The government has done its research, quite a bit in fact, trying to demean cannabis and make it seem unethical. They didn't expect the studies to backfire however and make marijuana seem like what it really is, a herb with many benefits and few side effects.
10) MARIJUANA USE HAS NO EFFECT ON MORTALITY:
A massive study of California HMO members funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found marijuana use caused no significant increase in mortality. Tobacco use was associated with increased risk of death. Sidney, S et al. Marijuana Use and Mortality. American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 87 No. 4, April 1997. p. 585-590. Sept. 2002.
9) HEAVY MARIJUANA USE AS A YOUNG ADULT WON'T RUIN YOUR LIFE:
Veterans Affairs scientists looked at whether heavy marijuana use as a young adult caused long-term problems later, studying identical twins in which one twin had been a heavy marijuana user for a year or longer but had stopped at least one month before the study, while the second twin had used marijuana no more than five times ever. Marijuana use had no significant impact on physical or mental health care utilization, health-related quality of life, or current socio-demographic characteristics. Eisen SE et al. Does Marijuana Use Have Residual Adverse Effects on Self-Reported Health Measures, Socio-Demographics or Quality of Life? A Monozygotic Co-Twin Control Study in Men. Addiction. Vol. 97 No. 9. p.1083-1086. Sept.
1997
8) THE "GATEWAY EFFECT" MAY BE A MIRAGE:
Marijuana is often called a "gateway drug" by supporters of prohibition, who point to statistical "associations" indicating that persons who use marijuana are more likely to eventually try hard drugs than those who never use marijuana - implying that marijuana use somehow causes hard drug use. But a model developed by RAND Corp. researcher Andrew Morral demonstrates that these associations can be explained "without requiring a gateway effect." More likely, this federally funded study suggests, some people simply have an underlying propensity to try drugs, and start with what's most readily available. Morral AR, McCaffrey D and Paddock S. Reassessing the Marijuana Gateway Effect. Addiction. December 2002. p. 1493-1504.
7) PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK (PART I):
The White House had the National Research Council examine the data being gathered about drug use and the effects of U.S. drug policies. NRC concluded, "the nation possesses little information about the effectiveness of current drug policy, especially of drug law enforcement." And what data exist show "little apparent relationship between severity of sanctions prescribed for drug use and prevalence or frequency of use." In other words, there is no proof that prohibition - the cornerstone of U.S. drug policy for a century - reduces drug use. National Research Council. Informing America's Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don't Know Keeps Hurting Us. National Academy Press, 2001. p. 193.
6) PROHIBITION DOESN'T WORK (PART II):
DOES PROHIBITION CAUSE THE "GATEWAY EFFECT"?): U.S. and Dutch researchers, supported in part by NIDA, compared marijuana users in San Francisco, where non-medical use remains illegal, to Amsterdam, where adults may possess and purchase small amounts of marijuana from regulated businesses. Looking at such parameters as frequency and quantity of use and age at onset of use, they found no differences except one: Lifetime use of hard drugs was significantly lower in Amsterdam, with its "tolerant" marijuana policies. For example, lifetime crack cocaine use was 4.5 times higher in San Francisco than Amsterdam. Reinarman, C, Cohen, PDA, and Kaal, HL. The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy: Cannabis in Amsterdam and San Francisco. American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 94, No. 5. May 2004. p. 836-842.
EL PASO -- Legalizing marijuana in the United States would weaken Mexico's powerful drug cartels, panelists at a War on Drugs conference said Tuesday.
"If you take away half of their money, it will hurt them," said William Martin, a sociology professor at Rice University who studies drug abuse and government policy. "You are not going to break them, but you will hurt them."
By Ramon Bracamontes / El Paso Times
..... more at linkEL PASO -- Legalizing marijuana in the United States would weaken Mexico's powerful... more
Contrary to previous reports, Jack Herer is still alive. The Oregonian is reporting the activist is in critical condition at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland Oregon. In addition, celebstoner has retracted their announcement of Herer's death. In light of these facts it is with pleasure the Portland Progressive Examiner retracts an earlier report of Herer's death.
Jack Herer, much beloved Emperor of Hemp and marijuana hero collapsed backstage on Saturday, September 15, at "Hempstalk 2009" in Portland, Oregon. Herer had just given a fiery speech to the crowd on the future of hemp when he suffered a heart attack and a significant loss of oxygen.
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Story has been updated, apparently Jack is not dead. Sorry for the confusion.Contrary to previous reports, Jack Herer is still alive. The Oregonian is reporting... more
It sounds like a student’s dream, a house on the campus made from cannabis.
