cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Poses No Threat To Anyone










  Marijuana Poses No Threat To Anyone

Posted by CN Staff on April 17, 2006 at 07:22:53 PT
By Casey Jaywork 
Source: Delaware Online 

Delaware -- As a University of Delaware student in international relations and Americorps graduate, I am completely unashamed to say I smoke marijuana on a regular basis. Naturally, my parents disapprove, but they also recognize it's my choice. In return, I repeatedly prove to them and myself that I am capable of handling this responsibility. For example, I never drive while inebriated, I'm careful not to overuse, and I generally conduct myself as an adult.
I am astonished by American double-think regarding substance abuse. When is the last time you heard of someone overdosing on marijuana? Never. Yet drunken driving is potentially fatal and a common occurrence. Binge drinking leads to alcohol poisoning, is also potentially fatal, and is standard college fare.Most of my peers who also use marijuana (most of my peers, period) choose to act in a mature manner. Of course, some do not. I have little respect for them because they obviously have none for themselves. Please do not construe my liberated attitude toward drug use as sympathy for drug abuse.Yet that is exactly how the law sees it. According to current state and federal legislation, my responsible use of marijuana is worse than someone else's drunken driving and alcohol poisoning.I cannot fathom how punishing someone for smoking marijuana with a fine, prison and a criminal record can possibly benefit society. Essentially, the message seems to be that my past (Americorps), present (youth mentoring) and future contributions to my community are outweighed by the harm incurred when I smoke a marijuana cigarette.I always figured that laws should be based on the common and individual good, not mindless dogma.Anyone who investigates the history of American prohibition of marijuana will quickly discover that it was nothing more than a mechanism of discrimination. In the 1920s and '30s, Mexican workers were flooding into the United States, taking jobs. Noting that marijuana use was popular with the workers, legislators banned it, and used the ban as an excuse to kick out Mexicans.Anti-drug propaganda used in those days was ridiculous. One example: "Marijuana -- a powerful narcotic in which lurks Murder! Insanity! Death!" (For those who have never used marijuana, let me assure say this could not be farther from the truth.)We still treat all illegal drugs as equally dangerous, regardless of their effects and addictiveness. Cigarettes have been described as being equal to heroin in addictiveness by addicts of both -- whereas marijuana is biologically non-addictive. School drug education programs as a rule rely on scare tactics over facts and honest discussions.Prison populations have exploded in the last 30 years. In 1999, the annual cost was $64,157 per non-violent drug offender. In 2000, they comprised 57 percent of the prison population. With 2,071,686 prisoners under U.S. jurisdiction, that's roughly $75.5 billion being spent annually on imprisoning non-violent drug offenders, as of 2000.Former Delaware prosecutor Peter Letang stated in an article that he had no solutions. I beg to differ. The first and foremost solution is a candid discussion. Here are two more:Marijuana and similar "soft" drugs (psychedelic mushrooms and other drugs that pose no inherent danger of use) should be legalized in the same manner as alcohol, with a minimum age of use and severe repercussions for irresponsible misuse (driving under the influence, etc.)Drug laws should be written and amended to reflect that drug abuse is not the same as stealing, rape or murder. Prisons are breeding grounds for substance dependency and criminal behavior. Non-violent drug abusers don't require jail time but effective treatment programs that emphasize rehabilitation over shame and fear.Punitive measures should be paid for in the form of fines and community service, not prison sentences.I urge people to abandon preconceived notions that drug use is inherently irresponsible and take a hard look at the witch hunt. I and countless others are responsible contributors to society. Are we really the enemy?The News Journal editorial board is presenting an ongoing public discussion of policy regarding illegal drugs. Fax opinions to 324-2595 or e-mail:  letters delawareonline.comCasey Jaywork lives in Dover.Source: Delaware Online (DE)Author: Casey JayworkPublished: April 17, 2006Copyright: 2006, The News JournalContact: letters delawareonline.comWebsite: http://www.delawareonline.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml

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Comment #26 posted by whig on April 18, 2006 at 13:42:24 PT
museman
Amen.
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Comment #25 posted by museman on April 18, 2006 at 13:12:08 PT
#8_
"Why? Where exactly does that "right" emanate from?"From God."Are violent criminals from other countries welcome here?"
No just the rich, and it doesn't matter how much pain, suffering, death and destruction happens in the 'legal' aquisition of their wealth, as long as the corporate feudal lords get their cut.Did the Orignal Natives get to exercise their sovereign rights when our euro-ancestors 'immigrated' here? Yes I believe they did, but their efforts to secure their own homeland were met with lies, subterfuge, and military force.Seems to me that to be a rich bastard from hell is a prerequisite for political power, and though there are a handful of well-meaning "representatives" out there they just don't come close to balancing out the corruption that exists from the local constabulary to the feds. Though they do pretty worded lip-service to the concepts of freedom, liberty, justice, etc.etc. there is nothing resembling the fact within the actual practice."When your very first act in the country is to violate its laws, how can you claim you are a good citizen, or ever will be?"Gee I guess 'buying manhatten' with strings of beads (A very dishonest act, morally 'illegal') was OK? The fact that this government lied, decieved, and murdered to get control of the land from it's indiginous peoples, doesn't matter right?Well I guess the bowl I'm smoking precludes my 'good citizenship?'How about this;"When your first laws are about the rights of the rich and their property, how can you claim 'liberty and justice for all'? How equal is equal?I know a lot of 'criminals' by this definition whose HUMANITY, if compared to the same 'good citizens' you are referring to put them literally to shame.Maybe the 'legislature' should pass laws forbidding American coroporate interests from outsourcing american jobs? Oh my couldn't do that, profits might dip a few pennies.It simply amazes me how some people think that freedom is brought about by law, when it ought to be obvious that it is just the opposite. Freedom is stifled by law. Law is a game of the rich to justify their wealth. Law is based on fear and war, and written exclusively by the rich and their minions-the lawyers. The fact that the rich need armies to protect their gold and oil, and police to enforce the curtailment and containment of human rights and liberties, does nothing to justify law. In fact most 'crimes' are having to do with the imbalance of wealth and property. Poor people are in prisons, they are the ones who know just how off balance it is.This earth, all the bounty thereof, was given TO ALL MEN, of ALL NATIONS, CREEDS, and RACES. No man or group of men have the right to claim more of that bounty than anyone else. Not by virtue of birthright, nor by works, or deeds, or the trumped up LIE AND ILLUSION of Propriety. The claims of this government over MY GOD GIVEN PERSONAL SOVEREIGNTY are FALSE CLAIMS! Their 'authority' is false. This governmnet is illegal, it's establishing principles are steeped in lies, subterfuge, and hypocrisy, and anyone can who speak of freedom for only the select few is just another member of that club, and a revealed hypocrit.
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on April 18, 2006 at 08:51:40 PT

Hello
I can't find any news today so far. I thought since 4:20 is two days away that there would be a couple articles on events but nothing. I haven't heard anything recently on NORML's conference either. I wonder why no news? Meanwhile I am all excited about Neil's new album. I hope everyone has a great day. It's cool and sunny and beautiful here. 
Neil Young: Living With War
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Comment #23 posted by whig on April 18, 2006 at 08:25:46 PT

Fear, anger and pain...
Negative emotions are aversive, we turn away from them, we do not want to feel them. When we are fearful, angry and in pain, we do not wish to confront the cause if we can avoid it. This leads us away from honest understanding and proper action.
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Comment #22 posted by Hope on April 18, 2006 at 03:25:02 PT

"When people are afraid, 
their thinking is not so clear."Very often true.
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Comment #21 posted by whig on April 17, 2006 at 22:29:14 PT

