Legalize It

[babylonsister]

http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/legalize-it-2

Legalize It
Russ Smith

With a recession in sight, the case for legalizing marijuana and taxing it for government revenue seems more practical than ever.


Any American, given about a minute, can tick off a list naming examples of disgrace in our 21st century society. You pick your hobbyhorse, I’ll pick mine, and let the free-for-all begin. It’s mind-boggling, at least in this corner, that there’s still actually a debate among politicians and citizens over the issue of medicinal marijuana use. In 1982, as a young man not yet 30, my mother was slowly dying of brain cancer, and one day she asked if I could purchase a small quantity of pot to relieve the pain of chemotherapy.

I hadn’t used the illegal substance for several years, but it wasn’t hard to find, and so on a visit to our house she was given a small bag of Mexican grass, and for the first time in her life she toked up. It wasn’t to her liking and so that experiment ended, but, after years of worrying about this sort of drug use among her five sons—my parents swallowed all the scare tactics from the government and media in the 1960s—she’d come to realize that in the scheme of things, smoking marijuana wasn’t, in the vast majority of cases, likely to derail a person’s life. As for her fellow cancer patients, Mom said, “Look, we’re dying, it’s not as if puffing on a joint {I’d never heard her say that word and was slightly taken aback} will be the ‘gateway’ to heroin.” None of my friends and acquaintances who are physicians disagree with that simple statement.

It’s my opinion that not only should marijuana be freely available to those suffering from ravaging diseases—as if the plant is any more harmful than the other drugs dispensed several times a day—but it ought to be legalized and sold at pharmacies and maybe even convenience stores. I understand this is an issue that no politician will touch—in the early 1990s Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke, once considered a rising star in national Democratic circles did himself no favors by advocating decriminalization—but if you suspend immediate judgment and think about it, who would it harm?

snip//

As for the “morality” of legalizing marijuana, I just don’t want to hear it. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity can stuff it. No one would force people to start smoking the stuff, just as no one forces people to take a drink, indulge in a tobacco habit or pop anti-depressants.

As Barack Obama prepares to occupy the Oval Office in January, this modest (in my opinion) proposal is worthy of his consideration, especially if he does intend to follow FDR’s example and set forth a very ambitious agenda for the first year of his presidency, before he begins his 2012 campaign. I’m not naïve and don’t expect Obama will even give a moment’s thought to the subject—hell, if he lifts the embargo on Cuba next year, that’ll be amazing, and long overdue, enough.

Nevertheless, the legalization of marijuana is an initiative that shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand: correcting the travesty of arresting harmless and non-violent citizens, plus the monetary gain is extraordinarily compelling. All that’s needed is a group of politicians with vision and guts to bring the issue to the forefront of debate in the United States.

[panader0]

1. This is becoming more obvious all the time.

The tax revenues, the commercial uses, the sales for smoking, the end of US dollars (cash) going to Mexico and Columbia, the freeing of so many potheads from jail (50 grand a year or more each). I can buy alcohol in my small town at over 100 places, stores and bars and circle K's, but smoke a doobie and you are in jail.

[az chela]

2. it is a damn herb.get over it people ,it needs to be legalized

[CrispyQ]

4. "It is a leaf."

:rofl:

It's time to legalize it & start using hemp, too.

[ixion]

3. kicked and recommended

legalize and regulate, just like alcohol.

[Oldenuff]

5. What kind of message would this be sending

to our kids?

That we finally got honest about Cannabis?Perish the thought that our Government would finally come to their senses.As long as we still have money to spend,let's throw it down the hole that is Cannabis Prohibition.

Let adults decide about Cannabis for themselves for cryin out loud.

[Fovea]

17. That adults can do wrong, but adults say they were wrong

and try to repair the damage, unlike those emotionally stunted at childhood, like the deciderer.

[The River]

6. Two Words:

Big Pharma

or

Prison Labor

or

Distilled Spirits

or

Cotton Farmers

pick any 2 or take them all together.
These are some of the special interests
which will spend BIG bucks to block reform.

