A segment of the population
 

===========================================

prefers the medical benefits of Cannabis over the pain medications
namely the nsaids drugs: being ibuprofen,MOTRIN , naproxin ,acetaminophen or
because it works better for pain and doesn't cause heart attacks
and or intestinal ulcers.

the Government is hypocritical in allowing medical facilities to provide cannabis on a state level and then go ahead in and bust the same outlet with federal DEA agents when they are the ones who made a simple god given herb "the gateway drug",
"the assassin of youth" , and lumped it in with drugs like heroin and cocaine which have no medical attributes what so ever by making it illegal in the first place .

The Government is the CRIMINAL here :point: not the patient.

the patient is being forced by the usa government to buy their medication from the
growers....
most of which are in the southern swamp lands the same way moonshine was produced there when the alcohol prohibition
was happening....
and what did that do.... it created
the same level of violence that is happening now nation wide.

THE profitability of marijuana ONLY exists because the government made it illegal so it then became a black market item.

The Government is the criminal by forcing a patient to have to resort to obtaining their medication illegally instead of taxing it
and regulating it, ESPECIALLY when it's less harmful to society
than either tobacco and alcohol and that is unforgivable.

THEY
have been excepting bribes from the lobbyists for many decades.

the drug war is a complete FAILURE ->and OBAMA has no BALLS.

This is one of the biggest topics in the media concerning Mexico.

all those Billions
 

are going out of the USA

and draining the economy

legalize it and then grow it in the usa

with a tax on it and the revenue stays here.

You think Americans have become fat and lazy now? just wait and see what happens if pot is legalized :rollem: I don't think it's a good idea, people need to get motivated and get working hard, not get stoned and lethargic. Medical use is one thing, but recreational use is completely different, it's a drug like alcohol is a drug.

Yes, because if Marijuana is legalized, we'll turn into a country of fat, lazy, unmotivated people - with the benefit of munchie sales going through the roof.

Similar to how everyone turned into an alcoholic that beats their wife, in the 1930's when Prohibition was overturned.

Aren't ignorant stereotypes and misconceptions fun?

Damn, i shouldnt have turned up that job at frito-lay.

I know a lot of pot smokers. Not a one needs it as a medicine.

yep :) like all deadheads dropped acid and have no brain cells left.
I forgot to add paranoia.
Plenty of drunks to go around,(I don't know about the wife beating, but if you say so) I think there are studies where they add up all the costs from sicktime,loss of production etc. due to drinking or being hungover and it costs employers plenty, which in turn costs consumers.

I have stock in Doritos:walk:

There are studies. The problem is that they are financed by the same department of the government that funds drug prevention.

All of you who say pot should remain illegal and a criminal offense are the same folks who will go out and throw back a bunch of coldies...what's the difference? Some people would rather burn one than drink alcohol...I am astonished at how many people have their heads up there asses!

burp
 

Raven, your picture makes me feel like I'm tripping on Acid, not high on pot.

it's the poppies ....:hihi:

I just find it interesting that in liberal Massachusetts has banned smoking of cigarettes everywhere in public, except maybe your car, because smoking them no doubt causes cancer, but 65 % of the same people who wanted smoking cigarettes in public to be illegal also voted for decriminalizing marijuana. Liberal Massachusetts where the death penalty is always soundly defeated, but its selfish residents don't give a damn about all the people dying in the drug wars in Mexico making sure they have all the dope they need. Buy a lid, kill a kid, in ole Mexico . You can't have it both ways. So I guess to even things out people should be given a citation for smoking a cigarette as well, when caught, or maybe neither of the smokers should be punished. I am so confused.

Most weed in MA is grown locally or in Canada.

O.K. so do you want to chat about the tarriffs that the Hell's Angels and other gorwers have to pay the various indian tribes that live along the Canadian to drive/walk across thier land to bring it into this country. Hells Angels are just a mens social group right.

Do you live in any state bordered by British Columbia now?

From what I hear, That B.C. bud is tops.

dude, what happened to you? You have seriosuly lost you're mind, why are you SO in the tank for this guy?

i've never seen a fat lazy Rasta.

AK is better. Or so they say.

so legalizing weed will increase violence in Mexico? i have a feeling it would decrease do to the fact the black market for weed would dry up.

Legalize so the government gets the tax? pffft.

To do what with , pay down debt or find more $$$$$$ to waste ???????

If you believe the former i got a bridge to sell ya.

