Marijuana—The New Money Tree?
By Pat Racimora on May 13, 2009 at 6:00 PM in Drug Legalization
It’s Bill Maher’s wet dream. And if you know the area where I live (Santa Cruz, California) you also know what the response to legalizing marijuana would be. (If you don’t know Santa Cruz, it’s an ocean front/redwoods playground south of San Francisco where the “Love Children” in the 60s came to visit. Many never left.)
Increasing numbers of Americans support decriminalization of pot (close to or over 50% depending on the poll). And almost-serious thinking on the part of some legislators is headed in the same direction.
The reason has little to do with any merits (or demerits, depending on your point of view) of the product itself. Rather, in hard times legislators look for new ways to raise revenue.
Legalizing marijuana would be an interesting choice. It is already used recreationally by many millions of Americans. If it were to become legal, it could be heavily taxed. Funds would no longer need to be spent chasing those who grow and sell it and arresting those who have it in their possession. The courts would be freed from dealing with growers, sellers, and users. Legitimate tax paying businesses could distribute it.
This notion is not without its detractors, of course. Marijuana can be addictive (along with alcohol and nicotine, both of which are legal, as pot proponents are always quick to point out). We don’t really know how much and how often it would be used and by whom. It’s not good to drive under its influence. And it’s not really healthy for the average person (it is smoke, after all–well, unless you bake it in brownies), despite its usefulness for some medical conditions.
So, aside from allowing marijuana for medical purposes in some states, it may be a long while, if ever, before we see change in the drug laws. President Obama, despite his admitted use of it as a young man, does not think legalizing pot is a way to build ourselves up economically.
What do you think about legalizing marijuana as a way to bolster our economy?
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Yes, but Obama also did “blow”.
It is worth trying. The only negative I can see is the smoking aspect.
Someone should check out British Columbia where they don’t enforce any laws against marijuana.
2 points:
We have to come up with a quick, reliable of testing field sobriety.
Repealing marijuana prohibition’s time has come. I hope it’ll slow government at all levels’ addiction to gambling revenue, or at least slow it down, which is much more harmful than pot.
2 points:
We have to come up with a quick, reliable way of testing field sobriety.
Repealing marijuana prohibition’s time has come. I hope it’ll slow government at all levels’ addiction to gambling revenue, or at least slow it down, which is much more harmful than pot.
I think it is a great idea!
It may not be a way to build ourselves up economically, but legalizing pot is a way to stop wasting millions of dollars trying to stop it being grown, imported and used. And it would add some tax money too. We could also stop sending people to jail for selling it, growing it, etc. The net result would be a big gain in available cash. Isn’t pot already California’s biggest cash crop? Not to mention that making it legal would take a lot of its allure away for young people.
Good lord, marijuana is NOT addictive. It may be habitual for some but it’s not chemically addictive like booze and nicotine. I once had a college professor try to tell me that people OD on pot too. Misinformation still abounds on the evil weed.
I was careful to say “can be.” I agree that the addiction risk is much lower, but it can happen. I am unsure of any bright line that demarcates “habitual” from “addiction.”
See
http://www.nida.nih.gov/marijBroch/Marijteenstxt.html#addict
for source, These folks are supposed to know what they are talking about….
Addiction implies a physical dependence, which is just not true. Period. Severe alcoholics have to medicated because going cold turkey if you’re a serious alcoholic can bring on seizures. Don’t believe me, then read about it in Eric Clapton’s autobiography. We all know about the withdrawal symptoms for opiates. I have never seen nor known any serious pothead who didn’t get little cranky when they ran out of pot, but they certainly didn’t go through seizures and withdrawals.
Unlike THC, nicotine is a poison and is addicting.
Agree–the withdrawals are not intense. But I do know a few folks who just can’t seem to live without it…
But, given that, why would the National Institutes of Health say that “some people” can become addicted if it isn’t true?
Lowering the bar on “addiction” doesn’t change the reality about THC. You can make the addiction claim for chocolate, coffee, tea, etc. I know people who are cranky when they don’t have their morning Starbucks Latte, but I wouldn’t suggest they need to go into 12-step rehab for it.
Because it can become mentally addictive. Just like with regular smokers I think in a lot it’s more of an oral fixation/mental addiction than anything else. Those are also the hardest addictions to break.
I turned to smoking when my son died; heavily. I didn’t want to drink or use other drugs. When you become dependant on something to calm yourself. Then it gets to the point that anytime you’re upset. Stressed or any number of emotions…you have to have it, even if it’s only mentally. It’s an addiction. It’s an addictive behavior. Just as some people are addicted to food.
But that’s not “addiction” as oppposed to habitual. I know people who get cranky when they don’t have their morning Starbucks, but I’m not going to suggest they go into 12-step rehab for it.
I would. When an addiction to something comes to the point it effects you mentally; you need help. The same thing with cell phones. I’ve seen people freak out when they can’t find their cell phones. It’s like the end of the world. When it gets to that point they’re in need of help mentally. Soda pop, Coffee, teddy bears, I don’t care what it is, when you become so mentally addicted to something you can’t function normally without it. It’s an addiction.
But at this point the meaning of “addiction” has become totally ridiculous. Now major heroin addicts are equally lumped in with people who just have to have their Starbucks, when there’s no comparison between smack and espresso.
This is why it’s dangerous to equate physical dependance with habitual and escapist behaviour.
BTW what is the definition of addiction:
Being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming.
The term “addiction” is used in many contexts to describe an obsession, compulsion, or excessive physical dependence or psychological dependence.
So we can try to soften it by saying it’s habitual. It doesn’t lessen the very definition of the very word addiction. Especially, when some if not most of those habits are just as harmful as those you want to associate with drug addictions.
Coffee raises blood pressure which can lead to heart attacks or strokes. Over-eating can lead to diabetes, heart attacks or strokes. From just one study on marijuana:
Hmm wasn’t this the same thing we heard about cigarettes…how long ago? Now read below.
Cell phone usage raises the risk according to new research of brain tumors and or brain cancer. Cell phone usage is killing off bees. Mankind cannot survive without bees, but try telling anyone using a cell phone that. Or the fact that the longer they use one the more likely they are to get a brain tumor or brain cancer. You’ll get the exact same reaction you would from a smoker when you talk about lung caner.
http://tinyurl.com/6ytanp
Addiction is not just a physical condition either.
This is a prime example of drug hysteria.
So what exactly then are you suggesting? That caffeine should be a CSA schedule 1 drug? That’s ridiculous. That THC is a schedule 1 drug on the same level as morphine and amphetamine is the real problem, and that in an illogical desire to demonize pot by considering it a drug on the level of cocaine and heroin and is just as addicting is what’s truly wrong.
By your own logic even Teddy Bear’s would be a schedule 1 drug because some people might abuse their Teddy Bear’s.
Oh, and there’s no connection between pot and lung cancer:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/25/AR2006052501729_pf.html
http://www.drugpolicy.org/marijuana/factsmyths/#tobacco
We can play tit for tat on medical “studies” till the cows come home. Subjective studies are no substitute for chemical realities, and that is THC is not a controlled substance on the level of other CSA schedule 1 drugs.
Dang, my posts showed up…..now their soaked with bong water..ewwwwwwwwwwww
Testing…testing…..
Am I stuck in the filter???
Yes!
I’m going to light you up right now..
lol, I guess I should make that, my posts are getting stuck in the bong…
Dubya,
I’m in a good mood tonight.
Obama blinked!
Dick and I are glad that Obama gets it now.
No Interrogations
No Prosecutions
No photos released
No Revision of history.
National suicide is averted for the moment.
Time to moveon suckers!
and since you’re listening Obama.
Get rid of that carbon tax
Hey Pat,
I just got stuck in the filterbong too.
Can you please fish me out?
I guess I’ll make a Spamwow or something.
Tonight is an important night.
NBC equals Rules for Radicals
I love it when it finally goes mainstream…
Rasta
Moss
Filtered or Menthol?
Seattle, He does not “get” it, because he does not control it. This is another example of voting “present”.
He ran to counter and now that reality for BO sucks… what does he do?
He hides behind the cloak of blind justice.
I am not expressing an opinion fer or ‘genst, just that the guy is like gumby on trash night.
Be well comrade. When is the next sail on pitch forks?
Seattle,
You meantion Rules for Radicals, and I must admit that I often look at the Alinsky model and compare it to what Obama and our corporate media are doing. The rule about “ridicule” is right on point. Obama has seemed almost obsessed with ridiculing Rush Limbaugh, and then shortly after he takes office they launch this campaign to paint him as the head of the GOP.
The whole concept of the “organizer” was developed by Alinsky, and this is how Obama was trained back in Chicago. It’s a little scary though when you read that the ultimate goal is to totally destroy the system by overwhelming it, before you “remake” it.
No one said there isn’t various levels of addiction. But any habit as you wish to call it that interferes with your ability to function in normal day to day activities is an addiction.
I’ve known many a junkie and alcoholic who’ve been able to hold down jobs and have careers, but I wouldn’t go so far to say that the substance of their “addictions” are benign.
I haven’t met too many people who couldn’t make it through their normal activities of the day because they didn’t have a Starbucks, but I have seen many junkies crash and burn.
Yeah OK only junkies crash and burn…I’m buying it, I really am.
How many that smoke marijuana have lost their jobs? I know of several that have lost their jobs because they couldn’t quit smoking dope long enough to keep their jobs. Two of them lost over 6 figure jobs in Aerospace. Knowing they had drug tests coming up. Nah, no addiction there. They could have just stopped, they knew they had drug tests coming up, but that Mary Jane was much more important.
How many have allowed other addictions to interfer with their jobs. Seems to me not so long ago many were given the option at an insurance company to quit smoking cigarettes or loose their jobs. Most lost their jobs. I’ve never known a cigarette smoker that went out to kill someone either just because they couldn’t have a cigarette.
How many with their cell phone addictions have killed or caused accidents? Those dag gone crack heads and their addictions. Must be only crack heads or heroin users right? They must be hiding behind just using a cell phone or cigarette smoking, but we know the truth. This is using your own anology.
And yes there are people who have died because they refused to give up coffee, smoking or some other form of addiction.
My daughter in laws mother died at 44 because she needed a triple by-pass operation from years of doing speed when she was younger. She had high blood pressure. But, yet she refused to give up her morning coffee.
They sent her home till they could get the surgery approved she was dead within 2 days. Even though she was told drinking coffee raises your blood pressure by about 20 points. To drink decaf. Go ahead and try telling my daughter in law that some people don’t die because of their harmless (habits)addictions. I’ll give you her email address so you can write to her and tell how safe coffee is. I’m sure she’d appreciate your email. You can tell her it’s all because her mother did speed when she was a teenager. She couldn’t give up coffee for a week.
Right now my daughter’s ex, his mother is in ICU been there for 7 days now. Her heroin addiction…the Atkins diet. She lost a lot of weight, but couldn’t give it up even though they’ve told her over and over to. Never smoked, drunk, did any drugs. A friend of mine I worked with for years lost her 36 year old husband on Atkins. How many lost their lives to Phen Phen. Loosing that weight was more important than saving their lives knowing the risks.
But, it’s only those evil horrible drug addicts that crash and burn…
And that should be analogy.
Oh and BTW I didn’t even address those that have lost everything they owned, were left homeless, have lost their families using that needle for their gambling or shopping addictions. That have killed for their addiction to money.
It isn’t only junkies who crash and burn. So I’ll say it again. I never said there aren’t different levels of addiction.
However, anytime you are so addicted to anything I don’t care if it’s you missed the Mickey Mouse Show, counting the tiles on your floor, or shooting up, that you allow it interfere with your normal day to day functions, it’s an addiction.
And many have allowed their love for Mary Jane to be number one in their lives. So much so, they’ve lost their jobs, their cars, their homes, their families. That is addiction, whether it’s mental or physical.
NQ
Perhaps the distinction is cultural/psychological addiction, versus non-existent chemical induced addiction…
I have seen many socially adicted smokers, based on the interaction with like minded associates, I have yet to see a chemically addicted smoker, however, I cannot demonstrably aver that said individuals do not exist.
I might also add that, having owned and operated bars and lounges in the past, I have seen, and had to deal with, a plethora of mean, obstinate drunks. I have yet to encounter a mean, destructive toker.
Smoking and violence, unlike alcohol, coke, meth, etc., does not exist. Again, at least to my knowledge, and years of observation.
One last comment, I smoked of and on for years, based on social circumstanses. I much preferred the high, and mellowness, to alcohol, though I did, and still do drink socially.
However, contrary to all of the “gateway BS, I have never tried any other drug period, despite the huge amonuts offered over the years. MJ and I were compatible, it put me where I wanted to be re fun, laughter, and general interaction, it was very controllable for me, and I never saw a need to experiment otherwise.
Compare the destruction, families destroyed, lives lost, etc. re alcohol vs MJ, the stats would not even be close.
This whole country has gone to pot.
I’ll toke to that.
We’ve found the pot of gold.
I would be OK I think with legalizing it, as long as the same fines and penalties for drinking and driving were also part of the agreement.
I smoked Mary Jane when I was a teenager/young adult. I also have tried Acid. Once. I didn’t like feeling like I had no control, so I refused to try anything else. That high scared me. I didn’t like it. But, I did keep smoking Mary Jane till I joined the military. I didn’t like the pigging out afterward, so I never really missed it. But, I do think it’s a drug for those with depression, or those with eating disorders. Cancer. The whole high for me was laugh, laugh, laugh, pig out. Then a lot of hours at the gym or running to keep from gaining to much weight.
Only a schmuck would think they can/should be allowed to smoke a doobie and drive. I would fight it if there were no penalties involved for that. I lost friends that thought it was OK to get high and drive. I was in a head on collision riding with a friend that was high. The other driver was also high.
Addition implies physical dependance. That is just not the case with THC. Period. Severe alcoholics have to be medicated when they come off the booze (see Eric Clapton’s autobiography). Opiate withdrawal going cold turkey is well documented. Unlike nicotine, THC is not a poison.
It will never become legal. It’s so easy to grow, people would grow it at home rather than purchasing it; the government wouldn’t be able to tax that.
Exactly. Within 3 months of legalization I would never have to spend a single dime, outside of what it takes to grow it. Although you can argue that the money to buy it would no longer be in the underground economy and can be spent on other things.
Oh no, the government would not allow you to grow more than a miniscule amount (if even that) for personal consumption due to the loss of revenue that would occur if smokers grew their own marijuana. They would also be concerned if you grew too much you’d sell it underground denying the government the money from business licenses to sell and taxes from the sale.
It’s like home brewing of beer/alchohol. There are strict rules on how much a person can brew (if any) for personal use and very restrictive on giving it away or selling it.
I could see that the only authorized sellers would be licensed by the government, legally restricted to buying from licensed and regulated growers only and selling to adults at businesses specifically licensed to sell marijuana. Any who don’t follow government laws regarding growing, selling or purchasing could still be arrested and convicted.
But, it isn’t that easy (for most people anyway) to process. I have a friend who lives in Kansas where the stuff grows wild. Then he shreads it up and puts it in a dryer and, well, it is AWFUL!
I think lots of people would buy it done up right and ready to use if it were easily available.
I lived in Amsterdam for many years. Plenty of people do buy it, and not just the tourists.
Most people don’t grow their own veggies either.
Where are my follow up posts? Am I stuck in the filter?
I went in and fished one out for you.
Pot luck tonight.
Pot in every pot.
Pot goes the weasel.
Brownie recipe: add pot to taste
Pot roach
Studies prove that it is not an addictive drug. Not chemically addictive, at least and the user does not build up a tolerance so increasing amounts are not necessary. Recent research point to a possible benefit in decreasing Alzheimer disease in long term users which is a bit ironic because pot smokers do experience short term memory loss.
Been a life long smoker , am a professional, am successful in my career and in fact, pot seems to help me in design work and is a real stimulus in creativity and imagination. (ie. I find it easier to come up with original design ideas as it seems to help in 3 dimentional thinking.)
It should definately be legalized, but I am not in favor of taxation. Leave it alone. Enough money can be saved in stopping the “War on Drugs” and not imprisoning users.
Because they’re having too much fun to worry about it.
I am in favor of legalizing it, but growing it would still need to be illegal, much like moonshine is illegal today. Controlling that would be a problem since just about anybody could plant it in their backyard or in the nearby woods. It’s far less complicated to grow pot than it is to make liquor.
It is a weed.
We must be allowed to grow it legally and naturally.
It’s going to happen and is happening anyway.
Prohibition does not work. I say we can begin a new economy. Sell seeds of different MJ varietals and develop hemp as a crop for rope, fabric and just about everything else I can think of. Sustainable farming. Cut cotton out…too many chemicals involved in growing cotton.
Marijuana is a gift from gawd.
Yes, I realize that hemp is a different species from the MJ type.
But, still they all are just weeds.
Very beneficial and resilient weeds.
It’s such a weed, that it takes on the characteristics of the region and the soil it grows in. Regional. It’s a perfect crop. Like grapes apples. Have weed festivals and enter the biggest BUD in the state fair.
Calling so noble and useful a plant by the pejorative term weed ought to be considered politically incorrect.
The first drafts of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were written on hemp paper.
If marijuana is legalized, it is doubtful that it could ever be a big producer of tax revenue–it is just too easy to grow. It is much easier to grow pot than to make beer, wine, or hard liquor. Once it is legal, it will be everywhere–maybe not as bad as kudzu, but in very plentiful supply nevertheless.
In fact, legalizing it could reduce tax revenues, because many of the good folks in say, the Emerald Triangle of NorCal, would not be able to afford such things as new trucks and other taxable items. In fact, they might become welfare candidates.
That’s true, but street prices would drop and money that was once spent buying pot now can go towards the real economy, which would far outweigh whatever losses the major growers would face.
Because it’s so easy to grow why buy it from the govt at a heavily taxed price when you can buy it from friends who are growing it. Yeah, you’re taking a risk as if you were selling your own beer, but that’s already true now.
Even though pot is so easy to grow, there would still be a good market for it since many would buy it out of convenience. But the underground market would be huge and impossible to control.
Still, I think decriminalization is long overdue. Alcohol is a far more harmful drug.
exactly. look at amsterdam. the coffee shops are always busy and lots of locals stop by on their way home from work just like American’s stop off for a 6-pack. just because it’s easy to grow doesn’t mean everyone who smokes will grow it. vegetable are as-easy to grow and i’ve never grown one for myself, why go to the trouble if it’s readily available and an industry that employees people instead of throwing them in jail with REAL criminals.
as far as it being addictive, that’s just propoganda to keep it illegal. i have a close friend that smokes from the time he gets up until the time he goes to bed at home. never missed a day of work and certainly never lost a job from smoking “weed”. we travel together frequently for weeks at a time and he doesn’t bring it with him nor does he need to acquire some when we arrive at our destination(s), unless it’s Amsteram.
people who are “addicted” to marijuana have addictive personalities and if it weren’t the weed, it would be some other convenient excuse for their poor behaviour.
If this sounds like an exaggeration, please refer to the Wikipedia article on “Emerald Triangle,” which notes that
California’s hurting enough. We need to think carefully before we legalize pot!
That’s why it’s only the growers, pot dealers and uptight teatotallers that want to keep it illegal. Growers especially. Reducing the risk to bring their crop to market would drastically reduce their profit motive.
LOL–What we have in places around Mendocino County, for example, is a kind of counter-culture trickle-down theory: the folks who run the restaurants and filling-stations and other businesses will see fewer farming dollars, so it’s not just the “pot dealers” who will suffer if it becomes legal. And what about the companies who make helicopters that constantly fly over these counties looking for fields? And what about all the law-enforcement officers employed in the search?
Although the pot industry is on a much smaller and more benign scale, it’s kind of like what would happen to Afghanistan if the opium trade were actually eliminated.
Not enough law enforcement officers, unfortunately. Even our national forests and parks are now under illegal marijuana cultivation (by illegal Mexicansn–PBS) and anyone who stumbles across the crop is shot in cold blood).
1975 – Researchers at the Medical College of Virginia conducted a study funded by the National Institute for Health to determine the extent of damage marijuana causes to the immune system. SURPRISE! discover that cannabis is incredibly successful for reducing the size of many types of tumors, both benign and cancerous. President Ford immediately shut the study down and proclaimed that from that date on it was illegal for anyone but the pharmaceutical to conduct studies on marijuana.
In 2000 Dr. Manuel Guzman of Complutense University in Madrid Spain re-discovered that THC destroys tumors with no negative side effects whatsoever. His team also irrigated healthy rats brains with high doses of THC for seven days and again found no negative results. Cannabinoids kill cancer cells by cutting off their blood supply but not to the healthy cells. These results have since been duplicated around the globe with many other cancers as well.
In 2005 Dr. Xia Zhang of the University of Saskatchewan found that THC actually promotes the growth of brain cells bringing new hope for head trauma and stroke patients. The same year the Scripps Institute reported that THC was a superior inhibitor of the plaque that causes Alzheimers. Unfortunately we hear little of any of these findings.
In 2008 researchers in Italy and the U.K. found that cannabinoids have germ killing activity against MRSA and kill bacteria in a different way than current antibiotics, meaning they might bypass bacterial resistance. MRSA’s are becoming more and more prevalent and new treatments are desperately needed.
Cannabis has also been found extremely helpful with autism, epilepsy, arthritis, migraine, asthma, emphysema, MS, ALS, OCD, ADHD, chronic pain, nausea, cystic fibrosis, lupus, tuberculosis, muscular dystrophy, depression, diabetes, glaucoma, alcoholism, herpes, anxiety, Parkinsons, Huntingtons, Tourettes, Crohn’s disease, and more. It is the safest medicine known to man. All mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles have cannabinoid receptors throughout their body that work independently of those that control the heart and breathing which is why cannabis cannot kill you. The hemp seed is the single most nutritionally complete food source on Earth, reintroduced to our diets it will alleviate many of the above mentioned diseases and help end world hunger.
So, if you take this information and add it to all the all the nutritional, industrial and cosmetic uses, then add in that it was God himself that in the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament instructed Moses to use 250 shekels of cannabis(kaneh bosm) in the Holy Oil used to anoint all Priests, Kings, and Prophets, for all generations to come, including that of Jesus and even today as the title Christ/Messiah means literally covered in oil, anointed, I think we have the botanical Messiah, the Mystical Tree of Life, not a worthless plant!!!
Fascinating comment!!!
Yeow!
The irony!
LOL, I think I’m in the tank for cannabis!
I use it for Anger Management, Insomnia and because I like it.
Nixon released a study denying pot was a “gateway” drug.
Pat, I have very mixed feelings on legalizing it. I have seen prescription mills for it on the news recently on the news.
I know something of the seedy side of this underground economy. I do not like the effects has on poverty ridden towns up north… Eureka for example.
Funny, funny comments above, thanks.
I guess I would rather have a conversation with a pothead than an alcoholic.
I’m not sure what percentage of marijuana is smuggled in from Mexico in terms of recent news of drug violence at the border, and whether legalized use and cultivation in U.S. would make a difference. It is also smuggled into America from Canada.. I’ve heard reference to B.C, bud, supposedly better than Mexico’s, ha, ha. (that’s old, and I don’t know what I’m talking about… but I know I can easily find out on the streets of Seattle).
I don’t smoke anything, it ruins the enjoyment of exquisite food and wine on the senses and palate which is my preferred indulgence…
What do I think?
Pat, Let me “smoke” on it and get back to you.
wait, what was the question?
yes we need MORE lost souls wandering in a state of short term memory loss orrrrrrrrrr the next Great Inventor?
It’s subjective to it’s subject, no?
Alcohol is far far more destructive as I am personally finding out now watching my brother’s mate slowly die from TOO MUCH DRINKING! And she’s ONLY in her mid 50’s. Sad.
Never heard of ANY one in my 50 plus years die or even hurt a soul while smoking herb. Not that it couldn’t happen. Generalities are always wrong (so said Albert E)
George Washington thought Hemp was the “greatest of God’s creations” or something like that.
I think ARNOLD’s reasons are more shallow.
Tax revenue
as his STATE is in a MESS financially
to toke or not to toke that is the question
I am on the fence (and I hate that)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqep14L2f7k Arnold smokes and “inhales”
The effects of marijuana on a person depends on each individual person, whether they are drinking alcohol while smoking, what kind of pot they are smoking etc. All pot is not created equal….some is definitely more potent than others.
Just like anything in life, some people have enough sense to just enjoy things in moderation and still act like they have some sense, others don’t. Personally I think it’s fairly harmless. Having a good laugh and letting your hair down now and then is good for ya. But I think it should have the same restrictions as alcohol-not done in public, while driving etc.
Boy, restaurants would be ok w this wouldn’t they? Can you imagine the business from people getting the munchies?
Cripes, the state the country is in right now, I know quite a few people who would benefit from a puff or two to relax. So much anger and nastiness.
Well, you never hear of anyone getting stoned and getting all violent, unless they were pretty violent to begin with. Alcohol is different. I know people who are perfectly sane when sober, but can become crazy and violent when drunk.
Obama should continue to take the advice of clear minded folks and legalize hemp in all it’s forms. In order to control future deficits the legal and corrections industries need to be cut back.
Don’t be a wuss Obama..Legalize the plant!
LOL Wodie! thanks I agree with that and LOL @ the munchies
hahah never thought of THAT revenue either! omg! LOL
I don’t know about boosting the economy, but if It could help people who are ill with cancer and could be controlled properly, then I could see it becoming a useful product . plus” There for the grace of God goes I” it could be anyone of us one day.
Amen to that. Some of the knee-jerk nastiness and judgement has been escalating since Obama’s election instead of dying down.
Now it seems like everyone has an issue with something somebody else says or does. It’s random but prevalent everywhere.
I worked in the public sector and we would laugh that they should shot ether or pot smoke through the vent system the workday would go better. People would be happier and more creative.
I doubt pot will be legalized but Utah just passed a law that people could brew up to 200 gallons of beer in their own home each year. So strange things do happen!
200 gallons of beer a year? It’s hot in Utah! Can we make 200 gallons for each and every family member?
No, only per household. However we have a 210 gallon water tank to compare with. It’s alot of beer!!!!
LOL!
oops *if they shot* rather than *they should shot*
I love how our government has adopted the strategy of just caving into difficult problems instead of solving. They whine that there’s no way to overcome these big problems. Oh really? I thought we were the most powerful, innovative nation in the world. Guess not.
Let’s legalize every illegal thing that is a problem. Then–no problems!
What do you think about legalizing marijuana as a way to bolster our economy?
No way! I don’t believe for a second if we legalized pot that other drugs would be far behind. The government would just get used to spending the pot money and then they’d want more money.
Our government is addicted to money. Our money. The solution isn’t to legalize pot but to remove by all means necessary the ones in our govt who keep taking our money and using it for their freaking wars and lining their pockets and walls and using for toilet paper.
But we won’t retaliate and remove these POS, just like we haven’t with the bailouts and the stimulus etc: not til it’s a whole lot worse than now. And in the meantime, it isn’t the rich people in gated communities who’d have to worry about the crackheads breaking in. It’d be me. There are drugs like meth that aren’t even expensive, yet people hooked on them can’t continue to hold a job and pretty soon they’re stealing.
No freaking thx, SAY NO TO DRUGS AND ESPECIALLY THE GOVERNMENT
This is totally off-topic but did anybody see Dick Morris on O’Reilly tonite? He gave his latest “sage” prediction about Hillary. He predicts Obama will implode, his numbers will plunge, and Hillary will “distance” herself from him more and more. He said Hillary will then challenge him in the 2012 primary. Morris concluded by saying that “Hillary will quit running for president when she quits breating.”
Does it make me a bad person to wish that ONE of his predictions about Hillary Clinton would actually come true?
Benjamin, thanks for mentioning this.
It is unfortunate that Morris could not find a way to say something generous about Hillary if his life depended on it. Everyone always denigrates her by saying she is so “power hungry”, meanwhile, she puts her shoulder to the wheel and does her job, and everywhere she goes it’s “President Obama this, President Obama that.” She always shows respect for the office and grace in what she is doing — a total team player. God forbid Morris would acknowledge that.
We are lucky to have her as SoS in my view. If she did distance herself from him, it would have to be because he was reeaaaallly messing up.
I still think she’d be a great President but there is no way she runs against the incumbent. Obama would have to resign for “health reasons” or say he is not running again to “be with family” or whatever and literally annoint her, otherwise, we’d have the same replay of the same fight and more of the same sexism b.s. and more of “Hillary is attacking Barack. It ain’t goin’ away, folks.
Do I think some people would be smarter next time? Also dubious. It is amazing how people can make faulty decisions over and over again, be proven wrong, yet never question the soundness of their own judgment the next time around.
I agree. I couldn’t see Hillary challenging an incumbent either. It was interesting to hear the latest Dick Morris wild speculations about her career though.
As far as her SoS performance, I think she’s doing a great job and the folks at State are thrilled with her leadership. Hillary also deserves credit for the release of the journalist held in Iran (forget her name). It was Hillary who made that situation public.
Yep. She is doing great and I think she really was instrumental in getting Ms. Saberi released also.
Morris, much as I can’t stand him, is no dope, so we can just file this observation away and see if he is ridiculously off the mark or not…
Do I think some people would be smarter next time? Also dubious.
Me, too. People voted for Dubya twice.
Agree Ani. Also Hillary constantly credits Obama and frankly he probably only cares about the basketball playoffs, his reelection and parties. In spite of Hillary’s incredible loyalty to Obama, there he is being a punk on Saturday night, saying she hugged him after she returned from Mexico. Hillary cares about America, Obama cares about himself, and Michelle.
I heard it, too.
I thought the same thing.
Please, Dear Powers that Be, let Dick Morris be right!
Heh, but remember this is Dick Morris – the same guy that predicted Hillary would withdraw from her Senate reelection campaign because she was afraid of Jeanette Pirro. About a month after that prediction, it was Pirro who quit while trailing Hillary by about 30 points.
True. I liked the message not the messenger.
Seriously, unlike alcohol, have you ever heard a woman complain that her husband smokes pot and then beats her or gets violent? The worst I have heard is that they won’t mow the lawn or cleans out the fridge. That doesn’t sound too bad compared to the what happens to people when they drink alcohol.
Oh, I don’t know. I’ve seen plenty of Fridg’s cleaned out as a result of smoking weed.
It’s not an either/or proposition. Neither alcohol, tobacco or pot or other mind altering chemicals are good for you. People don’t need to put something in their bodies from the outside to alter awareness. It comes from the inside out. I’d rather see the government support the classic, natural ways of attaining higher states of awareness…as they apparently are proposing for health care.
The bigger point here folks is that THC is classified as a CSA Schedule one drug. That is the real problem and the anti-marijuana folks are so anxious to demonize the weed they’ll come to an illogical conclusion that everything is addictive so that makes THC somehow on the chemical and pharmaceutical level as morpine and amphetamines. That is rididculous. Should we make nicotine and caffeine schedule 1 drugs too? Essentially that is the endgame of their arguement. But that’s drug hysteria for ya and it still abounds today.
Oh, and not to mention the total descruction of the synthetic fiber industry since hemp fiber is easy to grow and produce….but that’s another story all together.
The really interesting thing about the definition of Schedule I Drugs under the provisions of the Controlled Substance Act is that tobacco unquestionably fits that definition in every respect. For this very reason, Congress had to specifically exempt tobacco before the Act became law.
Talk about hipocrisy!
Wonderful cartoon about a subject that is way overdue for a serious discussion. I am for legalizing marijuana. You would think that after all this time we would have learned that prohibition does not work. Only legalizing can benefit society in so many ways, and this more so then even tobacco and as much as alcohol. We should control its sale and manufacturing the same way as we do tobacco and alcohol. Then this could raise revenue that every state needs and increase income that local businesses need, which will generate even more profit. We could take a big bite out of crime, especially when the money goes overseas or south, we could save money on jail costs, we could free up police for other duties, and the product would create a local cash crop, which generates even more money, and we could make green products out of it (hemp). For those who say that people will just grow their own, I say that some people grow their own fruits and vegetables, but I do not think that this puts farmers and grocery stores out of business or stops us from creating jobs in those fields and raising taxes.
Please write your governors, congress people, and anyone else you know and tell them to support the legalizing of marijuana, and to finally learn the lessons of prohibition.
Rich
My limited experience with the weed was not good. I remember vividly (really!) the second time I tried it. We were at a friend’s house about 2 1/2 miles away from home. After toking up, we headed home. It took a week and-a-half to get there. We’d drive for several hours and realize that we’d gone about a block.
That was with my first wife. My second wife, a 1969 college graduate, claime that she’s never even smelled the stuff. That’s very hard to believe.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Jamaican me laugh.
I’m all for legalization. We have medicinal marijauna pharmacies in California now, which seem to work just fine. With a prescription you are allowed to grow up to three plants. The shops sell starter plants, which take time and cultivation. Its easier to just go to the pharmacy.
I am all for legalizing herb, however I don’t think it would be a good idea to get the government involved via taxation, in the herb business. This is a business where the small businessman can flourish and does.
Once the government gets involved with its taxes, those on fixed incomes because of disability will never be able to afford their medicine again.
Why isn’t just legalizing it enough, saving millions of dollars for housing prisoners? Instead the government would want the whole banana.
Leave the small businesses alone, legalize marijuana, save the tax dollars spent on housing so-called criminals and call that good.
Pat-I love your cartoons and your articles, so I was excited to realize we are neighbors. I have a business in Capitola, and live close by. Beautiful day today, and this weekend looks like it will be fabulously warm. The beaches will be crowded. I am all for legalizing marijuana. I’m not sure it would help the economy, as I believe most people would just grow their own. In fact, my brother-in-law has a medical marijuana prescription and is allowed to grow up to four or six plants a year for his own use. My husband did some work for him, so we were the beneficiaries of one of those plants. I think if it is done in moderation it is less harmful than alcohol. I mean by moderation, once or twice a week, late evening when we have no place to be, so we won’t be on the road. Legalizing marijuana would also save time, money, and manpower of law enforcement, so that they could pursue the criminals who deserve their attention. BTW Pat, I used to love our forward thinking community, but I am getting so tired of seeing all the Obama/Biden bumper stickers. I saw one today, and was tempted to write a note, and leave it on their windsheild saying, “What were you thinking??-You’ve been bamboozled”.
