cannabisnews.com: Alaska's Marijuana Experiment
Alaska's Marijuana Experiment
Posted by CN Staff on April 13, 2003 at 09:36:04 PT
Letter To The Editor
Source: Washington Times
I'm writing from Alaska to tell Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. that he won't be "pleasantly surprised" by the results of the medical-excuse pot bill he is considering signing ("Ehrlich 'pleasantly surprised' by budget successes in debut," Page 1, Tuesday). Mr. Ehrlich must consider the health of the young people of Maryland and not be swayed by the drug-using culture and its unscientific propaganda, nor to be swayed by the huge sums of money given through groups whose main goal is to ultimately legalize marijuana and all other drugs.
Alaska's young people were negatively impacted by similar legislation. Alaska was the testing ground for legalization, and it failed. In 1975, Alaska was one of the 11 states whose marijuana laws were decriminalized by the drug culture under the guise that it was harmless. In 1990, local grass-roots parent groups were successful in recriminalizing marijuana in our state through the initiative process. Strong criminal laws were re-established because of the increased marijuana use by our young people. The increased use resulted from weak marijuana laws combined with the portrayal that marijuana was harmless. This coincided with a tremendous increase in the potency of marijuana from 1975 to 1990.In 1981, a university study surveyed Alaska's high school students to determine their rate of marijuana use compared to the rest of the nation. Much to the researchers' surprise, Alaska's students were using marijuana at more than twice the national rate. It became clear that there was a direct correlation between our teenage drug use and the lack of criminalization of marijuana in our state.Nowadays, "medical excuse" pot laws are popping up across our nation. Once again, the message is being sent that pot is harmless. This is a crime against America's children. I'm asking Mr. Ehrlich not to sign this bill. His decision on this deceptive piece of legislation will have an impact on youth not just in Maryland, but across this nation.LYNDA ADAMSFormer state representativeNancy Reagan's National Federation of ParentsKetchikan, AlaskaSource: Washington Times (DC)Published: April 13, 2003Copyright: 2003 News World Communications, Inc. Website: http://www.washtimes.com/Contact: letters washingtontimes.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Medical Marijuana Information Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/medical.htmVeto of Medical Pot Bill Urged http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15829.shtmlMarijuana Morality - Bruce Mirken -- MPP http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15797.shtmlDrug Czar Calls Marijuana Bill Immoralhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15791.shtml
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Comment #19 posted by Binky on April 14, 2003 at 06:39:51 PT
Former
She is totally wrong on the Alaskan recriminalization issue as mentioned above, at least she should have her facts straight before she spews untruths.
Is this why she is Former State Rep? or did she just have gleeing moment of long past memories of the good ol' day's of jack-bootin' and ruining families.
At least we will tell our children the truth, and not tie them up in the "progressive regression " this Former seems to be stuck in.
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Comment #18 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on April 14, 2003 at 06:12:26 PT:
Response to Ronald Reagan's Federation Of Parents
The author of that article was a member of Ronald Reagan's National Federation Of Parents? Ronald Reagan gained his presidency with help from the federal government. He hired Nazis, as Republicans are known for. These "Parents" have been uninformed about the background of the people they have been voting for, such as the Bush Family and Rockefeller Family. Guess what? The Rockefellers had the U.S. Army's 6th top biological weapons manufacturor produce a hybrid influenza virus combined with quick killing leukemia, which they are ready to drop upon the people of the United States of America, since Rockefeller called for a 50% reduction in American population! www.copvcia.com. You think SARS is dangerous? Just wait!! Keep believing the misinformation spewed out by manipulated media and ignorant parents! Have you ever heard of the Report From Iron Mountain?
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Comment #16 posted by mayan on April 14, 2003 at 03:04:48 PT
JAIL
Lynda Adams fails to explain why people should continue to be locked up in JAIL for using the cannabis plant.The time is now, again...Video: DC Protest Turns Ugly as Police Beat Marchers:
http://www.republicons.org/view_article.asp?RP_ARTICLE_ID=844Several Arrested in U.S. Anti-War Protest:
http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2554843DOJ SCHEMING WITH REPUBS TO MAKE PATRIOT ACT PERMANENT:
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=310619/11 HIJACKER IDENTITIES STILL UNKNOWN:
http://www.theweeklyinformant.com/911id.htmWas 9/11 Allowed to Happen?
http://www.wanttoknow.info/911timeline2pgKaminski's Best 9/11 Sites - 4th Edition: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0302/S00024.htm
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Comment #15 posted by Lehder on April 14, 2003 at 00:15:17 PT
crime scene
"Nowadays, "medical excuse" pot laws are popping up across our nation. Once again,
the message is being sent that pot is harmless. This is a crime against America's children. "No, the message is that pot is an effective medicine for what ails you. It can be especially recommended for insomnia, stress, and a gullibility for propaganda. The crimes against children, overlooking the damage done to them in federated schools, are in the imprisonment of parents and the ensuing sale of their hapless babies to prohibitionists.
