cannabisnews.com: Change Attitude Change Attitude Posted by CN Staff on June 01, 2003 at 16:53:16 PT Editorial Source: Scarborough Mirror Relaxing pot laws while stiffening pot laws. Is Ottawa sending mixed smoke signals? Our federal Liberal government has made good on a promise to ease the laws that previously made possession of small amounts of marijuana a criminal offence. Get convicted and an adventurous 17- or 18-year-old who was found with a couple of joints had a criminal record that followed him around for life. But that has changed, and we agree with the move. Possession will now result in a simple fine. And that's fine with us. But at the same time, Ottawa has announced it will stiffen the penalties for those convicted of growing marijuana. It's difficult to figure out who the government is trying to appease by this second move. The police, who fear they will have less to do as pot laws are eased? The U.S. government, that seems irritated with Ottawa as it is and needs to be assured the new laws will not result in even more illegal marijuana being produced in Canada and delivered to the States? Or is it the Canadian public that is not as certain as the youths of the 1960s who are now running things as ministers in Ottawa in 2003 that this less restrictive pot possession law is a good idea. By most accounts, the supply of pot is controlled by organized crime. In a sense, keeping marijuana production illegal simply fosters the existence of biker gangs and other criminal organizations, where members kill each other and put the public at risk. In the meantime, the pot-growing operations, which often sprout up in residential neighbourhoods and rely on the surreptitious use of huge amounts of electricity to provide the light necessary for growing, are dangerous. Safe wiring is replaced with extension cords and booster cables. The public has heard many accounts of indoor pot-growing operations across Toronto. Just this past week two men died under mysterious circumstances in a North York townhouse fire, where a marijuana growing operation was found in the basement. Are we simply ensuring these types of underground operations are pushed further underground because of stiffer penalties, while at the same time potentially widening the lucrative market for marijuana by loosening pot possession laws? While there has been much huffing and puffing over these new laws, we can't help but wonder if we've taken one step forward and one back. We would hope a day will come when our whole attitude to this substance, which is not unlike alcohol, will change to the point where we will look to strictly control it, produce it safely - heck, we could even tax it - so that we can take charge of the pot situation in Canada, rather than see this small legislative gain go up in smoke.Source: Scarborough Mirror, The (CN ON)Published: May 30, 2003Copyright: 2003 The Scarborough MirrorContact: scm mirror-guardian.comWebsite: http://www.insidetoronto.ca/to/scarborough/Related Articles:Pot Law Just Blowing Smoke http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16475.shtmlLegalize Pot, Says Mayor Campbellhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16423.shtmlLegalize Marijuana, Senate Committee Sayshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13989.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #4 posted by The GCW on June 02, 2003 at 05:56:27 PT Stick to the Truth from the beginning. 6:2:3The following is but another example of how Our Father through scripture has attempted to hold Us fast to what is said at the beginning, that is difficult for people to adhere to. That is that all the green plants are good. The Bible seems to indicate, through out that if We cease to grasp that all the plants are good, that We will begin the road toward destruction by way of violence since We did not believe from the very beginning, since the prohibition that comes from leaving the word about the green plants will in fact prohibit the very plant that guarantees peacefulness, that plant being cannabis / kaneh bosm. God knew long ago that if We allow the man of lawlessness to prohibit cannabis as the devil would have it, that peace would no longer be easy, and may be impossible. That is the leaves of the tree of life will heal the nations and with out the tree of life the nations can not heal, and so must never be prohibited Our ancestors are plants, and like no other living creature or thing, the plants rely on the light for survival. The light they rely on is beyond the light We understand, but We have access to that light, through the plants. We have access to plant light, which is different to physical light that initially man considers as light with out considering all the potential of light.And then while the plants have a connection to the light of God, unlike beast and creature, if We do not obey, the plant cannabis gives and contains light potential, like no other plant. With out access to the light plants receive and contain, We will always be beast, which, in the order of things does not rise up above plants but stays below the evolution potential of even the plant. That would indicate Bush, unable to know peace is still beast with less than what the plants know. The beast is only greater than the plant once it moves past the peacefulness of the plant potential, that the plant will share when accepted as a member of the family with wisdom to offer. Deny what the plant gives and You are unable to achieve what comes when We think beyond the beast. And with out the Truth, We are just beast.2 Peter 3:4, subtitled The Coming Day of the Lord. “...For ever since the fathers fell asleep all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (this reverts back to the very 1st page of the Bible, again, speaking about the beginning where We are told in no uncertain terms that all the green plants are good) and then: 2 Peter 3:16 “...some things are hard to understand, which the untaught and the unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (this indicates that from the beginning, which is the very 1st page, where it seems the separation starts, that because the untaught and the unstable will then screw up from that beginning 1st page... ALSO THE REST OF THE SCRIPTURES, from that beginning, on.) (it seems to tell Us that