Just what we need,another blight on America, the world leader.

i don't need a bridge right now Dave
but i'll take a big rocky cove full of Bass
if ya have one layin around :wave:
~
It's completely Obvious and transparent to me
that the current tobacco tax is just a prelude
to pot being taxed in the near future,,,,

the Government is always advocating accountability
yet with the DRUG war there is absolutely NONE to speak of

it's almost as if it's a black ops deal because
the price tag is open ended regardless
of the results over the last 65 years.....

and when i hear them say the "longest war"
on the news it makes me think about how
much money has been squandered so far.:eek5:
~
but hey, we are now in the longest war....

the war against terrorism
and it will never end :doh:

that being said....

we need to end non productive wars.

yeah that was wicked funny Scott thanks :)

look at this for awhile
 

do you see the mirror or is it an illusion ;)

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c66/ravenob1/gate.jpg

At least one country has a clue!


5 Years After: Portugal's Drug Decriminalization Policy Shows Positive Results
April 7, 2009 - Scientific American

Street drug-related deaths from overdoses drop and the rate of HIV cases crashes

In the face of a growing number of deaths and cases of HIV linked to drug abuse, the Portuguese government in 2001 tried a new tack to get a handle on the problem—it decriminalized the use and possession of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other illicit street drugs. The theory: focusing on treatment and prevention instead of jailing users would decrease the number of deaths and infections.

Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Institute, a Washington, D.C, libertarian think tank.

"Now instead of being put into prison, addicts are going to treatment centers and they're learning how to control their drug usage or getting off drugs entirely," report author Glenn Greenwald, a former New York State constitutional litigator, said during a press briefing at Cato last week.

Under the Portuguese plan, penalties for people caught dealing and trafficking drugs are unchanged; dealers are still jailed and subjected to fines depending on the crime. But people caught using or possessing small amounts—defined as the amount needed for 10 days of personal use—are brought before what's known as a "Dissuasion Commission," an administrative body created by the 2001 law.

Each three-person commission includes at least one lawyer or judge and one health care or social services worker. The panel has the option of recommending treatment, a small fine, or no sanction.

Peter Reuter, a criminologist at the University of Maryland, College Park, says he's skeptical decriminalization was the sole reason drug use slid in Portugal, noting that another factor, especially among teens, was a global decline in marijuana use. By the same token, he notes that critics were wrong in their warnings that decriminalizing drugs would make Lisbon a drug mecca.

"Drug decriminalization did reach its primary goal in Portugal," of reducing the health consequences of drug use, he says, "and did not lead to Lisbon becoming a drug tourist destination."

Walter Kemp, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, says decriminalization in Portugal "appears to be working." He adds that his office is putting more emphasis on improving health outcomes, such as reducing needle-borne infections, but that it does not explicitly support decriminalization, "because it smacks of legalization."

Drug legalization removes all criminal penalties for producing, selling and using drugs; no country has tried it. In contrast, decriminalization, as practiced in Portugal, eliminates jail time for drug users but maintains criminal penalties for dealers. Spain and Italy have also decriminalized personal use of drugs and Mexico's president has proposed doing the same. .

A spokesperson for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy declined to comment, citing the pending Senate confirmation of the office's new director, former Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs also declined to comment on the report.

this country has no CLUE
 

as to exactly how SCREWED UP

the FDA actually is.... Smells so friggan fishy

law doesn't sorta kinda apply to these drug companies
i wonder wonder why

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/10...ket/index.html

I know lots of people that smoke grass everyday and work 50-80+ hours a week. I wouldnt call them lazy. Look at michael phelps , a pot smoker, and at the top of his sport. Heres some more famously lazy pot smokers
Barack Obama, president-elect. Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the U.S. John Kerry, U.S. Senator and 2004 Democratic nominee for president. John Edwards, multi-millionaire, former U.S. Senator, and 2004 Democratic nominee for vice president. Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, 2008 Republican nominee for vice president. British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, and and Chancellor Alistair Darling. Josh Howard, NBA all-star. New York Governor David Paterson. Former Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Oscar winner Al Gore. Former Sen. Bill Bradley, who smoked while playing professional basketball. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and former New York Governor George Pataki. Billionaire and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

What about peter b. lewis founder of progressive auto insurance and potsmoker???

chef,

You left out half the players in the NFL. And a stat I heard during the debates on MA's decriminalization that up to 30% of MIT graduates smoked pot.

a professor from Harvard was also saying
to legalize all drugs on CNN then increase
the treatment centers.

heroine is easier to get than Beer and costs even less
than a six pack....for kids in high school