[Seldona]

7. It's not that I am not for legalization. I am.

But there is one hell of a lot of money involved in keeping this plant illegal. I wonder if the tax revenue generated would replace the prison money, the cop money, the DEA money, the seizure money? Most likely, but it sure would take it from a lot of powerful self-interest groups and give it to others.

I know that former source of revenue is actually politically positive, since there is no heat in 'fighting the war on drugs.' Whereas 'looking soft on crime' is a meme the moneyed interests will use to beat everyone over the head with.

I won't even go in to the industrial uses for Hemp. There is a large multi-business group lobby there that has no interest in competing with the many products Hemp would be made into.

Is it moral, and even responsible, to legalize its use? Yes. Is it politically doable? That is another question entirely imo.

[Coexist]

8. okay

and I don't smoke it.

[Lint Head]

9. Taxing pot would be a windfall. It is the number one crop in Kentucky

and West Virginia. I found this out from the head of Drug and Alcohol in WV.
:dem:

[tridim]

10. California too.

It's also technically the number one cash crop in America, but that's due to the artificially high price due to the WOD.

[FatDave]

13. If they legalize it...

...it'll be the number one crop in my garage.

[Riktor]

11. Technically...

... pot is already taxed. Connecticut still has a marijuana tax on the books, and anyone who buys pot is expected to march down to their town hall to pay taxes on it. In return, they receive a "tax payed" stamp, such as those that are affixed to packs of cigarettes.

Obviously, the tax would be more effective if pot was legal to sell, as the tax would be automatically applied at the point of sale. I just thought this was an interesting side note.

[BabbaTam]

12. economic stimulation

It will soon become obvious that we need to face reality and allow this important crop to be grown. We will have to do everything possible to get our economy back on track and this can play a major part in our recovery. If you read "The Emperor Wears No Clothes", you will see the prediction that the farmers will lead the charge to free this long maligned herb.
:hippie:

[JustJon]

14. I've never understood

... why it's illegal.

I mean, I get that it can impair a person and it's not good for you. But so what? Just say, like alcohol, you have to be 21 to buy or possess it. And say, like alcohol, it's illegal to drive under the influence.

First of all, the government would rake in tons of money by taxing it heavily.

Also, you'd free up tons of money because we'd no longer tie up our legal system catching, prosecuting, and imprisoning these minor offenders. Yes, like alcohol, there'd still be people who get in trouble for using it in illegal ways, but that would pale in comparison to the number of people who use it now illegally.

Free the cops up to fight real crime.

Free the prisons up to contain real criminals.

Free the pot-smokers from having no choice but to buy it from criminals.

What's the down side, exactly? I mean, what? Tobacco will suffer, because there's people out there who might take up marijuana smoking instead of tobacco smoking? Yeah, and?

[slay]

15. It is a CRIME that pot smokers risk jail while more dangerous cigarette and alcohol consumers don't

REALLY pisses me off. Pot smokers have to live their lives like modern day lepers always worried that the wrong person will find out and they might lose their job, their child, or a myriad of other unnecessary worries. The hypocrisy is just in you face ridiculous - cancer causing tobacco and liver destroying alcohol are everywhere, yet so called "morality" beliefs about pot smoking keep weed illegal! I call bullshit! Argh makes me so mad! Think I'll go smoke a joint and calm down while I risk going to jail for smoking a substance other than tobacco. :eyes:

[JustJon]

20. Yup. Hypocrites abound.

This is why some people just fight so hard to keep certain issues from being put on the table. Because they look bad if they actually have to engage in any back-and-forth with someone who doesn't vehemently agree with them.

It's like the anti-gay marriage people. They say the whole purpose of marriage is to start a family. They say families need a father and mother. But they don't want to talk too in-depth about it, because they eventually have to admit they're not trying to pass legislation to require married people to actually start families, and they're not trying to pass legislation to prevent anybody from divorcing once they've got kids to raise (since it's so important to have both the father and the mother). Once they admit they don't really believe what they're saying, it becomes clear they're just gay-bashing.

Similarly, anybody opposed to legalizing marijuana should, for all the moral and safety reasons, be actively trying to criminalize tobacco and alcohol. And they should be making sure that all medicines require a prescription, right? But they don't want to talk about that, because once they admit they're not trying to restrict those other things, it shows they're hypocrites.

