never bothered Bush, though.

[MannyGoldstein]

13. But Clinton Never Inhaled n/t

[jeff30997]

54. But Monica certainly did !

:rofl:

[Peace Patriot]

8. I agree! it's a ruinous policy! Legalize it! Thanks for laying it all out so clearly.

And it's interesting that former presidents of Colombia and Mexico are among the three recommending this. These two countries are the biggest recipients of U.S./Bushwhack military aid to make war on drugs, and are the most spectacular examples of the failure of the "war on drugs." I am VERY GLAD to see recognition of that failure in these Colombian and Mexican leaders. We have seen this recognition, and a change of policy, in the leftist countries that have taken an independent course away from dictation by Washington on many issues--notably Bolivia, Venezuela and Ecuador. It is awesome to see it in leaders from countries who receive these billions in military boondoggle dollars. They are stepping on the toes of powerful military/police state interests, and taking an even greater risk for the sake of good policy and good government. Applause for these former presidents is very much in order.

:applause:

[Optical.Catalyst]

4. I cannot fathom how inhaling the smoke from the burning leaves of a plant could be made illegal

It is illegal to have in one's possession a plant that grows in the ground naturally on over 50% of the Earth's land mass.

I am sure the Government would put people in jail for thinking bad thoughts if they had a way of detecting them.

[Optical.Catalyst]

5. Kicked and Recommmended too.

[wroberts189]

7. Many urge legal marijuana knr

[Lint Head]

9. Growing marijuana on your own property for personal use should

be totally legal. It's amazing that pot is illegal but torture and war crimes are OK if George Bush and Dick Cheney condone it.
The laws are only for the poor and middle class.
:dem:

[Bacchus39]

14. damn right!! just like tomatoes and chile peppers n/t

s

[Peace Patriot]

11. Judi, you think Zedillo is angling for a PRI comeback in Mexico--perhaps a coalition

with the leftists--Lopez-Obrador and the PRD, who came so close (0.05% difference) of winning the presidency last time?

This announcement by Zedillo, along with the former presidents of Colombia and Brazil, will likely make Zedillo popular with the left. I don't know his age, or if he intends to run again, but this (legalizing marijuana) could be more than just the right policy--it could be part of a PRI political plan.

I heard something on the radio the other day--didn't hear all of it--that the PRI is doing well in the polls against (Bush ally) Calderon and PAN. PRI is the party that ruled Mexico for 70 years (Zedillo its last president, in 2000), and ultimately became very corrupt. It was the post-revolutionary party of stability and also patronage--a system that Mexicans seemed to approve of, for such a long time, but finally rejected when it became too entrenched. Fox and Calderon (PAN) promised reform, but it was Clintonesque reform, i.e., "free trade," privatization, and "war on drugs" militarization, made even worse under Bush. PAN/Calderon have become unpopular, due to their effort to privatize Mexico's oil, big increase in poverty, big failure of the "war on drugs" and other policies. And PRI has declared they are ready for power again and no longer corrupt. But it was PRD/Lopez-Obrador, the left, who almost beat PAN/Calderon. The news show I heard was either deliberately ignoring that fact (typical of corpo 'news'--I think it was AP), or maybe I didn't hear the part about PRD/Lopez-Obrador (--bad reception; didn't hear the whole thing). Having won half the vote last time, the PRD/Lopez-Obrador can't be an insignificant factor now. So, the question is: Is the old once-very-corrupt PRI horning in on PAN's unpopularity and trying to prevent a leftist win, or is something else developing, such as a PRI/PRD coalition?

