cannabisnews.com: Hemp: Its About Money & Dope not Tee-Shirts & Rope





Hemp: Its About Money & Dope not Tee-Shirts & Rope
Posted by FoM on September 17, 2000 at 21:58:24 PT
Guest Opinion: By Sgt. Christopher Perley
Source: Union-Leader
I read with great concern an article published regarding the legalization of marijuana. The focus of the story was not just the usual regurgitated rhetoric on this subject, but also the fact that this lowly cause was being championed by a prominent New Hampshire law firm. As a professional police officer, DARE instructor and parent, I take issue with not only the message of this piece but the messengers as well.  What a sad irony that people terminally ill from the effects of smoking tobacco are duped into believing that smoking something else will help them. 
Marijuana has the same adverse effects on the lungs, heart and vascular system as tobacco does and more. The use of marijuana as a treatment is not widely accepted by the medical profession for the same reasons lots of drugs aren't: it's dangerous.  The hemp market or "wonder crop" argument is just a good old fashioned "bait and switch." The supporters of NORML and its New Hampshire counterparts would have you believe that there are a whole host of products you haven't been able to live without that can be made from hemp. Historical references are often made by these groups that even our own Founding Father George Washington grew hemp in an attempt to legitimize the practice. It's true he had acres of hemp, but he also had slaves tending those crops. Some ideas, whether practiced or lawful in the past, are downright wrong for modern society. What you don't hear in this argument is that hemp looks identical to its mind-altering cousin Cannabis Sativa.  If hemp was legalized there would be no way for law enforcement authorities to visually distinguish the difference between the two crops. These fringe groups are counting on "baiting" the voters with promises of newer more wonderful products and "switching" it with fields of illegal drugs. They advocate hemp and marijuana in the same breath. If hemp is legalized do you really think their efforts will be spent on growing a crop that can make low quality fiber, or a crop that sells for $300 an ounce? Do the math. It's about money and dope, not tee-shirts and rope!  The third plank on this political platform of stupidity is of course the "social freedoms, social use" argument. "Marijuana is so harmless, really no more dangerous than alcohol and since we are all responsible adults why can't we choose what to do with our minds and bodies?"  This is where the law firm of Twomey and Sisti chirp in, claiming to be the guardians of our social freedoms. They even buttress their argument by saying, "Making marijuana legal would cut significantly into our income . . ." presumably to fool us into thinking it's a worthy, credible endeavor. Are they kidding?  The alcohol vs. marijuana story is a no brainer as well. So are many analogies to the Prohibition problems and the war on drugs. The social ills felt during Prohibition had more to do with the a post World War I economy and the fact that Canada, our next door neighbor, had legal production of alcohol, than a systemic problem with enforcing alcohol laws. The same situations does not and could not exist today. I would however, point out that today, serious crime, which any analyst will tell you is closely tied to the drug trade, is at its lowest point in 20 years. The streets are actually safer and it's not because we are all wearing hemp sandals. Safe streets and safe communities should really be what this issue is all about.  We as a society see tens of thousands of people killed each year on our highways due to alcohol-related crashes. Do we really want to add to this national tragedy by making one more substance legal and available? With its increased availability, like it or not, children will be involved. Marijuana is a recognized gateway drug. Kids don't start with crack and heroin: they start with tobacco, alcohol and marijuana. I have seen firsthand the real price tag that comes along with marijuana use. On Thanksgiving day 1987 at about 4 o'clock in the morning, I had to respond to a serious traffic crash in my home town. A young man was driving late at night and struck a tree. He was ejected from the car, crushed and laid there in the street, dying. There was little that I could do to help while waiting for the rescue personnel to arrive. All I could do was comfort him while his obviously fatal injuries took his life.  There was no reason for him to have crashed that night: the roads were clear and straight. The sight of that young man, laying helplessly in the road that morning has affected me ever since. My Thanksgivings, as well as his and his families, are changed forever. A toxicology report later showed he was high on THC, the intoxicating chemical found in marijuana.  Paul Twomey and Phil Greazzo are wrong when they say marijuana has never killed anyone, dead wrong. I know it does and I know it will again if it's legalized. Let's seek the truth on this debate. Marijuana is dangerous and legalizing it would be wrong.  Sgt. Christopher Perley of North Conway is president of the New Hampshire DARE Officers Association. Published: September 18, 2000 Source: Union Leader (NH) Copyright: The Union Leader Corp. 2000 Contact: TheUL aol.com Address: P.O. Box 9555 Manchester, NH 03108-9555 Website: http://www.theunionleader.com/ CannabisNews DARE Archives:http://cannabisnews.com/news/list/DARE.shtml
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Comment #38 posted by mdavidson on March 07, 2002 at 16:46:40 PT:
It has been fun.
Jose, Patrick:	I have had a good time debating with you guys. Unfortunately spring break is almost over, so I will have to return to full-time school in addition to full-time work. Thus I will not have the time to carry on the debate. By the way, my name is Mike Davidson, and I can not believe how ironic your other Mike Davidson turned out to be!!! That is too funny. I will send him a message just to mess with him ;-)I will end on this note. You guys made some good points, better than I thought you would. However when all is said and done, I still think that legalizing this “herb” (not drug Patrick) would only lead our society to an even lower standard. Other than a few good times for the people who enjoy it, I see no benefits. I will check back with you guys from time to time.P.S. don’t smoke that stuff too much, you will go blind……. Hahaha I bet you guys will have fun with that.  
