This is such a non-issue to me now. Fifteen or twenty years ago, maybe it would have registered as more important to me. Like Brine, I haven't smoked pot in years; and don't have a desire to.
On Thu, Aug 3, 2017 at 9:33 AM, Brian Bednarek <[email protected]> wrote: > I personally don't care for pot, but do feel it should be legal. I have a > few friends here in NJ that have medical pot and they say it helps them a > lot!!! > > On Thu, Aug 3, 2017 at 7:52 AM, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> August 2, 2017 >> >> *It’s Been Exactly 80 Years Since the US Declared War on Weed and Weed >> Is Still Winning *Carey Wedler >> >> *(ANTIMEDIA <http://theantimedia.org/>* *Op-Ed)* The government fought >> cannabis and cannabis won. >> >> This Wednesday is the eightieth anniversary of the first major action the >> federal government took against cannabis in the United States, and eight >> decades later, that same federal government has still failed to reduce >> Americans’ consumption of the plant. In fact, it’s on the rise >> <http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/22/us/marijuana-use-up/index.html>. >> >> Long before the era of prohibition, druggists used cannabis as a >> medicine. According >> <http://origins.osu.edu/article/illegalization-marijuana-brief-history> >> to *Origins*, a joint publication by the Ohio State University and Miami >> University history departments: >> >> “*Cannabis, like opiates and cocaine >> <http://origins.osu.edu/article/shifting-terrain-latin-american-drug-trafficking>, >> was freely available at drug stores in liquid form and as a refined >> product, hashish. Cannabis was also a common ingredient in >> turn-of-the-century patent medicines, over-the-counter concoctions brewed >> to proprietary formulas.*” >> >> Then, like today, it helped people relax: >> >> *“The hashish candy advertised >> <http://books.google.com/books?id=Kk4oAQAAMAAJ&dq=vanity%20fair%201862&pg=RA1-PA134#v=onepage&q=hasheesh&f=false> >> in an 1862 issue of Vanity Fair as a treatment for nervousness and >> melancholy, for example, was also ‘a pleasurable and harmless stimulant.’ >> ‘Under its influence all classes seem to gather new inspiration and >> energy,’ the advertisement explained*.” >> >> Though in 1906 the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act required patent >> medicine companies to list cannabis as an ingredient in products where it >> was present – and between 1914 and 1925 26 states passed laws prohibiting >> it it wasn’t until 1937 federal authorities took substantial action. >> >> On August 2, 1937, Congress passed the “Marihuana Tax Act,” which was >> largely the result of anti-narcotic crusader Henry Anslinger’s mission to >> ban the plant. As *Time* has explained >> <http://time.com/4298038/marijuana-history-in-america/>, creating a >> “tax” on the substance effectively outlawed it: >> >> “*As with the Harrison Narcotic Act in 1914, Congress deemed an act >> taxing and regulating drugs, rather than prohibiting them, less susceptible >> to legal challenge. As a result, the 1937 legislation was ostensibly a >> revenue measure. Just as the Harrison Act used taxation and regulation to, >> in effect, prohibit morphine, heroin and other drugs, the Marijuana Tax Act >> essentially outlawed the possession or sale of marijuana*.” >> >> There are a variety of documented reasons for this ban. For one, Henry >> Anslinger was hysterically opposed to drugs. According to *Origins*, >> Anslinger, a “*former assistant commissioner of the Prohibition Bureau >> who headed the U.S. Treasury Department’s Narcotics Bureau from 1930 to >> 1962*,” had previously advocated against a ban on cannabis because he >> believed it would be difficult to enforce (you don’t say!). >> >> *Origins* explained: >> >> “*However, Anslinger began to capitalize on fears about marijuana while >> pressing a public relations campaign to encourage the passage of uniform >> anti-narcotics legislation in all 48 states. He later lobbied in favor of >> the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937.