marijuana

should marijuana be legalized ?

should marijuana be legalized ?

 

imo it should be legal to grow your own. i don't understand why liquor is legal but not pot. as much as i love alcohol i do realize it is evil.

Yep. As Smuttbutt said, what's the difference between having a few beers and smoking a few joints? Neither is great for your health, and both impair motor function and judgement. So why not legalize marijuana?

Furthermore, it has medicinal properties. Relief from chemotherapy, relief for cataracts....yet it isn't legal why? Vicodin, Percoset, and Oxycontin are MUCH more addictive and threatening to your health than smoking a few joints. (Not to mention, oxycontin is a hell of a lot more expensive on the street).

I have never taken Oxy, but I have taken Vicodin for various ailments. It is highly addictive. Physically and mentally. Pot doesn't seem to have that effect.

I am all for legalizing marijuana, for medicinal use or otherwise. Do I see it happening in my lifetime? Medicinal, yes(It has in some places). Recreational, probably not. But, starting with medicinal use is a step in the right direction.

no inanimate object is evil..in and of themselves inanimate objects cannot abuse themselves..

 

cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, guns, money and Dungeons and Dragons and now video games have been abused and blamed as causes of criminal activity

 

when in fact if left on a table they are incapable of doing anything

no inanimate object is evil..in and of themselves inanimate objects cannot abuse themselves..

 

cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, guns, money and Dungeons and Dragons and now video games have been abused and blamed as causes of criminal activity

 

when in fact if left on a table they are incapable of doing anything

ABSOLUTELY! I wished the rest of the world would wake up to this inescapable FACT!

I'll say it once and I'll say it again. IT WILL NOT GET LEGALIZED, GET OVER IT!!!

 

On the other hand, if I had to choose, I'd bring the marijuana in and the alcohol out since THAT is the most deadly drug of all.

 

And on another hand, alcohol keeps the population down to a degree. Decisions, decisions.

I don't smoke it..

 

 

The earliest known woven fabric was apparently of Hemp, which began to be worked in the Eighth Millennium (8,000-7,000 BC).

 

The word "canvas" is derived from the Dutch pronunciation, twice removed from French and Latin, of the Greek root word "Kannabis" which can be traced back to the early Sumerian/Babylonian word "K(a)N(a)B(a)" which is one of the longest surviving root words in human language.

 

Hemp provides the worlds longest, strongest, softest, most durable natural fibre.

 

Warmer and more absorbent, Hemp has greater tensile strength than cotton. Cotton became established in the 19th Century because it lent itself readily to mechanised processing by the early cotton 'gin.

 

Machinery for processing Hemp did not become available until the 1930's by which time synthetic fibres produced by the chemical industry had appeared on the scene. Cotton requires another of the chemical industry's products - artificial fertiliser. Unlike cotton, hemp needs no fertiliser or pesticide to aid in its cultivation.

 

It is estimated that half of all the agricultural chemicals used in the USA are employed in the growing of cotton. IF Hemp is planted at a density of 900 plants to the square yard and harvested after two or three month's soft, linen-quality fibres are produced.

 

Whereas an acre of cotton yields about 500 pounds of fibre, the same acre of Hemp will give 1500 pounds of fibre.

 

Garments made from Hemp are durable and long lasting. The original Levi's were made Hemp cloth during the '49 California gold rush.

Hemp as public enemy #1

Hemp was the first plant known to have been domestically cultivated. The oldest relic of human history is hemp fabric dated to 8,000 BC from ancient Mesopotamia, an area in present-day Turkey. It has been grown as long as recorded history for food, fuel, fiber, and for another legitimate use, which is not even discussed here for the sake of brevity medicine. So, with all these uses and benefits, why is cannabis cultivation illegal in the United States today? Here is a brief history of cannabis prohibition:

 

Hemp was a primary source of paper, textile, and cordage fiber for thousands of years until just after the turn of the 20th century. It was at this time that companies like DuPont first developed chemicals that enabled trees to be processed into paper.

 

DuPont's chemicals made wood pulp paper cheaper than paper made from annual crops like hemp. At the same time Wm. Randolph Hearst, the owner of the largest newspaper chain in the United States, backed by Mellon Bank, invested significant capital in timberland and wood paper mills to produce his newsprint using DuPont's chemicals.

 

DuPont also developed nylon fiber as a direct competitor to hemp in the textile and cordage industries. Nylon was even billed as synthetic hemp.

 

DuPont was also manufacturing chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers useful in the cotton industry, another hemp competitor.

 

Mellon Bank, owned by U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, was also DuPont's primary financier. Mellon's niece was married to Harry Anslinger, deputy commissioner of the federal government's alcohol prohibition campaign. After the repeal of Prohibition, Anslinger and his entire federal bureau were out of a job. But Treasurer Mellon didn't let that happen. Andrew Mellon single-handedly created a new government bureaucracy, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, to keep his family and friends employed. And then he unapologetically appointed his own niece's husband, Harry Anslinger, as head of the new multimillion dollar bureaucracy.

 

At the same time, a machine was developed that was to hemp what the cotton gin was to cotton: it allowed hemp's long, tough fiber to be mass processed efficiently and economically for the first time. Popular Mechanics, in February 1937, predicted hemp would be the world's first "Billion Dollar Crop" that would support thousands of jobs and provide a vast array of consumer products from dynamite to plastics.

 

This potential rejuvenation of hemp was a major threat to Secretary Mellon's friends and business associates, especially Randolph Hearst with his wood paper industry and Lammont DuPont with his petrochemical and synthetic fiber conglomerates. After all, hemp farmers wouldn't need DuPont's chemicals to grow their hemp because the crop is self-sufficient. The hemp-based ethanol fuel that was mentioned in the Popular Mechanics' article probably didn't sit too well with the oil companies of the time. They also couldn't have been too thrilled to learn that this same plant produced high-strength plastics without a petroleum base. The hemp-based plastics developed at the time were stronger and lighter than steel, which we can imagine wasn't the best news for the steel industry.

 

In addition, the growing pharmaceutical companies were producing synthetic drugs to replace natural medicines. Hemp extract was used for thousands of years to effectively treat everything from epileptic fits to rheumatoid arthritis. Chances are, hemp's resurgence wasn't good news for these drug companies either.

 

What we see is that the potential revival of the hemp industry was a threat to almost all the corporate giants of the time, and Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon was at the top of this food chain.

 

So Commissioner Anslinger, Mellon's appointee, begins researching rumors that immigrants from Mexico are smoking the flowers of the hemp plant. Racism was rampant at the time, and there was a government movement to curb the number of immigrants crossing the U.S. border at Mexico. Anslinger plugged into the racist sentiment, and began referring to the "hemp" that Americans knew cannabis to be, as "marijuana," the Mexican slang word for the plant. He labeled it as a "narcotic" even though cannabis flowers cannot cause narcosis, and spread exaggerated stories and outright lies that Mexicans and blacks became violent and disrespectful to whites when they smoked the "evil menace marijuana."

 

This slander of cannabis was all just fine for Anslinger's friends, the Mellons, the DuPonts, and the Hearsts. In fact, Hearst's newspapers picked up on the propaganda and fueled the fire by publishing hundreds of lurid stories about people raping and murdering while under the influence of marijuana. The sensationalism sold lots of newspapers, and the people of the country actually based their opinions on this one-sided information. Of course the stories never mentioned the hemp that people used everyday as rope, paper, medicine, and more. The stories always referred to cannabis by the Mexican slang word, marijuana.

 

With the moral and prohibitive fervor of the time duly stirred, Anslinger took his show to Congress. At the proceedings of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, Anslinger didn't mention that marijuana was hemp. And because anti-marijuana propaganda didn't mention that basic fact, hemp industries found out almost too late about the effort to criminalize cannabis cultivation. Testimony was heard from the full gamut of hemp companies and advocates, from birdseed suppliers to cordage manufacturers, from farmers to physicians, all touting hemp's importance in American history and the many industrial, agricultural, medicinal, and economic benefits of cannabis. Only after their testimony, was the wording of the bill changed to allow for the continued legal cultivation of industrial hemp. Anslinger even backed off on hemp prohibition in a very cunning maneuver.

 

After the Act was passed, Anslinger single-handedly usurped congressional power by mandating hemp prohibition. He justified his action by saying that his agents couldn't tell the difference between industrial hemp and marijuana in the field, so hemp cultivation made enforcement of marijuana prohibition impossible. This unconstitutional usurpation of congressional law is still in effect today as the Department of Justice and the DEA still cling to Anslinger's unjust and unjustifiable prohibition on domestic hemp cultivation.

 

 

 

Hemp for victory

With the United States entering World War II only four years after hemp's prohibition, and the synthetic fiber industry still in its infancy, the armed forces experienced a dangerous shortage of fiber for the war effort. In 1942, the U.S. government performed a convenient about-face on the hemp issue. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) produced and distributed a motion picture called "Hemp for Victory" in which the federal government not only promoted the many uses of cannabis hemp, but also detailed the most efficient cultivation and harvesting methods. The picture pronounced, "Hemp for mooring ships! Hemp for tackle and gear! Thread for shoes for millions of American soldiers! And parachute webbing for our paratroopers! Hemp for Victory!"

 

By the end of the war, hemp was no longer needed for strategic purposes and synthetic fiber was being produced more efficiently and abundantly than ever. The same soldiers that hemp had supplied with ship's rigging, rope, tackle, gear, shoes, and parachutes turn against their recent ally. The Marines themselves, armed with flame-throwers, and Air Force pilots in crop dusters are ordered to destroy the same million acres of hemp that were recently planted for the war effort. These actions were the beginning of the modern war on marijuana, or more correctly, the modern war on cannabis, including non-drug hemp.

 

http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0199/et0199s11.html

Every person in the United States has heard of the illicit substance called marijuana. Yet, unknown to most people, there is one place in the United States where marijuana is grown legally. That place is the Medicinal Plant Garden, right here at the University of Mississippi.

 

The Medicinal Plant Garden, a part of the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (RIPS) is part of the Marijuana Plant Facility The garden is over 20 years old, but the laboratory was created only four years ago.

 

According to Dr. Mahmoud Elsohly, research scientist for RIPS, the laboratory of the Medicinal Plant Facility is used to study various applications of marijuana. For example, the scientists grow marijuana to test its physical makeup, analyze marijuana confiscated by the DEA, law enforcement agencies, and various narcotics groups, to find the potency ratings of the drugs, and extract THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) from plants they harvested.

 

One project that the Medicinal Plant Facility is currently working on is a medicine made from THC for use in a suppository form to replace Marinol, a capsule made of 95 percent THC and used for nausea and vomiting problems in cancer patients as well as fighting the wasting sickness, or anorexia-cachexia, suffered by 70 to 90 percent of AIDS patients.

 

Another practice done by the lab is to send marijuana to the Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina for use in the Compassionate IND program. This program gives marijuana to people who use it to allieviate symptoms of their diseases, such as glaucoma, cancer, and AIDS victims. However, there are only a small handfull (about eight people) receiving the marijuana, out of several thousand who have applied.

 

Marijuana has been used by many cultures for various ailments. Israeli scientists, for example, found the skeleton of a fourth century woman who they believed died in childbirth. Ashes nearby were found to be the burned remains of the cannabis, or marijuana, plant. The scientists say this suggests that ancient Middle Eastern women used inhaled marijuana smoke to reduce labor pains.

 

These days, the medical profession have found several applications for the marijuana plant. In medicine, THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) has been found again and again to help patients battling the life-threatening diseases of cancer and AIDS to fight the intense nausea that causes their wasting sickness. Marijuana also helps glaucoma (an eye disease that causes blindness) victims by reducing the interocular pressure. It reduces, sometimes eliminating altogether, the seizures of epileptic patients, along with reducing nerve disorders of multiple sclerosis patients. As a final interesting note, a recent discovery by a South Florida doctor concerns the fact that if THC is placed in a test tube with the herpes virus, the THC will kill the herpes virus.

In short, I'd rather have a stoned person going 50, and think they're going 150, versus a drunk person actually doing 150km/h.

 

Though I do denounce both choices, I am/was certainly stupid enough to have at least abused one of the two.

 

I can honestly say that I don't see smoking pot, or drinking yourself stupid is a smart choice for the most part. Heck, I hope everyone agrees, otherwise there might be a few issues with yer head

 

But I guess if you're going to do it, do it safely, and I do think that safety comes from moderation and control of the substances - through it being legal or illegal, I don't care. If it's illegal, less people can afford it, so less do it. If it's legal, there's likely going to be high taxation, and people will get tired of the privlege (this is a word I can never spell)

Well all the medical and material benefits aside, Pot is considerably less damaging to your body then booze. You also maintain better motor function as the effect is on your mind, which you can have a good degree of control over, whereas alchool effects directly the muscles and systems of the body so regardless you 'state of mind' you can't control yourself as you normally would. Besides it acts faster, is funnier, makes you happy/laughy all the while maintaining that wonderful desire for some action while you're winding down, whcih is always a good way to end the night

Well all the medical and material benefits aside, Pot is considerably less damaging to your body then booze. You also maintain better motor function as the effect is on your mind, which you can have a good degree of control over, whereas alchool effects directly the muscles and systems of the body so regardless you 'state of mind' you can't control yourself as you normally would. Besides it acts faster, is funnier, makes you happy/laughy all the while maintaining that wonderful desire for some action while you're winding down, whcih is always a good way to end the night

 

 

And damnit when was the last time you heard of the cops being called to break up a fight between two potheads.

Ban hooch and let us have Weed!

Nobody that I know of, even the biggest potheads, have EVER been violent when high. My crazy ass cousin is actually a BETTER person if he is high. It's much cheaper then prozac or lithium. Considering the ways that the effects of marijuana have on cancer patients alone, I can honestly say, after grandma was getting chemo and lost her appetite and other effects of cancer, she smoked for the first time in her life, and she became much healthier with weed. It gave her an appetite back, took away the nausea. Although grandma eventually died from the cancer overcoming her body, she at least had a better and more extended quality of life given to her because of getting high.

 

I don't believe in the proverbial "POTHEAD" that many who are opposed to weed try to emphasize as a counter rebutal to advocating its use. This is because so many people use it and function well in life as opposed to the number who sit in their parents basement and stay burned out all fucking day.

 

I believe weed is used as a more recreational drug then alcohol. Meaning, people use it to feel good about themselves, people who use alcohol, use it to drown sorrow, yet only worsen the effects.

 

I can also guarentee, a person who smokes weed will never steal from you, and will share their stash when they have it to spare. Try getting that out of a tweeker.

 

But anyways.. I know of many people who are weekend warriors when it comes to using marijuana, the same that others I know are weekend warriors when it comes to drinking. They get drunk or stoned on the weekend, then go back to the usual hustle and bustle of everyday life. They enjoyed a relaxing weekend with the help of cannibus and can now handle the rest of the work week for the most part, pretty damn stress free. A happy employee is a productive employee. Working a regular typical 9-5 er Monday threw Friday tends to wind up many people and cause them to lose interest in their jobs. By having a good ole beer buzz with the boys at the bar, or coping a good buzz from the sneek a toke/pipe/bong/joint.

 

You get a good high, you sleep in late, your body gets totally relaxed, ache muscles are soothed and stress is gone.

 

I have a few neighbors that do it, I could care less. Only problems in my neighborhood always involved alcohol and a fight here and there. Never in my life have I seen 2 enemys get high and start fighting.

 

For all the good that comes out of this glorious plant, it should not only be legalized, it should be a cash crop over much more harmful and addicting tobacco.

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I have a jar of good bush weed in the fridge. I haven't had a smoke for three nights now. Might have one tonight. Might not.

 

I went into partnerships with a friend from my school days. He would have a morning cone at my place on the way to work. I figured that if he was gonna be stoned all morning, then I would join him. It didn't work out.

 

Three mornings in a row, he forgot the keys to the job, realising after we'd travelled forty miles from home. He'd go for supplies at the hardware, and forget why he was there. He'd lose his drive for work about 2 pm, and start hinting that we should call it a day.

 

The partnership dissolved after I realised he was fleecing me for money, lying about how much we were earning and spending. He was even using the petty cash to buy the pot, saying that I was smoking it too. I was, like ten percent of it.

 

He still owes me money. I don't expect to get it.

 

Smoking is fine by me. Smoking at work is not.

 

Oh, and forced hydroponically grown pot can be almost as strong as cut heroin. I stick to naturally grown bush weed.

 

I can't imagine doing my chores without it.

Q. What's the worst thing that can happen to you while drunk?

A. You drive down the road and kill a little kid, so you go to jail for life.

 

Q. What's the worst thing that can happen to you while stoned?

A. You're favorite Braham's is closed, so you go to Albertsons.

Ok a little off the topic.

When I was younger everybody used cocaine. We had our cool mirrors, our favorite snorters and cocaine bullets. We would do a few lines and then hit the bars.

Then out of no were someone figures out that if you add a little baking soda and melt it down it becomes this incredibly addictive drug straight out of hell! We called it free base in my days. Now everybody knows it as crack.

 

It was derived from satin himself! One time was all it took. There was no turning back. You would get some coke to snort and then look at it. Well if I rock it up I sure would get more stoned. The problem was when you left it alone (that is if you could) a gram would last a few days. When you rocked it up it lasted a few minutes. And you wanted more. Real bad! You even would scrounge around on the carpet hoping that you dropped a piece so you could find it. Sometimes we would throw a piece down so we would find some.

After some talking to God and two years of endless nightmares of cooking this shit up and smoking it I was free!!

But I couldn

I never could get into cocaine, I've tried it twice, and have done crack once.

 

I didn't get much out of it from the first few times to say I wanted to do it again, and the fucking crack made my lungs hurt for a week.

 

I decided then wasn't worth making it a habit. Only time after that, that I ever used it, was on the night of my 21st B-Day when I overdosed on who knows what.. I was doing alot of everything that night..

 

When one has their heart stop and have to be zapped back to life because of a drug, then it's time one stays away from drugs.

 

Drugs are bad news man... do weed instead.

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I used coke heavily for about a year. Ever since then, I can't smoke pot much. I freak out and have panic attacks. The only time I can smoke is if I have had a few drinks. And even then, I can only take a few hits.

I actually found that using nothing was the easiest way to quit cocaine. I quit coke, and did ecstacy for about two weeks straight. I looked like hell, and felt even worse. I finally had enough of the drugs and quit everything cold turkey.

It's been 3.5 years since I've done coke, and I honestly can say I won't ever do it again. I did E twice after 'quitting' everything, but felt like such hell afterwards that I didn't bother using it anymore. Can't party like I used to, lol.

C'mon tizz! Tell us about the 18,000 hits of acid you did!

What makes marijuana stand out and away from all other illegal illicit drugs is its seemingly endless applications aside from intoxication. To ask "why is pot illegal" then you must go back to the time in which it went from legal to illegal.

 

There are many reasons why pot was targeted for elimination. The Dupont corperation was a major player in the prohibition of weed. Dupont did not have a holding in the hemp fiber manufacturing industry, which was booming in the 1920's. The word canabis is latin for 'canvas' as hemp was the prefered fiber for manufacturing sails for ships. Canabis was so much easier and quicker to produce then other fibers used by Dupont. One of Duponts major players and shareholders was also a politician. Who spurred a man named Henry Anslinger of the F.B.I. to battle the threat of the marijuana menace. Anslinger was directly responsible for producing alot of the campy anti-marijauna propaganda films that you see from this time period, including refer madness. Anslingers goal was to perpetrate the lies about marijuana in order to destroy it. Which in theory is insane to think that the United States could actualy wipeout a plant. An immpossible task considering that marijauna grows on all 7 continents. Yes even in the Antartica during the short period of warmth.

 

Anslinger needed backing in order to accomplish this so he hired The man we now know as mayor Laguardia of New York. Laguardia was comissioned to do a study on the plant and came back with results that did not jive with the propaganda that Anslinger wished to preach. Laguardia's findings were that marijauna did not cause violent and psychopatic reactions as was being reported by the F.B.I. Despite the butt load of money Laguardia was alloted to do his study, Anslinger quicky buried his findings as they did not support his own.