[Rebubula]

16. I approve this message

I am 40 years old, hold a full time, well paying job in the security industry and I smoke marijuana almost every day.

I have never: Been arrested, become violent while high, hurt anyone or anything (may have freaked out my cats once in a while) or damaged any of my personal relationships.

I support the legalization (decriminalization at the very least) of this harmless (and potentially beneficial) plant.

My greatest memory of my father (4 term state Rep and Circuit court judge) was (he was going through intense chemotherapy for lung cancer and had not eaten a real meal in weeks) when we smoked a couple of joints in his home office while listening to 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' (still the most emotive song I know - I cannot hear it without crying like a baby) over and over. That night he ate a meal of steak, mashed potatoes and green beans and held it down. The smoking of marijuana alleviated the nausea associated with Chemo.

He died three weeks later, but it was a good three weeks. I miss him...damnit, I was trying not to cry...


Anyway...fark anyone that is against medical marijuana.

[Bennyboy]

18. If it were legal, I think it would be like the wine or craft brewing..

industry....Certain areas would be known for certain types of cannibus. Scwag would be sold in the pharmacies and the good stuff would be sold in the high end type places. People would travel to areas known for their smoke and they would become known for that.

Not all pot is alike. Different strains create different highs and effects. Some are body highs, some are mental highs.. Different growing methods create different flavors and effects. Soils, the same thing.

[Soylent Brice]

19. it will happen eventually

and then we should have Tommy Chong run for Prez.

that's a change i can believe in too.

:smoke:

[tosh]

21. I feel this even more strongly now since learning

3 weeks ago what teens are doing for a high.

A (barely) 14 y/o girl who is dear to my heart had to undergo a liver transplant. They are doing OTC cold meds for the DM (aka DX)==> Tylenol poisoning ==> sudden liver failure.

My first reaction after the shock, then reading up, was WHY DON'T THEY JUST LEAGALIZE WEED? It is so much safer.

:cry:

[slay]

25. Indeed. I know of many kids who go the cough med route for the DXM - weed is 100% safer

About that there is no doubt. People who have done the research know that they should never take an over the counter cough syrup med (in order to get "high") that has any active ingredient other than dextromethorphan-hydorbromide. But I digress - even if using pure DXM, it can cause stomach ulcers and bleeding. Marijuana avoids all these problems, and with the use of a vaporizer even eliminates the smoke.

When I was in high school the kids who couldn't get weeds sniffed glue, or paint, or scotchgard. All of which cause PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE. It bothers me to no end that these moral crusaders get on their soap box preaching against marijuana while many, many, many more dangerous and legal substances are the alternative. Unfortunately I believe we will only truly move forward once these "moral crusaders" learn to keep their so called morality to themselves and learn to focus on the reality of the world we live in as opposed to the non-real version of reality (especially here in America) that they have in their minds. Sigh. :shrug:

[Alpharetta]

22. He can do plenty w/o legislation

Change the focus of the White House drug czar.

Change the budget for enforcement and interdiction.

Select judges who have a sane concept for the purpose of prisons.

etc.

[tama]

23. Obama will not:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9flhDmz7Kwo&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_717121

[Beam Me Up]

24. It needs to be rescheduled: Sign the petition on line!

Link to petition (Begun October 17, 2008):
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/remove-cannabis-as-a-schedule-1-drug.html

Remove Cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug
3 Signatures

Published by Ryan Thompson on Oct 17, 2008
Category: Civil Rights
Region: United States of America
Target: government, congress, senate, president, United States, Utah, legislature
Web site: http://xcannabis.com
Description/History:
Schedule I is the only category of controlled substances that may not be prescribed by a physician. Under 21 U.S.C. § 812b, drugs must meet three criteria in order to be placed in Schedule I:

* The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
* The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
* There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

In 1970, Congress placed cannabis into Schedule I on the advice of Assistant Secretary of Health Roger O. Egeberg. His letter to Harley O. Staggers, Chairman of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, indicates that the classification was intended to be provisional:

Dear Mr. Chairman: In a prior communication, comments requested by your committee on the scientific aspects of the drug classification scheme incorporated in H.R. 18583 were provided. This communication is concerned with the proposed classification of marijuana.