Hey Beachman! I go to Capitola all the time. 41st Street is my beat. Yep, I agree about all the Obama/Biden stickers. If you see a 2005 silver Caddie with a Hillary sticker, that’s me!
Thanks for the nice compliments.
If you see someone in a black caddie giving you the thumbs up sign-that’s me. My business is one street off from 4lst. I wish I had the guts to have a Hillary sign on my car. I had a huge sign on my lawn during the campaign, but I thought I had better keep politics away from my business. Nice to know there is a “kindred spirit” in the area. Keep up the great work!!
Pot can be highly addictive. Ask my friend who is trying very hard to get off it right now, and has gone through severe mood swings and withdrawal as a result.
This same friend would spout off about the “benefits” of marijuana prior to finally decided to be rid of it. And would cry about “drug hysteria” like some posters in this thread.
Pot is about the same as alcohol, I figure. Some people can consume moderately, and others get way out of control with it. Consumed too much, it is very harmful. So I’m tired of hippies trying to pretend that there’s nothing wrong with pot. THERE IS. Inhaling smoke alone is bad for your lungs. Hell, even too much incense sniffing is bad for your lungs.
So use it responsibly, that’s all I say.
The couple of people I’ve known that may have been “addicted” to pot were self medicating for other issues, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression.
Self-medication is a problem with all things that are abused. Food, alcohol, religion, sex, tobacco, and pot to name a few.
Yep. It can be of great benefit to those afflicted with dysthemia and depressive tendencies with little in the way of side-effects. This might be one reason why the pharmaceutical industry is one of the biggest lobbying groups to keep it illegal. Many of their most profitable patented drugs would quickly be found to be distant second choices.
Special interests concerned about their profits are behind most of this. The privatized prison industry is another major anti-legalization lobbying group. Also the forest industry, which doesn’t want the competition hemp would represent for paper products and building materials presently made of tree-derived cellulose.
Marijuana is not at all addictive. This has been long established by numerous carefully controlled scientific studies. It can be habituating, simply because it rewards most who use it by making them feel relaxed and happy without much in the way of significant negative consequences.
One need not smoke it. It can be consumed orally. Some who do smoke it often use vaporizers, which allow the active component to be inhaled without heating the herb to the point of combusion.
In spite of the fact that millions of Americans use marijuana with some regularity, the number of deaths directly attributable to marijuana each year are virtually ZERO. The number of deaths indirectly attributable to it each year–accidents while under the influence, adverse health consequences, etc–are negligible.
Seattle,
You meantion Rules for Radicals, and I must admit that I often look at the Alinsky model and compare it to what Obama and our corporate media are doing. The rule about “ridicule” is right on point. Obama has seemed almost obsessed with ridiculing Rush Limbaugh, and then shortly after he takes office they launch this campaign to paint him as the head of the GOP.
The whole concept of the “organizer” was developed by Alinsky, and this is how Obama was trained back in Chicago. It’s a little scary though when you read that the ultimate goal is to totally destroy the system by overwhelming it, before you “remake” it.
Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.
Former Mexican president calls for legalizing marijuana
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/05/13/mexico.fox.marijuana/index.html
A friend of mine (many years ago) told her husband that she wanted to try pot. She told him to watch out for her and she went into the bathroom for her “expierence”. When she emerged she told her husband that there was absolutely no reaction what so ever and she was most disappointed. She thought she had been in the bathroom for about 5 minutes and when her husband told her she had been in there for more that an hour she was shocked. Thats all we need is a bunch of people walking or heaven forbid driving around not know what time it is or where their going.
We’ve got millions of far more dangerously inattentive people to contend with on our roads and highways every day: Drivers yammering on their cell phones, and even attempting to drive while text messaging.
You chances of being killed by one of the four drivers on the road who believe at any given moment that their car is a mobile telephone booth are vastly greather than by a marijuana smoker. It’s been suggested that cell phones are now responsible for as many fatal automobile accidents as drunken drivers. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve narrowly avoided being hit by drivers with cell phones glued to their ears.
Although marijuana does impair driving skills, it contributes to far fewer accidents than either alcohol or cell phones.
I believe drunks are much more dangerous behind the wheel than stoners. I say legalize it for all the reasons mentioned above. Company drug/alcohol policies would still apply so the choice to smoke pot might cost you your job but…Still your choice.
—Libertexan
If it were to become legal, it could be heavily taxed.
That is a problem in so many ways.
You would be amazed at the people i’ve known who smoked. leaders of companies to lowly employees. no one is immune to its intoxicating lovely effects.
Is there a reason a Blackberry is now nicknamed Crackberry?
All things in moderation.
lama1234
Nice, little article, Pat!
Lots to think about. . .
Should have happened long ago. Too late now. Taxation would ruin it, and by the way, inhailing any type of hot smoke into your lungs will have a negative effect on most people’s health.