The Marijuana CONSPIRACY! To start off, I realize there have been threads regarding the legalization softer drugs but I feel this is a very interesting topic, so here goes. I was reading Erowid like many of you frequent, and while being stuck at work with not a ton to do, I found myself reading the Marijuana FAQ section, which provides a lot of information regarding the history of marijuana and the events which transpired making it illegal. Heres the Main Article for those of you who have time to read it. Basically, it is saying the reason for marijuana becoming illegal is due to a sequence of racially motivated events. For example, How do you feel about the legalization of soft drugs like marijuana and harder stuff as in cocaine and Meth etc, and how do you feel about our governments agenda in making marijuana illegal?
I watched a documentary on the history network a few months ago that revealed that the illegalization of most drugs was racially motivated. It's ridiculous imo. As long as people like to have fun and as long as drugs are highly profitable you will continue to lose the war on drugs. So why not throw in the towel? The DEA spends billions of dollars a year trying to stop drug rafficing with little to no success, I don't know why they just don't legalize everything and spend a fraction of it on EDUCATION and rehab.
The thing that aggravates me is the fact that marijuana is so safe when compared to alcohol and many over the counter medications, yet its labeled "bad"
Well, of course it is. I mean, it's used by lots of mexicans and blacks, so it must be evil But seriously, that's really what it comes down to. Most excuses for the prohibition we're experiencing are absolutely absurd. I mean, in eighth grade my DARE teacher actually had the nerve to tell us that weed was severely addictive, and commonly cut with rat poison :|
We all know DARE was an extremely successful program too The fact that dare is still around is laughable
I have a grower's guide from the '70's that was very confident it would be legal in "just a few years". Sigh. Maybe after all the old haters die off. BTW, mj con piracy? Is that anything like chilli con queso?
What never ceases to amaze me is that while marijuana is illegal, alcohol is legal. It's mind boggling. I've never heard of a dad who comes home stoned and then beats his wife and kids. Alcohol is a terrible drug, it's not even fun (drunk people are terribly annoying, not fun).
That's exactly it. Drugs are bad, there is no secret about it. But as long as people are addicted to drugs locking them up isn't going to make it better for them, it is going to make it worse. Prisons in this country are filled with drugs, in most cases once a person is sent to prison on drug charges they have a better access to those drugs inside those prison walls than they do on the outside. All that money needs to be spent on education and rehab, not on destroying families because a person in that family made a stupid decision at some point in their life and got addicted to a drug. Is all this racially motivated? Of course it is. For cocaine, the white man's drug, the penalites are fairly minor. For crack, the black man's drug, the penalites are severe, some offenders do more time for possesion of crack than others did for murder. This point is just insane when you understand that crack and cocaine are the exact same drug, one is simply cheaper than the other. But that's our justice system in a nutshell, its been like that for as long as this country has been around.
Shh, I'm gone, but you all know I can't resist a cannabis thread. A paper I wrote for my independent study on drugs earlier this year (definitely one of the worst papers I've ever written, and obviously slanted, but still a lot of information in there):
The majority of drugs should be legal. You have no right to tell me what I can and can't do with my body when there is not a direct risk of death or serious injury presented to myself.
That really depends. Many drugs will make you so addicted you will try to harm me to get those drugs. I think heroin, cocaine, and a few others definitely should be illegal. People do not hurt other people to get marijuana, so legalize it!
Not entirely true, but it is the difference between "give me the weed I paid for or I'm going to beat you up" and "I will literally murder you because I need that heroin to function".
I'm not too sure I understand your point. If you are talking about somebody getting ripped off that's a different story. My point was about innocent people getting stuck in the middle of it. This never happens with marijuana but it happens all the time for the hard drugs I mentioned as like you said addicts need them to function. So if they don't have the money for those drugs they will find a way to get that money even if they have to take it from me or you. But to calrify my point above eventhough I believe those hard drugs should not be legalized I don't think people arrested for possesion of them should be sent to prison.
I think all substances should be legal. There are probably a lot more "responsible" heroin, cocaine, etc. users than you may think. If you act like an asshole, yeah, prosecute that. If you search for help / get out of control, the $40,000 a year or whatever it is to cage someone with a medical problem would buy quite a bit of treatment, or better preventive education for others...
If a government exists, it's irresponsible for them to legalize things like heroin or cocaine, purely because there is an obligation there to protect their citizens... both of those (and several other very addictive substances) are the sorts of things that are beyond any sort of acceptable allowance for freedom when it comes to the fact that they're extremely dangerous and far more powerful than the willpower of the vast majority of those who would choose to use them. Bear in mind that I am an anarchist and believe that there should be no government, so ideally they'd be legal anyway (I couldn't give less of a shit if people destroy their lives through addictions like that). In the current situation, marijuana should be made legal for recreational use and drugs like LSD, psilocybin, DMT, and ketamine should be made legal for spiritual purposes (with allowances for those who choose to use them recreationally as well). Also, I agree with No Limit - possession [for personal use] of these substances is not something that people should be incarcerated for... that's just the entirely wrong way to go about it.
In the case of heroin I will flat out say there isn't a single responsible user of that drug what so ever. This drug is way too addictive for anyone to have control over it, period. With cocaine there might be a few, but it is only a matter of time before those people start using it irresponsibly. Addiction is a complicated issue, a lot of people think they have a grip on the drug when in reality the drug has a grip on them. They will tell you they can quit any time they want, but ask them to and all they will do is get angry at you. In many cases the same goes for marijuana, people think they aren't addicted until they try to quit. But in this case when marijuana has them by the balls their addiction doesn't get to the point where they will steal of get violant to get the drug, this is why I think there is no harm in legalizing marijuana yet there is a big danger in legalizing harder drugs where the addiction is much more controlling. I simply don't understand how we lock these people up in our country. It is by far one of the biggest evils of our local society yet nobody with any power seems to want to even mention this issue. Its a real shame and a lot of innocent people are paying the price for it. And it has nothing to do with republican or democrat, I was pleasantly suprised that on a far right republican message board many people shared this view when it was brought up. So why this issue isn't on the agenda is beyond me.
With respect, I don't see how you can claim this while professing to be an anarchist (as I identify, except for that damn human nature thing). Where does that end? Who decides? What manner shall we use to address that problem? You and No Limit seem to agree that incarceration is the wrong response to posession, so where does the illegality come in? Well said, couldn't agree more with that! I would add mescaline, as well (well, I'd add everything, but I'll take what I can get). Psychedelics could be such a great teacher and catylyst for humanity. I've seen those who can control it, and watched a good friend almost get his arm amputated from it. Luckily I never went down that path. But what should your average po-liceman do when he finds it on somebody?
Any drugs that can cause harm to your body shouldn't be legal. Marajuana, since it has been known to not be directly harmful to your health (except for the fact that you are inhaling smoke), should be legal. In fact, THC has been known to make certain cells live longer.
There are many crimes that don't require jail time. I'm sure we can come up with a good system to handle arrests without getting jail involved. A good example is how MIP (minor in possesion of alcohol) works in this state. If you are caught for it and you are over 18 you get a ticket where you are required to go to court. I don't think this would necessarly work but its an idea. I really worry about psychedelics. I've personally seen what these drugs do to certain people and its ugly. Don't take offense from this but I simply can not believe that. By the time somebody gets to the point of using heroin they have fallen off the deep end. See above. Anyway, would I rather see all these hard drugs legal than the current system we have now? Yes. But I still don't believe we should make any drug that makes the person lose that kind of control of their addiction legal if we can send them into rehab instead of prison.
Why? Guess you're making the case for banishment of alcohol, then? Yeah, that worked out so well before...
I don't think you have to be a sceintist to know when you inhale smoke it is bad for you. Marijuana has a lot of bad short term effects and I would argue it has a lot of bad long term effects too. But that really isn't the point, so do a lot of other things that are legal (fast food, alcohol, gambling, etc.). So if you want to harm yourself go for it, as long as you don't get to the point where you will harm somebody else in the process of getting you high which is the case with harder drugs.
Well, look at how many people get liver cancer from drinking, and look at how many people get lung cancer from smoking pot...
Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection By Marc Kaufman Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, May 26, 2006; A03 The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer. The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years. "We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."
I don't know how many studies have been done regarding marijuana and cancer but I really wouldn't be shocked if there was a link. But again, that really is not the point. Marijuana has many proven long term and short term side effects, so does fast food, so does tobacco. Who are you to say which side effects are more dangerous?
http://www.fcda.org/cannabinoids.htm If you were wondering, number 6 speaks of the prolonged life of brain cells from the use of cannabinoids.
This is the WP story, I'm not finding anything right away published directly by the UCLA, but it seems to be corroborated.
Cigarettes have all these extra chemicals in them, can kill, and are extrememly addictive (still trying to quit), and I smoke them for a feeling of satisfaction, but somehow its legal. Weed is all natural, I'm still smoking a plant, I'm smoking it for satisfaction, and it is not addictive. I smoke, I know this. But some how, its illegal. I can't tell you how many times I want cigarettes more than pot.
I saw this article the other day... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6551327.stm Even though a study hasn't found a link between lung cancer and smoking weed, it doesn't mean other nasty conditions aren't going to manifest themselves after smoking lots (there still could be a link to cancer - a study of 2000 people is not exactly representative, even if half were cancer patients. It's the same with any consumable thing - there's always a point at which its bad for you! Besides, if you're willing to spend the time preparing butter, you can have some good times with cake! It isn't smoked, so there's no damage to lungs, and a larger proportion of the active chemicals are absorbed in the eating. I'm not entirely sure how the tax system works in the US, but in the UK if weed was to become legalised I could see the government regulating it to **** - there is a lot of tax on alcohol and tobacco and if the government make a big fuss preventing kids from getting hold of weed (which they almost certainly would), it would be taxed in a similar manner and the price would go up. And I could also see them outlawing home-growing. In principle, the arguments for legalisation make it seem like a no-brainer, but in practice I think we might be worse off for it.
True about the excessive use health problem thing. People are always going on about how good vitamins are for you - an overdose of vitamin D can do odd things to your bone structure, amongst other things. -Angry Lawyer
That makes absolutely no sense. The more "bad" a drug is, the more important it is to legalise, because it is the very fact that it is illegal that causes the problems you just mentioned, among others. That link proves nothing. They don't even say whether or not she is smoking the badly contaminated hashish (soap) sold in the UK or whether she is smoking tobacco with it. Another stupid scare article.