Could be that the corporatists in the Obama administration--led by H. Clinton--are trying to prevent a super-blowout loss of corporate rule in Latin America, what with all the leftist presidents elected over the last few years, and more coming (El Salvador will be next, then Peru). Maybe they're behind the PRI comeback--as an acceptably corrupt and compliant alternative to the PRD. I don't know how genuine the PRI's internal reform has been, or what they represent, other than nationalism. The PRD/Lopez-Obrador represents the vast poor majority--the multi-millions of displaced peasants now crammed into urban areas, poor workers and street vendors, students, artists and intellectuals, labor unions (such as the rebellious teachers' union in Oaxaca), small business/lower middle class. I think the PRI generally represents the middle class and the clerical class (former bureaucrats, who ran the government for 70 years!). A coalition might not be bad. And I don't know that a coalition is in the works. Just guessing. It could be that Zedillo--in supporting legalization of marijuana--is just trying to grab leftist votes away from the PRD, for a PRI comeback.

Anyway, have you picked up anything on the current political scene in Mexico?

[Judi Lynn]

18. It's a surprise seeing these leaders speaking out suddenly, isn't it?

As we've seen, pretending to be helping them control drug trafficking is simply another face for the kind of interference which went as covert ops throughout all of Latin America under the guise of "helping" the governments to fight "communism," while conducting genocidal campaigns through their militaries and death squads which drove political dissent into hiding, in time, after slaughtering vast numbers of their indigenous, or helpless citizens and traumatizing the survivors into silence, submission, grief, paralysis.

Seeing these three have come forward presents a view they believe closing these doors somewhat to outside interference will be popular with the people. There's good reason to believe it. They are probably desperately tired of the choice given them by the U.S. of "guns or butter." It has to mean something if the two US-dependent, clinging Presidents, Calderón, and Uribe are being bypassed and these people are speaking publicly AGAINST heavy U.S. manipulation of their internal affairs through devices like Plan Colombia, and the "Merida Initiative," or Plan Mexico.

Everyone in Latin America knows what REALLY happens through US involvement in their countries via these various programs which are all exactly the same. Political, social repression of the majority, the very poor, the suffering. Nothing other.

We've been hearing Lopez-Obrador's name regularly, and it appears he's not keeping out of sight during the interim. It would seem he's got a LOT of the same support he had before. I'm sure all those millions of people who gathered in Mexico City in protest of the election, and all their friends, relatives, neighbors are exactly where they were then, and probably the number has grown, after seeing what the "winner" has done to them.

I'll bet a lot depends upon whether or not Calderón does more to discredit himself and his party. As he sinks lower in the public eye, Lopez Obrador may find his own stock soaring high enough he'd never need any compromise.

Hope someone who's got actual background will see your post, as I'd like to know what's possible, myself. I'm just bumbling around, at this point, not knowing nearly as much as I should.

I'll start keeping an eye out for more news from Mexico now. I've been focusing with more intensity on South America, due to the heaviness of what _Bush has attempted to do to control their governments and overthrow their leftist Presidents.

Taking marijuana out of the political game would put an AMAZING dent in the "drug war," and remove so many opportunities to involve U.S. force in their governments. Wouldn't that be a gift to humanity?

[defendandprotect]

26. Corrupt American government uses the Drug War to damage/co-opt

other nations -- especially our own democracy -- and certainly Latin America.

Why Americans haven't risen up against this phoney Drug War, I don't understand ---

yes, the right wing propaganda that marijuana will harm your child is heavy, but parents

also have to understand that treating smoking pot as a health issue is far more positive

than treating it as a crime. Do parents want their kids to be viewed as making unhealthy

choices or as former prisoners??????????

[DCKit]

42. The example being set by the current leftists, even the relative success of Cuba...

(despite our gubmint's best efforts) is a known quantity in all of South and Central America.

Close friends from El Salvador, Bolivia and a few others tell me even the poorest and most isolated of their respective populations is quite aware of the (positive) changes in those other countries, and they want in on the action. They've had enough of the wingers, poverty and death squads.

[Xithras]

40. I think Zedillo's concerns are more domestic.

In case you haven't been watching, northern Mexico has devolved so badly that some parts are LESS safe than Baghdad for the average person. The drug gangs have evolved into private armies that kill police officers, business leaders, reporters, and politicians with both regularity and impunity. It's so bad that the Mexican government has sent the military in to patrol many cities and completely disempowered the local civilian law enforcement. In a few areas, the drug cartels have openly attacked the army itself, and the situation in those areas has been compared by some commentators to a low-level civil war.