FoM
Immigration isn't the cause of the poverty, though. I understand it's a hot button and I've seen Lou Dobbs demagogue it every night on his program so I can understand why a lot of people believe it.We have a really bad economy. If you have lots of money it's easy to make lots more. If you don't have very much money it's very hard to make a living. The farms were industrialized and the people went to work in the factories, then the factories shut down and there was no more work for ordinary people. But this means that wealthy people have it even better, because they can pay people a lot less to do work for them and they used to have to pay a lot more especially when the unions were strong. Now the unions are mostly weak, too.I could talk a lot more about it, and I could even discuss what I think can be done, but really we can't get things fixed with the current government in place because they want things this way, it makes their friends lots of money and gives them lots of power and they don't want to give that up. I don't see the current government holding for long, but if they nuke Iran which some people are saying is in the planning stages, I think America will be like Germany in the 1940s and it will become a pariah.Sorry to be pessimistic, but immigrants are the least of our concerns, and while a lot of people have been scared about them I think the people who are trying to make a big deal about this issue in terms of catapulting the propaganda are really trying to create a scapegoat to distract us, and it does play on the racism which exists in a large part of "red state" territory particularly.
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Comment #20 posted by lombar on April 17, 2006 at 21:07:18 PT

Fear of the 'other'
It is easy to get people to fear that which is different. When people are afraid, their thinking is not so clear.(or they stop thinking in panic).Here is a primary example. Sowing fear of cannabis. The parents are saying 'cannabis took control of our son' and yet he was actually diagnosed schizophrenic at age 18. What is likely to have happened is that the person found relief with cannabis and his parents freaked out about it. Probably threatened to disown him for doing the 'devil weed' called him a worthless mental case criminal or something .... seen that before. Of course it was nothing they did, it was the devil weed that 'took control' of their son.
Parents blame cannabis for son's suicide
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on April 17, 2006 at 20:35:30 PT

Whig
It is a big problem. When we moved out to Ohio and moved into this town of about 5,000 people the town seemed humble but tidy and people were friendly. We established a good business in that town which was great for many years. We had a GE Plant, a General Tire Plant and in a town nearby we had an Alcoa plant. People had work but now the plants are not what they were or are closed and poverty is showing in that little town. My father in law and mother in law both worked at a Firestone Plant in PA and retired from the plant. It employed about 5,000 people. The plant closed. This is the problem. Our jobs are gone now and that is why illegal immigration is a hot button issue. Young mostly boys back when I was a teenager worked in orchards and Bush says the work is work americans won't do but they sure did it when I was young.
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Comment #18 posted by whig on April 17, 2006 at 20:15:04 PT

FoM
I think rural poverty is a big problem in America.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on April 17, 2006 at 19:32:00 PT

Whig
My husband lost a very good job working for GE because they sent the plant to Mexico. I don't know how the economy is where you are but around here the people are dirt poor. There isn't work for most people. If you can't make it by getting into a business for yourself you are in trouble. Kids don't even go to college often from our local town. Poverty because of lack of available jobs is here in the states too. Hospital care is not something people think about around here either. We just have to hope and pray that no one needs a hospital and that includes me. I do know that illegal immigrants do get free care at least in Orange County CA where I went to a clinic with my son years ago.
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Comment #16 posted by whig on April 17, 2006 at 19:08:43 PT

FoM
Can we send money to people in Mexico to make their lives a little better? Wouldn't that work? Couldn't we push Mexico to help their people better? Couldn't we sanction Mexico if they don't do something to help with this problem?Worthwhile questions, but there's a limit to what we can do for people in other countries. The Mexican government is probably even more corrupt than the US government, if that's possible to imagine. They keep the people impoverished, without even sufficient food and shelter in many cases, and in many parts of the country the drug gangs are in complete control. Drug war is a big part of the problem there too.
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Comment #15 posted by FoM on April 17, 2006 at 19:01:50 PT

Whig
Can we send money to people in Mexico to make their lives a little better? Wouldn't that work? Couldn't we push Mexico to help their people better? Couldn't we sanction Mexico if they don't do something to help with this problem?
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Comment #14 posted by whig on April 17, 2006 at 18:58:28 PT