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Comment #37 posted by Jose Melendez on March 07, 2002 at 13:23:10 PT:
get this
Check out these words, ironically from another mdavidson from 1996:
...the effect of banning the hard drugs has been to 
enrich violent thugs in and out of the state apparatus, ruin the lives 
of countless non-violent people, and make it ever more profitable to 
trade in the very substances that you were trying to ban in the first 
place. It is the very "hard drugs" that you want to keep illegal that are 
the best example of this *INEVITABLE* process. Mike Davidson - mdavidso julian.uwo.caFrom:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=+%22mike+davidson%22+marijuana&hl=en&selm=4mrsov%24ids%40falcon.ccs.uwo.ca&rnum=2
Arrest Prohibition
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Comment #36 posted by Jose Melendez on March 07, 2002 at 06:11:33 PT:
Thanks
Thanks, Patrick. Apologies to all for my lengthy, often misspelled text. Also, mdavidson, JAMA already published a study that questions the statistical accuracy and relevence of the study you posted.See:http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n9/ffull/jed20003.htmlAnd:http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread12160.shtml#17
Peace,
Arrest Prohibition
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Comment #35 posted by Patrick on March 07, 2002 at 06:06:30 PT
Jose
Well said my friend!!!
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Comment #34 posted by Jose Melendez on March 07, 2002 at 05:58:31 PT:
prohibition increases demand
mdavdson,
Thanks for your courteous tone, I appreciate that you would like to simply agree to disagree. However, if you would criminalize smoke and drink, you might consider that Alcohol Prohibition caused incredible harm to the citizens of this country, while making other groups fabulously wealthy.
Al Capone got rich because alcohol use was criminalized in the 1920's. Those laws were responsible for bathtub gin, blindness and death, since alcohol was forced into the unregulated black market. Also, Prohibition created an atmosphere of corruption in the law enforcement industry beacuse the cash value of the prohibited substances was artificially increased due to the immutable laws of supply and demand. Joe Kennedy ran bootleg booze, that money eventually got his sons into the White House. 
The laws made by the ruling class do not, of course apply to them, of course. Nicole bush, daughetr of Florida Governer has been reportedly accepted into a mandatory treatment program that her extensive criminal record technically precludes her from being eligible to participate in. Of course her uncle, sitting President George W. Bush was arrested for drunk driving while his father was president... no shame there, and despite many suggestions that the man used cocaine extensively for many years, he holds the highest post in the country.
Because alcohol is very dangerous, the public soon recognized that deaths and blindnes from improperly manufactured contraband (such as bathtub gin) were the direct result of the prohibition of those substances, and that amendment was allowed to expire.
This, some cannabis activists believe, is the reason marijuana is still illegal. Soon after the end of Prohibition, Harry Anslinger helped restore jobs and create new careers for enforcement and correctional officers across the country - by lying to Congress about the effects and safety of "Marihuana".
Marijuana is chemically food, not poison. The seeds contain among the highest concentrations of essential linoleic and linolenic acids. These EFA's (essential fatty acids) are named so because they are necessary for life. So, perhaps because an increase in abuse caused by the prohibition of marijuana does NOT yield blindness or death, there is no public outcry against the criminalization of it's use.
(Jamaican fisherman have for many years claimed cannabis improves their night vision - a claim that might be verified by recent research showing that spinach may also improve vision. Also, cannabis has been shown to have anti-microbial and anti-carcinogenic properties...)
So, while you may think it appropriate to ban all smokeables and drink, you would be well served to consider your history first. Surely you have heard the saying that those who do not know their own history are doomed to repeat it?
Anyway, both cannabis and tobacco can be consumed by vaporizer, which does not create the carbon monoxide, benzene, benzopyrene and toluene necessarily created during combustion. In that case, if smoking was prohibited, then you would be left with people who choose to addict themselves to nicotine, (which is still poison: 2-3 drops of pure nicotine on an open cut or wound can be fatal.) versus people who prefer to use the dopamine naturally increased in their brains via the receptor blocking actions of the benign herb, whose psychoactive effects have never taken a single human life. Nicotine does indeed perform natural functions in the body, but the dangerous, defective device known as the filtered cigarette necessarily increases the levels of CO, etc. needed to self-titrate the desired drug.
By the way, zoloft and other legal drugs work in similar ways to cannabis, only these pills pushed by pharmaceutical giants have almost all been shown to cause liver damage and other side effects, including but not limited to death. Again, cannabis oils have been proven to have anti-microbial and anti-carcinogenic properties.
Zoloft actually broadcasts a cartoon showing how it works to block receptors, increasing dopamine (or seratonin levels, in the case of Prozac). Budweiser runs a commercial that shows a race car driver distracted by the skipping cd player in his dash - which he is able to fix by hitting another race car (what does that say about driving and drink?)... and tobacco companies have been making "anti-" smoking ads that some claim are actually advertisements for their deadly wares. The anti-cigarette campaign known as theTruth has been so successful at reducing smoking that it endangers the funds that normally are received in per-pack taxes. So conveniently for tobacco companies and the government that depends on their blood money, funding for theTruth program has been substantially cut.
Those same companies also manufacture most of the packaged, preprocessed foods on yoour supermarket shelves, you can usually tell by the inclusion of partially hydrogenated oils, which increase shelf life of these products, and for the same reasons do not break down in the body as easily as complete oils, causing health issues that can (again, conveniently) be addressed by the consumption of food supplements, also sold by these huge corporations that have your politicians in their pockets.
The very highest campaign contributions to the very lawmakers that pretend to be "tough on drugs" are from these companies, whose products verifiably kill 6 million U.S. citizens each decade. And that does not even include fast foods, etc. 400,000 Amercans die every year because nicotine as it is socially acceptable to consume is the hardest substance to quit using. 100,000 die from alcohol, another 110,000 from prescription drugs. 
Opium profits soared when the Taliban receive 43 million from the White House to prohibit that crop in Afghanistan. Yet my own government ignores those facts, and cracks down on pot users, people who are easy to jail because don't fight back. So the billion dollar prison industry gets invested in heavily, and schoolbooks pretend hemp never existed, since the many products that can be made locally from the crop would directly compete with legal, more dangerous items.
 Anyway, I must say that your casual dismissal of actual driving studies with thousands of drivers, (all of which suggest that cannabis users performed slightly better behind the wheel) seems odd. I mean, you were so gung ho to point to a sample size of ten showing that hemp legalization leads to road deaths, yet are willing to ignore the overwhelming evidence to the contrary... what does that say about your objectivity, or agenda? 
