05/18/10: U.S. drug war has met none of its goals
Posted by: BLOWBACK
By MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press Writer Martha Mendoza, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 13, 5:24 pm ET
MEXICO CITY – After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread.
Even U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske concedes the strategy hasn't worked.
"In the grand scheme, it has not been successful," Kerlikowske told The Associated Press. "Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified."
This week President Obama promised to "reduce drug use and the great damage it causes" with a new national policy that he said treats drug use more as a public health issue and focuses on prevention and treatment.
Nevertheless, his administration has increased spending on interdiction and law enforcement to record levels both in dollars and in percentage terms; this year, they account for $10 billion of his $15.5 billion drug-control budget.
Kerlikowske, who coordinates all federal anti-drug policies, says it will take time for the spending to match the rhetoric.....
MEXICO CITY – After 40 years, the United States' war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread.
Even U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske concedes the strategy hasn't worked.
"In the grand scheme, it has not been successful," Kerlikowske told The Associated Press. "Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified."
This week President Obama promised to "reduce drug use and the great damage it causes" with a new national policy that he said treats drug use more as a public health issue and focuses on prevention and treatment.
Nevertheless, his administration has increased spending on interdiction and law enforcement to record levels both in dollars and in percentage terms; this year, they account for $10 billion of his $15.5 billion drug-control budget.
Kerlikowske, who coordinates all federal anti-drug policies, says it will take time for the spending to match the rhetoric.....
06/17/09: Seattle Times on Legalization
Hey it's encouraging to see the media doing what they do best -- dogpile on a story. Here's more coverage in Seattle on the potential for legalization to get real traction, similar to the NY Times piece. Maybe there is some silver lining to the economic climate?!?
More are asking: Is it time to legalize pot?
More are asking: Is it time to legalize pot?
Posted by: ModeratePostUser
Forbes: Active Ingredient in Marijuana Kills Brain Cancer Cells
From the article:
"...the promise of THC might be a little over-hoped, and certainly requires further investigation before telling people to go out and roll a joint."
He's right. Going out to roll a joint could get you busted. A wise bail bondsman once told me, if you're going to do drugs, do them at home.
From the article:
"...the promise of THC might be a little over-hoped, and certainly requires further investigation before telling people to go out and roll a joint."
He's right. Going out to roll a joint could get you busted. A wise bail bondsman once told me, if you're going to do drugs, do them at home.
03/25/09: Some GREAT News about Medical Marijuana
Posted by: ModeratePostUser
Dispensers of Marijuana Find Relief in Policy Shift - NYTimes.com
Whoo hoo!
Here comes de facto marijuana legalization by popular demand for most blue states and maybe a few red ones, if they know what's good for them. The marijuana will be dispensed at prices substantially below street prices (to drive drug dealers out of business), through licensed and regulated dispensaries that will collect enough sales tax to make state budget deficits a thing of the past. I imagine a federal tax will follow, which could pay for however many trillions of dollars we spend on financial bailouts.
02/22/09: Pot Quotes and Facts
Posted by: Franklin
Collected by Robbie Genner, Huffington Post
On Role Models and Their Bongs
"Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica." - Abraham Lincoln (from a letter written by Lincoln during his presidency to the head of the Hohner Harmonica Company in Germany)
"Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country." - Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President
"Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere." - George Washington, U.S. President
"We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption." - John Adams, U.S. President
"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marihuana in private for personal use... Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marihuana." - Jimmy Carter, U.S. President
"I inhaled frequently. That was the point." - Barack Obama, U.S. President
"The war on drugs has been an utter failure. We need to rethink and decriminalize our nation's marijuana laws." -Barack Obama, January 2004
"The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world." - Carl Sagan, renown scientist, astronomer, astrochemist, author and TV host
"Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?" - Henry Ford, whose first Model-T was constructed from hemp fibers and built to run on hemp gasoline
"Prohibition. . . goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded" -Abraham Lincoln
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." - Albert Einstein quote on Hemp
"That is not a drug. It's a leaf." - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California
"I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast" - Ronald Reagan
"If the words 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on." - Terence McKenna
[]
The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross's flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp.
80% of all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin.
It was legal to pay taxes with Hemp in America from 1631 until the early 1800s.
Refusing to grow Hemp in America during the 17th and 18th Centuries was against the law. You could be jailed in Virginia for refusing to grow hemp from 1763 to 1769.