It is presently classed in schedule I(C) along with its active constituents, the tetrahydrocannibinols and other psychotropic drugs.

Some question has been raised whether the use of the plant itself produces "severe psychological or physical dependence" as required by a schedule I or even schedule II criterion. Since there is still a considerable void in our knowledge of the plant and effects of the active drug contained in it, our recommendation is that marijuana be retained within schedule I at least until the completion of certain studies now underway to resolve the issue. If those studies make it appropriate for the Attorney General to change the placement of marijuana to a different schedule, he may do so in accordance with the authority provided under section 201 of the bill. . .

Sincerely yours, (signed) Roger O. Egeberg, M.D.<1>

The reference to "certain studies" is to the then-forthcoming National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. In 1972, the Commission released a report favoring decriminalization of cannabis. The Richard Nixon administration took no action to implement the recommendation, however. A protracted struggle ensued in which cannabis reform activists began working through all three branches of government to reschedule the drug.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_rescheduling_in_the_United_States

[sandboxface]

26. Oakland is ahead of the game

I live in Oakland California, affectionately known as Oaksterdam, where marijuana is practically legal. We passed Measure Z a couple years ago, establishing regulation guidelines and a taxation framework for when marijuana becomes legal.

If you look at the Measure Z website http://www.taxandregulate.org/MZAbout.htm , you'll see several elected officials endorsing the measure.

Industrial hemp could be our saving grace in a time where petrochemicals are becoming more expensive. Hemp is a wonder plant. We can make fabrics, foods, paints, inks, plastics (the list goes on) from hemp. And it grows like a weed!

:smoke:

[lame54]

27. Still not convinced? - Watch this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atMQzRFvCIY

[Gman2]

28. Outsource industrial hemp production.

Keep that damn worthless pollen away from my girls. I need it to not throw up and lose weight and die. Almost did. Also, I didnt have a voice for months. Also, the herb allows me to use less pharma, causing less side effects. I am screwed. I cannot afford it to purchase. Landlords certainly dont understand. Smoke or die. Smoke or die. I have heart failure. What with piss tests for work, there is very little chance for most of us to survive.

[Gman2]

29. Outsource industrial hemp production.

Keep that damn worthless pollen away from my girls. I need it to not throw up and lose weight and die. Almost did. Also, I didnt have a voice for months. Also, the herb allows me to use less pharma, causing less side effects. I am screwed. I cannot afford it to purchase. Landlords certainly dont understand. Smoke or die. Smoke or die. I have heart failure. What with piss tests for work, there is very little chance for most of us to survive.


Also, the doc gave me a marinol prescription. With pot testing, if you got in an accident, and they tested you, you could be charged with murder, if you dont have a bottle of marinol that you can produce. There is no test that says you are now high, just that you have been. And they prosecute. Fuckbags.

[Uncle Joe]

30. Re: Constitutional Amendment

"It’s an unfortunate reality that the political bureaucracy, even if there was an eventual consensus on legalizing marijuana, would take years to implement such a dramatic change—one can only imagine the ballot propositions, constitutional amendments and the like that would have to be traversed, not to mention the harrumphing of cultural conservatives who’d like to lord over the private lives of citizens—and so any economic windfall is in the future. Which is a shame, since given today’s perilous financial climate, a new infusion of cash, every single day, would help shorten a recession. Then again, if legislators acted now the benefits could be realized in time for the next, and inevitable, economic downturn."

The 9th should more than suffice if the corporate controlled government would just quit abusing it.

"The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people"

This along with the 3rd Amendment imply a right of privacy, and freedom to the American People.

"No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in a time of war but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

The corporate controlled government has gotten around this right of privacy and personal freedom by using Orwellian language, ie; the nonsensical, insane so called "War Against Drugs" as if one could wage war against an inanimate object, to justify their abuse of the American People's freedom and privacy.

I believe by taking what should be an educational, medical and or personal issue and turning it to a war against the American People's freedom and privacy to be a betrayal against the American People's civil rights.

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.:thumbsup:

Kicked and too late to recommend.

[paparush]

31. Thank you for Toking!