Finally, to sum up: cannabis is chemically food, not poison. Note that the industries that manufacture and market poisons are the highest campaign contributors to the same lawmakers that assist in the continued suppression of the safest drug, food, fuel, plastics and fibers known to Man.
 
Wage Drug Peace
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Comment #33 posted by Patrick on March 07, 2002 at 05:54:47 PT
mdavidson
You are about the most reasonable prohibitionist to grace this site since I started visiting. Maybe, there is hope that we can convince you and your kind to stop arresting us! Think about the possibilities…You mentioned this about outlawed substances…I don't think that will ever happen, you can never grant a freedom then take it back.Do you remember your history about alcohol prohibition? They did exactly that and proved it was a huge failure socially and politically.Like alcohol, cannabis was legal before Anslinger lied to Congress in the 30's. Now the prohibitionists are being caught proving once again that prohibition is a failed public policy only this time it is with cannabis.You also mentioned….I have a much deeper and more personal desire to remove this and other illegal drugs from our great country (U.S.).If that is true, and I have no doubt that it is, please, if you are not already familiar with Harm Reduction principles and strategies, may I suggest that you take a peek at the following information if you are curious about really helping OUR country to become a better place to live...http://www.harmreduction.org/prince.htmlA few more points I would like to make while have the floor…A. Cannabis isn't a drug. It is an herb.B. This is a great country. It's the government that is out of control. Like you said, I trust a political leader about as much as those studies.C. Do you really think that you can remove an entire plant species that has been around for over 5000 years or more?D. Perhaps you can, since mankind in general seems to be very good at destroying things.E. Sorry about your friends who have been effected negatively by cannabis. I bet their problems have more to do with law enforcement than anything else?F. Cannabis has enriched my life, my thinking and brought me much closer to the spiritual. I shudder to think how dull the last 20+ years of my life would have been without it. G. Thank God it is less addictive than caffeine. H. = Happiness = Free the weed!Thanks for the stimulating debate. Keep an open mind and realize that much of the propaganda and stereotypes of pot smokers are utterly false. For example, I remembered to check this thread for your comments.
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Comment #32 posted by mdavidson on March 06, 2002 at 21:40:57 PT:
Sorry it is me again ;-}
Dear Swampie:	Thanks for the offer but I do not smoke ;-) I leave that to your group. It sounds like you had a you had a good time when you wear my age, that is whats most important, your good time. Lets not think twice about driving drunk (under age) or stoned. I am sorry to stereotype but the people of your generation tend to think in those over romanticized terms. When it was all about free love and getting wasted. 
	You sound like you have made it to a nice middle class life. That is good, but I think I will be taking my pointer from someone with a little more going for them. I am currently 22 and have a full-time position as an operations manager for a computer manufacture. I make well over the national average income and will have a business degree in a just over a year. I am shooting for a little more, but enough about me. By the way, you came from the TV generation, we are communicating in my form of media ;-)
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Comment #31 posted by mdavidson on March 06, 2002 at 21:13:17 PT:
I have a lot of messages on this page ;-)
Just a note.
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Comment #30 posted by mdavidson on March 06, 2002 at 21:11:31 PT
-----~
I think there maybe some common ground here!I agree with 80% of what you said Patrick. I would not mind for even a second to see smoking anything outlawed completely, alcoholic beverages as well. They are know killers, like you have said, I do see the hypocrisy in that. I don’t think that will ever happen, you can never grant a freedom then take it back. It is too late for smoking and drinking. 
	 I agree with your comments about the studies as well. Anyone could be funding and conducting these studies. Everyone must use the common sense when considering these things.	My agenda, it is to keep the roads safe, I believe and still back every word I have written. However you got me. I have a much deeper and more personal desire to remove this and other illegal drugs from our great country (U.S.). My only experience with these drugs, would be the observation of my former friends that began to use them. To briefly sum up what I have witnessed; I have never seen marijuana make a positive impact on anyone’s life. In every case I can remember, it has resulted in quite the opposite. Put simply, I can not see any good reason to consider legalizing this drug. 	Government propaganda: Did I mention I am a NRA member. We are not the most government trusting group as I am sure you know. I trust a political leader about as much as those studies ;-)
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Comment #29 posted by SWAMPIE on March 06, 2002 at 21:05:58 PT
MDAVIDSON....PULLLLEASE.........
 As another longtime cannabis smoker;I'm 45 and have been smoking since I was 15,I take offence to your prohibitionist stance that cannabis users are not capable of doing much more than filling a bowl.Back in the 70's when I first started driving,we would fill up the tank  .035 a gallon,get a 12-pack[underage,almost any store would sell it],buy a HUGE bag,and go out CRIUSING all night long.We didn't need to worry much about the police OR GETTING INTO AN ACCIDENT,#1:THE last thing ANYONE who was driving stoned would do was to drive if they were TOO STONED or intoxicated,#2:We almost always went out to the country to take a ride so we would avoid any RISKS of causing any harm to anything/anyone but ourselves.Most of the time we also had fishing poles with us.#3:We were raised by REAL PARENTS WHO TAUGHT US RESPECT,HONESTY,PRIDE,GOODWILL,and COMMON SENSE! My Dad NEVER ever drank too much,but he did like to have a few drinks every evening as well as Mom too.They are in their 80's now and don't drink or smoke at all now,and in fairly good health.In "HIGH-SCHOOL",the teachers would answer ANY question that was asked about druge with as much HONESTY as they had,and I personally am geateful for that.The teachers that patrolled the parking lot before school would let us know when it was time to go in.The smoke would just ROLL out of the windows when we got out.[30 cars minimum].NEVER had the POLICE come to CAGE us for smoking Cannabis.It was NOT an ISSUE!!!!!!!!!One of my teachers was from the Seiberling family.{tires}If we got pulled-over,if the driver was too high,you got a free ride home,and they didn't TOW,IMPOUND,SEIZE,STRIP,or otherwise RUIN your vehicle.The police would treat you with RESPECT.It's just too bad that NOBODY CARES ABOUT ANYONE BUT THEMSELVES anymore!I guess that T.V. has done its BRAINLESS job as USUAL.Good Luck To You YUNGUN,You And The Rest Of The Youngun's Have Got A LOT Of LEARNING To Do!!!!!!!!SWAMPIE  By the way,I am an accomplished musician,father,and engineer.PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT!!!!!!!