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Comment #14 posted by lombar on April 13, 2003 at 19:48:11 PT
Yet more of the same..
"Nowadays, "medical excuse" pot laws are popping up across our nation. Once again, the message is being sent that pot is harmless. This is a crime against America's children. "The continuation of the war on drugs is a far greater crime, especially since it is being waged with deceipt and manipulative propaganda like this. The so-called watchdogs of democracy are just lapdogs after all. Clever how this statement both pushes the 'no such thing as med-pot' BS, indirectly implies that 'approved' drugs are harmless, and states that the (unwritten word - evil) legalisers claim pot is harmless. Pot is far less harmful than arrest, incarceration, and stigmatization of prohibition.
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Comment #13 posted by lag on April 13, 2003 at 18:18:36 PT
RAVE act slides through
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15620
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Comment #12 posted by The GCW on April 13, 2003 at 17:54:11 PT
Just realized...
4-20 is on Thanksgiving this year.What a combo.If You get high, get high with the most High. Thank Christ God Our Father for Your daily bread, including cannabis.Every day is Thanksgiving Day.Know Your spirit.
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Comment #11 posted by lag on April 13, 2003 at 17:22:24 PT
Don't blame it all on the mothers
It's the fathers that are making the laws...not just that, but fathers could maybe get in there and help out the children, as well. But really, what is going on here? It is a culture war, and it may have been mentioned before, but I find the timing wonderfully ironic regarding the culture attack known as operation pipe dreams...seeing as how it happened within months of the war. It doesn't require a masters in conspiracy theory to find a connection there.But, what is the reason that people are not allowed to get high? My parents toke up every morning by reading the bible. It gets them super high, makes them feel immortal. I read about a judge, Pryor, that Bush is trying to nominate that tried to make Vibrators and sexual toys illegal in Alabama...perhaps he did, I am not sure. But, he takes away womens ability to pleasure themselves, but I am sure he isn't attemptting to take away guys pleasure equipment like porno mags and stuff. Isn't it clear that the male domination is getting more and more heavyhanded? I am not saying anything new here, but what right do they have to take everyone elses rights away just because they have the power to maintain their own? And why people aren't rising up in rebellion I can't understand. The only thing I can think of is that we have a critical mass of people, and most of them are lazy, anti-critical thinkers. It is why they look at intelligent leaders, like Gore, with such contempt. He makes them think. While on the other hand, the people in power cater to this lazy way of thinking because it benefits them, all the time extolling the virtues of education even while they lower the funding for education. I guess it really doesn't come as a surprise that people can't read between the lines, read the hypocrisy behind the words. Oh yeah...the tree of knowledge is the enemy of the Christians...perhaps that is why our religious...I mean political leaders are against education.Back to the getting high question. Why can't people get high? Because it takes the power away from them. The whole thing makes me sick. I guess they also think that getting high makes baby jesus cry.
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Comment #10 posted by billos on April 13, 2003 at 16:53:24 PT:
lag's comment
Boy, did he say a mouthful. Hey, Mom! Get your butt home and start mothering your kids. Don't rely on the feds to babysit your kids. And..don't rely on the boob-tube! If we had mothers that could actually do a good job "mothering" we wouldn't have to pick away at civil rights through programs like MADD, DARE, and the D.O.T. random drug testing program.. blah blah blah. The A.F.A. can go screw themselves. As I said before, my belief is that cannabis is illegal because the goody-two-shoes in this country think it's immoral to get 'high'. Unfortunately, the "goodies" have lots of money (and power) and think everyone should be in church on Sunday morn at 9 A.M.