Marijuana is a large source of income for these drug-runners. By legalizing pot, we would end its illegal international trade almost overnight. That helps starve these cartels of money, which improves the security situation across Mexico.

[Peace Patriot]

50. Yes, I agree. The best solution to gangsterism is to legalize the drugs.

I would include all drugs, and restrict prohibition laws to kids, a la alcohol and tobacco.

The other thing that the "war on drugs" does, that is so destructive, is it floods the society with GUNS. We spend billions and billions of dollars infusing MORE GUNS into these situations, which do NOT all stay in the hands of the police/military. Thus, the illicit weapons trade becomes as much of a problem as the illicit drug trade. And everything gets way more violent.

[John Q. Citizen]

57. Zedillo can't run again. One term only.

[notesdev]

12. You want a 'stimulus' package

there it is - legalize, tax. By some accounts marijuana is our nation's #1 cash crop - what does making it illegal & the huge costs to do so give us vs. the enormous potential benefit it could produce as a legal, taxpaying, job-creating industry?

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. Grow industrial hemp. Many many benefits. Including environmental benefits.

But noooooooo. Corporate America will never stand for that!

[defendandprotect]

27. Too many are unaware of the benefits of hemp and its long history in America -

good to mention it every now and then as a reminder!

[snappyturtle]

30. K&R Absolutely! Legalize pot and industrial hemp!

When I taught 10th grade health back in the early seventies I listed pot in it's own category. I never understood the rationale behind classifying it as a narcotic! It was popular back then for the gov't to produce film-strips (remember those?) placing pot as a stepping stone to heroin, et. al. Yet, when I looked at the statistics most pot users never stepped "up", so to speak, although most heavy drug users had used pot. It's long past time to rid ourselves of this crap we have been forced to call knowledge.

Pot was popular when I was in college and I never saw any harm in it but I surely did see harm in the drunken alcoholic binges that took place! The only 'good' I see from making pot illegal is to feed the incarceration industry in our nation.

Industrial hemp could be huge here!

[JackRiddler]

15. Quick! Michael Phelps bong hit outrage! Your balls are in danger!

Rule of law being violated! Terror drug profits!

[Wizard777]

16. "War" on drugs Is TREASON. Will Obama End decades of treason against We The People by our Government

It would be nice to, at the very least, see an Executive Order that directs the DOJ to Prosecute for treason any government official or employee that issues the word war against the American people in any capacity. As far as I'm concerned that's criminal speech by the government and that is NOT protected speech under the first amendment.

[nebenaube]

17. when oh when

When will we stop providing corporate welfare to organized crime, terrorists, covert government clandestine operations, corrupt police departments, corrupt drug companies and the prison industrial complex while breeding what has become three or more generations of a criminal class?

[biopowertoday]

19. It is telling to note that these are all "EX" presidents who

no longer have to worry about re-election like Obama does. But we shall see.

[DainBramaged]

20. Or who had to 'dispense' drug fighting monies to the police

they are no longer in charge of the budgets, and when pot is decriminalized, watch for the brown shirts here to rail against the loss of pot money.

[biopowertoday]

21. It is a big souce of funding for local

law enforcement. I wonder if anyone has calculated out (separately) the amount that goes to ONLY pot. I doubt it. We do have stats for the prison population though. I want to see pot decriminalized.

[Kajsa]

22. Thank You, former presidents!

I've been saying that since the bloodshed quadrupled in Mexico,
with the cartels battling for territorial rights against the police,
both local and federal.

All of Mexico is affected, and northern Baja has been unofficially
off limits for travel for over three years now.

I really miss visiting there, not to mention the devastating effects
on local economy with tourism gone.

This is a solution, it's time to legalize marijuana, once and for all.

[Peace Patriot]

23. The "war on drugs" in Mexico has become exactly like the war on booze during Prohibition--

--an insanely violent repression that is causing an insanely violent reaction by drugs smugglers, against the repression and against each other.