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Comment #28 posted by Patrick on March 06, 2002 at 18:54:43 PT
mdavidson
So may I ask what is you agenda?I wasn't trying to prove anything other than people that smoke cannabis know when they are stoned and when they are not. Driving stoned is probably not a recommended activity for most people and I will agree with you on that. I think driving under the influence of anything including cell phones has the potential to lead to disaster. Smoking anything at all isn't a healthy habit for your lungs either but I do not believe people should be arrested and jailed for it. (Note: the agenda) You are totally correct about the drunks who say they have more tolerance and drive anyway. I see your correlation clearly. But, I still do not understand your agenda? Is it to keep the roads safe? Or is it to continue enforcing cannabis prohibition on the rest of us?I believe our agenda here is to refute the propaganda and lies that our government spews forth about cannabis. It remains illegal (with outrageous penalties for the questionable harm it causes) while tobacco and alcohol literally kill hundreds of thousands yearly? Surely, even you can see the hypocrisy in this policy. I think that posters here use any example or study they can find such as driving studies in an attempt to illustrate that like guns, cannabis is safe if responsibly used. I remember a time when even this debate was grounds for arrest. Sorry I misunderstood your original slant on the gun comment. As far as studies go including the link that you provided, and I am holding back the laughter here, but every study ever made has a study somewhere that can show the exact opposite. Two sides to every coin. Actually three sides but that is another debate. So I really don't put much weight on studies anymore. What I put weight on is practical "experience" over academic study. If I see people jump off cliffs and fall to their death, I am not going to believe a study at the top that says I may actually survive the fall. I don't know if that makes sense in defining experience for you? Oh, and I do not fit the "hippie pot smoker" stereotype (more propaganda). I have held the same job for half as long as you have been alive. Also, I have been gainfully employed longer than you have been around. So my advice to you if you don't mind is to watch out for the propaganda in this world and look for truth. The truth will set you free! 
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on March 06, 2002 at 17:20:14 PT
 mdavidson 
You won't be cut off. The only time that happens is when a debate turns into attacking another person on this message board. Talking about different views is fine but we should be adult enough to know when it's time to agree that we disagree and not end up flaming. That isn't tolerated.
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Comment #26 posted by mdavidson on March 06, 2002 at 16:36:44 PT
Jose, Patrick what am I going to do with you?
Dear Patrick: 	It is good to hear the other side of things from time to time. Your story about the fix it ticket is a point, but hardly conclusive. This “experienced marijuana users” term is vague even after your definition. It sounds like nothing more than the drunk who claims he has a higher tolerance level than others.  Hey guys here is a study from The American Medical Association from this week http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n9/ffull/jtw20005.html check it out if you can remember to ;-) 
	Jose: like I said, I have seen the studies many times. I am sure it reads just as you say. I can show many studies like the one listed above to argue the facts. It comes down to common sense, like I said before.  Maybe Patrick is so accustom to it that he will never have a problem driving, but for the other 300,000 people in the US, it would be a big problem. Well I hope you guys don’t cut me off soon, I know I am not making friends here.P.S. I know guns are safe Patrick, I am a NRA member and I own a few myself. The point is that everyone has an agenda. 
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Comment #25 posted by Jose Melendez on March 06, 2002 at 07:16:12 PT:
grin
Thanks, mdavidson for replying without flaming.
I think Patrick about sums it up. Want to see those references, or will you "stick to your guns" that 10 dead drivers proves that cannabis kills, vs. thousands of drivers in three seperate studies (UK, US, Australia) is an agenda?
Arrest Prohibition
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Comment #24 posted by Patrick on March 06, 2002 at 05:54:55 PT
mdavidson 
Since you returned to follow up on your comments, I would like to add my two cents....1. You will find many of the posters here are experienced smokers. Personally, 20+ years of recreational use qualifies me as experienced enough. Definition of experienced-anyone who can tell the difference between when and how they are stoned and when they are not. You were in your terrible two's when I started smoking cannabis. Let me say that 17 years of smoking tobacco cigarettes every single day was pure hell. I quit smoking cigarettes because they were really starting to kill me. Highly addictive those damn things are. With cannabis, I can smoke whenever I feel like it. There are people who post here that have been smoking cannabis longer than me. They seem to reason, write and function just fine.
 
2. Was pulled over once for a burned out taillight. I was stoned out of my mind on the way to the movies. The cop didn't even have a clue. Fix it ticket and on my way. Anecdotal evidence I know but true none the less. Also, I have been known to stop at green lights while driving stoned. I have heard of others that have done the same thing. Never do I speed or drive reckless when buzzed on cannabis unlike my non-smoking 19 year old neighbor with 2 DUI's that thinks residential streets are his personal NASCAR track. Can't say that I drove cautiously under the influence of alcohol when I was foolish enough to do so. Lucky, I mean thank God, that I never hurt anyone or got caught. I don't drive drunk anymore. Call it maturity or common sense or EXPERIENCE.3. Guns are safe! I have 3 of them and they have never gone off without me pulling the trigger first. They are as safe as a brick, a pencil, a bottle of water, a shoe string, an airplane, a car, etc etc etc….4. My agenda is to prevent people like you from ever locking up people like me who simply enjoy smoking a joint. No I am not a terrorist, drug addict or even evil. Just a red-blooded american boy who served his country honorably and is sick and tired of my tax dollars being wasted on arresting marijuana smokers and watching platoons of cops pull cannabis plants off mountains while young kids faces are still showing up on milk cartons. While kids continue to disappear in this country, enforcing cannabis pohibition for the "sake of the children" is treason in my book.5. I got enough common sense to have survived on this planet twice as long you pal. 