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Comment #9 posted by lag on April 13, 2003 at 16:48:02 PT
Off topic
I just got back from Telegraph in Berkeley where I didn't expect Operation: Pipe Dreams to reach. Well it has...prolly just out of a desire not to have to deal with the whole situation, but whatever happened to the 60s version of Berkeley? The rebellious anti-authority, pro freedom Berkeley? I imagine it went away with the influx of corporate mindedness that saturated the Bay Area for the past decade. Well, it was enough to make even my wife say we are moving to Canada...although, she regrets leaving our country to the monkey men in office. They are taking our freedom away...oh why oh why won't someone please think of the children.
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Comment #8 posted by afterburner on April 13, 2003 at 13:41:53 PT:
Always Have a Backup Plan.
"Just say 'no'" is the worst form of parenting. If a child should make a mistake, as humans are wont to do, just once, then the carefully constructed fort of "no" comes tumbling down leaving the child defenseless to the street dealers of far more dangerous "drugs." Building an open trustful relationship with a child provides for a remedy in case the child slips up. This save-the-children propaganda was one of the main arguments responsible for the 1914 Harrison Tax Act, prohibiting opium and coca, long before the federal government had even heard of marihuana / cannabis.Let the adults have their medicine. This is how legal prescription and non-prescription "drugs" have traditionally been handled. What is so hard to understand about that?ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on April 13, 2003 at 13:18:14 PT
Do As I Say Not As I Do
When I was young I was told those words. I was told that when I grew up I would have rights but as long as I was a child I would be required to listen to what I was told. I understood that too. I am not interested in other people's children and their using or not using drugs. That's the parents responsibility but we adults are the ones that suffer as long as they keep scape goating by using the children in this war on Cannabis. I don't know how this has gone on as long as it has. I'm not against children but I am concerned for adults rights. That's my issue.
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Comment #6 posted by afterburner on April 13, 2003 at 12:47:07 PT:
Them's Fightin' Words.
After I read the first two paragraphs of this so-called article, I could see where the rant was going. I don't have anymore time left for such ignorance. I flipped right to the comments. Thank God for you Commentators, young and old, who still have the energy to fight this rabble-rousing BS. Good comments all. Some of us still need to dissect the lies, propaganda, and faulty logic by throwing the truth back in their faces. We also need to tell the real story of the blessings of medical cannabis and the human interest stories of all the people helped by cannabis and harmed by prohibition. The alcoholic violence had a particular ring of urgency and truth: I have been to many areas of northern Canada where the same problems exist for the same reasons. Prohibitionists, get off the pot.ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.
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Comment #5 posted by palmspringsbum on April 13, 2003 at 11:36:14 PT:
Chickenfeed!
" nor to be swayed by the huge sums of money given through groups whose main goal is to ultimately legalize marijuana and all other drugs..."The ONDCP spent $400 million on commericals alone last year.Isn't that right?That's probably more than the entire budget of the legalization folks. MPP thinks $20,000 is a LOT of money!?When are we going to stop letting these prohibitionists money-grubby drug-lords get by with blaming the victim?It's they that are spending the unbelievable sums of money...and evidently getting the best government money can buy.First there's the unbelievable sums of money the drog-lords spend, then there's then astronomical amount of money spent on 'enforcement' and incarceration.Uh, how much did the Correctional Officers guild contribute to his campaign?
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Comment #4 posted by freedom fighter on April 13, 2003 at 10:50:01 PT
Alaska Higway Lie!