*” >> >> Many of these fears were the result of calculated campaigns in the 1920s >> by prohibition activists, who were inspired by their “success” in banning >> alcohol. Further, William Randolph Hearst, the infamous publishing magnate, >> launched a campaign to associate cannabis with violence and the degradation >> of society. >> >> “*The association of murder, torture, and mindless violence with >> marijuana was not borne out by evidence or actual events but blossomed >> thanks to the vivid imaginations of the journalists charged with >> sensationalizing the tired story of drug use and addiction*,” *Origins* >> noted. >> >> Similarly, Anslinger sounded the alarm on the alleged murders and rapes >> people committed while under the influence of the devil’s lettuce. In 1936, >> the film *Reefer Madness*, which now plays like a comedy, warned of the >> psychosis, violence, and dangers cannabis could bring about. The film >> warned of “*marijuana, the burning weed with its roots in hell*.” Much >> of the testimony advocating the 1937 tax act focused on these unfounded >> fears, and Anslinger led the way. >> >> >> >> *https://youtu.be/sbjHOBJzhb0 <https://youtu.be/sbjHOBJzhb0> *“*How many >> murders, suicides, robberies, criminal assaults, holdups, burglaries and >> deeds of maniacal insanity it causes each year can only be conjectured*,” >> he wrote in a 1937 article titled “Marijuana, Assassin of Youth >> <http://www.redhousebooks.com/galleries/assassin.htm>.” (Today, some >> research >> <http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0092816> >> suggests cannabis is not linked >> <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/27/medical-marijuana-crime-study_n_5044397.html> >> to increases in violent crime). >> >> The only witness who testified against the proposed ban was a >> representative from the American Medical Association, who congressmen >> dismissed (Anslinger also made an effort throughout his career to discredit >> research suggesting cannabis was not dangerous). The bill easily passed, >> undermining legal cannabis and also outlawed >> <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/8-things-didnt-know-hemp/> the >> production of hemp. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed it into law. >> >> Another related driver behind the ban stemmed from racism within American >> society. Though cannabis had been used in medicines and hemp was used in >> industry to produce materials like rope (in the 1600s, colonists were >> actually required >> <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/8-things-didnt-know-hemp/> to grow >> it), Mexican immigrants introduced the practice of smoking the plant, >> which, “*in turn, generated a reaction in the U.S., tinged perhaps with >> anti-Mexican xenophobia*.” This fear spurred the 1906 regulation in the >> Pure Food and Drug Act and persisted into the 1930s. >> >> As *Rolling Stone * noted >> <http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/blunt-talk-the-racist-origins-of-pot-prohibition-w477299>, >> there had been conversations in the United States not just about cannabis >> use, but other drugs, since the late 19th century. >> >> *“But in the next 50 years, concerns about inebriation only translated >> into law if the substance wasn’t already controlled by a powerful industry, >> and if there was a perception, accurate or not, that a given drug was being >> used by poor people, immigrants, and people of color.*” >> >> As fears surrounding substance use grew, *Rolling Stone* observed, they >> dovetailed with racist stereotypes about the poor and minorities that >> assumed these groups were more likely to commit crimes, be lazy, and lack >> self-control when it came to “*sex, violence, and intoxication.*” >> >> By 1952, Congress had passed >> <http://time.com/4298038/marijuana-history-in-america/> the Boggs Act, >> which imposed strict mandatory sentences for various drugs, including >> cannabis. In the 1970s, the Controlled Substances Act was passed, placing >> drugs into “schedules” as we know them today. >> >> Though Nixon touted the war on drugs as an effort to save society, one of >> his advisers, John Ehrlichman, reportedly claimed >> <https://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/> in the 1990s that >> they pursued cannabis as an effort to criminalize black and anti-war >> activist. Other former advisers then claimed >> <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/richard-nixon-drug-war-john-ehrlichman_us_56f58be6e4b0a3721819ec61> >> Ehrlichman was either joking or mistaken, but a cursory examination of >> arrests for cannabis shows the war on weed has disproportionately >> <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/marijuana-arrests-four-times-as-likely-for-blacks.html> >> affected African-Americans though they use the substance at roughly the >> same rate as white Americans. >> >> Overall, according >> <https://www.aclu.org/gallery/marijuana-arrests-numbers> to the ACLU, >> cannabis arrests accounted for over half of all drug arrests between 2000 >> and 2010, and 88% of those were for possession. >> >> Though states across the country have begun to legalize cannabis both for >> medicinal and recreational use, the federal government continues to dig its >> heels in. The DEA recently insisted >> <https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/02/06/cannabidiol-illegal-and-always-has-been/> >> that even cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid, falls into the >> ominous Schedule I <https://www.dea.gov/druginfo/ds.shtml> category, >> which also includes MDMA, LSD, and mushrooms but fails to cover highly >> dangerous and toxic legal drugs like alcohol and opioids. >> >> Many industries also continue to oppose cannabis legalization. The >> alcohol industry <https://theintercept.com/2016/09/14/beer-pot-ballot/>, >> the private prison industry, and prison guard and police unions all lobby >> <https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/08/money-not-morals-drives-marijuana-prohibition-movement/> >> against legalization. Most notably, pharmaceutical companies fight >> <https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/oct/22/recreational-marijuana-legalization-big-business> >> to keep cannabis illegal, all while at least one opioid >> <http://fortune.com/2016/12/08/insys-execs-charged-bribing-doctors-fentanyl/> >> producer concocts >> <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/24/a-pharma-company-that-spent-500000-trying-to-keep-pot-illegal-just-got-dea-approval-for-synthetic-marijuana/?utm_term=.894af7dcb935> >> its own synthetic cannabis with the approval of the same FDA and DEA that >> opted >> <http://www.npr.org/2016/08/10/489509471/dea-rejects-attempt-to-loosen-federal-restrictions-on-marijuana> >> to keep cannabis a Schedule I drug. >> >> But against all these odds, cannabis continues to beat the government and >> establishment’s decades-long fight against it. >> >> Many Americans have outgrown the fears instilled in them through films >> like *Reefer Madness* and are beginning to accept a live-and-let-live >> mentality. Though more research on the plant is undoubtedly needed (and >> limited >> <https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/10/marijuana-medical-research-dea/> >> due to federal restrictions), preliminary scientific studies >> <https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/cannabis-pdq#section/_7> >> and anecdotal evidence suggest the plant has the potential to treat a >> variety of ailments, from epilepsy >> <http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/first-marijuana-substance-reduces-seizures-epilepsy-patients-clinical-trial/> >> to nausea to Parkinson’s disease >> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNT8Zo_sfwo>. Veterans are increasingly >> using >> <http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-pot-veterans-201707-story.html> >> it to treat PTSD. >> >> The United States’ relationship with cannabis is coming full circle, >> returning to times when it was a common ingredient in everyday medications. >> Many Americans are opting >> <http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/can.2017.0012> to >> substitute opioids with cannabis for pain, and opioid overdose deaths are >> lower <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25154332> in states with >> legal medical cannabis. Cannabis also poses a threat >> <http://www.salon.com/2017/05/27/medical-marijuana-could-cost-big-pharma-4-billion-a-year_partner/> >> to profits from other pharmaceuticals. >> >> Beer company profits have fallen >> <http://time.com/money/4592317/legal-marijuana-beer-sales/> in states >> where cannabis is legal, and some states are even moving >> <http://reason.com/blog/2014/04/29/industrial-hemp-legalization-in-states> >> to legalize hemp. >> >> Meanwhile, cannabis industry is expected >> <http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/09/news/economy/marijuana-legalization-sales/index.html> >> to generate $20 billion annually by 2020, and police are frequently >> trolled <http://theantimedia.org/nypd-pathetic-drug-bust/> for >> attempting to enforce cannabis laws that Americans increasingly perceive >> <http://www.newsweek.com/marijuana-legalization-legal-states-poll-pot-588105> >> as petty and unproductive >> <http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/november_2015/americans_still_think_war_on_drugs_is_failing> >> . >> >> All the while, federal bureaucracies continue to lag behind, clinging to >> outdated myths and prohibitions that over the course of the better half >> of a century have been debunked and proven ineffective, which is >> unsurprising considering humans have been consuming the plant for well >> over 2,000 years >> <http://www.newsweek.com/chinese-were-smoking-grass-2400-years-ago-508752> >> . >> >> http://theantimedia.org/war-cannabis-80-years/ >> >> -- >> -- >> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. >> For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum >> >> * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ >> * It's active and moderated. 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