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Comment #23 posted by mdavidson on March 05, 2002 at 21:58:01 PT:
Hit and run this ;-)
Dear Jose:1. I would love to know a marijuana users definition of a "experienced marijuana users". 2. Guess what, the NRA tells people guns are safe. I know you can come up with a thousand studies from the left wing telling everyone how great marijuana is. I have read them. Everyone has an agenda and when you base a study on terms like "experienced marijuana users" you are looking to make your point anyway you can.3. Have some common sense. Anytime you put your self in an altered state of mind you have a good chance hurting yourself and others, in a car, work environment, ect.
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Comment #22 posted by Jose Melendez on March 05, 2002 at 19:33:05 PT:
The cop is WRONG!
Yawn, we get so many of these hit and run postings from people that I am recycling a previous post of mine to answer mdavidson. Also, I have emailed the poster, who seems to have a bit of trouble discerning causation from correlation. 
MDAVIDSON: Your argument would be persuasive, if it was statistically relevant. But there have been at least three very recent studies with thousands of participants; proving that your assumptions about marijuana consumption and driving are FALSE. 
The studies show that experienced marijuana users are actually slightly safer behind the wheel - because they recognize their levels of "impairment", UNLIKE ALCOHOL USERS. As for dirtbags with guns, they are too often let off easy on DUI's, because they also have badges. 
Do you want to see references, or would you prefer to rant ignorantly, pretending you know the truth, but stubbornly looking the other way when evidence contrary to your beliefs is presented?
Just saying no... is LYING!
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Comment #21 posted by Jose Melendez on March 05, 2002 at 19:27:22 PT
10 stoned dead drivers yields a conclusion? Sure!
Yawn... mdavidson, I sent a copy of this to your email, just in case you don't read this after your post...
Your argument would be persuasive, if the study you reference was statistically meaningful. But there have been at least three very recent studies with thousands of participants; proving that your assumptions about marijuana consumption and driving are FALSE. 
The studies show that experienced marijuana users are actually slightly safer behind the wheel - because they recognize their levels of "impairment", UNLIKE ALCOHOL USERS. As for dirtbags with guns, they are too often let off easy on DUI's, because they also have badges. 
Do you want to see references, or would you prefer to rant ignorantly, pretending you know the truth, but stubbornly looking the other way when evidence contrary to your beliefs is presented?
the cop is WRONG
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Comment #20 posted by mdavidson on March 05, 2002 at 19:12:23 PT:
The Cop is right
I am currently 22 (3-5-02), so I have heard all the same things about hemp that the rest of my generation has. It is not bad for you, etc. Well it many not kill you in the long run, however it many kill you right away. Check out this link http://203.23.46.196/hpja/2001_2/14.html it is from The Journal of the Australian Health Promotion Association. Hemp has been legal in Australia for a long time.  They are now having as many road deaths from hemp as alcohol. Besides all that, you hippies will one day get a job and have more to worry about than your next cheap high. When you have your own children, you may take comfort in the fact that half of the other drivers on the road are not stoned. I can just see our car insurance rates going up now, as if they wear not high enough…. Hey there is a high for you ;-) 
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Comment #19 posted by Kayash on November 22, 2000 at 14:08:40 PT:
~:)(:~It Keeps Me Happy~:)(:~
Thanx a lot Yeah Weed Keeps Me and My "Buds" Happy
ROLLIN RULEZ
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Comment #18 posted by max on September 19, 2000 at 23:08:30 PT:
craziness
That DARE officer is actually humorous! If you want to know why this guy sounds so foolish just look at the guy running this whole thing, BARRY MCAFFERY!  he's lied to congress (and been caught),wasted BILLIONS in tax payer money, made the corparate prison system rich, made drug dealers rich, his drug testing buddies rich, himself rich, cops on the take rich, pharmaceutical companies richer, INCREASED our crime and murder rate, Increased the use of hard drugs....need I go on? ignorance begets ignorance, and then you get people like officer friendly as police officers rather than bagging groceries like he should be doing.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on September 18, 2000 at 19:06:42 PT:
Student Drug Use Down In Medical Marijuana State!
Hi Everyone! Check out this new report! Now what are they going to say?Student Survey on Drug and Alcohol Use.Attorney General Lockyer issues Eighth Biennial California Student Survey showing overall drug and alcohol use by students down for first time in a decade, but 11th graders experimenting with heroin. Survey suggests need for continued prevention efforts and attention to helping students with substance abuse problems. Survey co-sponsored by California Department of Education, Department of Health Services and Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.California Department of Justicehttp://caag.state.ca.us/California Attorney General's Office & Crime and Violence Prevention CenterPreliminary Findings of the 8th Biennial California Student Survey Alcohol and Other Drug Usehttp://caag.state.ca.us/cvpc/schoolsurvey.htm
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Comment #16 posted by Rainbow on September 18, 2000 at 18:34:06 PT
Addictions he says 
It's true he had acres of hemp, but he also had slaves tending those crops. Some ideas, whether practiced or lawful in the past, are downright wrong for modern society.'Maybe he is trying to tell us that it is all because of those slaves whose color is not white that we have so many societal ills today. It is once again the slaves fault for bringing us MJ and therefore a bad thing. I wonder if they were singing the blues.Sorry but this guy is probably a racist and bigot (his reference to the Canadians).Please I apologize to the people he offends so globally and freely.He did not even mention the 11 year old who caught one of the police's addictions - shooting guns and killing or maiming people.Rainbow
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Comment #15 posted by freedom fighter on September 18, 2000 at 16:58:20 PT
Sgt. Brickhead
probably would not even understand what my friends just wrote. Sgt. Brickhead, attttennntion!You are fired!You are terminated!Why?Because you are a brickhead!
