[sniper2o4]

legalize marijuana!

[1337]

Uhhhhh....

Hell yeah.

[Lord Headley]

I think it should be legal myself, It's no where near as bad as other drugs out there. Long term affects suck, but so do cigs and booze. It's been awhile since i've enjoyed it's company, but i still think there is no real reason to make it illegal.

- Brian

[Skurge]

weeeeeeeEEEeEEEeee


legalize it!

[Alpha]

Humans have cultivated cannabis for years. The use of the plant goes back as far as agricultural history goes. It has uses such as a food source, as a material for clothes, and yes (I know you were waiting for this), as an intoxicant. For years the US government banned cannabis, but in 2006, twelve states have decriminalized the possession of the plant.

It is important that one knows the reasoning behind the illegalization of cannabis. According to Pete Guither, Cannabis was made illegal in the 1930’s due to anti-Mexican feelings, personal greed, yellow journalism, and corrupt politics. I invite you to do your own reasearch after reading this. Find out the truth. Look at both sides of the argument and make your decision.

Today, in the new millennium, the Anti-Cannabis movement is mostly caused by propaganda left over from the early to late 1930’s. Our countries leaders simply don’t know better. They have effectively been brainwashed by the very organization they are a part of. The lies that were told in the beginning were taken seriously, and the generation that was first lied to in the 30’s lied to the next generation- and so on and so fourth. The history of the prohibition of cannabis undoubtedly shows this.

To understand why Cannabis should be legalized, you must understand why it was made illegal in the first place. We call the beginning of the 20th century ‘the gilded age’ because of the sense of false economic and social security. Sure, the numbers looked good on paper, but morality was at an all time low. Giant corporations that control large chunks of our economy today were just starting out by creating monopolies, and other less then legitimate practices.

Harry J Anslinger was not an uncommon politician for the 1930’s. He was racist, hated Mexicans, and wanted to use the government for his own benefit. It was reported that he was a pro-nazi (although I would dispute this report), and had skills in rhetoric, propaganda, and yellow journalism. Anslinger had ties with the two largest influences in Cannabis prohibition: William Randolph Hearst, and Lammont DuPont. These two men were the owners of the two largest super-companies of the 30’s.

William Randolph Hearst was the owner of Hearst Newspaper Company. He had privately invested large sums of money in the Lumber industry. This is called vertical integration, and was a common process in the early 1900’s. By owning the lumber and paper companies, he eliminated the middle man. The purpose of this is to own all the companies your product depended on for production so the owner of the corporation can make heaps of money. I assure you, he did.

Hemp is a product of the plant called Cannabis. Its a hearty, thickly vegetating plant that will tower over 10 feet above other foliage. It can be used as a food, fuel, plastic, paper, mortar, and cloth. The plant is ready to harvest in just 3 months after rotation. Not only is hemp able to grow at a fraction of the rate of trees, but also it can grow on a fraction of the land. It is important to note that hemp was a serious threat to William Randolph Hearst’s investment in the lumber industry. Hemp paper is rough, tough, and eco friendly. Plus its super cheap. You can really make anything out of hemp. Look it up.

Lammont DuPont was the owner of the DuPont Company. DuPont held the rights to several patents, including one for a process of creating paper with the sulfate and sulfite process, one for fuel additives, and countless other synthetics, such as nylon, cellophane, Teflon, and other plastics. At the time they were just starting out by synthesizing synthetic oils and the first plastic polymers. Again, hemp can do a lot of what these chemicals can do, except cheaper and safer on the environment.

Large companies (like Ford Motor Company) purchased synthetics from the DuPont Company in the form of raw materials to make things. Ford had already used, and planned on developing a car body based on cellulosic hemp fiber, and with this technology, the DuPont Company would have lost the car industry. Today everything in cars is plastic, from body panels, to engine components, and everything on the inside.

What is more important to note is that the companies producing the hemp were in or around Mexico, and were farmed by Mexicans. Politicians hated Mexicans at this time.