Kids smoking weed may not be a good thing (i agree)
(if adults over 21 want to....... that's their decision)
but those same kids are not going to die
from it....... due to an overdose.

we have spent a half trillion dollars on prohibition
the Havard professor said ...yet the drugs infiltration
in this country is going up faster than the deficit.

it's not working.

war on the poppy fields
 

Finally the right approach is underway.... @ the Afghanistan poppy stand ..... bout friggan time... but hey, 300 million revenue is a drop in the bucket.... if they have financier's or backers...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Only 10 minutes inside the tiny village of Zangabad, 20 miles southwest of Kandahar, a platoon of American soldiers stepped into a poppy field in full bloom on Monday. Taliban fighters opened fire from three sides.
“From the north!” one of the soldiers yelled, spinning and firing.
“West!” another screamed, turning and firing, too.
An hour passed and a thousand bullets whipped through the air. Ammunition was running low. The Taliban were circling.

Then the gunships arrived, swooping in, their
bullet casings showering the ground beneath them, their rockets streaking and destroying. Behind a barrage of artillery, the soldiers shot their way out of Zangabad and moved into the cover of the vineyards.
“When are you going drop the bomb?” Capt. Chris Brawley said into his radio over the clatter of machine-gun fire. “I’m in a grape field.”
The bomb came, and after a time the shooting stopped.

as is drinking to much water
you can die

weed is the least harmful substance there is
compared to so much else that is legal.

When I really have to buckle down and get a ton of work done, I take a preworkout powder mixed with some water. Kind of like a legal Adderal. There is no way in hell that it'd be safe for anything more than occasional, let alone daily use... but, that's legal and $25 for 40 servings. I can only take half a serving, a full one makes my heart feel like it'll explode. I also use it in emergency situations where I'm having trouble staying awake while driving home from overnight trips to the Ditch.

The point to the above is that there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to how drugs are scheduled. Tons of studies exist that demonstrate weed far, far down the list of dangerous substances than cigarettes or alcohol. The marketing of Pot as a gateway drug and consistent government propaganda has instilled so much misinformation that some of the most ridiculous claims are widely accepted as fact. Where as on the other hand, I can go to my local GNC, drop $25 on the counter and have a substance that causes an almost immediate elevation of blood pressure, heart rate and would probably kill anyone with any heart condition.

i watched too awesome shows on the history channel this weekend on the history of drugs in the US and how they became illegal. Very, very interesting. Race has played a huge part in the laws. Bottom line is that NO ONE ever saw the laws creating a huge, violent, black market. The crime we have in the country is worse than the impacts of drugs being legal. There are no violent drug cartels selling beer in the US.

Pot is illegal in this country because of the stereotype of the lazy white kids with nasty dreadlocks, hemp bracelets and tie dye clothes that arrive in town for the Phish concerts and stink the place up with their b.o.

Which is extremely interesting to me considering the immediate surge of violence and bootlegging that emerged as a result of Prohibition.

I've been meaning to try and catch one of these shows. I know on of the channels has a show "Drugs Inc." but all the ones I've caught have been about Mexican or Colombian cartels.

JD
 

you brought up a very good point on your
weapon of choice to drive home awake .....from the ditch

it's a matter of what "your body" says feels right
not your Doctors recommendation and that is because
only you can "feel" how something affects you and
no one else can.

I try to tell people to take that approach to deciding what makes
them feel good .... not what some advertiser says.

On one of those pot usa shows it was saying how these pharmaceutical
companies go to the MEDICAL colleges to train emerging Doctors
on how to prescribe the medications and also pay them sums of cash
up to $100,000,00. dollars to give speeches about their products.

sounds like a shill operation to me...

when i go to the Doctors and try to downplay all the medication
they wanna give me.... they get all perturbed about it and talk about
how safe everything is... blah, blah and this has been around for so many years
is their argument , when in reality, it should be screw the general population
"how does it work for you individually" should be
the question asked.

One person can get absolutely no benefit from something whereas
another person may consider it to be the only thing that works.

Saw an interview with some kids who's dad was on medical marijuana
and they said they can't believe it... HE'S BACK
they said ,where as before he was so doped up on pain killers to them
he was unreachable,not there ......... a shadow of his former self

the father who looked very bad physically (posture) simply said...
after a minute or 10 minutes the pain is not completely gone
but it just doesn't bother me as much anymore
and i can tolerate it.
i no longer care.

This is an interesting read on it......

Why is Marijuana Illegal? Drug WarRant

It's Nixon's fault