But the BaleHaus being built at Bath University has a far more serious purpose than getting slackers stoned. It aims to fight global warming and to slash energy bills.It sounds like a student’s dream, a house on the campus made from cannabis.
But... more
A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on a weekday afternoon. Erick Alvaro hands over a white paper bag to his 58-year-old customer, who inspects the bag to ensure that everything he ordered over the phone is there.A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on... more
Oregon’s House of Representatives voted Monday night to legalize the cultivation of hemp, becoming the sixth state to do so just this year.
Oregon’s Senate voted 27 to 2 in favor of the new law last week. Monday’s 46 to 11 House vote means that the measure will become law, barring an unlikely veto by Governor Ted Kulongoski.
The move is part of a rapidly growing nationwide trend to liberalize laws relating to marijuana. Hemp is a botanical cousin of marijuana, traditionally used to make clothing, rope and other durable fiber goods.
“Hemp is a versatile, environmentally-friendly crop that has not been grown in the U.S. for over fifty years because of a misguided and politicized interpretation of the nation’s drug laws by the Drug Enforcement Administration,” Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra said in a statement.
“While a new bill in Congress, HR 1866, is a welcome step, the hemp industry is hopeful that President Obama’s administration will recognize hemp’s myriad benefits to farmers, businesses and the environment.”Oregon’s House of Representatives voted Monday night to legalize the cultivation of... more
It is becoming increasingly obvious that the ‘war on drugs’ in not just unwinnable: it is unsustainable. The political costs are mounting. The inconclusive battle that has been raging on the Mexican-US border for the past year is causing a great deal of re-thinking in Washington. Because they are also trying to eradicate the opium business, the Western forces in Afghanistan are faced with the prospect of losing a war of great strategic importance. Sensing the beginnings of a change in mood, an increasing number of voices are calling for a different policy. In February 2009, the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy delivered a very clear message: the war on drugs threatens our democracies. Some taxpayers are beginning to wonder whether a controlled, transparent and legal narcotics business, designed to keep consumption low and finance harm reduction, could make the world a richer, more secure and more honest place.It is becoming increasingly obvious that the ‘war on drugs’ in not just... more
Anthony Jourden remembers the vomiting, the days spent lying in bed when he couldn't muster the energy to stay up.
Jourden's first week of chemotherapy was the stuff bad dreams are made of -- nausea, shaking, depression, a three-day stint with no food.
"I was real pale and sickly looking," said Jourden of Muskegon Township, who uses chemotherapy to treat a rare form of cancer that formed in his abdomen and resulted in small tumors forming on his liver.
If it wasn't for medical marijuana, Jourden, 29, doesn't want to imagine what condition he would be in today.
"Without it, I would be skin and bones," said Jourden, who has been undergoing chemotherapy since July 2008. "It kind of gave me a reason to get up in the morning to be honest with you."Anthony Jourden remembers the vomiting, the days spent lying in bed when he couldn't... more
The govt. "warns" us that our pot is stronger than anything Jerry Garcia ever smoked in his heyday. What do they expect?The govt. "warns" us that our pot is stronger than anything Jerry Garcia ever smoked... more
1. End marijuana prohibition (92,970)
2. Commit to becoming the “greenest” country in the world (70,470)
3. Stop using federal resources to undermine states’ medicinal marijuana laws (66,170)
4. Replace government sponsored abstinence education with age-appropriate sex education (65,350)
5. Funding for bullet trains and light rail (65,100)
6. The permanent closure of all torture facilities (61,250)
7. Revoke the George W. Bush tax cuts for the top 1 % (57,080)
8. Get insurance companies out of health care (55,080)
9. Revoke the tax exempt status of the Church of Scientology (52,470)
10. Bring back the Constitution (50,160)1. End marijuana prohibition (92,970)
2. Commit to becoming the “greenest”... more
"The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy." President Obama said it with a chuckle last week at a town hall-style forum. The idea was for Obama to answer some questions about the economy submitted to the White House website. The most popular ones all had something to do with the virtues of legalizing and taxing marijuana. “I don’t know what this says about the online audience,” Obama joshed, and the good Americans assembled at the forum shared a little laugh. What does it say about the online audience? Maybe it says that advocates of marijuana legalization have hope that a president who once inhaled will, even in the middle of a recession, devote some attention to our country's disastrous drug policies.
Have you heard of Santiago Meza Lopez? They call him “The Soupmaker.” In January he confessed to Mexican authorities that he had dissolved over 300 dead human bodies in acid. There’s a lot of money to be made in America’s black market for drugs and Mexican suppliers are willing to kill a lot of people to control those markets and capture the gains. Conservative estimates put the death toll of the war between rival Mexican gangs at over 5,000 in the last year alone. When you kill so many people it’s hard to know what to do with all of the rotting bodies. One way to handle the problem is to call in the Soupmaker. Six hundred American dollars per corpse.
Did you know that the United States of America, the Land of the Free, puts a larger portion of its population behind bars than any country on earth? Thanks in large part to the War on Drugs, Americans lock more of their own in cages than do the thuggish Russians or those “Islamofascist” Saudis. As it happens, American drug prohibition and sentencing policies hit poor black men the hardest, devastating already disadvantaged black families and communities—a tragic, mocking contrast to the achievement of Obama’s election. Militarized police departments across the nation month after month kick down the wrong doors, terrify innocent families, shoot lawful citizens, and often kill the family dog.
So why is Obama laughing? To be fair, in 2004, Obama called the War on Drugs “a complete failure.” And he’s much saner about pot than most politicians. He has in the past called for decriminalization of marijuana and his Justice Department has promised the DEA will ease up on medical marijuana dispensaries that comply with state law (though the Feds just cracked down on a cannabis coop in San Francisco). Sure, Obama’s got a lot on his hands these days. But his dismissive snicker reflects a sadly common nonchalance toward America’s disastrous experiment in prohibition. This is a “war” that has not only failed utterly to shut down the market for drugs, but has, on the way, perpetuated the shameful American legacy of racial stratification, eroded the rights and safety of American citizens, and fomented a civil war on our southern border in which knock-on markets for assassins and corpse liquidation specialists flourish. To call this “complete failure” is to put on a happy face.I smoke pot, and I like it
"The answer is no, I don't think that is a good strategy... more
Many Voters will be going to the poles in November that will take into consideration this issue.I think our state reps should think about the backlash when their constituents are laughed at in public forum.
DR. BERNSTEIN: Three point five million.
THE PRESIDENT: Three point five million people voted. I have to say that there was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy -- (laughter) -- and job creation. And I don't know what this says about the online audience -- (laughter) -- but I just want -- I don't want people to think that -- this was a fairly popular question; we want to make sure that it was answered. The answer is, no, I don't think that is a good strategy -- (laughter) -- to grow our economy. (Applause.)
So -- all right.
DR. BERNSTEIN: Thank you for clearing that up. (Laughter.) This next question comes from Columbia, South Carolina:Many Voters will be going to the poles in November that will take into consideration... more
Many submitted online questions focused on marijuana; Obama jokes, 'I don't know what that says about the online audience'Many submitted online questions focused on marijuana; Obama jokes, 'I don't know what... more
The Obama team ask the people logging on to its website to provide a list of the top polices questions facing the nation.
Legalization of marijuana came out at number one.
13 states have made medical marijuana with New Jersey passing legislation recently.The Obama team ask the people logging on to its website to provide a list of the top... more
Q: "Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?" S. Man, Denton
A: President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.
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Despite thorough responses to the other questions, the Obama team simply says no to this question. Does this leave any hope for drug reform in the next 4 years?Q: "Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax... more
Earlier this month we noted that Barack Obama's Presidential transition site Change.gov had added OpenID login for commenters and that the site had traded the traditional copyright for the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Last week, the iPhone app for Change.gov was added to Apple's Web apps page, thanks to the Creative Commons license.
According to Christopher Carfi, co-founder of Cerado, the company behind the creation of the widgets, the fact that Change.gov is now iPhone, mobile and widget-enabled is largely due to Change.gov opening up its content with the Creative Commons license.
In addition to the iPhone app, using their Ventana service, Cerado created a widget version of Change.gov that includes a news and agenda feed, links to the team, as well as links to Obama inspired books on Amazon.Earlier this month we noted that Barack Obama's Presidential transition site... more
President-elect Obama's transition website Change.gov is now using a Creative Commons License to allow for copying, redistribution, and remixing of its content.
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mix away kids!President-elect Obama's transition website Change.gov is now using a Creative Commons... more
President-elect Obama - fulfilling multiple campaign promises to more deeply involve the public in setting priorities for his administration - opened up his Change.Gov website to questions from citizens, and asked the people to then rate the questions up or down.
The first round of questions closed at midnight last night, and it should come as no surprise that many of the top questions involve issues that millions of Americans care deeply about but for which commercial media coverage doesn't do justice in reporting or prioritizing.
The number one question for the first round was:go to linkPresident-elect Obama - fulfilling multiple campaign promises to more deeply involve... more
"Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?"
That is the question, to whom? Well none other than President-elect Obama, If your for it or against it follow the link and vote! It's about time we all had a talk about this!
Again all you need todo is follow the link (to change.gov) and vote it up or down! Express your opinion!"Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax... more