the destruction will emanate from the beginning and then go forward, as is happening, as is what We are warned against, yet now the man of lawlessness in present, as the apostasy foretells) (Bush is here, is proof). And do not forget, as it is persistent and consistent: 2 Peter 3:14, “... be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.” And if that all is not enough: 2 Peter 3:17, “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness...” To deny that the plants are all good, is to deny the word of God from the very beginning. That is not new, and now the man in charge is the most demanding that the plant is evil, with His servants claiming cannabis is worst that cocaine etc... and as We examine this 2 Peter area We see clearly it speaks about how the heavens will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. in 2 Pet. 3:10 and continues ... and the elements will melt with intense heat! Is this any longer avoidable? Our Pres. is now speaking about going into Iran and Syria, which may lead to Korea etc. which may piss off one of the Pakistan or India bunch that has the nuke potential along with us which can melt the elements with intense heat. It may no longer be avoidable, the man of lawlessness IS here and in control, (temporarily), and in fact it is clear from 2 Peter 3:11: "Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,...?" Well 2 Peter even tells Us what sort of people We ought to be in 3:14: "Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,..." Christ even told Us how to do that, when He told Us to love Our brother, which would then include do not kill, and do not prohibit the plant cannabis, since We are told all the plants are good. The Green Collar Worker / as posted on the Christians for Cannabis forum. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Kegan on June 02, 2003 at 03:20:32 PT CHILDREN'S BOOK ABOUT MEDICAL CANNABIS With Canada about to...... change...... the laws regarding cannabis, a new message for kids might beMOMMY'S FUNNY MEDICINE http://www.salvagingelectrons.com/mfm/The world's VERY FIRST CHILDREN'S BOOK..... about medical cannabis!!!! http://cannabislink.ca/links.html#CDRIL http://cannabiscoalition.ca/orgs.htm http://www.mapinc.org/perl/urlshow.pr?C=019&F=&A=n-cn&K= [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by The GCW on June 01, 2003 at 19:09:42 PT Jose Melendez, thanks that link was good. (The spirit is where it's at.)Right before I saw Your link, I was reading this in Urantia.http://www.urantia.org/papers/paper71.htmlDEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE1. THE EMBRYONIC STATEThe state is a territorial social regulative organization, and the strongest, most efficient, and enduring state is composed of a single nation whose people have a common language, mores, and institutions.The early states were small and were all the result of conquest. They did not originate in voluntary associations. Many were founded by conquering nomads, who would swoop down on peaceful herders or settled agriculturists to overpower and enslave them. Such states, resulting from conquest, were, perforce, stratified; classes were inevitable, and class struggles have ever been selective.The northern tribes of the American red men never attained real statehood. They never progressed beyond a loose confederation of tribes, a very primitive form of state. Their nearest approach was the Iroquois federation, but this group of six nations never quite functioned as a state and failed to survive because of the absence of certain essentials to modern national life, such as:...2. THE EVOLUTION OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENTDemocracy, while an ideal, is a product of civilization, not of evolution. Go slowly! select carefully! for the dangers of democracy are:1. Glorification of mediocrity.2. Choice of base and ignorant rulers.3. Failure to recognize the basic facts of social evolution.4. Danger of universal suffrage in the hands of uneducated and indolent majorities.5. Slavery to public opinion; the majority is not always right.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 802 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Public opinion, common opinion, has always delayed society; nevertheless, it is valuable, for, while retarding social evolution, it does preserve civilization. Education of public opinion is the only safe and true method of accelerating civilization; force is only a temporary expedient, and cultural growth will increasingly accelerate as bullets give way to ballots. Public opinion, the mores, is the basic and elemental energy in social evolution and state development, but to be of state value it must be nonviolent in expression.The measure of the advance of society is directly determined by the degree to which public opinion can control personal behavior and state regulation through nonviolent expression. The really civilized government had arrived when public opinion was clothed with the powers of personal franchise. Popular elections may not always decide things rightly, but they represent the right way even to do a wrong thing. Evolution does not at once produce superlative perfection but rather comparative and advancing practical adjustment.There are ten steps, or stages, to the evolution of a practical and efficient form of representative government, and these are:... [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Jose Melendez on June 01, 2003 at 18:42:49 PT Law of Unintended Consequences "when they cut the plants down, they used weed whackers, and reseeded the field something awful. That next year, it was amazing. Every half-inch, a hemp plant was coming up." In the year 2000, two crops of hemp were sown on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota-one by the family of Alex White Plume. Unfortunately, the DEA raided both crops at gunpoint and seized the crops. Now, only Alex White Plume is growing hemp-or at least he has tried. In each of the past two years, he has defied federal authorities and planted seeds on his land. Both times, those crops were seized. Now the hemp is growing again. Not because of Alex, but because the elements have scattered seeds far and wide across the 2,000-acre White Plume ranch. (Mainland) America's only Hemp Farmer [ Post Comment ] Post Comment