Deja vu all over again. And it didn't stop, here, until the U.S. government--by popular demand--rescinded Prohibition and made alcohol legal again.

Colombia is even worse--a war zone where the $6 BILLION in Bushwhack military aid is being used to slaughter union leaders, human rights workers, peasant farmers, political leftists, journalists--with the government itself and its military involved in drugs/weapons trafficking, as well as in the murders of all these innocents.

Mexico is becoming Colombia. That's what the corrupt, failed, murderous U.S. "war on drugs" does. It destroys societies. It destroys the rule of law. And that is why so many countries, those with good governments, have rejected it. As with "free trade," the "war on drugs" is an act of aggression by the U.S., without the slightest care what it actually does to Latin American countries, and in fact deliberately promoting fascist oppression, injustice and exploitation. Our corpo-run government prefers fucked up societies, ruled by tyrants and the rich, who deliver the countries' resources, all revenues (such as tax or oil revenues that support social programs) and slave labor forces, to U.S. multinationals and World Bank/IMF loan sharks. Ultimately, that is what the U.S. "war on drugs" is for. Witness Colombia--where union leaders lead short lives; a totally "war on drugs" fucked up country--all primed, now, for a U.S. "free trade" deal. Oil, gas, minerals, forests, ag land--all Colombia's riches--are going to be stolen, with a "free trade" deal, after this "war on drugs" militarization and mayhem softened them up.

Coca is as innocent a leaf as marijuana is, if used in the indigenous medicine tradition. It is now protected as a sacred leaf by the Bolivian Constitution. The Bushwhacks tried a bloody fascist coup there in September. It failed (due in part to the new solidarity among South American countries, in resistance to such plots). The new Constitution passed. And in the course of this struggle, Evo Morales--the first indigenous president of Bolivia--threw the U.S. ambassador and the DEA out of Bolivia.

Nobody among the many new leftist leaders in South America likes or tolerates the criminal gangs and networks of the cocaine trade. All are acting to deter them and break them up. That is a proper use of police forces--not harassing some poor peasant farmer for growing a few coca tea leaves, for a nutritious drink they've used for a thousand years, and poisoning his food crops with toxic pesticides, and damaging his and his children's DNA, and driving him from the land, into urban squalor where he can't feed his family and community. There is nothing stupider than the U.S. "war on drugs," nothing more insane, and nothing more alienating of the entirety of Latin America except for the fascist elites, who LOVE the "war on drugs" as a weapon against the poor.

THANK GOD it might be possible to END the "war on drugs" in Mexico, before it becomes a full-blown Colombia. I hope that's what former President Zedillo's support for decriminalization of marijuana means. This is the beginning of the end of the "war on drugs."

[independentpiney]

25. It's too bad CNN has to have links to anti-cannabis pieces on the page

An 'expert' answering a q&a saying higher doses cause hallucinations and other nonsense, and the testicular cancer story.

[Tyler Generation]

28. Wow, this stuff is really coming to a head

Man, people are really starting to come out of the woodwork. I hope to see legalization, but a couple of my friends will be out of a job if it happens, lol.

[montanto]

29. I fear that we will never

end this prohibition because we as a nation have decided to live with and even expand our worst mistakes. It's like our nation is a big strong guy beating up a little old man and when told, "hey, you should stop that" we say, "yeah, but I'm already doing it" and then punch even harder. Our current wars are mistakes that we won't stop. Torture is a mistake that we won't stop. Treason is a crime that we won't fight. Cuban embargo? Drug war? Stupidity we won't stop. I can't see how the gov't will be able to grow balls big enough to say "Yeah, we made a mistake and kept your sons, fathers, mothers, daughters in jail for years over a little weed, but now its ok to have/use/grow." We must keep punching the old man because we already punched him, and we must punch him harder because we were already punching him, as wrong as it might have been to begin with. Fight on, I say, but until there is a big money interest in legalization I can't see politicians brave enough to admit to plain stupid complicity.

:smoke: on!