FoM
Why do we have laws? That is a very basic question but without some laws how could a world full of people get along at all? No matter how good the intentions are of most people it never fails that some bad apple will try to stir strife. That's why we have laws in my opinion. My grandparents were legal immigrants and went thru everything they did. I wish people would go thru a legal immigration process like so many have done and are still doing. How hard can it be?It can be practically impossible, with the quotas that are set up, and the difference between crossing the border without permission and "waiting in line" can be the difference between survival and starvation. Truthfully.There are some laws which mirror our ideas of rightness, and there are others which perpetrate an injustice. If Angel Raich obeys federal law, she dies.
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Comment #13 posted by whig on April 17, 2006 at 18:15:16 PT

lombar
You know it's funny that in Vancouver (and Canada generally?) you seem to be saying the main problem is that immigrants are wealthier than the average person and drive up real-estate, but down here in the United States people complain that the undocumented immigrants are too poor and they drive down wages. Can't win either way, I guess.But the truth is that the economic system has been gamed from both ends for the benefit of the wealthy, and to the disadvantage of the working classes. This really has nothing to do with immigration, that's just a useful foil and scapegoat so we don't pay attention to the profiteers who are squeezing us from both ends. Those wealthy enough to own lots of land profit if it goes up, and they save lots of money when wages go down.And they're more than happy to tell you it's all the immigrants' fault.
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Comment #12 posted by lombar on April 17, 2006 at 15:34:48 PT

In Vancouver..
I have lived on the Coast for 20+ years and the last 20 at that. In that time there has been a huge influx of Asian immigrants. I do not disagree with the notion of immigration , Canada needs new people because we have negative growth economic policies.(keeps the profits high for the elite, financing the USA takeover with our own money..etc) The influx has been mostly wealthy and better off people and resultant speculation caused by scarcity of accomodation has made the real estate market ridiculous. The 'natives' like myself are put in direct competition with people who have brought larger amounts of capital than the average person can amass here, especially under the conditons (high operating expenses, high taxes, slim-to-none margins on everything except drugs). Hence a richer class before they even enter the country. Having an ocean to cross and an army of bureaucrats acts as a method of natural selection...If we want people to be able to immigrate freely then all we have to do is erase the borders, bow to the one world government(tm), and work till we die. ;)I agree whig that rights should be inherent but a wave of a gun can change such things in a blink of an eye. That is what we face. We should have an inherent right to engage in and profit from *any* agriculture yet coercion enforced with guns deprives us of our 'inherent' rights. What the Lord giveth, man taketh away.It's kind of like the difference between the scientific treatment of an ideal gas versus the observed behavior of a real gas. Rights may be inherent in principle but it takes an army to keep them in this world. Probably some of the motivation for the 2nd(?) amendment. I have a right to life but only if I can stop someone else from taking it.... same with liberty and pursuit of happiness.Laws only have power because we 1) obey them for whatever reason - order/peace/ethics
2) fear disobeying themIf one can overcome fear of consequences, only the choice to obey remains. If someone disregards 1 and 2 then the only thing to stop them from making you a victim is your ability to stop them. The illusion is that the state protects us with more and more cops but the reality is that those cops would just be scraping up your remains to puzzle out why you are dead... not much use to you.So if everyone were to accord each other rights as they are stated, we would not have much crime at all. Experience is that many people disregard the rights of others. SO either we defend our own rights or we make institution of law to do so. The problem arises when some groups get 'more' rights than others... 
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Comment #11 posted by whig on April 17, 2006 at 13:27:30 PT

Joe
We do have a lot of off-topic conversation here and I think it's mostly considered okay as long as it doesn't divide us in ways that create anger between ourselves. I hope we can keep it civil, but if not I'll back off and we can go back to talking about less controversial things.We have a disagreement. You can ask where a right comes from, and I will answer that they derive from moral truth, that the opposite of rights are wrongs. Some people think rights come from constitutions and laws created by men and the governments they have instituted; this is not only contrary to the language of those very constitutions themselves which presuppose inherent rights, but it is also a dangerous business because it imputes a power to legislators to grant or deny rights at their pleasure.If rights are not inherent, if they are given by the state and not by God, then you have no right to use cannabis. None whatsoever. You are a criminal.I reject this.A right to migrate is the right to travel itself. You can invent borders and draw lines on a map and try to deny people the right to cross them by making laws to criminalize their doing so, but they do not actually lose the right.Does this mean violent criminals should be free to go anywhere? It's a completely separate matter to deprive someone of their liberty when they threaten others. Do you want to have border security to monitor for diseases or weaponry? It's probably impossible to do so, but you can try. None of this has anything to do with preventing peaceful men and women from coming and going.Arguing about this is very much like arguing about the terrible dangers of unprohibited cannabis.Cannabis is just a plant, and immigrants are just people.
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Comment #10 posted by FoM on April 17, 2006 at 11:19:42 PT

A Question
Why do we have laws? That is a very basic question but without some laws how could a world full of people get along at all? No matter how good the intentions are of most people it never fails that some bad apple will try to stir strife. That's why we have laws in my opinion. My grandparents were legal immigrants and went thru everything they did. I wish people would go thru a legal immigration process like so many have done and are still doing. How hard can it be?
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Comment #9 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on April 17, 2006 at 11:01:18 PT

Mexico
"I also believe we should contact the U.S. Senate and ask them crack down on the illegal immigrants!"Perhaps if conditions in Mexico were better, there wouldn't be this tide of illegal immigration. Why have we been sending billions of dollars halfway around the world, when conditions just south of the border are apparently bad enough to make so many people leave?
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Comment #8 posted by JoeCitizen on April 17, 2006 at 10:58:55 PT

Whig, I disagree
As much as I enjoy your writings about cannabis and freedom, I disagree with the points you made about immigration."People have the right to migrate where they want."Why? Where exactly does that "right" emanate from? We live in the nation-state of the United States of America. That nation-state is defined by geographical boundaries which are also legal boundaries. The laws of US apply inside those lines, the laws of another nation or international law apply outside of them.Are violent criminals from other countries welcome here? Are people carrying infectious diseases free to just walk in and go where they please? Can you drive in with a truckload of alien plant or animal species, any one of which might utterly unbalance our local environment?Border controls allow you to screen out the criminals, control the flow of disease vectors, and prevent random introduction of invasive species (plants like kudzu and insects like fire ants or africanized honeybees, which can really cause harm and havoc.)I dislike the intentional blurring of terminology surrounding this issue.  People who sneak across borders in defiance of standing laws are not immigrants, they are criminals. My great-grandparents and grandparents were immigrants. They came through legal ports of call at Ellis Island and at the Canadian border. They studied English, took citizenship tests, and became Americans. Legal immigrants helped make this country what it is today, and they should be welcomed. Illegal immigrants (aliens) are not welcome.  When your very first act in the country is to violate its laws, how can you claim you are a good citizen, or ever will be?I am not prejudiced against Latinos. I think all illegal immigrants should be dealt with in the same way, whether they are Latinos in the southwest, Chinese in the West, or Irish in Boston. If you snuck in, you get tossed out on your ear. Go back to the end of the line, and wait your turn like everyone else.All of which is off-topic as far as Cannabis News.  PeaceJC
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Comment #7 posted by whig on April 17, 2006 at 10:24:43 PT

Richard Zuckerman
"I also believe we should contact the U.S. Senate and ask them crack down on the illegal immigrants!"Status criminals. Just like cannabis users.People have the right to migrate where they want.
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Comment #6 posted by Richard Zuckerman on April 17, 2006 at 10:03:31 PT:

NORML CONFERENCE THIS FRIDAY
Are you people aware that this Friday, April 21, 2006, is the National Organization For The Reform Of Marijuana Laws Conference, in San Francisco? I am unable to appear because I do not have enough money at this time! I am awaiting oral argument on my appeal against the police, to ask the panel to ESTABLISH A CAUSE OF ACTION FOR RETALIATION UNDER THE STATE CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY OF SPEECH. I have given out several posters for the Million Marijuana March, which I obtained from Dana Beal, of www.cures-not-wars.org.I have also sent letters and personally visited State Legislators, asking to decriminalize Marijuana, at least for Medicine.WOULD YOU PEOPLE PLEASE GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT THE NORML CONFERENCE THIS COMING FRIDAY, THE MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH, AND TO CONTACT LEGISLATORS FOR POT DECRIM?I want to hear more about these "endogenous Cannabinoids"! People give me a puzzled look when I mention it to them and that children cannot develop normally without them!!!I also believe we should contact the U.S. Senate and ask them crack down on the illegal immigrants!
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Comment #5 posted by Max Flowers on April 17, 2006 at 09:28:15 PT

A dangerous game
“You pay $25, and you get four bags of cheese puffs, two orders of homemade mac and cheese, two liters of pop, two brownies and a Munchiez sandwich of your choice. And if you can eat it all in 25 minutes, we’ll put your picture on a board, and you get a $25 gift certificate.”Ah yes, but what I want to know is, who will clean up the sidewalk after this load of garbage proves too hard to hold down for even the bravest stoner stomach?I don't care how strong someone's munchies are---most of that is a disgusting load of non-food, and it isn't worth $25 either. But hey, sounds like they have a great little business there.
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on April 17, 2006 at 08:49:33 PT

Dankhank 
I never saw that particular movie. We had it in our video store years ago but I never watched it. I have stumbled on to WEEDS a couple times. I am so looking forward to season II.
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Comment #3 posted by Dankhank on April 17, 2006 at 08:29:27 PT

on showtime, now 
finishing up "Wild in the Streets"don't watch the ending ...wait for it to run again to see a freaked-out movie from the later sixties about kids taking over our country ...some young recognizable artists in this one, 'specially Shelly Winters ...
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 17, 2006 at 07:52:20 PT

Here’s The Smokin’ 411 on 420
By Hearne Christopher Jr.April Fools’ Day, tax day — what’s next? May Day?Not quite.First we have to slip past April 20, or “420” in stoner parlance. That’s the date many marijuana smokers celebrate in recognition of 420 being the unofficial but widely recognized term for the time to light up a joint.Which brings us to the 420 event planned by our friends at Munchiez in Westport, Brandi and Lisa Blair. The couple dishes up Ding Dongs, Ho Hos, Gummi Bears, cheese puffs, sandwiches and other munchies to late night partiers from their biz at 1517 Westport Road.“We’ve been swamped. Business is fabulous,” Lisa says.“It’s awesome,” Brandi adds. “Our Tuesday nights are starting to pick up, too. And on Saturday nights, it’s just wall-to-wall people.”As for the big fiesta Thursday, the pair had planned to erect a tent and hold a massive street party to celebrate the big day. But for sanity’s sake, they’ve dialed it back to an in-store bash with live DJs and food and drink specials.“I want to find somebody to dress up in a big sheet and wear a big, orange Afro wig, so they look like a joint,” Brandi says.Hold it.Let the record show that the couple say they do not partake themselves, nor allow the smoking of you-know-what on the premises.To celebrate the success of their biz — which by the way is open from 4:20 p.m. to 4:20 a.m. — the couple has hatched a promotion.“We’ve got a Munchiez Challenge,” Brandi says. “You pay $25, and you get four bags of cheese puffs, two orders of homemade mac and cheese, two liters of pop, two brownies and a Munchiez sandwich of your choice. And if you can eat it all in 25 minutes, we’ll put your picture on a board, and you get a $25 gift certificate.”Kind of like the eat-a-72-ounce-steak, get-it-free promo at the world famous Big Texan in Amarillo, Texas, which, incidentally, is run by ex-Cowtowner Danny Lee of Savoy Grill fame.Complete Article: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/14345790.htm
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Comment #1 posted by Graehstone on April 17, 2006 at 07:51:04 PT

Great article
I would also like to add, seeing as how the 20's and 30's were mentioned, a book I am currently reading and about halfway through. Next to "The Emperor wears no clothes" this is the best book on Marijuana and it's history that I have ever run across.
"Cannabis: A History" by Martin Booth
ISBN# 0312322208
Sadly Martin has since passed on, but left us with many very good books and he shall be missed.
I can only recommend this book. There are many things reaffirmed in it an many other things newly learned as well. It's an easy read and the subject dear to my heart.
  
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