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Comment #14 posted by AOCP on September 18, 2000 at 15:55:59 PT:
Lies, damned lies, and other assorted silliness
Let's see, i think i'll start, oh, how's about here:>The alcohol vs. marijuana story is a no brainer as well. So are many analogies to the Prohibition problems and the war on drugs. The social ills felt during Prohibition had more to do with the a post World War I economy and the fact that Canada, our next door neighbor, had legal production of alcoholRight. Note the jab at our Northern Neighbor. Remember that the Canadians are evil b/c they grow hemp.>than a systemic problem with enforcing alcohol laws.Ok. I'll buy that. So if prohibition is doing such a bangup job for our current illicits, why isn't there a push to make booze or cigs illegal right now? After all, you say:>The same situations does not and could not exist today.Therefore, the cops 'n gov't have all the freedom they could wish for to chase after the bad druggies that are smoking themselves to death and out killing mothers and children on the roads following a liquid bender, right?>I would however, point out that today, serious crime,which any analyst will tell you is closely tied to the drug trade, is at its lowest point in 20 years."Fact", not wanting it to be mulled over too deeply, is followed IMMEDIATELY by some fuzzy, feelgood, extremely-broad, generalized soundbyte. Aimed at the sheeple.>The streets are actually safer and it's not because we are all wearing hemp sandals. Safe streets and safe communities should really be what this issue is all about. More fuzzy soundbytes. This is garbage.>We as a society see tens of thousands of people killed each year on our highways due to alcohol-related crashes. Do we really want to add to this national tragedy by making one more substance legal and available?Talk about a bait-&-switch. Hold up there, cowboy. I think you missed the option of making booze illegal? Your logic, not mine. Don't tell me you're afraid to put big, mean ole DANGEROUS booze behind your cages, are ya? Your buttered side becomes more obvious with each passing day.>With its increased availability, like it or not, children will be involved.Well, we could at least TRY and vend it to adults only through strictly-enforced age limits. Like it or not, that is a viable and very realistic option open to us. We haven't tapped it yet, but it is there. Prohibition, however, leaves the field open to ANYBODY and they're gonna keep on a-comin' until we really are a nation of jailors and the jailed. That what you want?>Marijuana is a recognized gateway drug.You are a recognized parrot of the establishment's poorly-taken notes.>Kids don't start with crack and heroin: they start with tobacco, alcohol and marijuana.Again, genius, your logic, not mine. That means we should make booze and cigs illegal a la MJ! Why don't you bring this up, ever? Probably b/c you'd sound like a kook to anybody that was bothering to listen to you, is my guess. Spot the difference.>I have seen firsthand the real price tag that comes along with marijuana use. On Thanksgiving day 1987 at about 4 o'clock in the morning, I had to respond to a serious traffic crash in my home town. A young man was driving late at night and struck a tree. He was ejected from the car, crushed and laid there in the street, dying. There was little that I could do to help while waiting for the rescue personnel to arrive. All I could do was comfort him while his obviously fatal injuries took his life. That's your example?!? In the thirteen YEARS that have passed since then, how many poor folks also got to sit by the side of the road waiting for rescue personnel as a direct "result" of booze intoxication? Where's your soapbox now, tough guy?
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Comment #13 posted by Harvey Pendrake on September 18, 2000 at 15:42:32 PT
Oh man...
It's now crystal clear why the DARE program has been a dismal failure. Most kids in grade school will buy a steaming pile of lies like this. In middle school, some will start to question them. By the time they reach high school, most of them have figured out they've been lied to.The one's that never figure it out go on to become the next generation of police and politicians.
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Comment #12 posted by angryignorance on September 18, 2000 at 14:32:42 PT:
facts?
1st of all, as far as medical marijuana being used to treat lung cancer patients is possible with out them having to smoke it... it is edible. 2nd of all hemp is not just a low grade fiber, it can be used for eveything from making clothing (there have been military uniforms made from hemp fiber) to fueling motor vehicles. Henry Ford did this himself... tell me this is not a good reason to grow hemp for industrial purposes.
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Comment #11 posted by zion on September 18, 2000 at 12:37:36 PT
Law Enforcement: Professionalism vs. politics
'Historical references are often made by these groups that even our own Founding Father George Washington grew hemp in an attempt to legitimize the practice. It's true he had acres of hemp, but he also had slaves tending those crops. Some ideas, whether practiced or lawful in the past, are downright wrong for modern society.'So what's considered "modern society"? Would the mid-1940's qualify? After all, our government considered it politically expedient to encourage farmers to grow hemp for ropes, clothing and other materials for war production. So why are all those products and uses valid a mere 50 years ago, but no longer today? So why was it fine for the U.S. federal agencies to acknowledge the benefits of hemp production a few decades ago, but it's a such a "no-brainer" today? Can anyone spell P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S?Officer Friendly is not enforcing the law, he is engaging in political propaganda to protect a vested political interest called DARE, and he is doing this with taxpayer dollars on public time. It is no different that if he went down to the county courthouse in uniform (badge and gun prominently displayed) with a picket sign protesting abortion. It's time to take politics out of the medical marijuana and industrial hemp issues, and it needs to start with law enforcement to stop trying to dictate legislation/influence politics and instead return to their objective, unbiased enforcement role. 