So at this point, we can come to the conclusion that the people who controlled the money (DuPont, Hearst, etc) were threatened by hemp.

At this point in the story, Harry Anslinger is the first ever head of the DEA (it wasnt called that back then). He started campaigning against cannabis when he was working for the railroad companies. He busted people who were trying to move cannabis around the company, and was given a big position for it (security chief or something like that). Anslinger received money from DuPont as well as Hearst Newspapers for campaign financing and for personal use. In return, Anslinger launched a campaign of hate. Using the money, he created propaganda-laden advertisements that brainwashed the public. He used his connections with Hearst Newspapers to have fake articles posted in the news.

Let me start you off with some examples:

During a meeting before the US Senate, Anslinger started a fiery debate. He claimed “There are 100,000 total marijuana [Cannabis] smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others.”

Most of the sources Anslinger used were from the same newspapers that funded his war on Cannabis. This is called Yellow Journalism.

Heres one of my favoties:

“An entire family was murdered by a youthful addict in Florida. When officers arrived at the home, they found the youth staggering about in a human slaughterhouse. With an axe he had killed his father, mother, two brothers, and a sister. He seemed to be in a daze… He had no recollection of having committed the multiple crime. The officers knew him ordinarily as a sane, rather quiet young man; now he was pitifully crazed. They sought the reason. The boy said that he had been in the habit of smoking something which youthful friends called “muggles,” a childish name for marijuana.”

More bull****:

“Colored students at the Univ. of Minn. partying with female students (white), smoking [marijuana] and getting their sympathy with stories of racial persecution. Result pregnancy“

And finally:

“Two Negros took a girl fourteen years old and kept her for two days under the influence of marijuana. Upon recovery she was found to be suffering from syphilis.”

He said this stuff in front of the Senate. Our government. He used the argument that it causes black people to make jazz music… And it worked. Its sad really…

This speech led to the formation of The Marijuana Stamp Tax in 1937. This was a $100 tax on every pound of hemp. For comparison, $100 in 1937 is $1405.52 in 2006 dollars (according to inflation rates). This was effectively the government’s attempt at banning Cannabis by making a tax so high, nobody could afford to buy or sell it.

When he had the bill passed, it was always referred to as cannabis. Today we (as a general populace) don’t use the word ‘hemp’ as an everyday term, but back in the 30’s it was. If it was ever found out that they wanted to make hemp illegal, they would have laughed. Hemp has been used for centuries… Milena even. Our Declaration of Independence was written on hemp, and Old Ironsides was fashioned with hemp sails.

From the way Anslinger spoke in front of US Senators, we can see that he is a racist bigot. Since when can the US government make laws based on someone’s opinion of ‘bad music’? Since when do laws based on nothing more then corrupt politics and racism hold merit in 2006? The laws against Cannabis were not created to protect the United States from a narcotic threat; rather it was a successful attempt at ruining an industry for personal greed.

This marijuana tax was kept in legislation until the 60’s and 70’s. All the hippies smoked cannabis and praised hemp… you all know the story. Around comes election day and the population elects republican Richard Nixon. He squashes the hippie movement… He gets rid of the previous classifications of marijuana and LSD (the hippies two ‘drugs’ of choice). LSD was completely legal at this time, by the way.

[Alpha]

Nixon created the Controlled Substances Act, which places cannabis in the same schedule as cocaine, ecstasy, and heroin. None of these drugs are even related, and it repulses me to think that a politician, not a scientific expert created the scheduling. Cannabis, coke, X, and heroin are all classified as having no medically accepted values. Cannabis has thousands of medical uses, and over 10 states have medical marijuana programs. Cocaine and heroin were first used as anesthesia in the 1800’s. MDMA (ecstasy) is used by psychologists i treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The laws are wrong.