[downindixie]

31. Why didn't these Presidents

legalize it when they were in office?

[Oldenuff]

56. Many factors most likely..

See post 18 for some of the reasons..

Most countries look to the US for leadership because they are dependent on foreign aid,and tons of money to fight illegal drugs..(lots of funds to siphon off into personal bank accounts etc)not to mention that the US always has a provision making future funds dependent upon benchmark results.I don't know for sure,but it is a tangled up crock of shiat,and in the end does nothing except enrichment of the favored few.

[Royal Sloan 09]

32. K n R , OH Yeah,

Legalization is a step in the right direction, after all how many years has mankind used this beneficial plant without problems, that is before the illegal status/prohibition laws on this plant's use, which has caused major problems for many people around the World.
Since the American government has kowtowed to the corporate interests, We the people have lost OUR rights to the pursuit of happiness or the right to choose for ourselves, what the could be a better way to help with treatment for medical conditions.
Simple solution = Legalize.

[JackRiddler]

33. GD thread & poll...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=mydu

[Uncle Joe]

45. Why is it,

when I click on your link, it goes to "My posts" page?:shrug:

[JackRiddler]

47. Because I'm an idiot? Here's a corrected link...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5036758&mesg_id=5036758

[ooglymoogly]

34. Marijuana is a condicio sine qua none for pug power

and corruption and they will not give it up lightly; No matter how many lives they destroy. Lie's, Hypocrisy and propaganda are the standard and the code they live and prosper by; Marijuana is just the karacine that fuels and fans the flames of that power. So as long as the pugs have any power at all they will not let legalization happen.

[jwirr]

35. No matter what the political reasons for these leaders of Latin

American countries to speak out this is the right thing to do for our country. The money just in taxing is reason enough but there are also the savings: end the cost of law enforcement for this issue, end the cost of keeping these people in prisons, end the cost of court cases including government appointed attorneys.

My grandson said we should lobby to get our own states to do this or at least do it for the medical purposes and if enough states do then DC is going to follow.

[mojowork_n]

36. Thanks for spotting this, K & R

But I disagree with the former president of Brazil. Global Drug policies are not "based on prejudices and fears."

They're based on dollar and cents and peso's.

They're used to make victims pay for the very processes that help to perpetuate the economic slavery that keeps them trapped in the under-class, in the first place.

[Uncle Joe]

37. Kicked and recommended for logic and common sense.

Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.

[debunkthelies]

38. K&R

How many people would be living normal lives, instead of being put in prisons for profit?

[leftstreet]

39. K&R

[Spryboy]

41. The Audacity of Dope

Could legal marijuana save California’s economy?

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has made marijuana a popular topic. He was photographed smoking from a bong, lost corporate sponsorships, and was suspended from the sport as a result. But celebrities aren't the only ones thinking about dope.

Some legislators in California have pot on their minds, too. That's because the government of the biggest economy in the United States is facing a massive budget deficit whose pain would be alleviated by decriminalizing marijuana.

...

Marijuana is California's largest cash crop. It's valued at $14 billion annually, or nearly twice the value of the state's grape and vegetable crops combined, according to government statistics. Indeed, a recent report pegged marijuana as two-thirds of the economy of Mendocino County, a ganja hotbed north of San Francisco. That's not surprising—it costs $400 to grow a pound of pot that can sell for $6,000 on the street.

But the state doesn't receive any revenue from its cash cow. Instead, it spends billions of dollars enforcing laws pegged at shutting down the industry and inhibiting marijuana's adherents. Of course, there's a reason for that. Marijuana's social costs may include addiction and rehabilitation treatment and lost productivity. Yet these are minute compared with the extensive social costs of alcohol or tobacco.

...

So what are the numbers? A national legalization effort would save nearly $13 billion annually in enforcement costs and bring in $7 billion in yearly tax revenues, according to a study by Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron. Since California represents 13 percent of the U.S. economy, those numbers suggest the state could save $1.7 billion in enforcement costs and nab up to $1 billion in revenues. That doesn't include any indirect revenues as, for example, rural farming communities grow or marijuana tourism, which has been lucrative for the Netherlands, takes off.

