cannabisnews.com: Doomed Effort Against Pot Doomed Effort Against Pot Posted by FoM on October 01, 2000 at 11:07:06 PT Letters To The Editor Source: San Francisco Examiner What you failed to point out in the article "Pot farmers growing bolder' (Metro section, Sept. 24) is that the state's entire Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) operation to find and destroy cannabis plants is a monumental waste of time, money and resources. CAMP backers may gloat about the increase in destruction of pot plants, but the obvious fact is that they are finding more plants because there ARE more plants. On their very best days, drug interdiction efforts never stop more than 10 percent of the drug trade. In the name of the "war on drugs," we have wasted hundreds of billions of dollars, incarcerated more of our citizens than any other country in the world, implemented mandatory minimum sentences and rendered 1.5 million members of minorities convicted felons ineligible to vote. When will we wake up and realize that prohibition has never worked once in the entire history of man? It only creates a criminal black market which leads to increased use and skyrocketing related crime. Drug use and related harm are relatively minor in the face of the tremendous damage this foolish drug war has caused our society. Mark Greer Executive director DrugSense (MAP Inc.) http://www.mapinc.org/http://www.drugsense.org/Porterville I notice a disturbing trend in marijuana enforcement in this state. As counties and the federal government act against patients, caregivers and collectives growing and distributing marijuana to patients with doctors' recommendations, larger and larger marijuana crops are discovered and eradicated - almost always without a single arrest. Your article details how as many as 58,000 plants guarded with AK-47s are being discovered, as Mexican syndicates push out peaceful small farmers in California. Our misguided drug laws and misenforcement of them have effected this change. Just as the prohibition of alcohol had to be repealed because of the violence it caused, so too the prohibition of marijuana. If the federal government has any role in marijuana enforcement in California, it should be in investigating and prosecuting large foreign organizations that are growing and distributing marijuana here. It's much easier to prosecute citizens who announce they are growing pot legally under Proposition 215, and quibble about a few dozen plants deemed too many for medical use. More than 62,000 people were arrested in California on marijuana charges last year, an increasing percentage of them for possession only, while the largest growers went free. This is madness. The only sane solution is a regulated market for marijuana, and legalized personal cultivation. Ellen Komp Program associate Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation http://www.lindesmith.org/San Francisco Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)Published: October 1, 2000Copyright: 2000 San Francisco ExaminerContact: letters examiner.comWebsite: http://www.examiner.com/Forum: http://examiner.com/cgi-bin/WebXRelated Articles:Pot Growers Boldly Expanding Operationshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7141.shtmlMassive Pot Farm in Hills Discovered http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7140.shtmlRecord Drug Bust Near San Mateo County Reservoirhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7133.shtmlMadera Cultivates Millions in Pot Haul http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7116.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #6 posted by max on October 02, 2000 at 22:47:38 PT: very optimistic of you all perhaps this non violent approach to this ridiculous drug war is simply not the answer! I realize that these siezures do nothing to stop the flow of MJ but when is this going to end? THese cocksuckers are getting braver and braver! busting in peoples homes, rapelling out of choppers etc. what do you think the supreme court is going to say about thermal sensors being pointed at peoples houses? They will let it happen, trust me! Maybe if it got a little more risky these people wouldn't be so cavalier! Ya they have killed a ton of innocent people, but do you know what? Anyone who is not in the know has absolutely zero idea who these people are. They have mainstream sheep thinking that people who choose to smoke weed or use the drug of thier choice are scumbags and losers! CHrist, Al GOre had a chance to step up and he faltered, and so did bush. Either one of these guys are going to step up the war on drugs! THe only way this will stop is when this "drug war" spills out into the streets of suburbia. I am a nonviolent person and a wimp, but i would like to see in the news how these cops raid the wrong house and get blown away legally! That would put an end to that shit. The only reason canada is even considering a "european" model is because the biker wars have spilled out into the streets. THis is a huge rant and probably doesn;t make much sense but I am tired of this bullshit! I hope columbia just floods the us with good cheap cocaine. I hope fields and fields of marijuana are planted next spring. And please, if any of you guy's are ever in rural new hampshire next summer and see a HUge fucking field of MJ don't go in it!!!! I am going to booby trap the shit out of it with bear traps and tiger pits!!! [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Rainbow on October 02, 2000 at 08:25:31 PT Falun Gong I like the Taoist/Buddist Falun Gong and Gandhi's message "Those who hit you are the wrong ones"I agree with Kapt lets keep restraint. The more they hit the more people learn and the more they will be disliked and not trusted.We dislike them intensely and with great passion and others will follow as their autrocities mount.I believe the Canadiens will show us the way to a peaceful resolution.CheersRainbow [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on October 02, 2000 at 05:26:53 PT: They'd like that, and that's why we must not. Max, you can probably guess that my antipathy towards the antis stems not from a purely academic standpoint of being both a historian and a sociologist. I have deeply personal reasons to hate their guts for what they've done to normally peacable people like you find here.I hate what they've done to *my country*. They've torn up and urinated on the Constitution, that, just like me, they swore to "protect and defend". They've made a mockery of the Pledge of Allegiance, which a military family takes almost as if from the Burning Bush; "liberty and justice for all". No exceptions.I hate and despise the antis who are so blind and unthinking as to do what they do without the slightest sense of history. (Other nations have went from republic to 'mob-ocracy' to tyranny before us; what's so special about the US? Think we can't go the same way?) But I do not want them dead. I want them alive.There's no point in putting a corpse on trial for war crimes.Killing antis only plays into their hands; have you ever heard of the 'tripwire scenario'? For political reasons you place your troops into a situation that's *known* to be untenable, and when they get chopped up, the Congressional howls for blood begin (when previously they made cooing noises like doves), matters escalate, and the situation worsens, spiraling out of control.Up to now, the blood has largely been on *their* hands. *They* are the ones who've killed Ismael Mena, Donald Scott, Esequiel Hernandez, the Sepulveda boy, Peter McWilliams, Patrick Dorismond, and all the rest. They have no excuses. None. Let's not give them any. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by max on October 01, 2000 at 17:03:28 PT: it may come to violence Perhaps these syndicates should start getting violent! I would be willing to be that projects such as CAMP would go the way of the dodo if these jackoffs were being shot at with those weapons as they boldly lower themselves from the choppers, rather than people just running away. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by FoM on October 01, 2000 at 13:09:03 PT Hi Frank! I think it's great they published their letters! I haven't met Ellen but I have talked to Mark and he seems very nice. I hope people drop in th DrugSense Chat tonight. I'll do my best but I just find it so hard sometimes. A chat in the middle of the week would be nice. I wonder if they have ever tried a mid week chat? Here's the link for those who might want to check it out!Peace, FoM!http://www.drugsense.org/chat/PS: You make me laugh in the chat. Sound of Music! LOL! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Frank S. World on October 01, 2000 at 12:20:38 PT Way To Go Mark & Ellen!!! Great to see the SFX publishing these great letters by Mark and Ellen! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: