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+--- Thread: War on pot rejected by voters (/thread-364.html)
War on pot rejected by voters - Mark Stapleton - 11-11-2008
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/106141/pot_wins_in_a_landslide%3A_a_thundering_rejection_of_america%27s_longest_war/
Pot Wins in a Landslide: A Thundering Rejection of America's Longest War
By Rob Kampia, AlterNet. Posted November 5, 2008.
Voters dealt what may be a fatal blow to America's longest-running and least-discussed war -- the war on marijuana.
On Tuesday, largely under the radar of the pundits and political chattering classes, voters dealt what may be a fatal blow to America's longest-running and least-discussed war -- the war on marijuana.
Michigan voters made their state the 13th to allow the medical use of marijuana by a whopping 63 percent to 37 percent, the largest margin ever for a medical marijuana initiative. And by 65 percent to 35 percent, Massachusetts voters decriminalized the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, replacing arrests, legal fees, court appearances, the possibility of jail and a lifelong criminal record with a $100 fine, much like a traffic ticket, that can be paid through the mail.
What makes these results so amazing is that they followed the most intensive anti-marijuana campaign by federal officials since the days of "Reefer Madness." Marijuana arrests have been setting all-time records year after year, reaching the point where one American is arrested on marijuana charges every 36 seconds. More Americans are arrested each year for marijuana possession -- not sales or trafficking, just possession -- than for all violent crimes combined.
And the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, with “drug czar” John Walters at the helm, has led a hysterical anti-marijuana propaganda campaign. During Walters' tenure, ONDCP has released at least 127 separate anti-marijuana TV, radio and print ads, at a cost of hundreds of millions of tax dollars, plus 34 press releases focused mainly on marijuana, while no fewer than 50 reports from ONDCP and other federal agencies focused on the alleged evils of marijuana or touted anti-marijuana campaigns.
Walters himself campaigned personally in Michigan against the medical marijuana initiative, calling it an "abomination" and claiming yet again that there is no evidence that marijuana has medical value -- an assertion flatly contradicted by at least four published clinical trials in just the last two years.
In Massachusetts, the state's political and law enforcement establishment lined up solidly against the marijuana decriminalization initiative, including both Republican and Democratic politicians and all 11 district attorneys -- several of whom actually admitted to having smoked marijuana. They warned of rampant drug abuse and crime should the measure pass, simply ignoring the fact that no such thing has happened in the 11 other states (including California, Ohio and New York) that have had similar laws for years.
Voters were having none of it, giving a thumping rejection to government officials’ lies and hysteria in both states. Americans have taken a hard look at our national war on marijuana and rejected it for the cruel, counterproductive disaster that it is.
The voters are right. Of over 872,000 arrests in one year, 89 percent are for possession only.
What has this gotten us? Not much. Marijuana arrests weren't the only thing that set a record last year. So did the number of Americans who have tried marijuana. Usage rates came down marginally in the last few years but are still higher than in the early 1990s. Marijuana is our nation's number one cash crop.
The one thing our costly and futile efforts to "eradicate" marijuana have accomplished is to create a boom for criminal gangs, to whom we've handed a monopoly on production and distribution. Unlike producers of legal drugs like beer, wine or tobacco, these criminals pay no taxes and obey no rules. Their illicit efforts despoil our national forests and bring violence and destabilization to Mexico.
For years, politicians who know our current marijuana laws make no sense have been afraid to change them for fear of political retribution. The voters' thundering rejection of our misguided war on marijuana shows that those fears are misplaced.
It's time for Congress and the new administration -- not to mention state governments around the country -- to listen to the public. It's time for a new approach.
War on pot rejected by voters - Magda Hassan - 11-11-2008
This is good news. A bit of rationality in the 'war on drugs'. Apart from medicinal use hemp (marijuana) has many socially useful possibilities, building, plastics, textiles, paper and I hope to see a renewed hemp industry happening soon. This can only help in achieving that.
War on pot rejected by voters - Mark Stapleton - 11-11-2008
Textiles.
Cotton, because of its dependence on insecticides and pesticides, poisons the air, the land and the water. The NSW town of Gunnedah is a case in point. Hemp requires none of these.
War on pot rejected by voters - Magda Hassan - 11-11-2008
Most of the cotton grown now is genetically engineered to try to counter the insecticides needed and such. But that just means even more control by the multinationals like Monsanto. And GE is unproven especially in the long run as to its consequences. It may be playing a role in the death of the bee colonies and butterflies. http://www.truefood.org.au/q_and_a2.html?faqid=8
and http://www.truefood.org.au/q_and_a2.html?faqid=7
War on pot rejected by voters - Myra Bronstein - 11-11-2008
I've long tried to understand the government's determination to keep pot illegal. What is the strategy?
Is it so that private prisons will be kept full of poor victims of the archaic drug laws so there can be more free/cheap prison labor?
Is it because pot competes with the CIA's drug business?
Is it a form of mass mind control to force people in society to go along with immoral laws and make juries participate in the persecution of others?
WTF?
War on pot rejected by voters - Mark Stapleton - 11-11-2008
Myra Bronstein Wrote:I've long tried to understand the government's determination to keep pot illegal. What is the strategy?
Is it so that private prisons will be kept full of poor victims of the archaic drug laws so there can be more free/cheap prison labor?
Is it because pot competes with the CIA's drug business?
Is it a form of mass mind control to force people in society to go along with immoral laws and make juries participate in the persecution of others?
WTF?
Myra, here's my ten cents worth:
The police, lawyers, and the prison establishment see it as a serious threat to their careers, and they're right. The prison officers union in California is always campaigning against drug law reform. It's the same here. Cannabis busts make up the majority of all arrests. It's easy work for drug cops because it's mainly just waiting for informers to call. Not as hard as solving a difficult murder case. Lawyers who appear on behalf of defendants would lose business, and of course the prison guards and the supporting bureaucracy of the prison establishment would suffer significant job losses. And the DEA with its massive annual taxpayer burden of billions of dollars, would lose half its workload. The DEA's paranoia extends to plantation hemp, despite its absence of THC.
The tabloid media campaigns fervently against drug reform because they have been dining out on salacious drug stories for decades. They would lose serious money from a lower crime rate and more peaceful society. They are scum.
Governments of all political stripes think the idea stinks. This is purely about money. While reaping a nice harvest from tobacco and alcohol taxes, they know they can't effectively tax pot, because people can easily grow it themselves. The idea that people could alter their consciousness and not give them a cut drives them crazy.
Big Pharma hates the idea because pot is unwanted competition for a number of ailments, and if people can grow the drug for personal use, BP gets chopped out of the loop and can't make any money from it.
The cost to the taxpayer for maintaining this circus is massive. The media hides this from the public because it's in their interests to do so. Although it would mean a lower tax burden, reform would cause job losses so this has to be considered.
The DEA is the driving global force behind drug prohibition. They bully other nations, including Australia, into enforcing their agenda.
I agree it's mind control--worthy of Eddie Bernays.
War on pot rejected by voters - Myra Bronstein - 11-11-2008
Mark Stapleton Wrote:Myra, here's my ten cents worth:
...
Those are all very good points Mark.
I guess criminalization of pot benefits to the gov't in many ways.
I think that was worth eleven cents.
War on pot rejected by voters - Peter Lemkin - 11-11-2008
Myra Bronstein Wrote:I've long tried to understand the government's determination to keep pot illegal. What is the strategy?
Is it so that private prisons will be kept full of poor victims of the archaic drug laws so there can be more free/cheap prison labor?
Is it because pot competes with the CIA's drug business?
Is it a form of mass mind control to force people in society to go along with immoral laws and make juries participate in the persecution of others?
WTF?
Drugs that are legal seem to make persons more likley to work harder [caffein, nicotine] - or just not question 'things' [alchohol]. Those drugs that are illegal are those that cause persons to see reality in new ways and often to question authority and the reality presented by that authority [grass, hallucinogens]. There is the additional issue of BIG money to be made off of drugs [cocaine, heroin]. In fact, the human brain produces opiates when one is pleased [they are called endorphins] - so anyone could be arrested when happy. The whole 'business' of 'drug control and regulation' is a joke and a device for control of society. Another factor are the big drug and even textile manufacturers. Hemp and other natural drugs are cheaper and better than many of their expensive patented drugs for nausea, cancer, pain, and many other ills. Many of the psychotropic drugs produced by big pharmaceuticals make one complaint to the society. Now the lawyers, judges, prosecutors, police and more so privitized prisons LOVE the tough drug laws - but then so do the big corporations and intelligence agencies.
Sickening. I luckily live in a land where all natural drugs are legal in small quantities for personal use. Sadly, America is one of the least civilized, logical and natural places on Earth. May it change.....I won't hold my breath with the 15% Neaderthal and 65% uninvolved.
"Endorphins are endogenous opioid polypeptide compounds. They are produced by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus in vertebrates during strenuous exercise,[1] excitement, and orgasm,[2][3] and they resemble the opiates in their abilities to produce analgesia and a sense of well-being."
War on pot rejected by voters - Magda Hassan - 12-11-2008
Making and keeping drugs illegal suits many industries and other interested parties.
As Mark said there is a whole prison/police industry there because of it. Especially when you factor in privatized prisons. Some one has to fill those cells. It is not a hotel so they don't come of their own volition. There are only so many serious crime than can be permitted so victimless crimes need to be invented. Prisons are a growth industry. Please read Timothy Leary's auto biography for the plans that were already in place then to expand prisons despite opportunities to reduce recidivism and crime in general.
And as Peter said not all drugs are regarded equally. Some are more acceptable in this society than others. Ephedrine is given to many factory workers in the 3rd world to keep up their energy and output. Amphetamine type drugs were given to some German soldiers (and I believe US soldiers now) to make them feel energised and bulletproof.
If you manage to get through the education system intact and still want to expand your mind, watch out!. Those drugs are banned. Historically, drugs were used in religious rituals to have spiritual experiences, vision quests, enlightenment and such. Unfortunately, in the US there is more emphasis on Protestantism and its work ethic (coffee anyone?) and the Eucharist is the only ritual involving drugs. Even then it is sometimes non alcoholic wine. You can't have people expanding their mind, thinking for themselves and asking difficult questions. This leads to chaos (change) and we can't have that. If you can't cope you can use alcohol to numb you and go to sleep and be quiet. Or valium. Or anti-depressants.
Drugs and drug laws are such a very useful tool for social control. It is used to divided the working class. Pot was used by some Mexicans and some African Americans as their drug of choice. It was basically free grew everywhere and grew like a weed. Hence the name 'weed'. So racist stereotpypes were used to demonise this drug and these people. Decent folk use alcohol or Coca cola.
It is also no coincidence that Harry Anslinger married into the Du Pont family. This was at the same time that Du Pont had invented their new synthetic textile 'nylon'. Until that time hemp had been the textile of choice for ropes and broad cloth and would probably have continued to be so except that it was outlawed and replaced with....nylon and other synthetic materials indistrially produced. So much for competition in the open market place. Same for the pharmecuetical industry. They manufacture the THC component of cannabis at great expense and trouble (so you don't get the stone) but you can simply grow it yourself. Anecdotal reports indicate that the natural herb is more efficacious than the manufactured chemical.
There is of course a huge amount of money to be made from anything in the black market such as drugs. Since pot is so easy to grow it makes it impossible for the government to tax it. Also, other drugs such as cocaine and heroin and amphetamines are quite cheap to produce. It is only because of the black market that these are so expensive. It gives a huge amount of undeclared money for those black agents and agencies to use as they wish. All this would disappear with a sane drug policy - that is if it were dealt with as a personal and health issue not as a criminal issue.
So, for people who might want to think out side the box, enjoy their life, have spiritual enlightenment, be self sufficient, or just have a bit of fun you had better think twice or you could end up in the slammer with Butch McDick as your cell mate and never be able to get a decent job again with a criminal record. Better to just keep your head down, don't rock the boat, get on with your work and have a quiet beer afterwards. Be silent, consume, die.
War on pot rejected by voters - David Guyatt - 12-11-2008
Butch McDick?
:-)