Rembrants, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen.
In 1916, the U.S. Government Dept. of Agriculture predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down.
For thousands of years, 90% of all ships' sails and rope were made from hemp. The word 'canvas' is Dutch for cannabis.
Hemp fuel is non-toxic, biodegradable and does not contribute to sulfur dioxide air poisoning.
In Feb. 1938, Popular Mechanics called Hemp a 'Billion Dollar Crop.' It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars.
On Role Models and Their Bongs
"Two of my favorite things are sitting on my front porch smoking a pipe of sweet hemp, and playing my Hohner harmonica." - Abraham Lincoln (from a letter written by Lincoln during his presidency to the head of the Hohner Harmonica Company in Germany)
"Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country." - Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President
"Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere." - George Washington, U.S. President
"We shall, by and by, want a world of hemp more for our own consumption." - John Adams, U.S. President
"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marihuana in private for personal use... Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marihuana." - Jimmy Carter, U.S. President
"I inhaled frequently. That was the point." - Barack Obama, U.S. President
"The war on drugs has been an utter failure. We need to rethink and decriminalize our nation's marijuana laws." -Barack Obama, January 2004
"The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world." - Carl Sagan, renown scientist, astronomer, astrochemist, author and TV host
"Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?" - Henry Ford, whose first Model-T was constructed from hemp fibers and built to run on hemp gasoline
"Prohibition. . . goes beyond the bound of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded" -Abraham Lincoln
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." - Albert Einstein quote on Hemp
"That is not a drug. It's a leaf." - Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California
"I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast" - Ronald Reagan
"If the words 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on." - Terence McKenna
[]
The first Bibles, maps, charts, Betsy Ross's flag, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp.
80% of all textiles, fabrics, clothes, linen, drapes, bed sheets, etc. were made from hemp until the 1820s with the introduction of the cotton gin.
It was legal to pay taxes with Hemp in America from 1631 until the early 1800s.
Refusing to grow Hemp in America during the 17th and 18th Centuries was against the law. You could be jailed in Virginia for refusing to grow hemp from 1763 to 1769.
Rembrants, Gainsboroughs, Van Goghs as well as most early canvas paintings were principally painted on hemp linen.
In 1916, the U.S. Government Dept. of Agriculture predicted that by the 1940s all paper would come from hemp and that no more trees need to be cut down.
For thousands of years, 90% of all ships' sails and rope were made from hemp. The word 'canvas' is Dutch for cannabis.
Hemp fuel is non-toxic, biodegradable and does not contribute to sulfur dioxide air poisoning.
In Feb. 1938, Popular Mechanics called Hemp a 'Billion Dollar Crop.' It was the first time a cash crop had a business potential to exceed a billion dollars.
12/25/08: Bad Rehab Supports Terrorism
Posted by: John
Rehab system failure increases demand and therefore supply, putting money into the hands of terrorists, insurgents and freaks...
The Evidence Gap - Drug Rehabilitation or Revolving Door?
The Evidence Gap - Drug Rehabilitation or Revolving Door?
08/22/08: Pot in the Vineyards
Posted by: BLOWBACK
The Drug War soldiers on...
Since July 8, cops have pulled up 165,670 pot plants in the Yakima Valley, mostly from 13 vineyard busts. Growers are planting in vineyards because they provide camouflage, irrigation water and easier access.
Story on pot busts from Seattle Times
Since July 8, cops have pulled up 165,670 pot plants in the Yakima Valley, mostly from 13 vineyard busts. Growers are planting in vineyards because they provide camouflage, irrigation water and easier access.
Story on pot busts from Seattle Times
08/17/08: Revelry, Politics mix at Hempfest
Activists irate about a proposed state limit on medical marijuana urged crowds Saturday at Seattle's 17th annual Hempfest festival to rally at an Aug. 25 Department of Health hearing in Tumwater.
Hempfest story on Seattle Times
Hempfest story on Seattle Times
Posted by: BLOWBACK
Seattle police Tuesday raided a University District office used by medical-marijuana patients, but the operator says he has been following state law and the authorities were overzealous.
Pot raid angers medical marijuana supporter
Pot raid angers medical marijuana supporter
Posted by: BLOWBACK
McCain to tour Colombian drug interdiction efforts
Great moments in waffling:
"I believe progress is being made and that more progress needs to be made."
Great moments in waffling:
"I believe progress is being made and that more progress needs to be made."