...

Full article at link here:

http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/judgments/2009/02/11/audacity-dope

[navarth]

43. K & R Thank you for this thread and the intelligent conversation herein. eom

[LiberalLovinLug]

44. Another former politician

George Schultz, the former Secretary of State for Reagan, also came out for decriminalization of pot AFTER he retired from office of course.

No one in office ever has the balls to face the self declared 'moral majority' with their decades of fear drenched brainwashing clouding their vision. Talk about brain damage.

[loyalsister]

46. For interested Missourians.....

Here's a shocker out of Matt Blunt's home turf:

SWMO MAYOR PASSES POT ORDINANCE TO SPARK LEGALIZATION DEBATE

http://ky3.blogspot.com/2009/02/village-doobie.html

[ghurley]

48. Never smoked... wish it was legal... sill wouldn't smoke... would be great for NC. n/t

[windoe]

49. Legalization in South America

will pressure US policy one way or another, hopefully in a more sane direction. I applaud former presidents of Mexico, Columbia and Brazil for creating an opportunity for us to change our relationship with herbs. Herbal medicine, homeopathy and nutrition belong in our healthcare system, since they offer affordable and potent additional treatments that can greatly improve our quality of life. Depression and dis -ease are prevalent in a culture absent of enough joy, touch, pleasure or leisure. There are no substitutes for these experiences, yet we still need them and seek them in any way we can, it is perfectly natural. People have always self medicated. In a healthy society though, there is far less need to do so.

Legalization would shift addictive behaviors from legal to medical, so we need to shift the medical approach to herbs and drugs too. This is in the realm of wholistic medicine, in the use of herbs and nutrition to gently guide people to a state of balance. I am not saying this is easy, quick fixes are the fiction of the pharmaceutical industry! Herbs and lifestyle changes toward balance are a lifetime endeavor. Can we do this?

The AMA has wandered too far off the healing path by enabling the pharmaceutical companies to invade the medical schools and have created a codependent doctor-patient relationship, rather than one that encourages self empowerment. The medical establishment as it stands now has overstepped its scope of practice, actually discouraging people the right to self treat. But the AMA discredited over a thousand homeopathic medical schools in its conception, from the very start pushing them out as well as chiropractors and herbalists. Todays medical crisis is evidence that it is far off the healing path of 'Do No Harm'.

The answer is not in disassembling our medical system but adding on to the existing one, an integrative approach. That and to declare independence from corporate (pharmaceutical, legal and insurance) controls that contradict the hippocratic oath. If we are to heal as a country, we have to heal as human beings, and in our relationship with the very plants that grow on the Earth.

This discussion can open the door for an increased awareness in just how corporate monopolies have abused their powers from international affairs to the quality of our personal lives. We have a long way to go, but I believe that the movement to put limits on corporate powers and banks have started, in order to retrieve a semblance of sanity in our lives.

[varelse]

51. The problem is that current policies are based on prejudices and fears and not on results

Yup, cause that's how we roll, here in Dumbfuckistan. >:(

[Canuckistanian]

52. Exactly! "prejudices and fears ....not results"

That's the most cogent argument I've heard in favor of decriminalization.

[Oldenuff]

53. Facing the realities of

the War on Drugs and the heavy price that is being paid in supporting it.

It sure seems to me like the tide is starting to turn on Cannabis legalization.It seems to me that it has been in the news (and on TV) quite often as of late.We can keep our fingers crossed.


If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.
-Thomas Jefferson

[clixtox]

58. Exactly!

And I have personally taken this obligation, as a super patriotic American, very seriously virtually every day for 45 years!

[caseymoz]

55. This, and with the economy forcing reductions in prison populations,

The War on Drugs is ending. The whole policy is now unsupportable.

[Left Coast2020]

59. Could you imagine a repug congressman saying to someone.....

"Hey dude, I'm hungry. Ya got any Dorritos in the kitchen?'

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: