cannabisnews.com: Legalizing Marijuana - Time to Wake Up to Reality Legalizing Marijuana - Time to Wake Up to Reality Posted by FoM on September 10, 1999 at 17:35:51 PT Letters Source: Herald Net I must say that the people of this city and this country need to wake up and see what the real danger to society is. The use of marijuana on a medical basis is needed much more now than ever. There are killers out there on the loose and children missing from their homes as we speak, but I would like for one political figure to tell me why we are wasting time and tax dollars hunting down the marijuana smokers. I say let the pain be relieved and legalize marijuana for all purposes. If not, then make cigarettes illegal too. They kill more people in one year than marijuana ever has!CRAIG FINNERTYEdmondsWednesday, September 1, 1999LettersFriday, September 10, 1999 MARIJUANA Keep it an illegal substance Marijuana should not be legalized. It is a powerful narcotic which has influenced too many young people to experiment further with lethal drugs, especially cocaine. Marijuana also makes the mind docile, gradually causing a lack of ambition in the habitual user. The argument that marijuana is less devastating to society than alcohol is pointless and overused. Each has a uniquely detrimental effect on the individual. Marijuana's immediate effects may not be as obvious as those of alcohol, but its undeviating subjugation on the human mind should be obvious and of concern.Although America is apparently losing the war on drugs, it should continue the fight. Along with this battle we should strive to make a better society for future generations. Drugs like marijuana only defeat our minds, leaving us dull and apathetic, with little imagination or incentive to resolve our difficulties.DANIEL B. PALMERLynnwoodLettersFriday,September 10, 1999MARIJUANA No reason not to legalize it I very much agree with Craig Finnerty of Edmonds that marijuana prohibition is futile (Letters, Sept. 1, "Legalizing marijuana: Time to wake up to reality"). That is why I am supporting Initiative 229 to change the marijuana laws in this state. Please visit the Web site:http://www.crrh.org/wcta for more information.On March 17, the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine reported a ground-breaking study that concluded that everything our government has been telling us about this plant since 1937 has been a lie.It does not lead to harder drugs, is not addictive, and has proven medicinal value that certainly outweigh any side effects.It is legal in several states now for medical use and low THC hemp is being shown in Canada to be a crop that may save the American family farmers by being grown for its fiber.Thomas Jefferson grew it on his farm at Monticello. Why can't we? Surely we can find a better use for the millions we spend trying to eradicate this valuable plant. DARRAL GOODLynnwoodCopyright © 1999 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, Wash. END SNIP --> Snipped Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #7 posted by Jose Melendez on March 05, 2002 at 06:02:22 PT: Arrest Prohibition I hope this helps. Below are some links on the history of Marijuana Prohibition. Also, you might note that the very same politicians that pretend to be "tough on drugs" accept their largest campaign contributions from industries whose products verifiably kill 6 over million Americans each decade. Over 400,000 U.S. cigarette smokers die annually from nicotine, a drug that is chemically poison, as 2-3 drops on an open cut or wound can be fatal. The drug is delivered by a defective, dangerous delivery device (the filtered cigarette, originally marketed as safer, even though internal documents prove they knew otherwise - see www.ash.org) that actually increases the required amounts of carbon monoxide, benzene, benzopyrene and toluene required to consume the desired amounts of the drug. from: http://tobaccofreekids.org/reports/contributions/ >The tobacco industry has given more than $19 million in political >contributions to members of Congress, candidates for federal office, >national political parties and political action committees since 1997 >to thwart policies to protect the public health -- and votes in >Congress show a strong correlation between the amount members receive >and how they vote on tobacco-related issues. >For example, the senators who voted successfully in 1998 to kill the >McCain tobacco-control bill (the only comprehensive tobacco-control >legislation that Congress has ever voted on) received, on average, >nearly four times as much money from the tobacco industry in the two >years before their last election as the senators who supported the >bill ($17,902 vs. $4,810). Congress has actively looked the other way for this particular industry for over 50 years. In fact, the day that Big Tobacco industry executives perjured themselves in front of Congress in 1996, they were advised by a lawyer named Ken Starr. Apparently, perjury is Mr. Starr's specialty, since he subsequently spent 40 million dollars attempting to prosecute then sitting President Bill Clinton for perjury over private, personal matters. But no one has been prosecuted for the known false statements made by his clients about the addictive nature of cigarettes. Similarly, former "drug czar" Barry McCaffrey strenuously resisted efforts by the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving to force the Office of National Drug Control Policy to include anti-teen drinking ads in their anti-drug prgrams. Congress stepped in quickly, and conveniently prohibited ONDCP from spending any funds to advertise against alcohol, which verifiably kills 100,000 Americans annually, not to mention domestic violence and child abuse that is associated with that legal drug. Similar numbers exist for another billion dollar industry - prescription drugs kill 110,000 U.S. citizens every year. Meanwhile Budweiser, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft spam the television airwaves, Zoloft notably displays a cartoon based description of how the drug works (nearly identically to marijuana) by blocking dopamine receptors, causing your brain to increase production of this natural high. Of course, those drugs are all known for side effects, including but not limited to liver damage, sleeplessness, irritabilty, even death. Recently, in between SuperBowl Budweiser and Pepsi commercials (caffeine, by the way costs about the same to produce as cocaine, only it is more dangerous and addictive - 10 grams is the adult fatal dose, and about 90 percent of the world uses the drug regularly) there was an ONDCP ad, suggesting that drug purchasers "might" fund terror. Yet several months prior, that White House appropriated 43 million dollars to the Taliban, on the pretense that they were prohibiting opium. The State Department's Rand Beers later admitted that the Afghans had simply taken advantage of supply and demand, stockpiling the drug and artificially increasing the value of the product. Philip Morris recently completed and published a study that shows that governments financially profit from people dying prematurely from smoking. Apparently, if you smoke cigarettes, you create tax revenues for years, then die early, without collecting pensions, social security or other burdens to government. So, by keeping marijuana illegal, we have built what I like to call a house of cards, those that would have smoked pot and lived 20 years longer either die from tobacco, or rot in jail. And - you guessed it - the prison industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that lobbies Congress to maintain the status quo on drugs. So, if I had to boil the war on marijuana down to a catchy phrase, it would probably be something like, "It's the hypocrisy, stupid." There is more, please feel free to email any questions or comments. Peace, Arrest Prohibition Drug War is Treason see: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,169517,00.html http://home.epix.net/~jlferri/marijle.html http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/media/schaffer1.htm http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm Wage Drug Peace [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Chico on March 04, 2002 at 19:46:38 PT: doing research, could use some help. Hi im doing a research prodject for my school, and i need to know a little bit about history of laws against the consumption of marijuana, or some opinions on why you think it should/or should not be illegal, snd so forth, so anything anyone could send me would be much appretiated. Thanks. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by mike87592 on June 06, 2001 at 11:01:14 PT: weed Weed is like acohole it does not make you go crazy or kill people it makes you wanna become friends with everybody. They should legalize it because if they do the government could use that money to fight other drugs that really fuck up people not just pussy ones like weed. Acohole is like weed and even better and no one is say that it should be illegal they just say that you shouldn't drink and [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Nancy Garcia on May 25, 2001 at 09:50:16 PT: I need some help... Hi I am a student at FIDM and one of my classes is effective speaking and I have decided to make one of my speeches on Leagalizing Marijuana I personaly think its time that the government stops spending our money on useless programs that we all know will not work until the demand is eliminated so that the supply will also be eliminated. so what I need is personal opinions of any fats that you could give m in order to do my speech so I would really appreciate it if someone would send me a few words of wisdom on this topic. Thanks Sincerely Nancy [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by alyssa on May 24, 2001 at 08:52:24 PT: okay now listen up.... i don't see what the big deal is? why don't we just legalize marijun and shut the hell up because the people that are against legalizing it are fucking retards that obviously think of themselves at a certain time and i think that they are all stuck up. LEGALIZE LEGALIZE LEGALIZE [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Pot Head on May 04, 2000 at 14:27:17 PT Put the bible down and get real. This is getting old, seems the only logical argument I hear from prohibitionists is that thousands of law enforcement personel will be out of work. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Ken Sailor on September 11, 1999 at 07:14:36 PT: Only ignorance keeps marijuana illegal It's good to keep in mind that marijuana was made illegal at the same time that it was thought that masturbation was a harmful practice, that women were inferior to men, and that there was a world conspiracy of Jews who controled international events.The marijuana laws are based on prejudice and superstition that persists even to today. See the message above about marijuana being a powerful narcotic!The real dynamic is identifying a relatively powerless group and then demonizing it and making it the enemy. Now that the communists are largely off the scene, our politicians need someone to target as evil.Of course marijuana should be legalized. Either that or we should take the vote away from women and make masturbation illegal. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: