There's been a lot of wasted resources associated with marijuana being illegal.
On Aug 3, 2017 8:50 AM, "Keith In Tampa" <[email protected]> wrote: > 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. Register and vote in our polls. >>> * Read the latest breaking news, and more. >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "PoliticalForum" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> brine >> http://brineb.blogspot.com/ >> >> -- >> -- >> 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. Register and vote in our polls. >> * Read the latest breaking news, and more. >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "PoliticalForum" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > -- > -- > 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. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PoliticalForum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- 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. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