Only reason Alaskans recriminalize the cannabis is because of the HighWay Fund... Remember U.S. government threating not to build the highway if they did not criminalize the pot smokers??And what about children??? Since they recriminalize, has the smoking pot gone less?? Highly doubtful!pazff
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Comment #3 posted by Duzt on April 13, 2003 at 10:34:42 PT
Alaska
I lived in Alaska for a few months last year and there is a few things he leaves out. Alaska now has, by far, the highest levels of alcoholism and domestic abuse in the country. It's very common there. I have never seen people drink and fight like in Alaska. It seems to me that many factors would create more smoking in youths. Especially the fact that in the winter their isnt much of anything to do except stay home and have indoor parties. It's a depressing place in the winter and cannabis only helps. Now, like the police always do, (my mother was beaten almost to death by her ex-husband from there several times)nothing is done to protect those women who are battered by alcoholics. If you smoke a joint and get along with everyone you go to jail. If your an alcoholic asshole and try to kill your wife, the police ask you to please stop doing that and send you back to your wife. My mom still to this day lives in fear, 15 years later, because the police refuse to help her saying they couldn't do anything, she just had to leave him. He still walks free to this day and is now on his 4th wife. I hate the United States now that it's become what it's become. The rest of the world hates us too. My brother lives in Brazil and went to the park to play his harp and guitar (he's a Dylon fanatic) and was actually booed by people in the park for playing American music. 80% of Brazilians surveyed recently felt that Bush is the most dangerous man in the world; and they are right. I have to decide now if I want to move to Canada, Brazil or Europe because I've always hated the big dumb bully who picks on the weakest people, now the U.S. is just that and staying here makes me a hypocrit. If Bush is elected this time (which his people will make sure that that happens, I guarantee it), we will have as many restrictions on us as any of the countries we point fingers at. Rumsfield now is using the amazingly lame excuse that Iraqi leaders are going to Syria. Sure they are. If we know they are going there, why the hell aren't we stopping them?? They aren't going there of course, it's just another extremely weak excuse to occupy another extremely poor and defenseless country. Not to mention the direct access to the Mediteranean Sea for our new oil comanies to ship directly from Iraq through Syria and to the Mediteranean. Nobody mentions the 3.3 million people killed in Northern Africa in fighting there. There are under much, much more oppression than any other peoples in the world, oh, but they don't have any natural resources for us to plunder so what's the point in helping? Almost 2000 people are being murdered every day there and we don't even hear about it in the media. I've lived in several countries around the world and by far feel the most oppressed and unsafe in this country. We are told we are free so we must be right. We are told we have the most freedoms so that must be true too, right. Anybody who thinks this country is great or even borders on being decent, should go live anywhere in western Europe for a year and see the difference. Go live in Australia or New Zealand, Brazil, Ireland, hell, even South Africa. Our schools are a joke (as any foreign exchange student will tell you, they like our schools because they are so easy) I won't go to an American hospital unless I'm about dead and I don't have an option because I'm tired of telling the doctor what's wrong with me and what medications I need, I thought that was their job. Hell, in Brazil, if you have AIDS, you get free medication, any person. Imagine that here. Facism is an ugly thing and we are the defintion of it.
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Comment #2 posted by observer on April 13, 2003 at 10:30:05 PT
Propaganda-Meter ... drugwar_propaganda, 100%
content analysis asserted: $propaganda_theme1 at 100% ("drug culture"), 1 hits
http://drugwarpropaganda.gotdns.org/t.cgi?1 asserted: $propaganda_theme2 at 50% ("crime" "criminal" "criminalization"), 3 hits
http://drugwarpropaganda.gotdns.org/t.cgi?2 asserted: $propaganda_theme3 at 75% ("our nation" "America's"), 2 hits
http://drugwarpropaganda.gotdns.org/t.cgi?3 asserted: $propaganda_theme4 at 100% ("drug use" "marijuana use"), 3 hits
http://drugwarpropaganda.gotdns.org/t.cgi?4 asserted: $propaganda_theme5 at 70% ("children" "teenage" "youth" "young people" "message"), 8 hits
http://drugwarpropaganda.gotdns.org/t.cgi?5 asserted: $propaganda_theme7 at 100% ("legalize" "legalization" $legalization), 2 hits
http://drugwarpropaganda.gotdns.org/t.cgi?7 asserted: $drugwar_propaganda at 100% ("propaganda" $propaganda_theme1 $propaganda_theme2 $propaganda_theme $propaganda_theme4 $propaganda_theme5 $propaganda_theme7), 1 hitsbreaking pot news feed:
http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/pot
http://drugpolicycentral.com/bot/
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Comment #1 posted by lag on April 13, 2003 at 10:20:21 PT
Enough about the children
Take your scapegoats elsewhere. You are saying that people are just using the medical exemption to get across their desires of a pro-drug nation. Well, quit using the children as your catch all excuse to stop responsible adults from utilizing a very effective medication, or for many people an awesome, and relatively safe if used responsibly and prepared in an edible fashion, recreational drug. I don't think pro-pot folk are for legalizing everything; they see a distinction between pot and harder drugs. But they are for decriminalization of those harder drugs because they see the current law enforcement methods as heavy handed and more harmful to our nation. While you are at it why don't you take away the childrens video games? I mean, if children aren't monitored properly, they may very well abuse those systems which may affect their grades, their ability to learn, and thus their future. Oh wait...but if we didn't have video games there would be no place to set our children in the Ronco fashion (Just set it, and forget it).
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