cannabisnews.com: Panelists Lead Debate On Pot





Panelists Lead Debate On Pot
Posted by FoM on November 04, 2000 at 06:10:36 PT
By Liz Ruskin, Daily News Reporter
Source: Anchorage Daily News
Emotion ran deep at a debate on marijuana legalization Friday at the University of Alaska Anchorage Pub. Near the start, the chairman of Free Hemp in Alaska, Al Anders, described what Proposition 5 would do: It would remove criminal and civil penalties for adults who sell, use or grow marijuana. It would let people out of jail who were convicted of marijuana crimes that are no longer illegal. It would convene a panel to study the feasibility of making restitution to those people. 
He argued it is wrong to keep "human beings in concrete cages" because they chose to use marijuana. Another of eight panelists, Alaska State Trooper Sgt. Bob Sanders, who came as a spokesman for the No on 5 campaign, said people should read the entire initiative. One part of it would ban the urine test for marijuana from the drug-testing programs the federal government requires of pilots and other people, he said. "It doesn't just legalize marijuana," he said. "It causes a lot of other problems." But the questions from the audience of about 20 weren't focused on the fine points of the initiative Alaskans will see on the ballot Tuesday. One middle-aged man in the second row said he recently started smoking marijuana and found it "a wonderful experience." "The government has lied to me for 50 years," said the man, who wore a sport jacket and tie and didn't want to give his name. "Justify the drug war for me," implored one young man, "please." "Beer is what ruins people's lives," said a woman in platform sneakers. "How many times have you heard 'Sorry I hit you, honey. It was the weed'?" asked a guy in a striped hat. A man in a suit said it would be wrong for parents to "sacrifice the children" for the "selfish thrill" of smoking marijuana. Members of the UAA Justice Club, which sponsored the event, moderated audience participation so panelists could make their points. Mike Demolina, a drug treatment specialist, said research on pilots given marijuana and tested in flight simulators showed the drug had a physical effect on them for weeks, even though they stopped feeling high long before. "Most people using marijuana will swear up and down that they don't feel it after one or two or three days later," he said. It leaches out of the body very slowly, so it doesn't cause the shakes or visions of snakes, but there are withdrawal symptoms, even if the user doesn't notice them, he said. "So it's an effect nobody can experience or feel?" asked one incredulous Proposition 5 supporter. Anchorage police Sgt. B.J. Bjornton offered that 80 percent of property crimes and 100 percent of strong-armed robberies are drug driven. Drug users commit crimes to get the money for their drugs, he said. Anders said that's because illegal drugs are expensive. "Why aren't people breaking into homes for beer and wine?" Anders asked. If you legalize marijuana, the price will drop, he maintains. Bjornton said you could legalize all drugs and give them out for free to stop drug-fueled crime, but that would create a population of nonproductive drug users who live off the larger society. "Wait a minute," shouted a guy in yellow-tinted glasses. "You're the one getting taxpayer money, not us." Note: POT: Audience members join debate over measure.Reporter Liz Ruskin can be reached at:  lruskin adn.com Phone: 907 257-4591Source: Anchorage Daily News (AK)Author: Liz Ruskin, Daily News ReporterPublished: November 4, 2000Copyright: 2000 The Anchorage Daily News Contact: letters adn.com Website: http://www.adn.com/ Related Articles & Web Sites:Free Hemp in AlaskaAl Anders, Chair2603 Spenard RoadAnchorage, Alaska 99503 (907) 278-HEMP E-mail: freehempinak gci.netVisit their web site: http://www.freehempinak.orgHemp 2000R.L. Marcy, ChairP.O. Box 90055Anchorage, AK 99509907-376-2232 (p)Fax: 907-376-0530 (f)E-mail: marcy hemp2000.orgVisit their web site: http://www.hemp2000.org Lawmen Question Willie Nelson's Pot Claimhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7556.shtmlPot Shotshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7532.shtmlDrug War Won't End Issuehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7515.shtmlAlaskans Can End Wrong, Ineffective Marijuana Banhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7476.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by legalizeit on November 06, 2000 at 06:32:34 PT
Problems, schmoblems
>One part of it would ban the urine test for marijuana from the drug-testing programs the federal government requires of pilots and other people, he said. "It doesn't just legalize marijuana," he said. "It causes a lot of other problems." What problems? Oh, like maybe people lighting up on their own time in their homes?It's OK for pilots and other workers in jobs involving public safety to drink alcohol, as long as it's "eight hours from bottle to throttle." So why the double standard, especially with a natural "drug" which has been proven to be less impairing than alcohol?>A man in a suit said it would be wrong for parents to "sacrifice the children" for the "selfish thrill" of smoking marijuana.Probably an undercover DEA agent, or someone off his rocker. Children are now being "sacrified" (if that's the way he wants to word it; you can't sacrifice someone with a non-lethal substance) under prohibition, having greater access to the herb than if it were regulated. >Anchorage police Sgt. B.J. Bjornton offered that 80 percent of property crimes and 100 percent of strong-armed robberies are drug drivenCan these figures be substantiated? I find it very hard to believe figures that are as high as 100%, especially when they come from a nark.>Bjornton said you could legalize all drugs and give them out for free to stop drug-fueled crime, but that would create a population of nonproductive drug users who live off the larger society. Here we go with the prohib "extremes" argument - it's either draconian prohibition or free heroin for kindergartners.I hope this election is the start of much wider infusions of common sense into our Reefer Madness-crazed society.
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on November 05, 2000 at 10:36:01 PT:
The Drug War 'cult'
I think 4D has hit something, here.Not too long ago, in another posting, an anti who was giving testimony against the Kubbys had made an interesting observation. He had said something to the effect that those who used 'magic mushrooms' were 'cult-like'.Cults. Hmmm. So, these antis are now going to scrape really low in their almost-used-up sophistry barrel and dredge up the hoary old epithet of 'cult'. Well, 4D has just given us another weapon. Throwing their epithet right back at them.Think about it. Cultish behavior demands that a devotee more or less 'divorce the use of reason' as Thomas Jefferson put it, and believe in things that either cannot be proved empirically (such as cannabis toxicity) or are so against the grain of common sense (the continued belief that their anti-drug interdiction policies are working when they so obviously are not) that said devotees may be mistaken for madmen. Their belief systems brook no challenges; to even consider such a challenge in the genuine spirit of discovery is to invite attack for failing to 'keep the faith'. Any such devotee who does question dogma is often ostracized, or worse. And some cults have been known to extend their propensities for violent behavior beyond the circle of their own believers; for an outsider to call attention to their arcane practices (such as murdering children in the course of of their 'devotions' such as drug raids; saving their souls by freeing them from the clutches of dealers, perhaps?) may invite such attack. Just look at Dan Forbes; when he blew the lid off of the story regarding Barry-ola, the high priest of the antis convened his acolytes in hurried synod, and sent out letters to all media outlets asking that they aid him in discrediting Forbes for de facto heresy. McCaffrey's own chief acolyte saw fit to try to physically manhandle Forbes for his daring to question The Holy Writ of the DrugWar.I had once heard Communism described as a bastard religion, replete with it's own dogma, saints, catechism...and ways of dealing with unbelievers. I think it is safe to say that the DrugWarrior Cult is every bit as hidebound, reality- denying...and dangerous...as any half-baked religious order.One problem among so many problems is that we are funding this religion with taxpayers dollars. And that's a Constitutional no-no.
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Comment #1 posted by dddd on November 04, 2000 at 19:01:25 PT
normalness
 It's not often that anyone mentions the big picture concerning marijuana. The people who are commenting as antis,have only one main source from which they have formulated their entire viewpoint,and that is the twisted misinformation provided by prohibitionists,and thedrug war cult....dddd 
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