Not only are the laws about Cannabis based on nothing more then political games startd by super corporations almsot 100 years ago, but the propaganda from the period left our society ignorant about Cannabis. There are many major misconceptions about Cannabis. They have their roots in propaganda such as the notorious Reefer Madness film.

Cannabis is classified as a Schedule 1 drug, which means the government classifies it as being an illegal narcotic with no medicinal values. This could not be farther then the truth. Currently, Cannabis has been rescheduled for medicinal use in twelve states, and the number grows with each election. The government is deciding what drugs have medicinal value- not the doctors with the PhD’s. In fact, according to PowerOneMedia inc., the government has known that Cannabis contains protein inhibitors that slow or eliminate tumors in mice since the 70’s. The government has stopped most experimentation with Cannabis and cancer.

Many Cancer patients use cannabis to relieve nausea from chemotherapy. Its intriguing that the government sanctions pumping our bodies full of toxic chemicals to the point where patients actually die from the treatment, yet it is still illegal to use a natural plant to relieve nausea and help fight cancer.

It is often said and posted in propaganda ads that Cannabis contains over 200 chemicals. Most organic compounds contain this many chemicals. Our body has over 10,000 There is nothing unusual about this number. To the ‘average Joe’, this makes Cannabis sound like it is some sort of toxic waste.

Another common misconception is that one Cannabis ‘joint’ or cigarette contains up to 30 times more carcinogens then cigarettes. This is almost laughable when one uses knowledge and statistics to avoid wading through the propaganda. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Bureau of Mortality Statistics, 400,000 people die annually of tobacco related problems. 100,000 people die from Alcohol related issues, 20,000 from legal drug side effects and accidental overdoses, 15,000 from Illegal drugs, 2,000 from caffeine, and 500 from Aspirin.

Not one single person in the history of mankind has ever died from Cannabis. It is almost physically impossible to overdose on Cannabis. When people ingest large amounts of Cannabis, they feel tired, and fall asleep. When people ingest large amounts of Alcohol, they get sclerosis and die. However, Alcohol, which causes 400,000 more deaths per year then Cannabis, is legal.

Regardless of whether or not cannabis even has 30x more anything then a cigarette, and regardless of how many people die from tobacco and how nobody has ever died from cannabis, it isn’t unusual for a person to smoke two packs a day. How many people do you know smoke 60 joints in a day? Thats a joint every 24 minutes. You do the math.

Cannabis is not a gateway drug. This is claimed by many propaganda ads. Cannabis is illegal. Therefore, the government has created a black market for Cannabis. The same people who sell Cannabis illegally also sell elicit drugs illegally. Therefore, the government has created a convenience for Cannabis users to easily use other ‘hard drugs’. If legalized and regulated, the black market is eliminated, creating a much safer environment, not to mention a stronger economy. Right now, any minor can purchase cannabis, becuase no dealer is going to card them or even care if they’re over 18. If it was put in a store… then voila, minors can not get cannabis. Just like alcohol (its easier for minors to buy cannabis then alcohol).

Cannabis has not proven to be physically addicting at all. Like anything that gives the user pleasure (sweets, games, etc), Cannabis can be mentally addicting. There are absolutely no withdrawal signs or symptoms from Cannabis. The only long-term effect is POSSIBLE bronchitis, which can be avoided altogether by using a device called a vaporizer, which extracts only the psychoactive THC in Cannabis, leaving any harmful substances behind. Ingestion through baked and other goods have no adverse effects on the respiratory system. Also, it may be worth it to know that its quite easy and possible to extract the main chemicals in cannabis. There is about 400 different chemicals, and only 20 produce the psychoactive sensations. By extracting only those 20 chemicals, you eliminate any harm from the other 380 chemicals that do not do anything.

One last bit about science… Don’t trust ANYTHING you read from the government. They maintain one crop in the University of Mississippi. They cut off the flowers (the buds.. the part you buy or smoke), and give researchers sticks, leaves, and seeds. They contain less then 1% THC, and the smoke produced is very harsh (due to the higher point of vaporization of the sticks leaves and seeds). So the experiments they do are not with what you and I could buy from Joe down the street. Thus they can not be taken with any credit until they let actual scientists perform actual experiments with actual marijuana.

