Look no further than the weed issue...

[SHRED]

...to highlight how corrupted our government is.

From industrial, medical, to recreational use of Cannabis the overwhelming majority support legalization yet those that run this country are either too politically timid, too bought off, or both, to carry out the will of the people.

It's been this way for years.
No matter which party is "in charge".

---

[MineralMan]

1. Whille legalization of marijuana is a good cause,

you're dreaming if you think it will be taken up by legislators in this particular political climate. It's simply not going to happen. Just looking at the DU topics in the Latest list demonstrates that people are concerned with issues far more important than legalizing the herb.

It's not as if it's not widely available for recreational use, either. It's easier to buy dope than it is to buy alcohol if you're underage. No shortage.

I agree that it should be legalized. I think all drugs currently illegal should be legalized. I've thought that since the late 60s. I don't think your chances are high.

[SHRED]

2. Oregon is moving forward

http://www.votehemp.com/PR/08-04-09_vh_oregon_hemp_farming_bill_becomes_law.html

We are falling deeper and deeper into deficits and recession.
Unemployment is a key problem yet we can't help lift ourselves out with a hemp based green industrial revolution?

Research just how much this plant can do.
Using it as a drug is not where the major benefits are.


----

[MineralMan]

5. Yah, I know the benefits of hemp. I wrote about it for years.

Hemp isn't going to save the world, the economy, or anything else. That's a pipe dream, and always has been. The concept won't fly as a means of legalizing it. It's a nice plant. Makes good fiber for stuff. But hemp rope isn't much used, and hemp fabric is not going to take over the clothing industry.

Hemp as a biomass feeder isn't going to happen either. It's not cost effective, frankly, and growing enough of it to make a difference would require growing less useful things, like food.

If you want legalization, you're going to have to sell it another way than outrageous claims that it will save the economy. It won't. Sell the medical aspect. Sell the unfairness of drug laws. Or try to.

Problem is that not enough people really give a damn. They didn't in 1970, and they don't now.

[ixion]

3. legalizing weed will fix more than just allowing pot smokers to smoke

it will also

-- Allow the fabric of our society start to mend after decades of stupid drug laws.

-- Cost government less in law enforcement and incarceration

Among other things. So legalization is actually a step towards restoring our republic. In this sense, it is far more important than healthcare reform, IMO.

[MineralMan]

4. I think you're overstating the importance by several

levels of magnitude. If you asked a cross-section of people who had smoked weed during their lives whether legalization would materially alter their lives, the majority would say no. I'm an old geezer, who was a daily smoker for years, starting in 1968. I quit due to the cost in about 1974.

Having smoked it at one time had zero effect on my life. Not having health insurance almost cost me my life at one point. So, putting the two things on the scale, one side is clearly outweighed by the other.

I know that many people have been imprisoned for weed. I know that laws dealing with drugs are unjust. I also know that getting people to give enough of a damn about those things right now is a losing cause.

The best hope is local, of course. During my days of smoking it, the District Attorney in my county in California simply refused to prosecute most marijuana cases for several years. Problem solved, at least there. So, working to essentially, or really, decriminalize weed locally can work. Nationally? Forget about it for a while.

As for dope's economic impact, it's actually rather small, all things considered. An enormous hemp market is a pipe dream. It ain't happening.

[ixion]

7. not really... how many people have had their lives ruined

because of a drug charge?

Millions.

How many families have been disrupted, and children's lives ruined because Dad got popped smoking a joint, lost his job, and was unable to get back in the workforce because of the charge on his record?

Millions.

I understand that healthcare is an issue, and that not having healthcare in this society is a virtual death sentence if you're injured or disabled or ill. I think that the health insurance industry, and the healthcare industry by proxy, are corrupt and in dire need of reformation.

However, I think it would be easier to legalize pot than to have meaningful healthcare reform. We're not going to get it. What we're going to see is a huge boon to the insurance industry, because THAT is who is writing the so-called 'reform' package.

In short, much like the Consumer Protection Act, which was a giveaway to the banks, so will whatever 'reform' package is passed.

Perhaps we're both asking for pipe dreams.

[kristopher]

8. I think you're wrong.

I predict very large changes before the 2010 midterm elections. Jim Webb will by then have completed his review of the problems with our criminal justice system. It is a given that one of the primary recommendations will be a complete rethinking of our drug laws. With the growing push to bring into the daylight the underground revenue stream from marijuana in order to both deny it to criminals and to tax it, I can see no other path than some sort of approach that moves drugs from the purview of the justice system and into the public health system and to fully decriminalize possession of pot with an eye to allowing states to eventually allow it on the market or not as they choose.

[kristopher]

9. I've rethought this prediction.

I'm revising this after a little more thought. The better way to do this might be for them to run a campaign for 2010 on the issue of criminal justice reform. That would allow them to get a mandate on the larger issue that would hinge on the ancillary issue of the fairness of the drug laws.


So I withdraw the above and suggest prison/criminal justice reform will be used to enhance voter turner and establish the democratic right to pass the required legislation.

Will it get done under those circumstances?

I'd like to see Nate Silver do a work-up on what happens with Webb's review.

[ensho]

6. agree - americans want it decrimed - House/Senate people are cowards

nt