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Comment #10 posted by kaptinemo on September 18, 2000 at 09:27:59 PT:
Thank God for the 1st Amendment
Because it is the biggest defense we have against demagoguery. It is a defense mainly because it allows us to spot these lies and deal with them forthrightly. The kind of lies this DARE pusher is fronting for. (Yes, I said pusher, as in drug pusher; *he* is addicted feeding from the public trough, and is fronting for it to pay for his addiction. Hence his efforts to defend what is in essence, on the face of it, indefensible. The results of studies on the efficacy of DARE programs have been overwhelmingly negative; his support of them in the face of this can only be described as an addicts' version of 'denial'.)Like most antis, the poor rube can't keep his facts straight:'Marijuana has the same adverse effects on the lungs, heart and vascular system as tobacco does and more. The use of marijuana as a treatment is not widely accepted by the medical profession for the same reasons lots of drugs aren't: it's dangerous.'(Game buzzer noise) Wrong answer; Cannabis is a vasodilator and bronchodilator; it *opens* both blood vessels and bronchii by relaxing the muscles surrounding both tissues. Tobacco is exactly the opposite, a vaso- and bronchoconstrictor. That's *why* cannabis was (and is still, in more enlightened but poorer nations) prescribed as an asthma reliever. And of course, cannabis has no deleterious effects whatsoever - save perhaps uncontrollable jocularity and a tendency to raid refrigerators. Whereas, even commercially available inhalers have various and frightening warnings about inhaling the corticosteroids contained within them. Cannabis hasn't killed a single human being on this planet. None. Zero, Zip. Nada. Can't say the same about those inhalers, and ceratinly not about tobacco.Some more pitiful attempts at hiding ignorance behind a fog of misinformation:'Historical references are often made by these groups that even our own Founding Father George Washington grew hemp in an attempt to legitimize the practice.' (Uh, excuse me, Officer, but the production of hemp in 'The Colonies' was *required* by the English Crown back in the 1600's, with stiff penalties for those who *didn't* grow some. It required no authorization to make it a legitimate crop; it ALREADY WAS A LEGALLY MANDATED ONE, even after our Revolution.) 'It's true he had acres of hemp, but he also had slaves tending those crops. Some ideas, whether practiced or lawful in the past, are downright wrong for modern society.(BTW, what do the sins of our Fathers have to do with alleviating the suffering of people today? Unless I'm mistaken, the issue of slavery was settled by white guys wearing blue coats beating the tar out of white guys wearing grey coats some 135 years ago. More pathetic attempts to confuse the issue via conflation.)'The alcohol vs. marijuana story is a no brainer as well.' (I suppose you'd know all about that particular category of reasoning, wouldn't you, Officer?) But he saves the best for last:'Paul Twomey and Phil Greazzo are wrong when they say marijuana has never killed anyone, dead wrong. I know it does and I know it will again if it's legalized. Let'sseek the truth on this debate. Marijuana is dangerous and legalizing it would be wrong.'The 'example' that he claims to provide to back up his statement is Mother Nature's reminder that there are penalties for acting stupidly. Excessive speed while driving while intoxicated on *anything* is courting disaster. Cannabis alone should not be blamed for the extremely bad judgement evinced by this kid. There are hundereds of hids killed on our roads every year whose bloodstreams reveal little more than caffeine; are we to ban *that*, too?Officer Perley makes the demand for an honest debate on the subject, implying that he is eminently qualified because he sees himself as intellectually and morally honest. The ancient Greek Diogenes used to go around at night with a lamp, looking for a truly honest man. In the case of Officer Perley, he'd definitely have to keep walking.  
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Comment #9 posted by paul on September 18, 2000 at 09:20:08 PT:
drinkers
  If anyone associated with dare, has a drink of alcohol, they as a drug user could not possibly be stable enough to express a rational thought, right? :-):-) 
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Comment #8 posted by CongressmanSuet on September 18, 2000 at 07:05:59 PT:
Does Officer Krupke have a card..
he reads this drivel from, or is he smart enough to have it all memorised? "Please, let me keep my ego-inflating job at the school, where I can walk around with my shiny gun and have the kids be in awe of me. I dont want to have to go back out there and do REAL work, please hear my cries"? Its for the childrennnnnnnnn.....
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Comment #7 posted by MikeEEEEE on September 18, 2000 at 06:54:05 PT
How Cute
They're sending messages again.
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Comment #6 posted by dankhank on September 18, 2000 at 06:30:21 PT:
Shut Up, Sir
I propose that we pass laws immediately that forbid police officers to comment on the enforcing of the law.Their collective job is to enforce the law and NOT to try to influence law-making.Is is any wonder why he spouts this drivel?He has a forum for his wrongheadedness.Shut up sir, go arrest some violent felon.
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Comment #5 posted by Frank on September 18, 2000 at 06:17:22 PT
DARE is a Pack of Lies
What mindless drivel this DARE officer spouts. These people are out of touch with the truth.An ancient philosopher once said, “Science frees us from the terror of the Gods.” It seems here in America science will not free us from the terror of DARE, DEA or the machinery of the State. They refuse to admit to the truth about marijuana – a harmless and beneficial herb. The State is hell bound to prosecute the evil marijuana smokers. I take Marinol every day. That’s ok with the authorities. At a cost of $550.00 a bottle (60 day supply – Walgreen’s pricing) however, Don’t smoke the natural herb ($60.00/oz, 60 days supply) as that makes you a felon. It’s like the Roman Senator said way before the time of Christ, “ The Law is a whore who smiles at the man with the biggest purse.” The police are completely mixed up in the drug trade and need prohibition in place to keep their empire strong and financially productive. It’s time we stood up to these lies, as they are a threat to each one of our communities and us. 
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Comment #4 posted by i_rule_ on September 18, 2000 at 02:21:56 PT
It's about Freedom and Truth not Lies that Dispute
After all the information about medical benefits, crime reduction, harm reduction, economical benefits, personal rights benefits, environmental benefits, and social benefits, of ending hemp and cannabis prohibition, this jerk is still blind as a bat. I guess for some, there is no hope. The young man who died that night, sorry to say, probably made a bad judgement call. People have died in one car accidents, with absolutely no alcohol or other drugs in their systems. You cannot blame every accident on substance abuse. People are not perfect. We make mistakes. Actually, and factually, marijuana is NOT recognized as a gateway drug. Except to supporters of the War on Drugs. And what the hell does having slaves tending the fields have to do with it being right or wrong to grow hemp? Sheesh....Seek the REAL truth Sgt. Marijuana is not dangerous, and legalizing it would be the right thing to do. You would never do this I know, but if you would smoke a joint and see how it makes you feel, you would laugh your ass off at how stupid the assertion is that it is dangerous. But just as I would never force my opinion on you, you have got to stop pushing your opinion on others. There are millions of people who love to smoke pot. Can they all be wrong?With more and more professional people and people with personal testimonies getting involved in spreading the truth about marijuana, even the most stubborn critics of marijuana legalization will have to see the truth and realize the real reason for prohibition was to protect special interest groups. Not because marijuana is bad. Or wrong. Wake up sgt. and smell the buds. Free the Plant of Life. 
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Comment #3 posted by Dan B on September 18, 2000 at 02:08:32 PT:
Simple Minds Think Alike
This guy is one of those police officers assigned to teach your children about drugs. If anyone thought that D.A.R.E. actually taught kids the truth about drugs, this officer's comments should forever convince you otherwise. He claims to be a medical professional able to detect the medical worthiness of a drugs ("Marijuana has the same adverse effects on the lungs, heart and vascular system as tobacco does and more."--no studies cited, of course), a botanist (albeit a terrible one--"If hemp was legalized there would be no way for law enforcement authorities to visually distinguish the difference between the two crops), and an expert on social policy (what ever happened to "hey, we don't make the laws; we just enforce 'em"?). In fact, he is a simple-minded cop (not to imply that they are all simple-minded; he proves his intellectual inferiority in this article) with no interest in saving lives and every intention of saving his job. One might point out the glaring omission of any mention of arresting non-violent citizens, putting them in prison and levying heavy fines against them. Notice, as well, the omission of the negative effects of mass imprisonment on society. Notice the omission of the negative effects of property seizure without criminal charges and the general loss of civil freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights as a result of the war on some drugs.(from the article) "I would however, point out that today, serious crime, which any analyst will tell you is closely tied to the drug trade, is at its lowest point in 20 years. The streets are actually safer and it's not because we are all wearing hemp sandals. Safe streets and safe communities should really be what this issue is all about."At what cost? People are now more afraid of the police than they are afraid of so-called "criminals." Is that the hallmark of a better society? People are not safe in their homes as long as police are given carte blanche to (at best)stomp all over the rights of citizens who are always--ALWAYS--supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. People are not safe in their homes when the police decide the best way to "serve" a warrant is to ram in one's front door, throw a smoke grenade, and fire at will. "I had a warrant" is not an excuse to bring in the SWAT team, but you wouldn't know it from reading the papers these days. If this is the "safer America" this cop is trying to defend, who needs it?Interesting that he makes the mistake of accurately pinpointing the real cause of much crime in our society--not drugs, but "the drug trade" (Oops!). And why do we have a drug trade? Because certain drugs are illegal. Thus, the laws themselves cause the crime, not the drugs.I really don't need to tell anyone here the obvious "bait and switch" (to use his own terms) found in his ridiculously illogical analysis of alcohol prohibition vs. drug prohibition. Alcohol prohibition in America didn't work because of Canada? Give me a break! Okay, so a young man with THC in his system hit a tree and died. As Legalizeit pointed out, there is no mention of any other intoxicants in the kid's system, nor is there any mention of the amount of THC found (or did they just find THC metabolites, wich would mean that he could have smoked out two weeks before?). There were also (evidently) no eye witnesses, which means that nobody saw whether a cat or a dog or a child ran in front of the car, causing the kid to swerve. Nobody saw whether a plastic bag or trash from a fast food restaurant blew onto his windshield, leaving him temporarily unable to see what was in front of him. There are an infinite number of possibile causes for this accident, yet this cop chose to attribute it to the THC in the kid's system. This statement says more about the cop than it does about the THC in the kid's system.Even if the kid did die from driving while intoxicated with cannabis, this is one kid (however tragic it is that he died) who was doing something that would remain against the law, even if marijuana were legalized (driving while intoxicated). This cop's argument simply holds no water.(again, from the article)"I know it does and I know it will again if it's legalized. Let's seek the truth on this debate. Marijuana is dangerous and legalizing it would be wrong."What a strange conflation of ideas. He may as well have said, "Let's seek the truth, as long as the 'truth' is whatever I deem to be true, and not something based on facts." Here is a little tidbit to leave you with: every study conducted to determine the relative effects of alcohol and marijuana on driving have shown that marijuana intoxication is far less likely than alcohol to cause accidents. At least one study has shown that it is, in fact, safer than driving while not intoxicated at all. If marijuana were legalized, many who now drink alcohol would shift to smoking (or otherwise injesting) marijuana, thereby decreasing the likelihood that people would be killed by intoxicated drivers (fewer people drinking alcohol means fewer drunk drivers, thus fewer drunk driving accidents). Kind of blows a hole in this cop's theory, doesn't it?Peace,Dan B
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Comment #2 posted by legalizeit on September 18, 2000 at 00:13:27 PT
Usual regurgitated rhetoric
This DARE officer sounds really desperate. Not only does he dig up the same old crap about pot being worse than tobacco, and that industrial hemp is impossible to distinguish from MJ (utter nonsense of course), he tries to trash the obvious parallels between drug and alcohol Prohibitions. His job depends on pounding out this drivel, and DARE is on the rocks, so he has to do all he desperately can to attempt to keep the public brainwashed.>Some ideas, whether practiced or lawful in the past, are downright wrong for modern society. What authority does he have to make this judgment? This is strictly subjective and has no basis in fact. Growing a plant cannot be compared to slavery.>Marijuana is a recognized gateway drug. Kids don't start with crack and heroin: they start with tobacco, alcohol and marijuana.Even if this were true (the IOM report states otherwise), then why are two of the substances legal and one is not?>A toxicology report later showed he was high on THC, the intoxicating chemical found in marijuana. More details please! Could he have had other, LEGAL, substances in his body? What level of intoxication fits his definition of "high"? Another prohib ploy - only talk about the pot and leave all other factors out.>Marijuana is dangerous and legalizing it would be wrong. So is: alcohol, tobacco, bungee jumping... all those are legal. Are they wrong? Mr. "Professional Police Officer" should focus on true crimes and stop being a propaganda machine.
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Comment #1 posted by Phyro on September 18, 2000 at 00:11:54 PT
Sap Sucker
       Your so scaried of a Plant thas been here since man could write if rome could handel it !  Can't we the Home of the brave ???
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