When the laws about Cannabis were created, the objective was not to protect Americans from a harmful drug. The objective was one man to pull a few favors for his friends and to climb the political ladder. It is long overdue that Cannabis laws be reformed, not only for personal recreational use, but also for medicinal, as well as industrial use. And not only at a national level, but at an international level, starting in the United Nations.

Thousands of acres of rainforest are being harvested for lumber products, when the same products can be grown year round on Cannabis plants that offer higher yield, lower costs, and almost no need for pesticides. Billions of dollars may be saved.

Millions of lives may be saved or made more enjoyable by the medicinal values of Cannabis. Even though the government has yet to acknowledge Cannabis’ use as an anti-cancerous substance, it still eliminates the nausea related with chemotherapy. It is also widely known to relieve common symptoms of asthma when used sparingly. If you are suffering an asthma attack, one puff on a joint could mean the difference between suffocating to death and being really hungry.

If the government legalizes the cultivation of cannabis, and taxes it rightfully, Massachusetts alone will save $24 million dollars per year on the war on drugs. The government spends BILLIONS. Over a million innocent people would be out of jail. The revenue generated from taxation could pay for just about any public project required. If cultivation is legalized, the black market for Cannabis will be eliminated, keeping our streets safer and our economy stronger.

The time is now for laws to be reformed. Prohibition did not work with alcohol. With prohibition, more lives are being destroyed then being saved. Peace-loving Cannabis users are being thrown in jail with violent sex offenders and murderers. These people don’t want anyone to be harmed; they just want to be left alone so that they may enjoy their life in their own way.

Every day hundreds of letters are being sent to state legislators rallying for the legalization of the plant that may cure cancer, or save the rainforests, or bring peace to those who want to enjoy life. Hundreds of letters are not enough. The numbers need to be in the thousands.

It is time for America to win the war on drugs- not by prohibition or throwing innocent men in jail, but by reforming the laws, keeping the drugs off the streets and out of our children’s hands. It is time for America to use its right to vote and put Cannabis on the ballot. It is time to legalize freedom. Its time to look to science instead of propaganda, and its time YOU told someone about it.

[Alpha]

That was written by me and has been donated to humankind. Use it for school essays or projects. Its only posted here and on Bongs and Glass Pipes - Grasscity.com.

[big_balla]

Hahaha.. I was wondering if you made your presence known, Sam.

Decriminalize Cannabis!

In other news, I'm smoking up my high school friends tonight, homecoming hell yeah son.

[Alpha]

Honestly its pathetic how our judicial system still punishes for smoking cannabis. It just got mixed up when everybody was afraid of opium. Then Harry Anslinger started the war on drugs and ran with it. Really its not the first time our leaders have started wars for economic gains...

[kenny_1491]

yeah what alpha said, I have always thought it to be stupid for it to be illegal. but with the society we live in what do you expect?

[TonyD]

Alpha, you have these things saved up in text files, don't you? If not, you should. Personally, I've made a pretty large collection of text files over time, for various uses. It makes things easy.

I don't smoke and I don't encourage those around me to smoke. I do, however, think that it should be legal. But, I also think cocaine, crack, heroine, etc. should be legal (with stipulations), and for very simple reasons.



EDIT: There is one flaw in your posts, Alpha.

In your second post, the bolded part says:
"However, Alcohol, which causes 400,000 more deaths per year then Cannabis, is legal."

Directly above that you say:
"... 400,000 people die annually of tobacco related problems. 100,000 people die from Alcohol related issues..."

I'm not sure on the numbers myself, but I think you simply switched tobacco and alcohol. If you're going to post this in other places you should probably either switch the number or switch the word to make it right.