 

His biggest amunition however was the issue of Mexican immigrants and their cultural use of marijauna. If marijauna was illegal then this would provide a means of deporting mexicans and ridding the U.S. of their presence. As a result of the government telling the citizens of the united states that pot caused violent and insane behavior they had little trouble getting the approval for prohibition of it. Thus started the official beggining of the war on drugs.

Here is one more study talking about the benefits of marijuana.

 

Pot not a major cancer risk: report

By Amy NortonWed Oct 26,12:29 PM ET

 

 

 

Although both marijuana and tobacco smoke are packed with cancer-causing chemicals, other qualities of marijuana seem to keep it from promoting lung cancer, according to a new report.

 

The difference rests in the often opposing actions of the nicotine in tobacco and the active ingredient, THC, in marijuana, says Dr. Robert Melamede of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs.

 

He reviewed the scientific evidence supporting this contention in a recent issue of Harm Reduction Journal.

 

Whereas nicotine has several effects that promote lung and other types of cancer, THC acts in ways that counter the cancer-causing chemicals in marijuana smoke, Melamede explained in an interview with Reuters Health.

 

"THC turns down the carcinogenic potential," he said.

 

For example, lab research indicates that nicotine activates a body enzyme that converts certain chemicals in both tobacco and marijuana smoke into cancer-promoting form. In contrast, studies in mice suggest that THC blocks this enzyme activity.

 

Another key difference, Melamede said, is in the immune system effects of tobacco and marijuana. Smoke sends irritants into the respiratory system that trigger an immune-regulated inflammatory response, which involves the generation of potentially cell-damaging substances called free radicals. These particles are believed to contribute to a range of diseases, including cancer.

 

But cannabinoids -- both those found in marijuana and the versions found naturally in the body -- have been shown to dial down this inflammatory response, Melamede explained.

 

Another difference between tobacco and marijuana smoking, he said, has to do with cells that line the respiratory tract. While these cells have receptors that act as docks for nicotine, similar receptors for THC and other cannabinoids have not been found.

 

Nicotine, Melamede said, appears to keep these cells from committing "suicide" when they are genetically damaged, by smoking, for instance. When such cells do not kill themselves off, they are free to progress into tumors.

 

THC, however, does not appear to act this way in the respiratory tract -- though, in the brain, where there are cannabinoid receptors, it may have the beneficial effect of protecting cells from death when they are damaged from an injury or stroke, according to Melamede.

 

All of this, he said, fits in with population studies that have failed to link marijuana smoking with a higher risk of lung cancer -- though there is evidence that pot users have more respiratory problems, such as chronic cough and frequent respiratory infections.

 

If marijuana does not promote lung cancer, that could factor into the ongoing debate over so-called medical marijuana. Melamede said he believes "marijuana has loads of medicinal value," for everything from multiple sclerosis, to the chronic pain of arthritis, to nausea caused by cancer treatment.

 

U.S. government officials, however, maintain that the evidence for medical marijuana is not there. Ten states allow people to use marijuana with a doctor's prescription, but the Supreme Court has ruled that federal law trumps state law.

 

SOURCE: Harm Reduction Journal, October 18, 2005.

 

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051026/hl_nm/pot_cancer_dc&printer=1

 

WTF? How is there not evidence for medicinal marijauna? The FDA/DEA has let much more harmfull medicines on the market, some with some very serious side effects.

With all that said and done...IT STILL WON'T BE LEGAL ANYTIME SOON!!!

 

FAST FACT: At least 90 percent of GF will hate me for bashing weed.

 

But as I said, I'd rather have weed legalized and alcohol outlawed. It is (I hate to admit...) the more deadlier drug. But that won't happen because so many companies make money off of it. The economy could be put in jeopardy because so many people use it. And that story Jhny5 typed in was one I read not to long ago. I didn't know cannibis was involved in the textile industry. I find it odd that that could be the reason why it is outlawed.