[kenny_1491]

Originally Posted by TonyD

Alpha, you have these things saved up in text files, don't you? If not, you should. Personally, I've made a pretty large collection of text files over time, for various uses. It makes things easy.

I don't smoke and I don't encourage those around me to smoke. I do, however, think that it should be legal. But, I also think cocaine, crack, heroine, etc. should be legal (with stipulations), and for very simple reasons.

what reasons? cuz I think crack shouldn't be legal.

[toXic]

If you enjoy pot, you better hope it doesnt become legal.

If it does, you will be having to pay tax on it. SO it could be more expensive, or cheaper depending on how the government regulates its production.

Also, it could become a dangerous drug. While being mass produced toxic additives could be added to it just like the current tobacco products.

[burningcow422]

used to smoke everyday. now it's once in a while. when i have a few buds lying around i'll smoke more than once a day though. weed should be decriminalized, but tobacco companies are going to **** it up.

harder drugs ftl. being an alcoholic and opiate addict :tdown

anything that's a drug other than weed i consider harder drugs so get off my ass. no really..i need to poop.

[TonyD]

Originally Posted by kenny_1491

what reasons? cuz I think crack shouldn't be legal.

Now that I think about it, the reasons really are quite simple, but I'm not positive I can explain it in extremely simple terms (one or two sentences, for instance).

I guess I'll lay out a situation that I had done for me at one time, with slight modifications where I thought they made sense. When I read this I immediately thought it was among the most reasonable conclusions.

There should be designated "immunity zones" in which drug use and other petty crimes are not penalized. Things like getting high, getting drunk, prostitution, getting in fights, and vandalism (with stipulations) would be legal, leaving things like rape, murder, pedophilia, or other crimes that severely victimize others to be among the only crimes punishable in these areas. The would be more or less "slums," but they could be as organized or as unruly as the citizens decide. There would be no places of business in these areas; they would mostly be neighborhoods and "hang out spots," including your stereotypical crack and whore houses, as well as drug dens. Simply put, those that wish to use more "dangerous" drugs or engage in virtually universally negative acts would be putting themselves at risk by being required to go into the lawless immunity zones. This is a very simply way of allowing people to compare pros and cons—how bad do you want to get high?

Marijuana, given it's relatively harmless and recreational nature, would be legal all over the place (or according to the local community, ideally), while harmful drugs are restricted and punishable. However, I think it would be best if it was still only available through private sellers, and overall it would probably be best that it be sold in immunity zones, rather than handled through bigger businesses. Ideally I don't think it's unreasonable to say that alcohol should be sold in these areas, too, but given that big-business already has a firm hold on it, I don't think it's reasonable to make that a primary concern.

We already have too many laws restricting people in their every day lives. It's both ineffective and expensive for all citizens for the "war on drugs" to continue in any way. And let's face it: There are a lot of people out there who are self-destructive and who cannot be rehabilitated. Rather than spending money trying to rehabilitate the "habitual offenders" or simply imprisoning them, let them do what they do—but with restrictions. In effect it is in a way containing the drug abusers and also allowing them the autonomy to be as productive or harmful as they wish. It seems to me a lot better solution than throwing them in jail or killing them.

I don't think I've put this quite as eloquently as I meant or am capable of, but I think I got the point across.

[DarkTamer]

Originally Posted by toXic

If you enjoy pot, you better hope it doesnt become legal.

If it does, you will be having to pay tax on it. SO it could be more expensive, or cheaper depending on how the government regulates its production.

I'd rather pay twice as much and not have to worry about being arrested or fined. Once it's legalized, I'm probably gonna grow it myself anyway. Or perhaps get a prescription for it

[toXic]

Originally Posted by DarkTamer

I'd rather pay twice as much and not have to worry about being arrested or fined. Once it's legalized, I'm probably gonna grow it myself anyway. Or perhaps get a prescription for it

All because it is legal, doesn't mean that anyone can grow it. The government could put restrictions on it.

Plus, its not like the fine or arrest is that bad lol.